Caverns of Underkeep, a Free Web-Based Roguelike

Caverns of Underkeep is a free, web-based Roguelike written in Java. It should work on just about every platform you could imagine.

If you've played a roguelike, you know what to expect. If you haven't, then Caverns of Underkeep is a fine place to start.

You'll battle skeletons, dragons, and the Dark Prince himself in this epic, randomly-generated quest. You've got several class and starting options, as well as complete control over your character's stats. I recommend pumping your Hit Points, and slowly gaining the Str and Dex to wear better gear as you level. This strategy proved effective for beating the game.


Don't expect moving graphics. Roguelikes are generally ASCII or tile-based; the levels are randomly generated dynamic puzzles. Action is turned based, so you can think about your moves. You will constantly have to balance risk versus reward versus savings--not spending gold will help your score, but spending gold will help you stay alive. All resources have been funneled into a really nice system reminiscent of Crawl. At times the randomly-generated areas take on a truly imaginative, organic feel of a realistic area.

The scope is huge. Levels are rather gigantic, and there are 7 to explore. You can beat it in about 3-4 hours on your first win--much shorter if you speedrun. Although it lacks the depth of NetHack or Crawl, it's easy enough that you can use this one as practice for the big league roguelikes.

Check it out and play Caverns of Underkeep now!

The Sword of Zonguldrok, Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup

I was shocked when this awesome artifact weapon dropped in Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup. It's a +9/+9 double sword named The Sword of Zonguldrok, and when I kill enemies they are raised as mindless zombies under my control. Even if you don't play Crawl, you probably understand how much fun a sword like this can be.

 I've been playing a lot of roguelikes recently, and I discovered and beat a new one a few days ago. I know posts have been slow, but March and April have traditionally been hectic times for me as I struggle to maintain sanity during graduate school. You've waited this long, you can wait until the weekend to find out all about this new, web-based java roguelike called The Caverns of Underkeep. If you've ever played a Roguelike, you know what's up with this game. If not, you can probably figure it out easy enough. See? You got an awesome link as a reward for reading this post! How cool!

 I'll be posting massive screenshots of The Caverns of Underkeep, as well as some tips to help everyone beat the game, on Saturday, so check back! I probably won't have time to update tomorrow, but you never know... OK, one last screenshot of the epic zombie sword:

NEStalgia Ether Egg Hunt Solution

Here are the locations of several Ether Eggs. The chart comes in two formats: easy to read, and easy to paste into the game. Enjoy!


ARDAN - (House with stairs).
VERITY - (Middle of Trees).
PIATTA - (Center of Town)
BEDOE - (Hidden Room north of West Stairs).
VEZU - (Secret Room, by Mt. Goggles)
COLO - (Secret Room, path to crypt
BALZAK - (Top Middle Cell)
F.MAZE - (Secret Shop)
ENNAR - (Western Secret Path by Lovers)
B.CAVE - (Regnor's Room)
NANUK - (On the Ice, SW Town)

(1) ARDAN: House with stairs. (2) VERITY: Middle of Trees. (3) PIATTA: Center of Town. (4) BEDOE: Hidden Room north of West Stairs. (5) VEZU: Secret Room, by Mt. Goggles. (6) COLOSSEUM: Secret Room, path to crypt. (7) BALZAKIA: Top Middle Cell. (8) FOREST MAZE: Secret Shop. (9) ENNAR: Western Secret Path by Lovers. (10) BANDIT CAVE: Regnor's Room. (11) NANUK: On the Ice, SW Town.

Nestalgia Bank People

Lots of people in the bank today. You can see my new level 30, soon to be 32, Ninja in the screenshot. The Ninja class is a rather fun rogue-style character to play with and be invisible and sneaky.

Invisible and right behind you stealing your gold!

8-Bit City and Star Quest Update

You might be wondering, "Where the heck are all the updates?" I am sure you were not. I felt like taking a little time off from all the super serious video game criticism and informally address readers and tell a little about everything video game related in my recent life.

I'm now getting a lot of emails asking for me to do graphics for their game, or if they can use my graphics in there game, or if I'd write something for them, or if they can write something for me. Unequivocally I've turned everyone down in the form of not responding.

Nobody acts professionally. Rather, some of these emails borderline unsettling. Keep reading, I'll tell you whats wrong with the messages.

As far as graphics go, anyone is free to use my sprites in their own FREEEEE games. Not sort of free, or any sort of pricing anything. I'm talking down and fucking dirty indie game devs doing it all for free can use anything they want as far as I'm concerned. If you wanna make an iPhone game don't email me with some ambiguous nonsense about a shady "project" or "game." I am not opposed to design or graphics jobs, but have your shit together before emailing.

Second, if you want to write an article for 8-Bit City, just do it and email the article to me. However, I have never published an article by another author on 8-Bit City, but I've also never received one by submission. Of course, I reserve the right to not publish anything you send me. You should also send 3-4 pictures with the article if applicable.

If you are working on/finished an indie game and want me to blog about it, please email me the link! Know about a cool game? Hit me up! These are the kinds of emails I really do enjoy, and you can also post this sort of thing in the comments section of recent posts and I'll read it.

As far as games go, I am in "recharge" mode, playing through Phantasy Star 3, finishing the Phantasy Star 2 article, playing NESTalgia & Final Fantasy 6, and about to Start Dragon Quest VIII... so just remember that one has to play games in order to write about games.

NEStalgia, the 8-Bit MMORPG, is set to receive a new patch which will allow the player to recruit almost any monster (humonoid's included) as a party member with it's own set of skills, promising much expanded gameplay and party options. If you haven't played NEStalgia, now's the perfect time to start!

Finally, I've been thinking of my own development projects, and what I'd like to do next. I realized that Star Quest was still technically in Beta 2.0 and I've considered updating the battle system and gameplay. Generally speaking, I'd like to turn it into a classic console-style RPG. This would mean that I would need to increase the overworld, make some other changes, but overall I don't think that it would be too daunting of a task.

However, there are other options for the future of Star Quest. I've also considered porting the game to Byond using the same graphics, style, and story but adding online multiplayer functionality. I truly feel like this is the best option for Star Quest because the simple graphical style would allow for easy expansions. The OHRRPGCE Beta 2.0 feels like a sketch. I picture player-controlled robots and rogues hanging out in shady arcades and mugging other players for their quarters.

I'm also reworking the way in which the arcade machine's work, but I'm throwing around a lot of options.

It's also possible that I just move on to Star Quest 2 using OHRRPGCE...one never knows.

Lightning/Healwave Hybrid Ranger

With my 5 remaining points I plan on getting Healwave.

Hope this helps!

5 of a Kind

Also beat Phantasy Star II last week. Started playing Phantasy Star III. Also purchased Final Fantasy 6 on the Wii VC, and healthy doses of NEStalgia.