Victor Gijsbers's Site - Philosophy, literature, interactive fiction, and more.

What is Kerkerkruip?

Kerkerkruip is a dungeon crawling game that brings together the interactive fiction medium with the roguelike genre. You take on the role of an adventurer in a randomly generated dungeon, whose only hope of escape is to destroy the mighty wizard Malygris. The game has been designed to offer a diverse array of meaningful tactical and strategical options, and combines the thrill of random combat with the skill of complex puzzle solving.

Where do I get Kerkerkruip?

• The latest version of the game (which is currently version 8 -- released on 11 May 2013) can always be found here.
• The Kerkerkruip game file is a Glulx-file, which can be run using Gargoyle, which is available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.
• Although the game's help menu contains all information you need to play, you may find the Beginner's Guide PDF helpful.

Any good Kerkerkruip links?

• You should check out the game's page on the Interactive Fiction Database, where you can read (or write) reviews.
• The Interactive Fiction Wiki has more information, as well as links to external reviews.
• The best place to discuss and ask questions about the game is the Interactive Fiction forum, which is also where design discussion is taking place.

Reporting bugs, getting the source code, joining development

Kerkerkruip is a free software game.

• The source code lives at the Kerkerkruip Github page.
• If you want to compile the game, you'll need Inform 7.
• You'll also want to download the latest ATTACK code, which is the combat engine that Kerkerkruip uses.

Bugs can be reported on the Kerkerkruip Github page, on the Interactive Fiction forum, or by emailing me.

If you want to join the development of Kerkerkruip, you should join the discussion on the IF forum or on Github. You'll also find a series of programming tutorials over at the forum; and in the design topic, you'll often find new beta builds, in case you want to play the most up-to-date version of the game.

Some praise for Kerkerkruip

"[M]asterpiece of game design, tighter and more addictive than most graphical twitch games. No preamble, just greased up leaping back into another horrible death in the interesting, randomly generated dungeon. [...] The game manages to be one of the best roguelikes I’ve ever played without slavishly trying to reproduce traditional mechanics–instead, the destination of a fantastic roguelike is arrived at by entirely different paths, systems created or remade by the author for the medium of text."

-- Porpentine

"[T]his is a game where experience, exploration and repeat plays really pay off, and the strategic element is always vivid, the prospect of victory always tantalising. Ultimately, Kerkerkruip is an essential and massively replayable game for dungeon and combat fans, and also demonstrates the kind of novelty and elegant design that is inspiring in general."

-- Wade Clark

" Every time I played Kerkerkruip I discovered something new, died in an interesting way and wanted to go back for more. All in all, a great roguelike! Two thumbs up!"

-- Joey Jones

" I know I’ve complained about RPG-ish comp entries with randomized combat before, but those were ones that did it badly -- which most attempts do; this is something that’s a lot easier to do badly than well. Typing “attack” over and over is not fun. Developing tactics is. Kerkerkruip gets it right."

-- Carl Muckenhoupt

"All in all, tremendous fun, and I hope Victor Gijsbers keeps releasing updates for a long time to come."

-- Ferret from Hell