TomeNET

(1.2) What is a rogue-like game?                                                
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Rogue was a game basing only on alpha-numerical characters, like letters and
numbers. It didn't have any graphics. Thus it could run on basically every
simple computer. However it was not a text-adventure. Its game engine provides
a grid for turn-by-turn movement and combat that the user looks at from high
above. Here is a small "screenshot":
...............
...########....
...#$.....#....
...#..@...'....
...#......#....
...########.p..
...............
The @ is usually the player, the dots are empty fields. The # are walls. Here
the player seems to be inside a building. In the upper-left corner some money
is deposited. The ' is an open door. Outside of the building there is a p,
which is usually some townsfolk. They are not always friendly and some tend to
steal! Rogue was the first game of this kind, hence all games working with
similar graphics and game engine are called rogue-likes.
Other well-known rogue-likes are Nethack, Larn, Moria, Angband.