Cataclysm

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	19 September 2010
Updated	often; see github commit history
Licensing	Source available but unlicensed
P. Language	C++
Platforms	Linux; accessible via SSH
Interface	ASCII, Keyboard
Game Length	Open ended
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.

Gameplay

Basic goal is survival in harsh post-cataclysm world. First thing is to get a way to store some items on your person. Many clothing pieces will provide pockets to store useful things in. Jeans have a few but trenchcoat has significantly more. Consider looking for a messenger bag, a purse or a backpack. Alternatively get a book on tailoring and sew one yourself.

Next goal is to get armed well. Try to get your hands on a broom, a mop or some long stick. Get something capable of cutting to sharpen it to wooden spear which is fairly good weapon to start puncturing monsters with. Guns are great means of dispatching shambling zombies. Pretty fun. Unfortunately noise made attracts much more braindeads and you are going to have more trouble than you started with. Either waste those and use first opportunity to flee or use a silencer. If you have mechanics knowledge try crafting one.

Also load up on comestibles, tools and knowledge. Visit libraries, hardware stores, groceries. Loot every place that might contain useful means of survival. Manage your resources carefully. During your travels you should aim to be continually better prepared for all kinds of problems. These will come for sure. Zombies, triffids, fungaloids, giant ants, diseases ...

Butcher every corpse you find. Practice makes perfect. Learn how to cook and soon lone green Z's will look like meals on two legs. Unless you picked vegetarian that is.

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 persistent between characters.
• Item crafting!
  • New recipes may be acquired by honing your knowledge through practice or learning from books
• Realistic fire, smoke, and other dynamic map effects.
• NPCs:
  • Menu-based dialog.
  • Item trading. Barter skill.
  • Ability to recruit, hire, or enslave NPCs to form a party.
• Randomized Factions with their own economies and longterm goals. May help you if your standing is good enough.
• A day/night cycle with the need to sleep. Use caffeine to stay awake longer if you must but be aware this is not healthy.
• 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.
• Ability to board doors and windows, trap construction and installation to make sure you don't get woken up by sudden blow to the head. Or teeth sunk in your soft flesh.

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). Be warned this is a debug tool and as such is not perfected. Using it may lead to crash long term.
• 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.