Elephant!
A roguelike game where you play the role of an African elephant trying to survive in a harsh wilderness.
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Releases
There are currently no official releases yet.
Pre-alpha builds
- 2020-02-04a: [Linux 64-bit] [Windows 64-bit]
Disclaimer: These are development builds that may be unstable, not well-balanced, have mechanics that don't work (or don't work well), and partially-implemented or unimplemented features that probably don't work as they are intended to. Running a new pre-alpha build on an existing game may crash or corrupt your save file. Play at your own risk. :-P
Usage
Run the program from a terminal (cmd.exe on Windows). Run with -h for a list of command-line options.
Basic instructions
Because the game is still pre-alpha, it does not come with in-game help, so to get you started, here are some basic keyboard controls (mouse support is planned but currently completely unimplemented):
- i, j, k, l
- Movement keys. I know, I know, why not vi keys, right? And why no diagonal movement? Well, I did warn that this is pre-alpha...
- d
- Drink something. Either water you sucked into your trunk, or something on the ground.
- e
- Eat something. Either something you're already holding, or something on the ground.
- ,
- Pick up something.
- t (+ direction key)
- Apply your tusks to something. Currently, peels tree bark or gores an NPC.
- (space)
- Pass your turn. Currently unimportant, but will become part of tactical movement.
- /
- Enter examine mode. In this mode, movement keys do not move your character, but only the on-map cursor. Position your cursor over a tile you'd like to examine, and the "you see" panel will show you what's currently on that tile. Press 'q' to leave examine mode and return to normal gameplay mode.
- q
- Save current game and quit. The game will automatically continue the next time you start the program. Warning: always exit the game with 'q' if you want to keep your current character; if the game terminates for any other reason, you will permanently lose your character. Welcome to permadeath. :-D
- Q
- Delete current game and quit. Warning: once deleted, it is impossible to get your character back.
How to win
Believe it or not, even in its pre-alpha state it's possible to win this game. Basically, you're expected to show up within a certain radius of the terminal point where (supposedly) the rest of your herd is waiting. But the question is, how to get there. Here are some tips:
- Eat and drink as much as you can. It's a vast desert landscape, and you will die of hunger or thirst otherwise.
- In the midst of the desert landscape there are little islands of fertile land. Try to move from island to island as you search for your destination, instead of striking out into no-man's land (or no-elephants' land!), so that you can always keep hydrated and your huge elephant tummy filled.
- (Spoiler) These islands basically form a linear path of "stepping stones" to your final destination (note: for this version only!). What you want to do is to make little excursions from your current island in each direction to see if you can spot the next island. If not, return and fill up on food/water and try again in another direction. Otherwise, move on to the next island and repeat.
Note that because this is pre-alpha, your herd members are pretty stupid, and will likely be dead from starvation or hunger, or killed by lions, by the time you reach them. This is usual, albeit not intentional, and will be fixed eventually!