UltraRogue

The Ultimate Adventure in the Dungeons of Doom

Date of birth1985 first log entries Dec 1984

CreatorHerb Chong

LanguageC ~40,000 lines

PlatformUnix + curses later DOS, Windows, Linux

Lineage

UltraRogue is based on Rogue 3.6 and Advanced Rogue. Herb Chong developed it between 1985 and 1986; the change log in the source starts in December 1984. Versions 1.0.3 and 1.0.7 came out between 1992 and 2005 with help from the Roguelike Restoration Project. See the family tree.

Credits

Herb Chong	Author (copyright 1985–1995)
Michael Morgan, Ken Dalka	Advanced Rogue, the base
Roguelike Restoration Project	Maintenance; 1.0.7 (urogue @ 8dec2be)

Screenshots

Choosing one of ten classes — The start: ten classes and up to ten saved characters.

The flea market armour list — First steps: every hero starts in Friendly Fiend’s Flea Market. Mithril costs 30,000.

Fighting a vilstrak — A fight: “You barely miss the vilstrak.”

Inventory with a cursor — Inventory: crams, scale mail, the chain mail we bought, a broad sword.

Trivia

UltraRogue grew out of Rogue 3.6 and Advanced Rogue; Herb Chong wrote it between 1985 and 1986. (RogueBasin)
The change log shows work on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 1984: mithril armour and lightning-proof crystalline armour were added that week. (source: history.txt)
The deepest monsters are gods: Greyhawk deities (St Cuthbert of the Cudgel, Boccob the Uncaring), Tolkien's Valar (Manwë, Varda, Melkor), Nyarlathotep, Odin, and at the very end “Lord of All Darkness (Lucifer)”. (source: monsdata.c)
In the shop you can choose the cursed, blessed or normal version of what you buy. (played in this port)
Eight unique treasures, from the Phial of Galadriel to the Crown of Might; to be a “total winner” you must bring all eight back up. (source: README, artifact.c)

What's unique

Huge bestiary: about 400 monsters, from giant ants and dinosaurs up to demon princes and gods.
Ten classes, including illusionist and ninja, with power points for magic.
Eight artifacts with their own powers, spread from level 25 to the very bottom.
Characters can be saved and reused; the shop sells exactly what you ask for.

Code dive

Language: C, about 40,000 lines; the monster table alone (monsdata.c) is over 3,000 lines.
Environment: Unix with curses in the 1980s; later ports to DOS and Windows. Early versions read the machine's load average and had “holiday” rules for when you were allowed to play.
This port: fixed an upstream bug that made every save unloadable (ur_read_room read an int as a short). Source: memmaker/urogue.

Stats

Thing	Count	Notable ones
Classes	10	Fighter, paladin, ranger, cleric, druid, magician, illusionist, thief, assassin, ninja.
Monsters	~400	Vilstrak, Demogorgon, Tulkas the Valiant, Nerull the Grim Reaper, Lucifer.
Artifacts	8	Phial of Galadriel, Palantir of Might, Silamril of Ea (sic), Amulet of Yendor, Magic Purse of Yendor, Sceptre of Might, Wand of Yendor, Crown of Might.
Potions	22
Scrolls	28
Rings	32
Wands & staffs	23
Armour	16	Soft leather to mithril and crystalline armour.
Weapons	60+

Manual

No separate manual exists. The README that came with the game (treasures, options, classes) is here: read it (text). The in-game help (?) lists the commands.

Getting started

Open the game and pick a class (fighter or paladin to start). Don't save the character unless you want to reuse it.
You begin in the flea market: b buys, pick a type (] armour), * lists what's on offer. l leaves.
Move with hjklyubn, x explores, Enter lists every command.
Wear the better armour: i, then its letter.
All keys: the in-game guide.

Help

No walkthrough exists. Tips:

Spend your starting gold on armour, and buy the normal, never the cursed version.
The first artifact waits around level 25; you may go up again once you carry any artifact.
Deep down there are gods. Leave them alone.
More: RogueBasin.

Cheats

Wizard mode exists (the change log mentions wizard teleport with ^X) but needs a password: not reachable in this build.
The shop sells blessed items if you ask.
Save scumming: Export save / Import save.