1 Welcome to HACK! ( description of version 1.0.3 )
3 Hack is a Dungeons and Dragons like game where you (the adventurer)
4 descend into the depths of the dungeon in search of the Amulet of Yendor
5 (reputed to be hidden on the twentieth level). You are accompanied by a
6 little dog that can help you in many ways and can be trained to do all
7 sorts of things. On the way you will find useful (or useless) items, (quite
8 possibly with magic properties) and assorted monsters. You attack a monster
9 by trying to move into the space a monster is in (but often it is much
10 wiser to leave it alone).
12 Unlike most adventure games, which give you a verbal description of
13 your location, hack gives you a visual image of the dungeon level you are on.
15 Hack uses the following symbols:
16 A to Z and a to z: monsters. You can find out what a letter
17 represents by saying "/ (letter)", as in "/A", which will tell you that 'A'
19 - and | These form the walls of a room (or maze).
20 . this is the floor of a room.
22 > this is the staircase to the next level.
23 < the staircase to the previous level.
27 ) A weapon of some sort.
28 ( Some other useful object (key, rope, dynamite, camera, ...)
30 % A piece of food (not necessarily healthy ...).
35 $ A pile or pot of gold.
38 Hack knows the following commands:
39 ? help: print this list.
44 < up: go up the staircase (if you are standing on it).
45 > down: go down (just like up).
46 kjhlyubn - go one step in the direction indicated.
47 k: north (i.e., to the top of the screen),
48 j: south, h: west, l: east, y: ne, u: nw, b: se, n: sw.
49 KJHLYUBN - Go in that direction until you hit a wall or run
51 m (followed by one of kjhlyubn): move without picking up
53 M (followed by one of KJHLYUBN): Move far, no pickup.
54 f (followed by one of kjhlyubn): move until something
56 F (followed by one of KJHLYUBN): as previous, but forking
57 of corridors is not considered interesting.
58 i print your inventory.
59 I print selected parts of your inventory, like in
60 I* - print all gems in inventory;
61 IU - print all unpaid items;
62 IX - print all used up items that are on your shopping bill;
63 I$ - count your money.
64 s search for secret doors and traps around you.
65 ^ ask for the type of a trap you found earlier.
66 ) ask for current wielded weapon.
67 [ ask for current armor.
68 = ask for current rings.
69 $ count how many gold pieces you are carrying.
71 , pick up some things.
72 : look at what is here.
75 ^P repeat last message
76 (subsequent ^P's repeat earlier messages).
77 / (followed by any symbol): tell what this symbol represents.
78 \ tell what has been discovered.
80 w wield weapon. w- means: wield nothing, use bare hands.
81 q drink (quaff) a potion.
88 t throw an object or shoot an arrow.
89 p pay your shopping bill.
90 d drop something. d7a: drop seven items of object a.
91 D Drop several things.
92 In answer to the question "What kinds of things do you
93 want to drop? [!%= au]" you should give zero or more
94 object symbols possibly followed by 'a' and/or 'u'.
95 'a' means: drop all such objects, without asking for
97 'u' means: drop only unpaid objects (when in a shop).
98 a use, apply - Generic command for using a key to lock
99 or unlock a door, using a camera, using a rope, etc.
100 c call: name a certain object or class of objects.
101 C Call: Name an individual monster.
102 E Engrave: Write a message in the dust on the floor.
103 E- means: use fingers for writing.
104 O Set options. You will be asked to enter an option line.
105 If this is empty, the current options are reported.
106 Otherwise it should be a list of options separated by commas.
107 Possible boolean options are: oneline, time, news, tombstone,
108 rest_on_space, fixinvlet, beginner, male, female.
109 They can be negated by prefixing them with '!' or "no".
110 A string option is name; it supplies the answer to the question
111 "Who are you?"; it may have a suffix.
112 A compound option is endgame; it is followed by a description
113 of what parts of the list of topscorers should be printed
114 when the game is finished.
115 Usually one will not want to use the 'O' command, but instead
116 put a HACKOPTIONS="...." line in one's environment.
117 v print version number.
119 You can put a number before a command to repeat it that many times,
120 as in "20s" or "40.".
122 At present, some information is displayed on the bottom line.
123 (It is expected that this information will go away in future versions.)
124 You see on what dungeon level you are, how many hit points you have
125 now (and will have when fully recovered), what your armor class is
126 (the lower the better), your strength, experience level and the
127 state of your stomach.
129 Have Fun, and Good Hacking!