Rogue is a 1980 PC (DOS / Windows) game from Toy & Wichman, catalogued here for 6 defining game mechanics.
PC (DOS / Windows)1980Complexity 45/1002D TopdownCult classic
Rogue is a dungeon crawling video game by Michael Toy and Glenn Wichman with later contributions by Ken Arnold. Rogue was originally developed around 1980 for Unix-based minicomputer systems as a freely distributed executable. (via Wikipedia)
The genre Rogue helped define
Roguelike. procedurally generated dungeons, permadeath, and turn-based survival: the form even bears its name.
The game mechanics of Rogue
Turn Based CombatCombatCombat resolves in alternating discrete turns; all player actions are fully processed before the enemy acts.
Consumable ItemsResourceItems are permanently destroyed or depleted on use; scarcity creates tension and opportunity cost.
Inventory ManagementResourcePlayer holds a collection of discrete named items with defined slot limits; deciding what to carry is a meaningful choice.
PermadeathProgressionDeath permanently ends the current run with no recovery; accumulated progress is lost or locked.
Procedural GenerationWorldWorld content, encounters, or items are generated algorithmically at runtime from a seed rather than authored by designers.
Tile Map WorldWorldWorld is built from a grid of discrete terrain tiles; position on the grid is the primary navigation primitive.
Each mechanic links to how to build it in Godot, with the retro games that share it.
Study the source
Open source (BSD-3-Clause). The 1999 re-release of the original Rogue 5.4.4 source carries a genuine BSD-3-Clause license from its authors. https://github.com/Davidslv/rogue