Acolyte's Pledge

(Made for 7DRL 2023. Greatly enhanced post-7DRL version is available for download.)

"Newly anointed acolyte: You have pledged, before our Eternal Guide, the contracts that bind you. And now, your mission: to descend, below the temple, to purge it of the corruption lurking within. Go with guidance, and uphold your Oath."

Acolyte's Pledge is a traditional-style roguelike. It's a turn-based dungeon crawl into the depths of a long-forgotten temple to discover what dwells beneath. Along the way, you'll have to face and survive a host of creatures, some hostile, some not.

You play as an acolyte, the lowest level of paladin, empowered by your deity with the strength to vanquish the unholy and restore peace to the world. At least, that's what you believed, when you took up your Oath.

Each run in Acolyte's Pledge, you will have take a slightly different Oath, granting you a boon from the divine. But if your faith weakens and you violate that oath, or break it entirely, that boon, and your deity's favor, will be lost. And soon after, perhaps you will be too.

(Windows 7DRL Users: There's something weird going on with the window sizing, so it could become absurdly full-screen. To quit, you can press F12.)

Post - 7DRL Changes

• Version number is displayed on main screen (after fade-in)
• Zombies move slower now (because zombies should shamble)
• Statues could block corridors, halting game progression. This is no longer the case.
• Typo in some story text.
• Added the "get item" instruction to the help screen.
• The "Quietus" oath didn't work correctly, and that's fixed now.
• When you are killed, you can still view your log and inventory and character info, to review your progress.
• Tiny visual flair - The health-bar will animate it's change in value now.
• [Spoiler] is slightly modified
• Version 0.0.8.1 and beyond has hot-swappable graphics. Press TAB to switch between tiles and ASCII.
• Version 0.0.8.3 adds an "Interact" key, which is context-sensitive for coup-de-grace, picking up items and descending to the next floor. This makes it much easier to play with directional keys and "one button".

Controls

Common controls:

• Confirm: "space" or "enter/return"
• Reject: "backspace", "escape" or "delete"
• Help: "/", a hint screen for controls.
• Exit: F12 will exit the game immediately.
• Swap Graphics: Press tab to change between tiles and ASCII (tiles are default)

Movement:

Acolyte's Pledge uses an 8-way grid, and supports a few control-schemes for cardinal and inter-cardinal movement:

• VI Keys: HJKL, YUNB
• Numpad: 8624, 7931 (Cardinal and inter-cardinal movement.)
• Arrow Keys: Arrows, PgUp, PgDown, Home, End
• WASD,QEZC

Rest:

• Press "space", "5" or "numpad ." to rest.

Descend to the next dungeon level:

• Press "," to descend.

Pray:

• Press "p" to pray.
• You may want to do this at an altar, but you can do it anywhere.
• Praying takes more time than other actions.

Combat:

• Bump into creatures to attack them.
• Some creatures will be knocked unconscious when they reach zero HP. They'll recover after some time.
• If you stand over them and press "x", you can deliver a coup-de-grace.
• Powerful attacks will bypass unconsciousness.

Pick up an item:

• When stood on an item, press "g" (get) to add it to your inventory.

Character Information:

• Press "t" to open.
• Confirm or Reject to close.

Log:

• Press "v" to open.
• Up and Down to scroll
• Press Confirm or Reject to close.

Inventory:

• Press "i" to open the inventory.
• Each item will have a number/letter next to it.
• Press that number/letter to activate or equip. Some items require targeting.
  • You can move the target with directional controls.
  • Press Confirm to activate.
  • Press Reject to cancel.
• Press Confirm or Reject to close.

Drop an item:

• Press "r" to open your inventory
• Each item will have a number/letter next to it.
• Press that to drop the item.
• Press Confirm or Reject to close.

Volume:

• Press "m" to toggle music on and off.
• Press "[" to decrease volume.
• Press "]" to increase volume.

Special Thanks

• Music was gratefully composed and produced by Torsten Jensen for this game.
• Title font is "Nightmare" by Somepx Eeve.