Super-Rogue

A bigger Rogue 3.6, grown at AT&T Bell Labs

Date of birth1983 9.0 in 1984

CreatorRobert D. Kindelberger and Bell Labs colleagues

LanguageC ~17,200 lines

PlatformUnix + curses AT&T / BSD

Lineage

Super-Rogue is built directly on the Rogue 3.6 source. A group at AT&T Bell Labs grew it between 1982 and 1983, with Robert D. Kindelberger as its public face; versions 6.5 to 9.0 went round until July 1984. Kindelberger released the source in 2004.

Its ideas (stats beyond strength, weight, trading posts) went on into Advanced Rogue, which drew on both Rogue 3.6 and Super-Rogue. See the family tree.

Credits

Robert D. Kindelberger	Author, released the source in 2004
Bell Labs colleagues	Co-developers (1982–84)
Michael Toy, Glenn Wichman, Ken Arnold	Original Rogue 3.6
Roguelike Restoration Project	Keeps release 9.0-1 (srogue @ c693810)

Screenshots

The full game screen — No title screen: you start right in the dungeon. Note the four stats and the carry limit in the status line.

A long room with a jackal — First steps: a long room and the first jackal.

Fighting a jackal — A fight: “You miss.”

Inventory with a cursor — Inventory: a trident, a bow and elf-crafted leather armour.

Trivia

Super-Rogue was written by a group at AT&T Bell Labs, the home of Unix, between 1982 and 1983. (RogueBasin)
The source stayed private for twenty years; Kindelberger released it in 2004. (RogueBasin)
When no other monster fits the level, the game sends the arch-devil Asmodeus, and a scroll of genocide won't touch him: “You cannot genocide Asmodeus !!” (source: monsters.c)
Magic pools let you dip items for good or bad effects, and you can drown in them: “Oh no!!! You drown in the pool!!!” (source: move.c)

What's unique

Four stats: strength, dexterity, wisdom and constitution, and a carry limit by weight.
Twice the bestiary: a second alphabet of monsters (anhkheg, cockatrice, bone devil, elasmosaurus, …) on top of Rogue's 26.
Trading posts to buy and sell, maze levels, and magic pools to dip items in.
A deeper goal: the Amulet of Yendor appears no earlier than level 35.

Code dive

Language: K&R C, about 17,200 lines. All monsters and items are tables in global.c.
Environment: AT&T Unix at Bell Labs, VT-style terminals, curses.
Wizard mode: -w and a password, or -a for the author's own account.
This port: fixes for undeclared functions and 4-byte vs 8-byte longs in the save file; X11 and WebAssembly frontends. Source: memmaker/srogue.

Stats

Thing	Count	Notable ones
Classes	1	A fighter; stats vary per character.
Monsters	53	Rogue 3.6’s 26 plus 26 new ones (cockatrice, bone devil, elasmosaurus, killer frog, titanothere, vrock, wuccubi, demon prince Yeenoghu) and Asmodeus.
Potions	21
Scrolls	26
Rings	26	Ogre strength, delusion, lethargy, burden, enfeeblement.
Wands & staffs	26
Weapons	18
Armour	10
Levels	35+	The Amulet appears from level 35 on.
Spells, skills	0	Magic only in items.

Manual

The Super-Rogue guide (a reworked “Guide to the Dungeons of Doom”, from rogue.nr): read it here (text).

Getting started

Open the game. You start with food, a magic weapon, a bow, arrows and leather armour.
Move with hjklyubn or the arrows; x explores.
Enter lists every command, i the inventory.
Watch the Carry number: too much weight slows you.
All keys: the in-game guide.

Help

No walkthrough exists. Tips:

Use trading posts to sell junk and buy armour.
Dip only items you can spare into pools; don't walk into them blindly.
Don't touch a cockatrice. Fight in corridors, rest often.
The trip is long (35+ levels): don't dive before your stats and hit points grow.
More: RogueBasin.

Cheats

Wizard mode (-w with a password) is not reachable in this build.
Save scumming: Export save / Import save.