A graphical roguelike engine which uses SFML for graphics and sound, and Lua for scripting. It is called "MetaHack" because the goal is to make a "hack"-style game that is easy to hack (mod) via Lua scripts.

MetaHack is compiled using Visual Studio 2015, and utilizes the following libraries:

• Boost 1.60
• LuaJIT 2.0
• SFML 2.3.2

Some notes about the codebase:

• The code is in serious flux; although I try to make sure it always builds successfully before committing, I guarantee that there are still plenty of runtime errors present.
• The current codebase depends on some hardcoded pathnames; library include files are expected to be in C:\personal\libraries, for example. Sorry, but I'm the only one working on it, so fixing this hasn't been a priority.
• At the moment, the engine is extremely incomplete, with most functionality still unimplemented.

Progress on the project is tracked on a Trello board located at https://trello.com/b/VIiPQJP7/metahack.

Unlike traditional roguelikes, MetaHack has an "object-oriented" bent to its interface; you select one or more items you want to interact with first, and then choose the command to apply to them.

Movement is done via the number pad arrow keys. Eventually there will be "quick move" commands similar to NetHack's g command, but for now this is not yet implemented.

Waiting is done with the period . key just as in NetHack. No wait-on-space is implemented.

The Inventory area is always present on the right-hand side of the screen, and displays either your player's inventory, or the inventory of the tile you are on. Use Tab to switch between these two.

Items in inventory slots are selected/deselected by pressing a letter a-z (or a shifted letter A-Z if more than 26 items are present).

If an item is a container, after selecting it you can use the right bracket ] to view its contents. This can be done for as many nested containers as you like. To go back up a level, use the left bracket [.

If an inventory slot contains two or more of the same item (such as "5 gold coins"), after selecting it you can choose how many are selected with the - and + keys. This allows you to use a command on only a portion of the quantity -- to drop only some gold, for instance. Only one slot can be selected in this case. (For example, you can't drop "5 gold coins" and "a red gem" at once, you have to do them separately for now. Hopefully this can be changed in the future.)

The = key also adds to the number selected, in case you prefer to use the -/= keys on the main keyboard instead of the -/+ keys on the keypad.

Once items have been selected, a command is issued using CTRL plus a letter key. Extended commands are issued using CTRL plus ALT plus a letter key. (Or they will be. No extended commands are implemented yet.)

(Eventually the goal is to allow items to be selected using the mouse, and then have a command menu from which the command can be chosen.)

Some commands do request a "target" item after the command has been entered, such as "store item". In that case, you would choose the items to store, press CTRL-S, and then choose the container to store them in.

The following commands are currently in place, although some most are not yet fully implemented. Strikeout indicates commands that may be planned but are currently not recognized at all.

• . (period) - Wait. This is the only command that does not use the CTRL key.
• CTRL-A - Attire/adorn yourself with an item (e.g. wear it). Using this with @ (yourself) will attempt to remove everything you are wearing; using it with an already worn item will attempt to remove it.
• CTRL-B - Nothing yet; maybe beg for your life? That would be interesting.
• CTRL-C - Close item(s). Also used to close doors/grates/etc.
• CTRL-D - Drop item(s).
• CTRL-E - Eat item(s).
• CTRL-F - Fill item. Used to transfer a liquid/powder from one container to another.
• CTRL-G - Get (pick up) an item. For convenience to those familiar with NetHack, , (comma) is a synonym for this command.
• CTRL-H - Hurl (throw) an item.
• CTRL-I - Inscribe (write) on an item.
• CTRL-J - Jump in a direction.
• CTRL-K - Kick in a direction.
• CTRL-L - Nothing yet; maybe look around (similar to "search" in Nethack), or lock/unlock.
• CTRL-M - Mix two liquids/powders together.
• CTRL-N - Nothing yet.
• CTRL-O - Open item(s). Also used to open doors/grates/etc.
• CTRL-P - Put item(s) in another item. This is also used to load ammunition into a fireable weapon.
• CTRL-Q - Quaff (drink) from item(s).
• CTRL-R - Read item(s).
• CTRL-S - Shoot a fireable item. This will normally shoot the item you have equipped, if it is a firearm. If you select an item first, it will attempt to wield it and then shoot it.
• CTRL-T - Take item(s) out of a container.
• CTRL-U - Use an item. For items with actions that don't really fit into other command verbs.
• CTRL-V - Nothing yet.
• CTRL-W - Wield or unwield an item. Using this with @ (yourself) unwields whatever you are wielding; wielding your already wielded object will also unwield it.
• CTRL-X - eXplicitly attack a direction. Although attacking is usually automatic for hostile creatures, this forces an attack on something non-hostile, or something that isn't a creature (like a door). If used in the direction of a group of items, it will automatically attack the largest item there.
• CTRL-Y - Nothing yet.
• CTRL-Z- Nothing yet.
• CTRL-ALT-C - Construct an item out of a collection of items.
• CTRL-ALT-D - Destruct an item into its constituent parts.
• CTRL-ALT-S - Save the game.
• CTRL-ALT-T - Talk in a direction. Possibly talk to an item at some point, I dunno.
• CTRL-ALT-Q - Quit the game, immediately, abandoning your character. Will eventually have an "are you sure" prompt.

This list is definitely not finished and is subject to change.

Hitting / puts the display into "view mode". In this mode, the arrow keys move the cursor around, and the inventory window will display what is there. Hitting / again will return you to "game mode".

Hitting the backtick/tilde key brings up the debug console, which will let you execute Lua functions directly. Since I have not implemented scrollback in the message log yet, Lua functions print to the console window instead of the message log (as they will eventually).

Hitting ESC when in a "choose an item" / "choose a direction" prompt will abort an action.

As noted above, the comma , key is equivalent to CTRL-G. You just have to remember to select the items to get first!

CTRL-ALT-Q will immediately exit the game. No time for "are you sure?" niceties right now.

CTRL-minus and CTRL-plus (or CTRL-equals) zoom the graphics in and out. CTRL-0 (zero) should return to standard zoom.

The mouse wheel also zooms the screen in/out.

All of the information regarding map tiles, items, enemies, et cetera., is stored in the resources subdirectory, as Lua script files and associated PNGs (when necessary). So far there isn't a ton of information there yet, but as I add features to the engine they will become more complex.

Hopefully one day I will be able to document those files a bit more thoroughly here, but for now if you are interested you'll have to look through the source code I'm afraid.

Please refer to the Trello above.

• Q: Why is development of this so slow and erratic?

  • A: I have a full-time job and a family. Finding time to work on a project such as this is difficult at best, and impossible at worst. Still, I try to work on it when I can.

The GUI code in this work (under the "include/gui" and "src/gui" subdirectories and henceforth referred to as MetaGUI) is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

The remainder of the code, art, sounds, and any other resource files used to run the engine are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, unless otherwise specified. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/.