Editing Moria (1983 video game)

{{for|the PLATO game|Moria (1978 video game)}}
{{short description|1983 roguelike video game}}
{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Moria'' (1983 video game)}}
{{Infobox software
| title = ''The Dungeons of Moria''
| screenshot = Moria-like-game.png
| caption = Screenshot from a ''Moria''-like game
| developer = {{Unbulleted list|Robert Alan Koeneke (1957-2022)|Jimmey Wayne Todd Jr.|James E. Wilson}}
| released = 25 March 1983 (0.1)
| latest_release_version = 5.7.15
| latest_release_date = {{Start date and age|2021|06|04|df=yes}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Umoria release page |url=https://github.com/dungeons-of-moria/umoria/releases |work=RogueBasin|accessdate=2024-02-01}}</ref>
| operating_system = [[Cross-platform]]
| language = English
| genre = [[Roguelike]]
| license = [[GNU General Public License]] v3 or any later version
| website = {{URL|https://web.archive.org/web/20200221144759/http://www-math.bgsu.edu/~grabine/moria.html}}
}}

'''''The Dungeons of Moria''''', usually referred to as simply '''''Moria''''',<ref group=note>Also called '''''UMoria''''' since its rework in [[C (programming language)|C]] in 1987.</ref> is a [[PC game|computer game]] inspired by [[J. R. R. Tolkien]]'s novel ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''. The objective of the game is to dive deep into the [[Moria (Middle-earth)|Mines of Moria]] and kill the [[Balrog]]. Moria, along with ''[[Hack (video game)|Hack]]'' (1984) and ''[[Larn (video game)|Larn]]'' (1986), is considered to be one of the first [[roguelike]] games, and the first to include a town level.<ref>"Where ''Rogue'' always started players in the first level of the dungeon, ''Moria 2.0'' dropped them in a town". {{cite book |last=Craddock |first=David L. |title=Dungeon Hacks: How NetHack, Angband, and Other Roguelikes Changed the Course of Video Games |publisher=Press Start Press |date=5 August 2015 |page=246 |chapter=Chapter 7: None Shall Pass - Braving the Mines of Moria |isbn=978-0692501863}}</ref>

''Moria'' was the basis of the better known ''[[Angband (video game)|Angband]]'' roguelike game, and influenced the preliminary design of [[Blizzard Entertainment]]'s ''[[Diablo (video game)|Diablo]]''.<ref name=escapist48>"[The idea for ''Diablo''] was modified over and over until it solidified when [Dave Brevik] was in college and got hooked on&nbsp;... ''Moria/Angband''". {{cite web |url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_48/289-Secret-Sauce-The-Rise-of-Blizzard |title=Secret Sauce: The Rise of Blizzard |accessdate=2012-12-20 |last=Pitts |first=Russ |date=2006-06-06 |work=[[The Escapist (magazine)|The Escapist]] |publisher= |archive-date=10 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130810192230/http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_48/289-Secret-Sauce-The-Rise-of-Blizzard |url-status=dead}}</ref>

== Gameplay ==
The player's goal is to descend to the depths of Moria to defeat the Balrog, akin to a [[boss (video gaming)|boss battle]]. As with ''[[Rogue (video game)|Rogue]]'', levels are not persistent: when the player leaves the level and then tries to return, a new level is [[procedurally generated]]. Among other improvements to ''Rogue'', there is a persistent town at the highest level where players can buy and sell equipment.

''Moria'' begins with creation of a character. The player first chooses a "race" from the following: Human, Half-Elf, Elf, Halfling, Gnome, Dwarf, Half-Orc, or Half-Troll. Racial selection determines base [[Statistic (role-playing games)|statistics]] and [[Character class|class]] availability. One then selects the character's "class" from the following: Warrior, Mage, Priest, Rogue, Ranger, or Paladin. Class further determines statistics, as well as the abilities acquired during gameplay. Mages, Rangers, and Rogues can learn magic, while Priests and Paladins can learn prayers. Warriors possess no additional abilities.

