from Trogue64, title screen multicolour bitmap

If you have been playing the beta — a lot has changed! 64 Levels, 8 pumps, Monster Spawn adjustments, ending anims, highscore table, player water indicators, lots of SFX and some really great music by Hans Axelsson (I’d like to apologize for my brutal placeholder tune in the beta)

Sometime in the ’80s, a zombie outbreak plagued the local town. A daring group of heroes lured the undead to an abandoned mine. On the 64th level, they blocked the trogue (drain) and flooded the mine.

Recently, a depth alarm has gone off — the mine is draining. Someone has popped the Trogue!

Start from the lowest part of the mine, activate “8” pumps to flood the ravenous undead before they can escape. Each pump raises the water level, so move fast — or join the ranks of the undead!

Click to download

Trogue64 is a Rogue-like written for the Commodore 64 computer. Supports both PAL/NTSC models but for best results, a PAL C64 configured with an 8580 SID and a 1541 drive. Emulation was tested using VICE 3.3.

Released on CSDB: https://csdb.dk/release/index.php?id=181870

You start at the bottom of a 64 level mine, which has a variety of monsters inhabiting it; from slimes to various undead and those who worship them. Race to the ladders to escape the floor, but be warned! the only way out is to flood the mine. You’ll find pumps scattered through the levels of the mine, more than you will need — but enough to drown you.

Various items have been left to assist you, starting with a few medpacks, oxygen tanks and Holy hand grenades. There are limits on what you can carry, but the more items the more likely you’ll survive. Somewhere above are more supplies and a crowbar, which does extra damage against your foes! Occasionally a map is found, it only shows the layout not the location of items, monsters or exits.

Each pump raises the water level an equal amount. The game movement is turn-based, but the water level is on a timer. Once you are underwater, every so many steps can cause damage, using the oxygen tank will increase your damage-free step count. Oxygen can be multi tapped to charge up steps.

Beware the Slime… the mid-levels are infested. Once a slime sees you, it replicates until it blocks all ways out. A Holy hand grenade can help, but once there is more than 4 in your path — pray the stairs are behind you!

A tip: you can use the spacebar in-game to advance the turn. Sometimes forcing the monster to move will give you a better chance in combat or blocking them. Pre-Game you can use the left/right (a/d) keys to scroll through the various info screens.

You should also check out the directory contents of the disk…

Programmed in assembly using the ca65 cross-assembler package. Goat Tracker, DirMaster, Charpad, SpritePad, Photoshop, GangEd, VScode with CC65 Plugin For Compiling and Linking C & Assembly, Github, teamwork.com and Exomizer were all used to create this game. There are countless sites like CDSB, lemon64.com, forums and facebook groups that provide endless support and tutelage.

Really, it is impossible to build something without the support of scores of people. We never do things alone, thanks to everyone for all the tools and help above.

Coding/GFX/SFX: Wolfgang Bochar

Music: Hans Axelsson

Testing: Tak Yano and Jani Tahvanainen