The Dungeons of Moria (video game): Difference between revisions
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{{video game infobox | {{video game infobox | ||
| image=[[ | | image=[[File:Dungeons of Moria (videogame) - opening screen.png|250px]] | ||
| name=The Dungeons of Moria | | name=The Dungeons of Moria | ||
| developer= | | developer=Robert Alan Koeneke<ref name="Angelfire">{{webcite|author=|articleurl=http://www.angelfire.com/games3/imoria/imoria.html|articlename=imoria|dated=|website=[http://www.angelfire.com/games3/imoria/ imoria]|accessed=8 January 2015}}</ref><br/>Jimmy Wayne Todd<ref name="Angelfire"/><br/>Gary D. McAdoo<ref name="Angelfire"/><br/>David Joseph Grabiner<ref name="Tolkien Games">{{webcite|author=Fredrik Ekman|articleurl=http://www.lysator.liu.se/tolkien-games/entry/dungeons-moria.html|articlename=The Dungeons of Moria|dated=|website=Games|accessed=8 February 2015}}</ref><br/>[[The Dungeons of Moria (video game)#Derivative versions|(and others)]] <!-- James E. Wilson, --> | ||
| publisher= | | publisher= | ||
| platform=[[wikipedia: | | platform=[[wikipedia:Amiga|Amiga]]<br/>[[wikipedia:Atari ST|Atari ST]]<br/>[[wikipedia:Macintosh|Macintosh]]<br/>[[wikipedia:MS-DOS|MS-DOS]]<br/>[[wikipedia:Unix|Unix]]<br/>[[wikipedia:VAX|VAX]]<br/>[[wikipedia:X Window System|X Windows]] | ||
| releasedate=[[1983]] | | releasedate=[[1983]] | ||
| genre=RPG | | genre=RPG | ||
|}} | |}} | ||
'''''The Dungeons of Moria''''', also know as ''Moria'', is an old rogue-like computer game, drawing inspiration from ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' and ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]''. The goal in the game is to reach the bottom of the maze of mines of [[Moria]] and kill the [[Balrogs|Balrog]].<ref>[http://www.meristation.com/v3/des_articulo.php?pic=CON&id=2254&idj=&idp=&tipo=art&c=1&pos=3 Meristation, El Anillo interactivo] p. 4 (retrieved 18 August 2010)</ref> | |||
==Development== | |||
Robert Alan Koeneke started working on ''The Dungeons of Moria'' in [[1980]] or [[1981]] at the University of Oklahoma after he became hooked on the game ''Rogue'' but could not run it on the VAX 11/780 computer running VMS to which he had access. Hence, he decided to write his own ''Rogue'' game. The first version - ''Moria Beta 1.0'' - was written with VMS BASIC and resembled Rogue. In 1983 converted the game to VMS PASCAL, utilizing its' new feature, variable length strings, and improved the game's data structures and optimization. In summer 1983, Koeneke completed ''Moria 1.0'' and spread it amongst students of the [[wikipedia:University of Oklahoma|University of Oklahoma]].<ref name="Interview Koeneke">{{webcite|author=Robert Alan Koeneke |articleurl=https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en#!msg/rec.games.roguelike.angband/gFiS2tV_-AA/Gp7g-TfuJmUJ|articlename=Early history of Moria|dated=21 February 1996|website=[https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en#!msg/rec.games.roguelike.angband/gFiS2tV_-AA/Gp7g-TfuJmUJ groups.google.com]|accessed=8 January 2015}}</ref> Jimmey Todd, a close friend of Koeneke, rewrote the character generator and added skills, history and several other functions. This became ''Moria 2.0''.<ref name="Interview Koeneke"/> | |||
[[File:The Dungeons of Moria (video game) - Gameplay.png|thumb|280px|Gameplay of ''The Dungeons of Moria''.]] | |||
In 1983-1985, Koeneke used the advice of player to improve the game and fix bugs. Every time a player completed the game, he would raise raise the difficulty of the game, eventually claiming that the game was unbeatable. In light of a football match between the University of Oklahoma and the [[wikipedia:University of Texas|University of Texas]], Koeneke sent an edited, unbeatable version of the game to University of Texas students. From around 1985 the source code was widely distributed under a licence that permitted sharing and modification but not commercial use. Koeneke's last release was ''Moria 4.7'' in [[1986]] or [[1987]].<ref name="Interview Koeneke"/> Koeneke stopped participation in the developed, when he left university and started working for [[wikipedia:American Airlines|American Airlines]]. At the time ''Moria 5.0'' was still in progress. This update would be a complete rewrite and add several features, including bodies of water with water monsters, mysterious orbs and new weapons and treasures.<ref name="Interview Koeneke"/> Development was continued by his programming assistants, Jimmy Wayne Todd and Gary D. McAdoom.<ref name="Angelfire"/> It is unknown if this version was ever finished, but according to Koeneke this is unlikely.<ref name="Interview Koeneke"/> | |||
