NetHack VS crawl

Compare NetHack vs crawl and see what are their differences.

NetHack

Official NetHack Git Repository (by NetHack)

crawl

Dungeon Crawl: Stone Soup official repository (by crawl)
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NetHack crawl
62 658
2,637 2,196
1.9% 2.0%
9.9 10.0
about 13 hours ago 1 day ago
C C++
- GNU General Public License v3.0 or later
The number of mentions indicates the total number of mentions that we've tracked plus the number of user suggested alternatives.
Stars - the number of stars that a project has on GitHub. Growth - month over month growth in stars.
Activity is a relative number indicating how actively a project is being developed. Recent commits have higher weight than older ones.
For example, an activity of 9.0 indicates that a project is amongst the top 10% of the most actively developed projects that we are tracking.

NetHack

Posts with mentions or reviews of NetHack. We have used some of these posts to build our list of alternatives and similar projects. The last one was on 2023-06-17.
  • Eglot + clangd not working for NetHack code base
    3 projects | /r/emacs | 17 Jun 2023
    My configuration of Eglot is simple: (use-package eglot :hook (c-mode . eglot-ensure)). And it works for a single c file. But when I use this setup to read the code of NetHack, it doesn't work for linting and definition finding (M-.), even though eglot connection has no problem. I observed the same problems when reading the code of SQLite. Some specific problems I observed:
  • First version of nethack with a bestiary?
    2 projects | /r/nethack | 3 Jun 2023
    Since nethack 3.1.0, the source for nethack's "bestiary" has been dat/data.base, in plain text, processed into a file named "data" when building the program. The unprocessed file intended for the nethack's next version can be seen at https://github.com/NetHack/NetHack/blob/NetHack-3.7/dat/data.base (it's quite long).
  • NetHack 3.6.7
    2 projects | news.ycombinator.com | 16 Feb 2023
    Oh jeez, this fixes CVE-2023-24809 - i.e. nethack on shared systems may be risk due to buffer overflow in pre-3.6.7 versions.

    I was looking at the list of diffs with some confusion about why it's such a small point release ( https://github.com/NetHack/NetHack/blob/NetHack-3.6/doc/fixe... ) before I re-read the release notes and saw the security issue.

  • Analyzer for Nethack idea - problem with getting data from another program
    2 projects | /r/roguelikedev | 16 Feb 2023
    For NetHack, part 1 comes up quite frequently because people like to port the game to new platforms / user interfaces, so there's a "windowport" system which exposes interfaces for gaining information about what the player can see – all the game's UI routines go through a small set of functions, which can be swapped out by recompiling the game (or you can even build NetHack as a library nowadays, so that you can link your own user interface against it). If you wanted to intercept part of the information about what the player could see, the easy way would be to modify an existing windowport to see that information and pass it to your interception tool (although this would require changing the game's source). If you were really set on not changing the source at all, you could probably use some sort of debugger API to intercept calls to the windowport, but changing the source is probably easier.
  • game development with c
    3 projects | /r/C_Programming | 26 Sep 2022
    Tangentially related, this repo contains one of the greatest games ever made in C and once you have your feet wet would be very educational to look over.
  • Ask HN: What's the best source code you've read?
    46 projects | news.ycombinator.com | 10 Sep 2022
  • Good open source games written in C?
    8 projects | /r/C_Programming | 4 Sep 2022
    Rogue, nethack, and Abuse come to mind, and then pretty much all the old id software stuff, along with the raven engine. These SDL tutorials might be of interest to you too, they are basically in the format of game sources with detailed explanations.
  • C Roguelike Resources?
    8 projects | /r/roguelikedev | 15 Apr 2022
  • Note for Nethack Programmers
    3 projects | /r/nethack | 24 Mar 2022
    Congratulations! The dev team did something about your request. It's not what you wanted though.
    3 projects | /r/nethack | 24 Mar 2022
    EDIT: The relevant commit: https://github.com/NetHack/NetHack/commit/ef1eeed7550e38fa1e4ff0ef608f3c8b55eaa950

