gitwtfhub

wtf is rogue?

harminoff/rogue — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-05-18

1CAudience · generalComplexity · 1/5LicenseSetup · easy

TL;DR

A Windows friendly package of the classic Rogue dungeon game with an optional graphical tile view and multiple historical versions to choose from.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((RogueTiles))
    What it does
      Classic Rogue dungeon game
      Optional tile graphics
      Multiple game versions
    Tech stack
      C
      Allegro 5
      ncurses
      MSYS2
    Use cases
      Play a classic roguelike
      Compare historical Rogue versions
      Customize tile art
    Audience
      Players
      Retro game fans

Code map

Detail Auto

An interactive map of this repo's files and how they connect — its source is parsed live in your browser. Click Visualize to build it.

filefunction / class

Why would anyone build with this?

REASON 1

Download and play a classic version of Rogue without building anything.

REASON 2

Compare gameplay across four historical Rogue and Super-Rogue versions.

REASON 3

Switch between graphical tiles and plain text symbols while playing.

REASON 4

Create custom tile packs using the included Tile Picker tool.

What's in the stack?

CAllegro 5ncursesMSYS2

How it stacks up

harminoff/rogueabrown/aomadroxz1122/injected-host-enumeration
Stars111
LanguageCCC
Last pushed2020-03-11
MaintenanceDormant
Setup difficultyeasyhardmoderate
Complexity1/55/53/5
Audiencegeneraldeveloperdeveloper

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you spin it up?

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min

Playing only requires downloading and extracting a release zip, building from source needs MSYS2, ncurses, and Allegro 5.

BSD style license matching the original Rogue source, which allows free use and redistribution with attribution.

Wtf does this do

RogueTiles is a Windows friendly bundle of the classic dungeon game Rogue, with an optional graphical tile view added on top of the original text based interface. The original Rogue was created by Michael Toy, Ken Arnold, and Glenn Wichman in the early 1980s, and this project packages several historical versions of it so players can pick which one to run from a single downloadable executable. Playing it requires no building at all: a player downloads a zip file from the project's GitHub releases page, extracts it, and runs the included executable. A startup menu then lets the player choose between four versions of Rogue, ranging from an early 1980s public release to a later expanded variant called Super-Rogue that adds extra commands and a wider dungeon display. Each version keeps its original commands, monster tables, and difficulty intact, while sharing the same tile based graphics frontend for movement, combat, and inventory management. Core gameplay uses the traditional Rogue keyboard commands, such as arrow keys or vi style letters for movement, and single letters for actions like wielding a weapon, quaffing a potion, or reading a scroll. On top of that, the tile frontend adds its own controls for switching between graphical tiles and plain text symbols, zooming the map, toggling fullscreen, and opening a visual settings menu. That settings menu includes cosmetic options like a repositioned message log, blood spatter effects, and several optional shader effects such as a CRT scanline look, none of which change how the game actually plays. A separate tool called the Tile Picker lets players load and customize which images represent each monster, item, or piece of terrain, then save the result as a tile pack the game can load at runtime. Developers who want to build the project themselves need MSYS2, ncurses, and the Allegro 5 graphics library on Windows, and there is also a basic Android build available as a touch controlled developer version. The project is released under a BSD style license matching the original Rogue source.

Yoink these prompts

Prompt 1
Explain the differences between the Rogue versions included in RogueTiles.
Prompt 2
Show me the keyboard controls for playing Rogue in RogueTiles.
Prompt 3
Help me build RogueTiles from source on Windows using MSYS2 and Allegro.
Prompt 4
Walk me through creating a custom tile pack with the Tile Picker tool.
Prompt 5
Help me build the Android debug APK for RogueTiles.

Frequently asked questions

wtf is rogue?

A Windows friendly package of the classic Rogue dungeon game with an optional graphical tile view and multiple historical versions to choose from.

What language is rogue written in?

Mainly C. The stack also includes C, Allegro 5, ncurses.

What license does rogue use?

BSD style license matching the original Rogue source, which allows free use and redistribution with attribution.

How hard is rogue to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated easy, with roughly 5min to a first successful run.

Who is rogue for?

Mainly general.

View the repo → Decode another repo

This repo across BitVibe Labs

Don't trust strangers blindly. Verify against the repo.