The game was officialy maintained by David Joseph Grabiner. The last update was ''Moria 5.5.6'', which was released in [[1994]], after which activity seems to have been ceased.<ref>{{webcite|author=Dadid J. Grabiner|articleurl=http://remarque.org/~grabiner/|articlename=David J. Grabiner|dated=|website=[http://http://remarque.org/ http://remarque.org]|accessed=8 January 2015}}</ref><ref>{{webcite|author=Dadid J. Grabiner|articleurl=http://remarque.org/~grabiner/moria.html|articlename=Moria|dated=|website=[http://http://remarque.org/ http://remarque.org]|accessed=8 January 2015}}</ref><ref name="Tolkien Games"/> The game was shared over the whole world and several derivative versions were made. Koeneke received thousands letters from players about the game and their exploits.<ref name="Interview Koeneke"/> In a [http://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en#!msg/rec.games.roguelike.angband/gFiS2tV_-AA/Gp7g-TfuJmUJ forum at Google Groups] he said: | |||
{{blockquote|I have since received thousands of letters from all over the world | |||
from players telling about their exploits, and from administrators | |||
cursing the day I was born... I received mail from behind the iron | |||
curtain (while it was still standing) talking about the game on VAX's | |||
(which supposedly couldn't be there due to export laws). I used to | |||
have a map with pins for every letter I received, but I gave up on | |||
that!|Robert Alan Koeneke<ref name="Interview Koeneke"/>}} | |||
==Gameplay== | |||
==Derivative versions== | |||
''Moria'' inspired a number of derivative versions. Jim E. Wilson created ''Umoria'', a modified version in C for UNIX. At the University of Washington a modified Pascal version named ''Imoria'' was developed, which has been ported to C by Steve Kertes. ''Angband'' was derived from ''Umoria'' at the University of Warwick. Furthermore, it is known to have been an inspiration for ''Diablo''. | ''Moria'' inspired a number of derivative versions. Jim E. Wilson created ''Umoria'', a modified version in C for UNIX. At the University of Washington a modified Pascal version named ''Imoria'' was developed, which has been ported to C by Steve Kertes. ''Angband'' was derived from ''Umoria'' at the University of Warwick. Furthermore, it is known to have been an inspiration for ''Diablo''. | ||
==See also== | |||
*[[Angband (game)]] | |||
==External links== | ==External links== | ||
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* [http://www.piratehaven.org/~beej/moria/ The Moria Page] | * [http://www.piratehaven.org/~beej/moria/ The Moria Page] | ||
* [http://remarque.org/~grabiner/moriafaq.html Frequently Asked Questions] | * [http://remarque.org/~grabiner/moriafaq.html Frequently Asked Questions] | ||
* [http://www.lysator.liu.se/tolkien-games/entry/dungeons-moria.html Tolkien Games] (retrieved 16 August 2010) | * [http://www.lysator.liu.se/tolkien-games/entry/dungeons-moria.html Tolkien Games] (retrieved 16 August 2010) | ||
* [http://www.faqs.org/faqs/tolkien/games/ FAQS, Tolkien Games] (retrieved 16 August 2010) | * [http://www.faqs.org/faqs/tolkien/games/ FAQS, Tolkien Games] (retrieved 16 August 2010) | ||
{{references}} | |||
[[Category: | {{title|italics}} | ||
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dungeons of Moria}} | |||
[[Category:Amiga games]] | |||
[[Category:Apple Macintosh games]] | |||
[[Category:Atari ST games]] | |||
[[Category:MS-DOS games]] | |||
[[Category:Role playing games]] | |||
[[Category:Unix games]] | |||
[[Category:VAX games]] | |||
[[Category:X Window games]] | |||
Latest revision as of 21:38, 22 October 2022
This article or section needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of article quality. |
_-_opening_screen.png) | |
|---|---|
| The Dungeons of Moria | |
| Video game | |
| Developer | Robert Alan Koeneke[1] Jimmy Wayne Todd[1] Gary D. McAdoo[1] David Joseph Grabiner[2] (and others) |
| Platform | Amiga Atari ST Macintosh MS-DOS Unix VAX X Windows |
| Release date | 1983 |
| Genre | RPG |
