MAG

Lineage

MAG is new code inspired by Rogue, not a Rogue source variant: RogueBasin names Rogue and Hack as influences and puts it “somewhere between the complexity of the original rogue and that of hack”. Like Hack, its monsters use items and fall into traps; unlike Hack it has no special levels, pets or shops. Like the PC Rogue it draws the dungeon with the IBM extended character set. The DOS Games Archive dates it to 1988, “1985 if you count the original UNIX version”; the source's copyright line says 1986, 87, 88, and the version command says PC-1.1, Summer 1989. That UNIX version is not known to survive.

Descendants are ports, not variants: a Windows port on SourceForge (mikesadvgame, 2007), Donnie Russell's DirectX MAGHD and Flash FlashMAG, and his JavaScript JSMikesAdvGame.

See the family tree (under Rogue, as an inspired game). Sources: the author's README.DOC (UNIX version finished 1985, PC version 1986–88, inspired by Rogue and Jay Fenlason's Hack), RogueBasin (1988, influences Rogue and Hack), the DOS Games Archive (1988, UNIX 1985, freeware with source), the CRPG Addict (1988), SourceForge and the source headers.

Credits

From the source headers, RogueBasin and SourceForge.

Trivia

• MAG cost $10 in 1988; a later release came with a small instruction guide and two e-mail addresses for the author. (CRPG Addict, Game 52)
• The CRPG Addict won it only with save backups (“That asterisk … means I cheated”): two potions of invisibility, items thrown until the Imperial Dragon left its throne, then the Sapphire stolen. GIMLET: 26, just above Rogue. (MAG: Won!*)
• The wizard password is stored shifted by '^' so it doesn't show in the program file, next to a decoy string with the comment “to throw off password seekers”. The right word greets you with “You feel as smart as Michael J. Teixeira”. (WIZARD.C)
• The monster list is an alphabet: axe beak, babbler, crystalizer … zephyr in lower case, then apparition, banshee … zabloron in upper case. (MONSTER.H)
• One of the body armours is a coconut, and the object table spells the goal “The Sudbury Saphire”. (OBJECT.H)
• The author’s bug-report command, which appended a line to a file bugs, is compiled out; in its place the game answers “Sorry, this version doesn't have any bugs!” (COMMAND3.C)

What's unique

• Light and dark: rooms stay dark until you light their wall torches with a tinderbox; carry oil flasks and your own torch.
• Doors and keys: doors can be stuck or locked; copper, silver, golden and skeleton keys (^K) or a chime of opening.
• Two weapons: a secondary weapon you swap in with x: a bow at your side for arrows, a sword in hand.
• Monsters play by your rules: they pick up and use items, fall into traps; fairies and kleptums steal.
• Back up allowed: levels are saved to disk when you leave, so you can climb back, which Rogue never let you do; 25 levels with the Imperial Dragons at the bottom.
• Keyboard macros ({ … }, ^E) and function-key shortcuts, built into a 1988 game.

Code dive

• Language: K&R-era C for MS-DOS, 36 files (*.C, *.H), 14,004 lines. The screen goes through BIOS int 10h on two text pages (a shadow copy of each is kept), keys through int 16h scan codes.
• Data tables: monsters, objects, traps and titles are C arrays (MONSTER.H, OBJECT.H, VARS.H); weights look like grams (a food ration weighs 454).
• Saves: every level you leave is written to maglevel.N, the game to savefile.mag, as raw structs with pointers.
• This port: Emscripten WebAssembly with the DOS layer replaced at the BIOS level (port/pcvideo.c), saves in IndexedDB, DawnLike tiles or the original VGA screen, windows, an Enter command menu, Z explore and </> walking to stairs. The help and picture files, missing from the source drop, are the originals from the 1988 DOS release. Source: memmaker/mag (our changes).

Stats

Manual

The original instruction guide is README.DOC (“Welcome to MAG! Ver PC-1.1”): installation, the quest for the Sudbury Sapphire, the options.mag file, where MAG came from and the author's addresses. It comes with the 1988 DOS release (Original_Dos_Version_from_1988.zip on SourceForge), which also has the game's own in-game help screens (F1), the ones this port shows. Licence: free to copy or modify, not for profit, keeping the copyright notice. No change log or version history exists; the only version named is PC-1.1 (Summer 1989).

Getting started

1. Open the game and type your name.
2. Move with the arrow keys or hjklyubn; Z explores, > walks to stairs you have seen and goes down.
3. Light dark rooms: ignite (I) a torch; walk into monsters to fight; x swaps in your secondary weapon.
4. Eat (e) before you faint, F tells you how hungry you are; c names unknown potions and scrolls.
5. Enter lists every command; F1 shows the help; the game's help page has keys and saving.

Help

We found no walkthrough or strategy guide. The CRPG Addict's first post and win are the fullest play reports. Rules of thumb:

• Carry a tinderbox and oil: a dark room hides what is in it.
• Keep a bow as secondary weapon and shoot what comes down a corridor.
• Monsters use the potions and wands they pick up; kill thieves (fairies, kleptums) before they reach you.
• Levels are kept: go back up to rest or fetch what you left.
• Invisibility got the Addict past the Imperial Dragon. More: RogueBasin.

Cheats

Wizard mode is in every build, this one too: ^W asks for the password (frakola, printed in the CRPG Addict's comments). It adds detect, genocide, identify, map, teleport, make monster/object and level-up commands (list); a game that used it never enters the Hall of Heroes.

• Save scumming: Export save / Import save on the game page, as the Addict did with file backups.