vaporware
(Tara McGrew)
February 1, 2026, 10:53pm
1
It’s mostly an old-school roguelike, it’s a little bit IF, and it’s potentially the next full-size example game for ZILF.
rascal-260201.z5 (68.2 KB)
rascal-260202.z5 (70.3 KB)
rascal-260203.z5 (74.8 KB)
rascal-260206.z5 (78.8 KB)
rascal.z5 (Feb 13) (105.4 KB)
rascal.z5 (release 2, Feb 16) (106.3 KB)
23 Likes
SomeOne2
(Max Fog)
February 1, 2026, 11:18pm
2
Fun! This could be cool for future versions of ZIL, going full-out Beyond Zork.
1 Like
Mike_G
(Mike)
February 2, 2026, 2:02pm
3
At first I misread “Kill fiends” as “Kill friends”.
6 Likes
Angstsmurf
(Petter Sjölund)
February 2, 2026, 3:38pm
4
Seems fun.
Am I supposed to be able to climb the stairs? I tried plugging in an external keyboard into my laptop, but the ‘/’ key on the numpad does not seem to work.
Googling keyboard layouts, I see that US and UK keyboards (and Chinese) seem to have a dedicated ‘/’ key, but most other locales don’t.
ethern0t
(David)
February 2, 2026, 4:02pm
5
Petter, if you run any other z machine game on that interpreter does the ‘/’ key work there?
Angstsmurf
(Petter Sjölund)
February 2, 2026, 4:38pm
6
Not sure which other games use the ‘/’ for single-key-input (I can always enter it in line input, using either the standard shift+7 or the numpad ‘/’ key.) I’ve tried RASCAL in Bocfel (Gargoyle) and Frotz, but I can’t climb the stairs in either. Switching to US keyboard layout in macOS does not seem to help. Does it work for anyone else?
vaporware
(Tara McGrew)
February 2, 2026, 4:54pm
7
To use the stairs, you should be able to press < or > - the same characters that are used to draw the stairs.
I see how the way it’s written on screen could give the impression that the key is /, though. Good feedback.
1 Like
Angstsmurf
(Petter Sjölund)
February 2, 2026, 5:32pm
8
Thanks! It works now. Sorry about that, it should have been obvious.
1 Like
vaporware
(Tara McGrew)
February 2, 2026, 7:02pm
9
Here’s a new version featuring:
more helpful instructions
new RNG (seeds work across interpreters)
visual indicator when you’re attacked
balancing, bug fixes, text tweaks
rascal-260202.z5 (70.3 KB)
3 Likes
vaporware
(Tara McGrew)
February 3, 2026, 11:04pm
10
Another update, featuring:
fix for a map generation bug that made some runs unwinnable
defense stat and associated potion
balancing, etc.
rascal-260203.z5 (74.8 KB)
2 Likes
This is delightfully bizarre, although I’m missing a “run” command.
andrewj
February 5, 2026, 12:40pm
12
What I played worked really well, congrats.
Perhaps check the screen size and abort when too small. I didn’t see the messages at the bottom at first.
1 Like
vaporware
(Tara McGrew)
February 6, 2026, 4:04pm
13
Another update, featuring mainly UI changes:
colors (depending on interpreter support)
inventory selection popup
the bees can now be defeated with poison
no more “Which do you mean, the violet potion or the violet potion?”
By the way, there are a few testing commands to make it easier to reach the end:
press F9 twice to enable teleporting to stairs, F10 twice to see the whole map, F11 twice for immortality, or F12 twice to highlight enemies and stairs. .
rascal-260206.z5 (78.8 KB)
vaporware
(Tara McGrew)
February 16, 2026, 6:52pm
14
FYI, since this is getting linked around: the latest build I’ve posted so far is over here (Feb 13).
(now also linked in the top post here)
3 Likes
SomeOne2
(Max Fog)
February 17, 2026, 2:25am
15
Are you planning on uploading to IFDB anytime soon? It would be cool to have a page for this game…
1 Like
vaporware
(Tara McGrew)
February 17, 2026, 4:18am
16
I’ve just done so: Rascal - Details
The IF Archive upload is still pending, but here’s the version I uploaded (release 2, Feb 16):
rascal.z5 (106.3 KB)
4 Likes
I love that you managed to pull this off, great job! I’ll see if I can also give playing it a shot.
By the way, love the gradient logo text on the opening screen.
2 Likes
I love this game already.
3 Likes
system
(system)
Closed
March 19, 2026, 9:29pm
19
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