Difference between revisions of "Moria"

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{{game-major| name = Moria
{{game-major
|developer = [[Robert Alan Koeneke]], [[James E. Wilson]], others
|name = The Dungeons of Moria
|developer = Robert A. Koeneke, Jimmey Wayne Todd Jr., James E. Wilson, others
|influences = [[Rogue]]
|influences = [[Rogue]]
|theme = fantasy
|theme = [[Fantasy]]
|released = 1983
|released = 1983
|updated = 2008, v5.6
|updated = 13 October 2008, v5.6
|language = [[C]], [[Pascal]]
|language = [[C]], [[Pascal]]
|platforms = [[Linux]], [[DOS|MS-DOS]], [[Mac OS | Mac Classic]], [[Atari ST]], [[Amiga]], [[Unix|*NIX]]
|platforms = [[Linux]], [[DOS|MS-DOS]], [[Mac OS | Mac Classic]], Atari ST, Amiga, [[Unix|*NIX]]
|licensing = [[GPL]] v2
|licensing = [[GPL]] v2
|interface = [[ASCII]], [[Keyboard]]
|interface = [[ASCII]], [[Keyboard]]
|length = 50+ Hours not unusual
|length = ~50 Hours
|site = http://www.remarque.org/~grabiner/moria.html
|site = http://www.remarque.org/~grabiner/moria.html
}}
}}


'''Moria''', first released in 1983, is one of the earliest clones of [[Rogue]]. In 1988 it was rewritten in the [[C]] language and released as Umoria. Although this was originally a ''port'', it can very much be considered a continuation of the Moria game.
'''The Dungeons of Moria''' (usually just called '''Moria''') is a roguelike inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien's ''The Lord of the Rings'', with the game world is set in the ''Mines of Moria'', where the player has to venture deep into the mines to defeat the Balrog. Although inspired by Tolkien there is little else that the game shares with the books.


== Description ==
Created by Robert Alan Koeneke in 1983, Moria is one of the earliest clones of [[Rogue]] and was the first roguelike to have a "Town" level where you buy weapons, armor, spellbooks, potions, and various other items to help you on your difficult quest to defeat the Balrog.


Written by [[Robert Alan Koeneke]], Moria was based on J.R.R. Tolkien's ''The Lord of the Rings'', where the player has to go down in to the mines of Moria and defeat the Balrog to win the game.
Moria was also the first ''open source'' roguelike, which made it possible for it to be ported to many different computer platforms in a time when that was generally hard to achieve.


This game was the first roguelike to have a "Town" level, where you may buy your weapons, armor, spell books, potions, and various other item to help you on your quest. The game world is "The Dungeons (or Mines) of Moria", and although the name comes from the world of Tolkien, there is little that the game shares with the books. In the deepest level, you must find and defeat the Balrog. This is a hard quest for which you must prepare with the proper equipment and character enhancement items. It is not unusual for a game win to take over 50 hours.
Although the game is not as popular as it once was, it is still considered as one of the major roguelikes.


It was the first open source roguelike, which made it possible for it to be ported to many different computer platforms, in a time when that was hard to achieve. Although the game is not as popular as it once was, it is still considered a major Roguelike.
== Original VMS Moria development ==


== Original Development ==
Robert A. Koeneke became hooked on "Rogue" while at the University of Oklahoma. Around 1980/81 he got a job in a new department where the game wasn't available, so in 1981 he decided to write his own Rogue game written in VMS BASIC, and called it Moria Beta 1.0. In 1983 he enrolled in a Pascal operating systems class and started rewriting Moria in VMS Pascal, releasing v1.0 the following summer. Koeneke's good friend, Jimmey Wayne Todd Jr., wrote many of the core features in the early days of Moria.
Robert Alan Koeneke became hooked on "Rogue" while at the University of Oklahoma. Around 1981 he got a job in a new department where the game wasn't available, so he decided to write his own Rogue game written in [[Basic]] and called it Moria Beta 1.0. In 1983 he enrolled in a Pascal operating systems class and that summer finished Moria 1.0, rewritten in VMS Pascal. In [[1985]] he started sending out the source code to other Universities, and it was during this time that the game became popular.


Koeneke was working on Moria 5.0, which was an almost complete rewrite with interesting features like streams, lakes and new weapons. It was, however, never released. A different version called Moria UB 5.0 appeared at the University at Buffalo; this is the last VMS version ever, and is often called VMS Moria 5.0.
In 1985 they started sending out the source code to other Universities, and it was during this time that the game started to became popular.