crawl

Posts with mentions or reviews of crawl. We have used some of these posts to build our list of alternatives and similar projects. The last one was on 2023-12-05.
  • any suggestions for a beginner roguelike? something that's not infuriating
    2 projects | /r/roguelikes | 5 Dec 2023
    Since Brogue's already been mentioned, I'd add Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup and Tales of Maj Eyal as pretty beginner friendly games.
  • Early thoughts on the new shapeshifter (transmuter) mechanics
    2 projects | /r/dcss | 12 Jul 2023
  • What is your favourite open source game(s)?
    8 projects | /r/linux_gaming | 6 Jul 2023
    Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup - Free traditional roguelike with fair mechanics and a lot of variety between species/skill/god choices (~25 gods and maybe with the exception of sif/veh and oka/trog, they are very distinct). The tiles are great. There's many developers and they are very welcoming of code or vault contributions. Reducing incentives to play tediously is one of the goals. Easily hundreds of hours of gameplay for free. Playable online (connecting to a server through your browser/terminal) or offline (terminal or tiles version). There have been win streaks of 50+ games with a variety of species/background combos so you know it's mostly fair(it IS possible for rng to give you an unwinnable game), but it's very difficult if your goal is to win every game.
  • New Transmutations?
    3 projects | /r/dcss | 4 Jul 2023
    This change is intended to allow more opportunities for players to shift into or out of a 'transmuter' playstyle, to improve the UI of forms, and to improve some miscellaneous issues, e.g. Lichform being useless in 3-rune games. For more context, see https://github.com/crawl/crawl/wiki/Transmutations-Reform. Throughout, balance is a very rough sketch. I expect many things will need to be buffed, others will need to be nerfed, and some will need to be replaced entirely. This is a grand experiment, not a final state. Talismans The largest change is that forms are no longer entered via spells. Instead, special items called 'talismans' must be found and evoked. Once entered, these 'talisman forms' last indefinitely. Further notes on talismans: Talismans scale only on Transmutations skill. They do not care about Int, Spellcasting, other spell schools, wizardry, or encumbrance. (That is, they aren't spells.) Talisman forms have a 'minimum skill'. Below that skill, entering the talisman form will reduce the user's maximum HP (while in the form). This is intended to roughly mimic the inability to effectively cast spells at low skills/high fail% - it provides a space in which an 'early' form can be better than a 'later' one, even if you've found both. Talisman forms have a 'maximum skill'. Above that skill, no further scaling applies. This is intended to roughly mimic max spellpower - it makes it more obvious that later-game forms will end up outscaling earlier ones. It takes 5 turns to enter or leave a talisman form, exactly as with armour or amulets. Use of a talisman form is intended to be a strategic decision, again like wearing armour, rather than something swapped in each fight. Talisman forms are not removed by cancellation or dispelling. Given that they now take many turns to re-enter, it'd be far too brutal otherwise. If the player enters a temporary form (Dithmenos's shadow form, Kirke's pigform, a /poly form...) while in a talisman form, when that temporary form ends, the player will re-enter their old talisman form. Talismans don't need to be held after they're used. You can evoke them from the floor and leave them there. This avoids inventory pressure. Talismans can be used with Sacrifice Artifice, since they don't use Evo. Zin instantly excommunicates users of a talisman. Take that, nerds! Art for talismans is pending. Forms The following forms exist: Beast: This is the starting form for the Transmuter background. It melds all aux armours in exchange for a Slaying bonus (ala Wereblood) - +2 at 0 skill, +8 at 13 skill (max). This is intended to provide a bonus which is compelling early game (when no or few aux armours have been found) but more tenuous later, especially for non-transmuters. It's also intended to provide a bridge between Tmut and weapon use, since a transmuter who finds a great weapon can switch from UC to that weapon without giving up their form and Tmut training. Beast form allows use of body armour so that it can present a reasonable slay-for-AC tradeoff without becoming overly strong for 'dex-based' characters, who wouldn't mind losing body armour nearly as much. Anaconda: This is a tier 2 form. Anaconda form turns you into a giant anaconda. All your items meld, you can constrict, you get some AC and an HP bonus... This is intended to replace Ice Form, a form to help transmuters transition into the mid-game. The rF- of Ice Form is less appropriate for early-game characters who can no longer switch between forms, and Ice Form is not evocative - no one gets Ice Beasts. On the other hand, turning into a snake... everyone gets that. That's the dream. Limbs are for dorks. Ssssss Maw: This is a tier 2 form. Maw form melds the body slot, transforming it into a giant mouth, ala the Brazilian Mapinguari. The maw provides an aux attack with damage that scales on Transmutations skill. It also has the old Hydra form devour-on-kill-for-hp gimmick, since everyone loved that. This is intended to be a way that Transmuters can transition into the mid-game, especially transmuters who use weapons. It's probably a bit too strong for quick blade users at present - perhaps I'll give it +str -dex, or something. (It may also just be too strong in general - numbers are WIP!) Blade: This is a tier 2 form. It's