Deep Delve 64: Commodore 64 (C64) Roguelike

Deep Delve 64 is a roguelike for the Commodore 64 (C64), written in C and running on a stock machine: a real C64, a C64 Ultimate, or an emulator such as VICE. No memory expansion, no cartridge.

Pick a hero, step into the dark, and delve. Every dungeon is generated fresh: rooms and corridors, doors you have to open, traps you can't see, monsters asleep in the shadows. Collect gold and gear, drink your potions at the right moment, and see how deep you can go. How deep that is, you'll have to find out.

(See the Download & install instructions for how to load it)

FEATURES

- Four classes: Warrior, Rogue, Mage and Cleric. The Rogue backstabs sleeping monsters for triple damage and spots traps early. The Mage casts firebolts. The Cleric heals.

- Twelve kinds of monster, from rats and bats to wraiths, trolls and dragons, drawn as animated hardware sprites. Beware the bosses that guard the way down: they are drawn at double size.

- Loot: two dozen weapons and armours in ascending tiers, healing and greater potions, scrolls of mapping and teleportation. A bag and an inventory window let you manage what you carry.

- Doors and traps: closed doors block movement and sight until you open them. Traps are hidden: spikes, alarms, teleporters and pits that drop you a level. Find one and it stays marked on your map.

- Fog of war: you only see what is in your line of sight, and explored rooms stay on the map, dimmed.

- A high-score table, saved to disk, with three-letter initials.

- C64 craft: a multicolor bitmap title picture with an animated glint, a custom character set for the brick walls and flagstone floors, SID sound effects, and joystick support alongside the keyboard.

CONTROLS

Keyboard / Joystick (port 2)

- Move or attack: W A S D and Q E Z C (or the cursor keys) / the stick, 8 directions

- Take the stairs: > / fire, standing on them

- Wait a turn: . or SPACE / fire

- Drink a potion: H / fire + down

- Read a scroll: R

- Class ability: F / fire + right

- Inventory: I / fire + up

In the inventory, move with W/S or the stick, press RETURN (or fire) to use or equip, and X (or fire + left) to drop.

KNOWN LIMITS

- Built for a stock C64, PAL or NTSC. It has been tested in the VICE emulator; reports from real machines and the C64 Ultimate are very welcome.

- The joystick must be in port 2.

CREDITS

Written in C with the cc65 toolchain (cc65.github.io). The fast-load edition is packed with TSCrunch by Antonio Savona (github.com/tonysavon/TSCrunch).

Feedback, bug reports and balance complaints are all welcome in the comments.