The Devil's Dungeon

Devil’s Dungeon is a code listing written by Dr Charles William Engel. The code is in Basic and printed in a booklet that Engel was selling in early 1978. The user is expected to read the description and then type in the code to end-up with a playable game.

As a game there’s little to it, and I’d almost be tempted to skip it entirely, but it can be argued to be “the first commercial RPG” depending how you define the particulars of what a game is, what an RPG is and if you feel the medium of distribution is a defining characteristic of these. It does have many RPG traits; there’s exploration, combat and character progression. The first commercial RPG distributed on tape is Beneath Apple Manor.

Most of the details and setting are not present in the game itself but as descriptions written in the booklet that contains the code listing. I’ve included a lot of extracts from that text as it describes in detail how the various aspects of the game works.

The code was later compiled into a larger book “Stimulating Simulations for the TI99/4A” which contains several other interesting simulation games such as “Life”

You begin as a bum with one hundred dollars in your pocket. Your objective is to become an executive of a large company and earn lots of money.

which I found amusing.

Dr Engel was a Doctor of Mathematics Education and this game has the feel of a teaching aid to introduce a student to the Basic language and some simple statistics. And like much material intended to instruct, it’s rather dry and unenjoyable.

Setting

The game is text based. It works like a text adventure; a simple text display tells you the room you’re in and adjoining rooms, then you can type in simple commands to perform actions. It’s very rudimentary. The commands you type aren’t even like “Fight”, instead you type numbers. If you type 0 that’s the command to attack a monster in the game. You also use numbers to say which room you’d like to move to next.

The Legend
For many years now you have heard rumors of large quantities of gold hidden in a maze of caves whose connecting passageways lead deep beneath the earth of an occasionally active volcano. The stories tell of monsters and demons who roam through the caves, poisonous gas, tremors from the volcano, and one man who returned from these perils alive and named the caves The Devil’s Dungeon. After much searching, you have located the wealthy, solitary man who survived a journey through the dungeon; and he has agreed to see you. Although now very old and in poor health, he tells you everything he can remember about the dungeon.

The Dungeon
There is much gold still remaining in this maze of caves called The Devil’s Dungeon; and the stories of demons, monsters and poisonous gas are true. There are sixteen rooms on each level of the dungeon, although many may be blocked by rockfalls caused by volcanic tremors. The number of levels is unknown. Perhaps it is bottomless, for the creatures encountered inside the dungeon were certainly not from the earth as we know it.

Goal

There’s no end goal or way to win. You can choose to leave the dungeon if you find room 1 which exists on every level.

If your strength or speed stat fall to zero or below then you die and the game ends.

Exploration

The game is infinite. Each level has 16 rooms connected at random. Some rooms feature “drop-offs”, which can be used to descend to the next level down. You can keep descending forever.

Rooms and Passageways
You will begin your adventure in Room #1 at Depth #1. The contents of the room you occupy and the numbers of the adjacent rooms will be listed. You may move to an adjacent room by entering one of the adjacent room numbers. If the output reads: MOVE FROM 2 TO ?, all adjacent rooms on your present level are blocked. If a “slide” to a room is indicated, you may use it by entering that room number; however, it is a one-way passage and cannot be used to return to the first room. A simple map of connecting rooms at each depth will prove invaluable, even though you can receive a list of the rooms you have visited and their respective adjacent rooms any time you enter an 88.

Descending into the Dungeon
Movement to a lower depth can be achieved by using a dropoff. Fifty percent of the rooms at a given depth have dropoffs. To drop to a lower depth, enter any negative number when you are in one of these rooms. You will then find yourself in the same room on the next lower level. The configuration of rooms on this level will not be the same, and a new map must be drawn. Once you have left a given depth, you can never return. You cannot move up.

A dropoff can be created by using the Magic Wand, which you carry with you at all times. The use of the Magic Wand, however, is very risky, because 40% of the time it backfires. When a backfire occurs, your strength and speed are reduced by 50%. When the use of the wand is your only alternative, you must enter 99. If the wand works, it will clear out everything in the room and create a dropoff. If the wand backfires, you will remain in the same place with 50% of the strength and speed you had before using the wand. The Magic Wand can be used repeatedly in every room except Room #1. If you enter a 99 while in Room #1, the simulation will terminate.

Combat

Monsters are simply labelled “Monster”. You fight by typing 0 and pressing enter.

Monsters
If a monster is present in a room, its speed and strength will be listed immediately after your speed and strength. If you elect to fight the monster, you must enter a zero. The monsters are faster and stronger in rooms with larger numbers and at lower depths. If your speed is faster than a monster’s speed, you have a greater chance of attacking first. If your strength is greater, you have a better chance of killing it. If your speed and strength are two or three times that of the monsters’, you will kill them most of the time. When you run from a monster instead of fighting it, speed is important. If a monster hits you on your way out of the room, you will lose 20% of the monster’s strength. The monster cannot hit you if you use a dropoff or the Magic Wand in its room.

In addition to the monsters you fight, there are “Demons” but these are more of an environmental hazard.

If you enter a room with demons or gas, there is a 40% chance that you will be cursed or gassed. If you are cursed, you will lose one-half of your strength. You can always escape being cursed or gassed by moving to a lower level.

Progression

Experience
You begin with zero experience points. Everytime you move, your experience points are increased by your depth level number. You can also acquire up to the value of twice a monster’s strength in experience points by killing the monster. One experience point is gained for every piece of gold found. Experience points can be traded for strength and speed, one for one, by entering a zero while in Room #1 at any depth. You will then be asked how many points you want added to your speed and to your strength.

Development

At the end of the booklet there are some suggested features that the reader might like to implement. I especially like the suggested monster names.

1. Weapons and equipment must be bought with gold before starting on the journey.
2. There could be different sized monsters, determined by the expression, X(3)+2X(4)+4X(5) in line 350. Each monster could be named, ie, Glub, Knaw, Slurp, Hairy, … .
3. The treasures could be in various sized containers, determined by the expression, X(11)+2X(12)+4X(13) in line 410.
4. The number of rooms at each level could be determined randomly.
5. Some rooms could be light and others dark.
6. Some monsters or demons could appear at random rather than be assigned to specific rooms.
7. A mean magician could relocate you in another room.
8. You could accidentally fall into a pit that drops you to a lower level.

These are features that other RPGs did implement.

Legacy

The legacy seems minimal. The code listing would have been available to only a few people, then even less would have successfully typed it in and an even smaller amount would have gone on to create their own games.

CRPGAddict gives some hints of a later game Cavern of Moria that has a lot in common with Devil’s Dungeon but it’s hard to determine if there was any influence and in which direction.