blade hands. UC damage now scales slightly with Tmut skill. Not much to say otherwise. This is intended to be another way that Transmuters can transition into the mid-game. It probably needs some kind of extra nerf to compensate for not caring about body armour penalties anymore - TBD. Statue: This is a tier 3 form. It's statue form. Intended to be a way for transmuters to head into late-game while still being able to use weapons, if desired. Might need to be a bit stronger for weapon users. Dragon: This is a tier 3 form. It's dragon form. AC and UC damage now scale slightly with Tmut skill. Intended to be a way for transmuters to head into late-game. Possible this should be tier 4 and Storm should be tier 3 - dragons are cool! Dragons should be the best! Storm: This is a tier 4 form. It's storm form. Intended for players who want to dump ludicrous amount of skill XP into tmut. Death: This is a tier 4 form. Replacing Necromutation/Lich Form, Death Form makes you dead (no drinking potions, holy wrath/dispel undead vuln, rC, rTorm, rPois, etc) and also gives you an assortment of spicy powers. On hit (with melee/UC), victims get slowed, weakened, and heavily drained. There's also a new active, Siphon Essence, which costs 20 (!) MP, halves the HP of all enemies in radius 2, and heals you based on damage dealt and Tmut skill. (That works on all non-MH_NONLIVING enemies, as do the debuffs.) It no longer provides innate AC or Will, nor does it give a necro enhancer. Its UC damage is now significantly higher, comparable to blade hands, though still much lower than Statue, Dragon or Storm. This is intended to be a way for players who want to spend huge skill XP on tmut to do so, including those who use tmuts + weapons. It's intended to feel a bit different from other forms while still being competitive in melee. Other forms have huge base damage - Death Form has lower damage but very strong debuffs. Other forms have AC (Statue), HP (Dragon) or EV (Storm) - Death Form gives Siphon Essence as a very powerful survival tool. Other Notes Transmuter no longer starts with any spells, and their stats have been adjusted accordingly. Various books have been merged and consolidated to make up for the removal of eight spells. It might make sense to drop the book generation rate slightly, but I haven't done this yet. TODOs Before this is merged, I'll need to do the following: Get autotraining working with talismans. Update sprints. Add save compat for old transmuters, esp those with Beastly Appendage on. Fix up transmuting into/out of anaconda form while constricting (if that's possible? Maybe with Xom involved?) Make Xom poly you again. Add a targeter for Siphon Essence. Later changes Transmutations skill is currently in a transitional state. At some point (probably after this is merged), I'd like to split apart the functions of 'powering tmut spells' (Irradiate, Yara's, etc) and 'using talismans'. This should reduce the extent to which Tmut has an 'identity crisis' - the form playstyle isn't really a casting playstyle (it wasn't before, either!), but it still has an odd and awkward overlap with various useful spells. To do this, tmut spells would either be dispersed into different schools (Poison, etc), or talisman use could become a new, separate 'Shapeshifting' skill. (I suppose the Tmuter background would also need a rename?) This is a large enough change that I'm not rushing into it - talismans are massive enough on their own. Also... In the future, artefact talismans (i.e. randarts) could be interesting - to provide more excitement for rare finds. The randarts would have the usual panoply of properties (rF+, Dex-2, etc), which would apply while the player was in the relevant form. Possibly Wanderers should get a chance to start with beast talisman?
    3 projects | /r/dcss | 4 Jul 2023
    You can keep track of pending changes here: https://github.com/crawl/crawl/pulls
    3 projects | /r/dcss | 4 Jul 2023
  • Why doesn't Poison magic deserve endgame spells?
    4 projects | /r/dcss | 4 Jul 2023
    Huh? Devs are already doing that, along with other things: https://github.com/crawl/crawl/pull/3176
    4 projects | /r/dcss | 4 Jul 2023
    PF seems to be merging offensive transmutations into poison, and separating transmutations from magic: https://github.com/crawl/crawl/pull/3176 - and i am completely on-board with r those changes!
    4 projects | /r/dcss | 4 Jul 2023
    You seem to be arguing very vigorously with the idea that Poison can't get corrosion because it would be OP. Perhaps you could point out where on https://github.com/crawl/crawl/wiki/Wont-Do that idea is actually mentioned? Because it looks to me like you're arguing furiously with a position you've simply made up.
    4 projects | /r/dcss | 4 Jul 2023

What are some alternatives?

When comparing NetHack and crawl you can also consider the following projects:

angband - A free, single-player roguelike dungeon exploration game

UnNetHack - NetHack fork that is in development

seed-search - Utilities to catalog and search data for Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup dungeon generation seeds

Cataclysm-DDA - Cataclysm - Dark Days Ahead. A turn-based survival game set in a post-apocalyptic world.

EvilHack - A variant of NetHack that is designed to be a much more challenging experience than the original, drawing inspiration and content from various existing variants along with adding unique and never-before-seen custom content.

sil-q

BrogueCE - Brogue: Community Edition - a community-lead fork of the much-loved minimalist roguelike game

Vulture-NetHack-3.6.6 - An ongoing update Vulture's for Nethack 3.60 to Nethack 3.6.6

brogue-android-port - Brogue Android Port

SpecBAS - An enhanced Sinclair BASIC interpreter for modern PCs