'''''Murkon's Refuge''''' is a ''[[Wizardry]]'' clone played on the [[Internet]] via a [[web browser]]. It was written by Samuel Stoddard and is hosted on the [[RinkWorks]] web site.
==History==
<i>This is a brief synopsis of the '''Making of Murkon's Refuge''' page on RinkWorks.</i>
''Murkon's Refuge'' originally dates back to the [[1980s]]. In his school years, Stoddard was a devoted fan of computer [[role-playing game|RPG]]s, and he wrote his first RPG, ''Swords and Sorcery'', in [[BASIC programming language|BASIC]] on an [[Apple IIe]].
Later, in college, Stoddard decided to write a better RPG. In [[1993]], he wrote the first version of ''Murkon's Refuge'' in [[C programming language|C]] on a [[UNIX]] computer. This ''Murkon's Refuge'' ran locally on the user's computer and used [[ASCII art]] to display the graphics in the game.
In [[2000]], Stoddard began rewriting ''Murkon's Refuge'' in [[C Plus Plus|C++]] as a client-server game, and it was published on RinkWorks in [[2002]].
==Story==
<i>This is a brief synopsis of the '''Murkon's Refuge Story''' page on RinkWorks.</i>
For many years, the kingdoms of Peregham and Stiltshire were at war. King Lehowy of Peregham ordered his First Mage Anwyk Arisses to make him a magical diadem to win the war. Anwyk succeeded, but the diadem was stolen by First Mage Murkon of Stiltshire and his three comrades.
Corrupted by the power of the diadem, Murkon murdered his comrades and constructed a huge, labyrinthine dungeon ten levels deep, settling himself down at the end of the lowest level.
When King Lehowy heard of this, he called upon a group of warriors to brave the dungeon and retrieve the stolen diadem.
==Game play==
===Technical details===
''Murkon's Refuge'' runs as a [[Common Gateway Interface|CGI]] application on the RinkWorks [[HTTP]] server. <b>All</b> interaction is done via HTTP, with the RinkWorks server containing all the game logic, and the client computer used only for the [[Graphical User Interface|GUI]].
The interface is 100% pure [[HTML]], with HTML form controls used to make the player's choices. No [[Java programming language|Java]], [[JavaScript]] or [[Macromedia Flash|Flash]] is required or used.
''Murkon's Refuge'' automatically saves the situation on every step. Thus, when a player feels he7she wants to continue later, he/she doesn't have to do anything special. The game will pick up where it left off when it is started again.
To provide for server failures, ''Murkon's Refuge'' includes support for snapshot files, which contain the current game situation and can be downloaded locally on the user's computer. When the server comes back up, the file can be uploaded back to RinkWorks and the game then continues from there. [[As of 2005]], the server has not crashed once.
===Characters===
A player's party can include six characters. These can be male or female, of several different races (including human, elf, dwarf, troll and gwuil), and of the following classes:
* Knight
* Rogue
* Wizard
* Sorcerer
* Assassin
* Druid
Every class has a set of minimum requirements for the character's abilities. The requirements for Assassins and Druids are so high that new characters cannot become these classes. Once created, a character can later change his/her class, provided he/she meets the requirements.
===Play===
''Murkon's Refuge'' plays like a simplified version of ''Wizardry''. Every one of the 10 levels is a rectangle of 30*20 spaces, with walls forming a [[labyrinth]] of corridors. Making a map of the dungeon is essential for avoiding getting lost.
Various [[monster]]s inhabit the dungeon. These range from lowly [[orc]]s to powerful [[dragon]]s. There are also four "boss" monsters which are amazingly powerful and hold vital key objects. The last of these is Murkon himself, holding the magic diadem.
A notable feature of ''Murkon's Refuge'' is that when a character dies, he/she is not deleted from the game. Instead he/she remains in the party, in an unusable state. In town, a dead character can be resurrected, but at a great cost. Even if the entire party dies, they are taken back to the town they last visited, and can be resurrected if the player can afford it. If he/she can't, he/she has lost the game.
==Sequels==
[[As of 2005]], ''Murkon's Refuge'' is the only game of its kind. Stoddard has promised a new game using the same engine, but this will not be a direct sequel, but instead set in a different story. Stoddard has not made any announcements when this game is to appear.
[[Category:Online games]]
This site is not affiliated with or endorsed in any way by the Wikimedia Foundation or any of its affiliates. In fact, we fucking despise them.
|