The last official "Koeneke" Moria, v4.7, was released in 1987.
Koeneke was working on Moria 5.0, which was an almost complete rewrite with interesting features like streams, lakes and new weapons, however it was never released. A different version called Moria UB 5.0 appeared at the University at Buffalo; this is the last VMS version released, and is sometimes called VMS Moria 5.0.
 
The last official release from Koeneke was Moria 4.8, and was released November 1986.
 
== C language development ==
 
In February 1987, James E. Wilson took the original Moria 4.8 sources and started porting it to the C language, running on the UNIX operating system. The first official release (v4.85) was posted to the [https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/comp.sources.games/umoria/comp.sources.games/kSX-_emh0Xs/9cX4kCaZa0EJ comp.sources.games Usenet newsgroup] on November 5, 1987.
 
Umoria also fixed many bugs, spelling errors, and inconsistencies in the original Moria sources. It also introduced character re-rolling (in the later versions), but otherwise had few changes from the original game. Unlike the original game, this version had no help facility.
 
As C is a much more portable language than the original Pascal, it became easier for Umoria to be ported to various other computer systems such as IBM-PC, Atari ST, Amiga, Macintosh, Apple IIGS, VM/SP, Archimedes.
 
== C++ language development ==
 
In 2016 Michael R. Cook started the Umoria Restoration Project, with the goal to clean up the source code and provide support for Windows, macOS, and Linux from one standard codebase. The game was rewritten in C++ and the source code was reorganized and cleaned up.


== Legacy ==
== Legacy ==


The release of the source code allowed Moria to survive its VMS origins. After the creation of Umoria (moving to the C language), the game became available on many different computer platforms such as DOS, Amiga and Atari ST, and also spawned many variants, with the most successful being [[Angband]].
The release of the source code allowed Moria to survive its VMS origins, particularly so after the creation of Umoria. Along with the many ports to different computer systems, it also spawned numerous variants - the most successful being [[Angband]] - and is also known to have been an inspiration for the first commercially successful Roguelikelike, [[Diablo]].
 
It is also know to have been an inspiration for the first commercially successful Roguelike, [[Diablo]].


== Related topics ==
== Related topics ==
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== Variants ==
== Variants ==


* Amiga Moria (CWM Moria)
* [[Angband]]
* [[Angband]]
* [[BOSS]]
* [[BOSS]]
* [[BOSSC]]
* BOSSC
* [[Bruce Moria]]
* Bruce Moria
* [[Colour Umoria]]
* [[Colour UMoria]]
* [[CWM Moria]] (Amiga)
* [[Colour Druid UMoria]]
* [[Druid Moria]] (and colour Druid)
* [[Druid UMoria]]
* [[gmoria]]
* [[ICMoria]]
* [[ICMoria]]
* [[Imoria]]
* [[Imoria]]
* [[Jmoria]]
* [[Jmoria]]
* [[JAMoria]]
* [[JAMoria]]
* [[jsMoria]] (a web Umoria port)
* [[jsMoria]]
* [[kMoria]]
* [[kMoria]]
* [[MacMoria]]
* MacMoria
* [[Mines of Morgoth]]
* [[MoriaOP]]
* Moria UB
* [[Morgul]]
* [[Morgul]]
* [[NPPMoria]]
* [[NPPMoria]]
* [[Pmoria]]
* PC-Moria
* [[Purple X]] (Apple)
* [[PMoria]]
* [[Russian Moria]]
* Purple X (Apple)
* [[UMoria]]
* Russian Moria
* [[Tales of Middle Earth]]
* [[Umoria]]
* XMoria


