iNetHack is a variant available for iPhone and iPod Touch devices. It emulates vanilla NetHack 3.4.3 and is authored by Dirk Zimmermann. The current version (1.3) was released 28 December 2009 and features Hearse integration and bug fixes. It was initially released to the Apple App Store as 1.0 on 17 July 2009 and was followed by 1.1 on 14 September 2009.
Display[]
iNetHack provides a Graphical user interface utilising 6 different tilesets. Messages (text without choices) are displayed as a touch-scrollable popup, while selectable lists (like inventory) are presented as a new menu page. These are cascaded if multiple pages are present, and appear to be hard-coded to have all permutations pre-defined.
Control[]
Because of the unique control offerings of the devices that this variant runs on, iNetHack provides touch controls for the most common commands, with an optional keypad brought up on demand. Since version 1.1 there is a swipeable shortcut bar at the bottom of the screen with shortcuts like:
- . - Rest once
- 20s - Search 20 times
- , - Open
- ^d - Kick
- ^a - Redo last command
- t - Throw
- f - Fire
- z - Zap
- # - Extended commands
- abc - Brings up the iPhone/iPod Touch's keyboard
- menu - Brings up the application's menu
If an action requires a direction, a large 3x4 grid is presented around your character, allowing you to select the cardinal direction to carry out the action, including yourself (.), up (<), down (>) and cancel (ESC). You can trigger default actions (like pickup when there is something to pickup, or use the stairs) by tapping on your character. If you enable auto-kick in the settings, simply running into closed doors will try to open them or kick them if closed. Starting with 1.3, there is a confirmation dialog before doors get kicked.
Settings[]
You can control settings such as which items to auto-pickup, tileset choice, etc., in the settings app provided by Apple. As of version 1.3, Hearse can be enabled in the Settings app, allowing online sharing of ghosts.
Availability[]
iNetHack is available for free download through the Apple App Store and is 5.2Mb in size, the size largely caused by the different tilesets selectable in the settings app.