The Dungeons of Moria, also know as Moria, is an old rogue-like computer game, drawing inspiration from The Lord of the Rings and Dungeons and Dragons. The goal in the game is to reach the bottom of the maze of mines of Moria and kill the Balrog.[3]
Development[edit | edit source]
Robert Alan Koeneke started working on The Dungeons of Moria in 1980 or 1981 at the University of Oklahoma after he became hooked on the game Rogue but could not run it on the VAX 11/780 computer running VMS to which he had access. Hence, he decided to write his own Rogue game. The first version - Moria Beta 1.0 - was written with VMS BASIC and resembled Rogue. In 1983 converted the game to VMS PASCAL, utilizing its' new feature, variable length strings, and improved the game's data structures and optimization. In summer 1983, Koeneke completed Moria 1.0 and spread it amongst students of the University of Oklahoma.[4] Jimmey Todd, a close friend of Koeneke, rewrote the character generator and added skills, history and several other functions. This became Moria 2.0.[4]
_-_Gameplay.png)
In 1983-1985, Koeneke used the advice of player to improve the game and fix bugs. Every time a player completed the game, he would raise raise the difficulty of the game, eventually claiming that the game was unbeatable. In light of a football match between the University of Oklahoma and the University of Texas, Koeneke sent an edited, unbeatable version of the game to University of Texas students. From around 1985 the source code was widely distributed under a licence that permitted sharing and modification but not commercial use. Koeneke's last release was Moria 4.7 in 1986 or 1987.[4] Koeneke stopped participation in the developed, when he left university and started working for American Airlines. At the time Moria 5.0 was still in progress. This update would be a complete rewrite and add several features, including bodies of water with water monsters, mysterious orbs and new weapons and treasures.[4] Development was continued by his programming assistants, Jimmy Wayne Todd and Gary D. McAdoom.[1] It is unknown if this version was ever finished, but according to Koeneke this is unlikely.[4]
The game was officialy maintained by David Joseph Grabiner. The last update was Moria 5.5.6, which was released in 1994, after which activity seems to have been ceased.[5][6][2] The game was shared over the whole world and several derivative versions were made. Koeneke received thousands letters from players about the game and their exploits.[4] In a forum at Google Groups he said:
I have since received thousands of letters from all over the world
from players telling about their exploits, and from administrators cursing the day I was born... I received mail from behind the iron curtain (while it was still standing) talking about the game on VAX's (which supposedly couldn't be there due to export laws). I used to have a map with pins for every letter I received, but I gave up on
that!
—Robert Alan Koeneke[4]
Gameplay[edit | edit source]
Derivative versions[edit | edit source]
Moria inspired a number of derivative versions. Jim E. Wilson created Umoria, a modified version in C for UNIX. At the University of Washington a modified Pascal version named Imoria was developed, which has been ported to C by Steve Kertes. Angband was derived from Umoria at the University of Warwick. Furthermore, it is known to have been an inspiration for Diablo.
See also[edit | edit source]
External links[edit | edit source]
- Usenet article from February 21, 1996 in which Robert Alan Koeneke discusses the origins of the game.
- Steve Kertes' C port of IMoria
- KMoria - port of Unix Moria 5.5.2 for the Palm OS
- The Moria Page
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Tolkien Games (retrieved 16 August 2010)
- FAQS, Tolkien Games (retrieved 16 August 2010)
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "imoria", imoria (accessed 8 January 2015)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Fredrik Ekman, "The Dungeons of Moria", Tolkien computer games (accessed 8 February 2015)
- ↑ Meristation, El Anillo interactivo p. 4 (retrieved 18 August 2010)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 Robert Alan Koeneke, "Early history of Moria" dated 21 February 1996, groups.google.com (accessed 8 January 2015)
- ↑ Dadid J. Grabiner, "David J. Grabiner", http://remarque.org (accessed 8 January 2015)
- ↑ Dadid J. Grabiner, "Moria", http://remarque.org (accessed 8 January 2015)
