The History of Rogue

Gamasutra has published a four-page history of Rogue, the classic ASCII-based RPG/adventure game that went on to influence the modern action RPG. The article is penned by Matt Barton, who you may recall is the author of the excellent Dungeons & Desktops: The History of Computer Role-playing Games and the newly released Vintage Games: An Insider Look at the History of Grand Theft Auto, Super Mario, and the Most Influential Games of All Time.

Though the game would offer a basic story and goal (fetch the Amulet of Yendor from the bottom of the dungeon), the real fun was exploring the dungeons, vanquishing increasingly ferocious monsters, collecting valuable treasures and equipment, and strengthening one’s character.

The control scheme was as intuitive as one might expect from the era before mice and pull-down menus. Besides the basic movement keys (h, j, k, and l), players also had to remember somewhat arbitrary commands like “q” to quaff a potion, or “e” to eat food.

Although the control scheme was relatively easy to master, the game itself was often quite challenging. Sudden death could occur at any moment, particularly if the character weren’t well equipped and stocked with potions and scrolls.

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Unfortunately for Epyx and the Rogue team, the commercial versions of the game failed miserably. Wichman blames rampant piracy, but it’s likelier that the humble character-set graphics in most versions turned off gamers who were accustomed to advanced sprite-based graphics.

Also, 1983 saw the release of Origin’s Ultima III (see book Chapter 23), a game that many considered to be the best role-playing game ever designed for a computer. Its colorful graphics and smooth interface must have made Rogue seem primitive by comparison.

Meanwhile, Daniel Lawrence’s Telengard, published by Avalon Hill in 1982 for most computer platforms, offered more-diverse graphics and a similar scheme for procedurally generating the dungeons.

Even Epyx had published a graphical “roguelike” a year earlier: Jeff McCord’s Sword of Fargoal for the Commodore 64 and VIC-20. In short, gamers had plenty of CRPGs (computer role playing games) to choose from, including some that offered Rogue-like gameplay, but with more advanced audiovisuals.

“…gamers had plenty of CRPGs to choose from”. Ahh, the good old days.