''Larn'' is a
roguelike
Roguelike (or rogue-like) is a subgenre of role-playing game, role-playing computer games traditionally characterized by a dungeon crawl through procedural generation, procedurally generated level (video gaming), levels, Turns, rounds and time- ...
computer game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedbac ...
written by Noah Morgan in
1986
The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
**Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles.
**Spain and Portugal enter ...
for the
UNIX
Unix (; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multiuser computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, a ...
operating system
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs.
Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ef ...
. Morgan's original version of ''Larn'' remains part of the
NetBSD
NetBSD is a free and open-source Unix operating system based on the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD). It was the first open-source BSD descendant officially released after 386BSD was forked. It continues to be actively developed and is a ...
games collection.
[src/games/larn/](_blank)
NetBSD CVS Repositories. Accessed January 18, 2008.
''Larn'' is one of the shorter roguelike games. It can take many hours and tens (or even hundreds) of thousands of game turns to beat other roguelikes, such as
NetHack
''NetHack'' is an open source single-player roguelike video game, first released in 1987 and maintained by the NetHack DevTeam. The game is a fork of the 1982 game '' Hack'', itself inspired by the 1980 game ''Rogue''. The player takes the rol ...
or
Ancient Domains of Mystery
''Ancient Domains of Mystery'' is a roguelike video game designed and developed by Thomas Biskup and released in 1994. The player's goal is to stop the forces of Chaos that invade the world of Ancardia. The game has been identified as one of th ...
, but ''Larn'' can reasonably be completed in one play session.
History
Primary development of ''Larn'' halted in
1991
File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the ...
with version 12.3, but its
open source
Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized sof ...
nature has led to later variants. Developers have ported the game to such diverse
operating systems
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs.
Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ef ...
as
Solaris
Solaris may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Literature, television and film
* ''Solaris'' (novel), a 1961 science fiction novel by Stanisław Lem
** ''Solaris'' (1968 film), directed by Boris Nirenburg
** ''Solaris'' (1972 film), directed by ...
,
Amiga OS
AmigaOS is a family of proprietary native operating systems of the Amiga and AmigaOne personal computers. It was developed first by Commodore International and introduced with the launch of the first Amiga, the Amiga 1000, in 1985. Early versio ...
,
Atari TOS
TOS (The Operating System) is the operating system of the Atari ST range of computers. This range includes the 520ST and 1040ST, their STF/M/FM and STE variants and the Mega ST/STE. Later, 32-bit machines ( TT, Falcon030) were developed using a ...
, and
Microsoft Windows.
On October 4th 2015, a GitHub repository was created and Larn started to be developed and maintained once again from the original source code. This makes Larn one of the oldest video games still being developed.
''ULarn''
In
1987
File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airpor ...
, Phil Cordier modified the ''Larn''
source code
In computing, source code, or simply code, is any collection of code, with or without comment (computer programming), comments, written using a human-readable programming language, usually as plain text. The source code of a Computer program, p ...
to form ''Ultra-Larn'', or more commonly, ''ULarn''. It introduced true character classes and additional levels, weapons, etc. As with its parent, other developers have maintained and refined ''ULarn'' in the absence of its author.
Gameplay
''Larn'' is one of the first roguelike games to feature a persistent
home level
An overworld (sometimes referred to as a hub world) is, in a broad sense, commonly an area within a video game that interconnects all its levels or locations. They are mostly common in role-playing games, though this does not exclude other vid ...
—in this case, a town. In addition to the player's residence, the town offers a bank, a shop, a
trading post
A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded.
Typically the location of the trading post would allow people from one geographic area to tr ...
, a school, a tax administration office, and entrances to two
dungeons
A dungeon is a room or cell in which prisoners are held, especially underground. Dungeons are generally associated with medieval castles, though their association with torture probably belongs more to the Renaissance period. An oubliette (from ...
, one of which is a volcano.
The goal of ''Larn'' is for the player to traverse a dungeon in search of a potion that will cure his ailing daughter of 'dianthroritis'. This quest is
time-limited, measured in 'mobuls'. Apart from the main dungeon's ten levels, three additional levels are located beneath a volcanic shaft. To obtain the sought-after potion, the player must first acquire adequate experience, power, and gold. ''Larn'' increases in difficulty each time it is finished, making it harder for players to perform in-game actions, such as destroying walls or statues. ''Larn'' also requires the player pay a tax in subsequent games based on the amount of money in the player's possession when the game was last won.
References
External links
The unofficial Larn game homepage with links to articles, source code, other variants of Larn, and an option to play the DOS and Amiga versions of Larn online*
* {{Internet Archive game, id=msdos_Larn_1986
Josh Brandt's ULarnLarn Blog with Strategies/Easter EggsNLarn, an adaptation of Larn for Linux, Mac OS X, WindowsdLarn A free (no ads, no in-game purchases) re-implementation of uLarn for Android with graphics
Roguelike video games
1986 video games
Video games with available source code
Video games developed in the United States