Cataclysm

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Revision as of 21:40, 18 November 2010 by Linlem (talk | contribs) (If it's unlicensed, it's not open source. It just means that the source is available.)
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Cataclysm
Alpha Project
Developer Whales
Theme Post-Apocalypse, Zombie, Sci-fi
Influences Fallout, Left 4 Dead, Half-Life, Deus Ex, DoomRL, Crawl, Dune, Mad Max, Dawn of the Dead, I Am Legend, Tremors, The Day of the Triffids, RIFTS
Released TBA
Updated TBA
Licensing Source available but unlicensed
P. Language C++
Platforms Linux; accessible via SSH
Interface ASCII, Keyboard
Game Length ?
Official site of Cataclysm


Cataclysm is a zombie apocalypse roguelike available through SSH at cataclysm@squidnet.ath.cx. Source is available via the git repository at http://github.com/Whales/Cataclysm (due to a server crash, the Squidnet tarball won't be available for a while). There is a devblog at http://cataclysmrl.blogspot.com. Source is updated on a near-daily basis, so be sure to update your copy regularly.

Cataclysm is still in alpha, and should be expected to be riddled with bugs. Please do not exploit these bugs and run shellcode on squidnet.


Features

  • Detailed character creation, with a plethora of traits to choose from
  • Bionics; Similar to the magic system in many games
  • Mutations, both positive and negative
  • Unbounded, three-dimensional world map that is persistant between characters
  • Item crafting
  • Realistic fire, smoke, and other dynamic map effects
  • NPCs:
    • Menu-based dialog
    • Item trading
    • Ability to recruit, hire, or enslave NPCs to form a party
  • Randomized Factions with their own economies and longterm goals
  • A day/night cycle with the need to sleep
  • Over 300 item types, including a multitude of real-world guns, drugs, and tools.
    • Many drugs are addictive, and will require continuous use to avoid withdrawal effects.


Undocumented Debug Keys

  • ~ toggles debug mode; during debug mode, extra debug messages will be displayed.
  • z reveals the world map (and will also tell you how many radio towers it contains)
  • M displays your addictions and their severity, and will also let you know when the next monster spawn will occur.
  • Z allows you to "wish" for an item. It's ugly and not very user friendly right now; hitting spacebar wishes for the selected item, and "/<name><ENTER>" will search for, and select, item <name> (e.g. "/5.56<ENTER>" will select 5.56 NATO).
  • G will spawn a random NPC nearby. They'll want to talk to you, but there's a good chance that their intentions are not benign.
  • ' displays the scent map.
  • * causes the player to teleport a short distance. This perfectly mimics the in-game "teleporter" item.
    • This is mainly useful if you somehow get stuck inside walls or the like. Let me know via email or the talk page here if that happens.
    • Just like the teleporter, using * will cause you to become slightly disconnected from reality. This can cause illness, teleportitis, hostile summons and more. Use sparingly.
  • % displays your morale modifiers.