The player begins the game with a limited number of items on a town level consisting of six shops: (1) a General Store, (2) an Armory, (3) a Weaponsmith, (4) a Temple, (5) an Alchemy shop, and (6) a Magic-Users store. A staircase on this level descends into a series of randomly generated underground mazes. Deeper levels contain more powerful monsters and better treasures. Each time the player ascends or descends a staircase, a new level is created and the old one discarded; only the town persists throughout the game.

As in most [[roguelike]]s, it is impossible to reload from a save if the player's character dies, as the game saves the state only upon exit, preventing [[save-scumming]] that is a key strategy in most computer games that allow saving, although it is possible to save the file that is generated by the game (MORIA.SAV in the Windows version) to a backup location, then restore/replace that file after the character had been killed.

The balrog (represented by the upper-case letter B) is encountered at the deepest depths of the dungeon. Once the balrog has been killed, the game has been won, and no further saving of the game is possible.

=== Player characteristics ===
[[File:UmoriaPlayerCharacteristics.png|thumbnail|Character sheet for a level 34 elf mage]]
The player has many characteristics in the game. Some characteristics, like sex, weight, and height, cannot be changed once the player has been created, while other characteristics like strength, intelligence, and [[armor class]] can be modified by using certain items in a particular way. [[Magic (gaming)|Mana]] and [[Health (gaming)|hit points]] are replenished by rest or by some other magical means. Gold accrues as the player steps on gems or currency. Experience accrues as the player performs various actions in the dungeon, mostly by killing creatures. The "miscellaneous abilities" are modified as each skill is performed and as the player increases in experience.

== History ==
[[File:Roguetree2.svg|thumb|Family tree of [[rogue-like game]]s: inspiration for ''Moria'' goes back to ''Rogue''.<ref name="FSM">[http://freesoftwaremagazine.com/articles/freeing_an_old_game_moria/ Freeing an old game] by Ben Asselstine on [[Free software magazine]] (2007-03-12)</ref>]]

Around 1981,<ref>"Breaking ground in 1981, Koeneke built on the foundations of ''Rogue''&nbsp;..." {{cite book |last=Craddock |first=David L. |title=Dungeon Hacks |publisher=Press Start Press |date=5 August 2015 |page=246 |chapter=Chapter 7 |isbn=978-0692501863}}</ref> while enrolled at the [[University of Oklahoma]], Robert Alan Koeneke became hooked on playing the video game ''[[Rogue (video game)|Rogue]]''. Soon after, Koeneke moved departments to work on an early [[VAX-11]]/780 minicomputer running [[OpenVMS|VMS]] operating system, which at that time had no games. Since no longer having access to ''Rogue'' was "intolerable" for Koeneke, he started developing his own ''Rogue'' game using [[VSI BASIC for OpenVMS|VMS BASIC]] and gave it the name, Moria Beta 1.0.<ref name=MoriaHistory>"...&nbsp;I worked on one of the early VAX 11/780s [so] no more games, and no more rogue! This was intolerable! So I decided to write my own rogue game, Moria Beta 1.0". {{cite web |url=https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rec.games.roguelike.angband/gFiS2tV_-AA/Gp7g-TfuJmUJ |title=Early history of Moria |accessdate=2017-08-03 |last=Koeneke |first=Robert Alan |date=1996-02-21}}</ref>

During the summer of 1983, Koeneke rewrote his game in [[OpenVMS|VMS]] [[Pascal (programming language)|Pascal]], releasing Moria 1.0.<ref name=MoriaHistory />

In 1983/84 Jimmey Wayne Todd Jr. joined Koeneke on the development of ''Moria'', bringing with him his character generator, and working on various aspects of the game, including the death routines.

Koeneke started distributing the [[source code]] in 1985 under a license that permitted sharing and modification, but not commercial use.

