Show HN: Bash Dungeon – An educational dungeon crawler in the shell (opens in new tab)

(github.com)

164 pointswolandark1y ago25 comments

This is still WIP, but if anyone is interested, we could develop it much faster and perhaps even with cooler features like TUI graphics etc ...

Right now it is all in plain ol bash

25 comments

larsrc1y ago

This is a really nice idea! I played it a little bit and found one thing that can be confusing (at least for experienced Bash users): The use of <> as quotes. For instance:

   You can use the < head -n 1 > spell to take a peek at what a file holds

How about using a not-easily-typeable character pair like the guillemots?

andrecarini1y ago

> guillemots

May I suggest 「these」 instead?

KuhlMensch1y ago

Wow.

I'm adding this to my ascii "vocab"

1 more reply

dotancohen1y ago

Why not the backtick? That's the standard in Markdown, and its actual use in bash is nearly eliminated with the far safer $() syntax.

wolandarkOP1y ago

I agree, I myself have doubts about using the chevrons as quotes. bashcrawl used * to show the commands you're supposed to type. You can imagine my confusion when I encountered that notion. Using «» is a good idea though, thank you.

jamietanna1y ago

Nice, reminds me of https://github.com/veltman/clmystery which was very fun when I played it (~10 years ago)

wolandarkOP1y ago

ty, I didn't know about this, I should play it

blululu1y ago

This is great. At some point in time I realized how much I was using the terminal and spending a bit of time to learn the basics is a great investment of time. I used a similar rouge-like to learn (this one I think: https://gitlab.com/slackermedia/bashcrawl), and it really did help to nail in the basics. Would definitely recommend spending the time on one of these games for anyone who wants to learn.

wolandarkOP1y ago

Thank you! Yes I did draw somw inspiration from bashcrawl as well. I didn't know about these types of games when I started using the shell. I'm hoping this can help a few new comers.

araes1y ago

If it's something longer term as a project, some other stuff:

D&D: The Hypertext SRD has 3.5, 5, and Pathfinder material for ideas. https://www.d20srd.org/ Most Nix variants have https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daemon_(computing) in them ... it's dangerous in the darkness. Plus, there's lots of word jokes like "Bash the door down" style of play

Myst/7th Guest/Visual Novel: People in-thread are talking pictures. While command line seems to be the goal, still-frame imagery puzzles using bash commands would be cool.

The Emoji Movie/Cell Phone: Adventures in the land of appscrapers and their cobble-touch avenues as your Nethack/Rogue icon delves the "open source" nix of the phone hardware.

zersiax1y ago

I love this ;) If you do add TUI graphics please consider adding a switch to not use them, ascii art is majorly annoying with a screen reader :)

wolandarkOP1y ago

Thanks and of course, I want it to be accessible to everyone.

user39393821y ago

I’m reminded of that movie Hackers where the kid has to solve a 3D maze to authenticate with some remote computer lol

MagnumOpus1y ago

Oh and Jurassic Park as well when the girl “hacks” an SG 3D file system navigator to find her way around the computer. “Unix! I know this. ”

BeetleB1y ago

Is this more about learning bash or about learning UNIX utilities?

I need more of the latter then the former.

29athrowaway1y ago

I hope someone makes a video of this game.

shakna1y ago

So is ag "cheating"...?

bozhark1y ago

Is there a dengeon option?

EricRiese1y ago

25 comments

larsrc1y ago

This is a really nice idea! I played it a little bit and found one thing that can be confusing (at least for experienced Bash users): The use of <> as quotes. For instance:

   You can use the < head -n 1 > spell to take a peek at what a file holds

How about using a not-easily-typeable character pair like the guillemots?

andrecarini1y ago

> guillemots

May I suggest 「these」 instead?

KuhlMensch1y ago

Wow.

I'm adding this to my ascii "vocab"

1 more reply

dotancohen1y ago

Why not the backtick? That's the standard in Markdown, and its actual use in bash is nearly eliminated with the far safer $() syntax.

wolandarkOP1y ago

jamietanna1y ago

Nice, reminds me of https://github.com/veltman/clmystery which was very fun when I played it (~10 years ago)

wolandarkOP1y ago

ty, I didn't know about this, I should play it

blululu1y ago

wolandarkOP1y ago

Thank you! Yes I did draw somw inspiration from bashcrawl as well. I didn't know about these types of games when I started using the shell. I'm hoping this can help a few new comers.

araes1y ago

If it's something longer term as a project, some other stuff:

Myst/7th Guest/Visual Novel: People in-thread are talking pictures. While command line seems to be the goal, still-frame imagery puzzles using bash commands would be cool.

The Emoji Movie/Cell Phone: Adventures in the land of appscrapers and their cobble-touch avenues as your Nethack/Rogue icon delves the "open source" nix of the phone hardware.

zersiax1y ago

I love this ;) If you do add TUI graphics please consider adding a switch to not use them, ascii art is majorly annoying with a screen reader :)

wolandarkOP1y ago

Thanks and of course, I want it to be accessible to everyone.

user39393821y ago

I’m reminded of that movie Hackers where the kid has to solve a 3D maze to authenticate with some remote computer lol

MagnumOpus1y ago

Oh and Jurassic Park as well when the girl “hacks” an SG 3D file system navigator to find her way around the computer. “Unix! I know this. ”

BeetleB1y ago

Is this more about learning bash or about learning UNIX utilities?

I need more of the latter then the former.

29athrowaway1y ago

I hope someone makes a video of this game.

shakna1y ago

So is ag "cheating"...?

bozhark1y ago

Is there a dengeon option?

EricRiese1y ago