Runenschwert

I developed this game after my first year of programming during my summer holidays. Basically it's a RPG with ASCII art. At the time it was completely in German (hence the name "Runenschwert" which would translate into something like rune sword). It had multiple maps, character progression, combat, inventory, quests and a lot more. NPC encounters where random and the combat system was similar to games like Pokémon. A day-night cycle was implemented by limiting the sight and changing the colors to gray. The inventory could store 42 items and a full set of equipment.

Runenschwert was originally programmed with C and the Borland C++ 3.1 compiler. To keep things organized the different functions were grouped in INC files. If you still run a machine with 16bit application support you can try the original version (German). Out of nostalgia I decided to rewrite the game in 2012. The main challenge was to implement the same functionality for the Windows command prompt which were easily accessible in DOS. Functions like kbhit(), clrscr(), gotoxy() were heavily used in the DOS version and can't be used on the command prompt.

As often with projects in the past I didn't have the time to completely finish the port yet. But I managed to put together a decent prove of concept. The new game is now compatible with newer versions of Windows and has some new features which are really neat. For example a sidebar that can be activated with a button press, which results in more space for the map (now 80x25 instead of 60x19) and it hides supplementary information. The map system also got a big overhaul and supports now map names and multiple exits.

Download the new version (English).