Differences Between Our Emulation and the Original

We've tried to get our emulation as close as we can to the original Dungeon of 1977. As we've worked on it, we've compared two of the early C-language ports to ours side-by-side, eliminating every difference we could reasonably address.

Those that remain are principally artifacts of TriadCity's multi-user, multi-threaded, event-driven architecture. Where original Dungeon acted only when the player input a command, the TriadCity universe moves forward continually whether Dungeon players are typing or not. In some particulars we've hidden that universal motion; in one or two others we've chosen to take advantage of it:

• Inside the volcano, the clock is ticking. You'll have a limited window of time to adventure there before your fire dies, your balloon falls to the ground, or other events transpire. This includes balloon movement, which happens whether you type or not; it's up to you to do what needs to be done to arrest its motion before it leaves without you.
• In the Dungeon sources we've compared, the balloon stays put without having to be anchored. This looks to us to be genuinely a bug, as all the necessary conditions have been assembled to make anchorage possible — and the later Infocom commercial version requires it. We've gone with Infocom here: the balloon will float away without you should you fail to lock it down.
• Flames and light sources will sputter out over time regardless whether you enter commands or not. This means you won't have as much time to think between moves — or to walk away and come back. Save often!
• Things that explode, or collapse after explosions, do so on timers. Do what you need to do and get away quickly.
• The Thief moves independently of your typing. You'll find him wandering through your Room while you do nothing. Note the pattern here.
• You'll idle out if you wait too long before sending commands.
• Although Dungeon is a single-player World, we've enabled TriadCity's Ask, Chat, Shout, and Tell commands, allowing you to communicate with players present in other parts of the wider SmartMonsters Multiverse.