Author Topic: Pathos: Nethack  (Read 11756 times)

callanh

  • Newcomer
  • Posts: 9
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile
    • Pathos
    • Email
Pathos: Nethack
« on: August 23, 2015, 05:02:18 AM »

Pathos is a dungeon adventure game with the soul of Nethack. Tile graphics and sound effects. Keyboard, mouse or touch screen. Only for Windows 7+ at the moment but Android and iOS versions are coming in the future.

If you love Nethack as much as I do please have a look at some gameplay videos:

Ranger part 1 of 1 https://youtu.be/KlhYwXSOQrs/
Ranger part 2 of 2 https://youtu.be/oICzBwztOQA/

If you like what you see you can download and play http://pathos.x10host.com/

It's not a 100% port of Nethack because I haven't spent the last 20 years on it!  But I think you'll find it captures the essence and smooths out a lot of the legacy usability awkwardness.  I'm hoping to get some interest and feedback to continue the development.  Looking forward to hear what you think.


getter77

  • Protector of the Temple
  • Global Moderator
  • Rogueliker
  • *****
  • Posts: 4956
  • Karma: +4/-1
    • View Profile
Re: Pathos: Nethack
« Reply #1 on: August 23, 2015, 11:59:12 AM »
What direction and plan does your development hold from here?
Brian Emre Jeffears
Aspiring Designer/Programmer/Composer
In Training

callanh

  • Newcomer
  • Posts: 9
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile
    • Pathos
    • Email
Re: Pathos: Nethack
« Reply #2 on: August 23, 2015, 02:38:28 PM »
The next major step is to bring Pathos to tablet devices.

Pathos is written in C# and I am getting good traction with Xamarin (wraps the Android and iOS APIs on top of Mono.NET).
There are also some important game details to be worked on like implementing all the special attacks.

But mostly, I need help to build a player base to inspire more Pathos development.
I have visited this community a lot over the years and thought it was the perfect place to first announce the existence of Pathos.
But to really answer your question I need to share a brief history of Pathos.

I played the original Hack as a young person and it definitely inspired me to become a coder.
Many years later I stumbled upon Nethack and found that I was still hooked.
I played Nethack on and off for the next decade.
One day I decided to download the source code and have a look around.
I had this notion that I could fix the usability of Nethack.
I believed that Nethack needed to be more accessible to reach the next generation of players.

So I ported a huge amount of the C code to C# as an exercise in learning the code base. Yes, I might be a crazy person.
I even had it playable before it became really clear to me: the original code base is too compromised to be taken forward in a meaningful way.
Disappointed, I had a long break from this project before it occurred to me to start a new game engine.
Using the Nethack code I had already ported to C# I was then able to import all the assets (items, monsters, roles, races, skills, spells, and so on) into the new game engine.
Through plenty of late nights, weekends and annual leave - we now have Pathos.
My wildest dream is Rogue -> Hack -> Nethack -> Pathos.

So what's next? Well, what would you like to see?

getter77

  • Protector of the Temple
  • Global Moderator
  • Rogueliker
  • *****
  • Posts: 4956
  • Karma: +4/-1
    • View Profile
Re: Pathos: Nethack
« Reply #3 on: August 23, 2015, 10:13:00 PM »
What's your take on the other side paths and evolution attempts to Nethack---from the recently much more-alive SLASH'EM and Nethack4 and Un...to the likes of Wazhack...to attempts at spiritual successors like diggr and Incavead?

Are you hoping to also include new races, classes, etc from any of the above beyond those special attacks you mention?  Any other big usability hurdles you still have to face using the examples of other modern Roguelikes like Brogue, ToME 4, new ADOM, etc?
Brian Emre Jeffears
Aspiring Designer/Programmer/Composer
In Training

callanh

  • Newcomer
  • Posts: 9
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile
    • Pathos
    • Email
Re: Pathos: Nethack
« Reply #4 on: August 24, 2015, 09:44:00 AM »
I have huge respect for all the side paths and evolutions of Nethack and of course all the original authors.  I guess I am simply chasing the essence of what I loved about the original Hack game.
So much like everyone else, I have my own philosophy on what is important.

As an illustration, my kids are 6 (can read) and 4 (can't read) and are able to play Pathos and follow the general mechanics. They are using a Windows 8 tablet so it is entirely touch input.  I'm not sure you could say that about any other true roguelike?  And I've been pretty true to the Nethack mechanics and it's not easy to stay alive.

Zireael

  • Rogueliker
  • ***
  • Posts: 604
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile
Re: Pathos: Nethack
« Reply #5 on: November 30, 2015, 01:24:15 PM »
I'm a little saddened that it doesn't work on older Android versions. Now that there's a Windows download, I will surely try it out!