== Related links ==
== Related links ==


* [http://umoria.org Umoria.org], Windows and macOS executables for v5.7, information, and links to source code.
* [http://www.remarque.org/~grabiner/moria.html David Grabiner's Moria Page]
* [http://www.remarque.org/~grabiner/moria.html David Grabiner's Moria Page]
* [http://beej.us/moria/ Beej's Moria Page]
* [http://beej.us/moria/ Beej's Moria Page]
* [http://groups-beta.google.com/group/rec.games.roguelike.angband/msg/6526ee37f9e09e1a?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8 Usenet article], where the author himself describes the origins of Moria
* [http://groups-beta.google.com/group/rec.games.roguelike.angband/msg/6526ee37f9e09e1a?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8 Usenet article], where the author himself describes the origins of Moria.
* Moria got its own dedicated newsgroup. It can be accessed through [http://groups-beta.google.com/group/rec.games.roguelike.moria/ Google groups].
* [http://groups-beta.google.com/group/rec.games.roguelike.moria/ Moria newsgroup] on Google Groups (rarely used).
** [ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/rec.games.roguelike.moria/rec.games.roguelike.moria_Frequently_Asked_Questions Latest rec.games.roguelike.moria FAQ]
* [ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/rec.games.roguelike.moria/rec.games.roguelike.moria_Frequently_Asked_Questions rec.games.roguelike.moria FAQ] (last updated 2010)
* [http://free-moria.sourceforge.net/ free-moria], a successful 2007 project by Ben Asselstine to re-license UMoria 5.5.2 under the GPL by permission of all contributing authors
* [http://free-moria.sourceforge.net/ free-moria], a successful 2007 project by Ben Asselstine to re-license UMoria 5.5.2 under the GPL by permission of all contributing authors.
* [http://github.com/HunterZ/umoria/releases Archived UMoria source code history, and Windows ports of UMoria 5.6]
* [http://github.com/HunterZ/umoria/releases Archived UMoria source code history], with Windows ports of UMoria 5.6.
 
[[Category:Open source]]
[[Category:Open source]]

Latest revision as of 09:49, 9 January 2021

The Dungeons of Moria
Major Roguelike
Developer Robert A. Koeneke, Jimmey Wayne Todd Jr., James E. Wilson, others
Theme Fantasy
Influences Rogue
Released 1983
Updated 13 October 2008, v5.6
Licensing GPL v2
P. Language C, Pascal
Platforms Linux, MS-DOS, Mac Classic, Atari ST, Amiga, *NIX
Interface ASCII, Keyboard
Game Length ~50 Hours
Official site of The Dungeons of Moria


The Dungeons of Moria (usually just called Moria) is a roguelike inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, with the game world is set in the Mines of Moria, where the player has to venture deep into the mines to defeat the Balrog. Although inspired by Tolkien there is little else that the game shares with the books.

Created by Robert Alan Koeneke in 1983, Moria is one of the earliest clones of Rogue and was the first roguelike to have a "Town" level where you buy weapons, armor, spellbooks, potions, and various other items to help you on your difficult quest to defeat the Balrog.

Moria was also the first open source roguelike, which made it possible for it to be ported to many different computer platforms in a time when that was generally hard to achieve.

Although the game is not as popular as it once was, it is still considered as one of the major roguelikes.

Original VMS Moria development

Robert A. Koeneke became hooked on "Rogue" while at the University of Oklahoma. Around 1980/81 he got a job in a new department where the game wasn't available, so in 1981 he decided to write his own Rogue game written in VMS BASIC, and called it Moria Beta 1.0. In 1983 he enrolled in a Pascal operating systems class and started rewriting Moria in VMS Pascal, releasing v1.0 the following summer. Koeneke's good friend, Jimmey Wayne Todd Jr., wrote many of the core features in the early days of Moria.

In 1985 they started sending out the source code to other Universities, and it was during this time that the game started to became popular.

Koeneke was working on Moria 5.0, which was an almost complete rewrite with interesting features like streams, lakes and new weapons, however it was never released. A different version called Moria UB 5.0 appeared at the University at Buffalo; this is the last VMS version released, and is sometimes called VMS Moria 5.0.

The last official release from Koeneke was Moria 4.8, and was released November 1986.

C language development

In February 1987, James E. Wilson took the original Moria 4.8 sources and started porting it to the C language, running on the UNIX operating system. The first official release (v4.85) was posted to the comp.sources.games Usenet newsgroup on November 5, 1987.

Umoria also fixed many bugs, spelling errors, and inconsistencies in the original Moria sources. It also introduced character re-rolling (in the later versions), but otherwise had few changes from the original game. Unlike the original game, this version had no help facility.

As C is a much more portable language than the original Pascal, it became easier for Umoria to be ported to various other computer systems such as IBM-PC, Atari ST, Amiga, Macintosh, Apple IIGS, VM/SP, Archimedes.

C++ language development

In 2016 Michael R. Cook started the Umoria Restoration Project, with the goal to clean up the source code and provide support for Windows, macOS, and Linux from one standard codebase. The game was rewritten in C++ and the source code was reorganized and cleaned up.

Legacy

The release of the source code allowed Moria to survive its VMS origins, particularly so after the creation of Umoria. Along with the many ports to different computer systems, it also spawned numerous variants - the most successful being Angband - and is also known to have been an inspiration for the first commercially successful Roguelikelike, Diablo.

Related topics

Variants

Related links