The last VMS version was ''Moria'' 4.8, released in November 1986.<ref name=MoriaReleaseTimeline>{{Cite web|url=https://umoria.org/highlights#umoria-basic|title=Moria Release Timeline|website=umoria.org}}</ref>

In February 1987, James E. Wilson started converting the VMS Pascal source code to the C programming language for use on [[Unix|UNIX]] systems, which had started to become popular by this date. To distinguish his release from the original VMS Moria, Wilson named it UNIX Moria, shortened to UMoria.

UMoria 4.85 was released on November 5, 1987.<ref name=UmoriaRelease>"Here it is! A Unix version of the popular VMS game Moria". {{cite web |url=https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/comp.sources.games/umoria/comp.sources.games/kSX-_emh0Xs/9cX4kCaZa0EJ |title=Umoria - single player dungeon simulation |accessdate=2017-08-28 |last=Wilson |first=James E. |date=1987-11-05}}</ref>

As C was a much more portable programming language than VMS Pascal, there was an explosion of ''Moria'' ports for a variety of different computer systems such as [[MS-DOS]], [[Amiga]], [[Atari ST]] and [[Apple IIGS|Apple II<small>GS</small>]].

UMoria 5.0, released in 1989,<ref name=MoriaReleaseTimeline /> unified these separate ports into a single code base, fixing many bugs and gameplay balance issues, as well as adding lots of new features; many of which were taken from ''BRUCE Moria'' (1988).

In 1990 the ''[[Angband (video game)|Angband]]'' project was started, which is based on the UMoria 5.2.1 source code.

UMoria was in continuous development for several more years, with UMoria 5.5.2 released on July 21, 1994.<ref name=MoriaReleaseTimeline />

During the early 2000s David Grabiner maintained the code base, releasing only minor compiler related fixes.

In 2008, through the work of the free-moria project,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://free-moria.sourceforge.net/|title=free-moria|website=free-moria.sourceforge.net}}</ref><ref name="FSM"/> UMoria was [[Software relicensing|relicensed]] under the [[GNU General Public License]]. Work has since continued on the game, with regular releases.<ref>{{cite web |title=Moria / Umoria Release Highlights since 1981 - A Classic Roguelike |url=https://umoria.org/highlights/ |website=umoria.org |access-date=1 February 2024}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{Portal|Free and open-source software|Video games}}
* [[List of roguelikes]]

== Notes ==
{{reflist|group=note}}

== References ==
{{reflist|30em}}

== External links ==
* [https://umoria.org/ Umoria.org] v5.7 Windows / macOS executables, much historical information, and links to source code.
* {{Webarchive|title=''Moria'' on David J. Grabiner's website|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210105094150/http://remarque.org/~grabiner/moria.html|date=5 January 2021}}
* "[http://freesoftwaremagazine.com/articles/freeing_an_old_game_moria/ Freeing an old game]" in the ''[[Free Software Magazine]]'' discusses efforts to [[Software relicensing|relicense]] ''UMoria''
* {{MobyGames | id=/moria}}
* MS-DOS {{Internet Archive game|id=msdos_Moria_1992}}
* [http://beej.us/moria/ Beej's ''Moria'' Page]
* [telnet://wopr.adelphos.org/ Online VMS/VAX ''Moria''] telnet portal
* [http://www.roguebasin.com/index.php?title=Moria RogueBasin Wiki] listing of all the different ''Moria'' ports and variants.

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2018}}

[[Category:1983 video games]]
[[Category:Acorn Archimedes games]]
[[Category:Amiga games]]
[[Category:DOS games]]
[[Category:Linux games]]
[[Category:Classic Mac OS games]]
[[Category:Video games based on Middle-earth]]
[[Category:Roguelike video games]]
[[Category:Windows games]]
[[Category:Curses (programming library)]]
[[Category:Cross-platform software]]
[[Category:Open-source video games]]
[[Category:Unix games]]
[[Category:Video games developed in the United States]]
[[Category:Video games using procedural generation]]