(i)NetHack ready for iPad launch

32 Replies

I haven’t really made an official announcement about this, so here it is:

I have ported NetHack to the iPad, it’s fully playable and it is ready for the iPad launch. I don’t have any details about when and how 3rd party native iPad apps can be released, so I can’t give assurance for a launch day release :(, but it will be queued for review as soon as there is a queue available for me. I will use the remaining time until then to add more polish and gimmicks, then polish again.

The one thing I couldn’t really do for 1.0 is play it on a real device. I may have gauged processing power wrong (which might lead to performance problems), touch controls might be too small or too unwieldy (I remember I had to rewrite touch behavior in iNetHack a couple of times until it felt right). I was also the only one playtesting it, so I might have overlooked a couple of things.

I for one can’t wait to play it with my fingers instead of mouse and keyboard, while sitting or lying on the couch 🙂

If you want any tileset to be included now is the time to tell me about it. It must be 32×32 though. So far I have included Absurd, Chozo/ChozoB, default windows tiles32 and nh3d (which is apparently based on Aoki-2k5 and vanilla terrain tiles).

32 thoughts on “(i)NetHack ready for iPad launch”

  3. Dirk

    Are you sure about that? 🙂 It’s the 16×16 tileset scaled up, it will strain your eyes. I have a similar tileset based on that that has higher-quality monsters, but it looks different, I admit that.

    Reply ↓
  4. Anonymous

    I use those same tiles blown up in the QT port on my 20″ iMac and it looks okay, considering. Besides, I still play all the time in ASCII mode on NAO; I don’t see how it could possibly strain my eyes more than that!

    Obviously it’s up to you. I just wanted to beg for those old-school windows tiles that I’ve been playing for half my life. Regardless, I can’t wait to try it on an iPad. Thanks!

    Reply ↓
  9. Anonymous

    Very nice, but as a noob I’d like to be able to play in explore mode. Can you add that option?

    Reply ↓
  11. Jorgen

    You can? This may be a dumb question (unless you believe there are no dumb questions) but how do you pull up the keyboard? I did not see that option nor did it ever pop up when I was trying the various menu buttons.

    Reply ↓
  12. Dirk

    No, confused the title of the post with iNetHack 🙁 So there’s currently no way to access explore or wizard mode.

    Reply ↓
  13. Jim

    Posting from my iPad, here. Nice interface, very usable. One serious bug, though. I can’t enter any space with a known “trap”. This includes the magic portal for the quest, and probably the vibrating square! Otherwise, I’m having a blast playing! I look forward to SLASH’EM.

    Reply ↓
  15. Jim

    Ah! As I never use it, I hadn’t considered the direction control! That does work, thanks! I’ll get Slash’EM when it cones out.

    Reply ↓
  16. Morris

    This is really cool. A few questions:

    Do you need to push the INV button to access the pickup or eat something on the spot where your character is standing?

    I saw a reference to “gestures”; are there any instructions some place on how to do to them?

    Reply ↓
  19. jo

    Incredible. Playing it with hands and context menus feels so good, as if the game was made for iPad. Thanks Dirk!

    Reply ↓
  22. Dirk

    Yes it is, just visit the settings app from your home screen and look under iNetHack (you’re referring to the iNetHack iPhone version right?)

    Reply ↓
  23. David Brossard

    I have been playing for a while on my ipad and it’s pretty slick.
    I think I may have found one bug however. A unicorn horn does not have any option to wield. I should be able to wield it as a 2 handed weapon…
    Am I just missing something?
    Thanks

    Reply ↓
  25. GravitonMaker

    I’m new to Nethack, but I’m loving your iPad version! I’m having trouble with one thing: How do I get it to repeat previous messages if I accidentally hit a key before I’m done reading? The help files list a key command for this, but since the iPad version doesn’t have a keyboard option I’m stuck. Thanks!

    Reply ↓
  29. Renozhin

    Is there a way of playing it without tiles on the iPad? I’ve been trying to find a way of doing it for a while now, with no success; playing with tiles just feels like heresy to me 😛 Also, is there a way to increase the size of the movepad to avoid moving in the wrong direction when moving rapidly?

    Reply ↓
  30. Dirk

    There are only the tiles supported from the menu. As for the dpad there is a new iNetHack in development that will be universal and replace NetHack HD.

    Reply ↓

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

To create code blocks or other preformatted text, indent by four spaces:

    This will be displayed in a monospaced font. The first four 
    spaces will be stripped off, but all other whitespace
    will be preserved.
    
    Markdown is turned off in code blocks:
     [This is not a link](http://example.com)

To create not a block, but an inline code span, use backticks: 

Here is some inline `code`.

For more help see http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/syntax