Curseslike

Curseslike refers to video games that render their user interface using the curses (or ncurses) library, producing a text-based, character-cell display within a terminal or terminal emulator. The term is informal and is most commonly applied to roguelikes and other dungeon crawlers that use ASCII symbols for walls, items, and characters, with input primarily via the keyboard.

Technical basis: Curses is a terminal control library that handles drawing characters, managing color, windows, and user input. ncurses is the free and widely used implementation; PDCurses provides Windows compatibility. A curseslike frontend runs in a console or terminal, often with no graphical acceleration, and can be ported across Unix-like systems and Windows where curses-like backends are available.

History and usage: In the early days of roguelikes, curses offered portability and low resource usage, facilitating cross-platform development. NetHack, Angband, and various variants historically shipped with a curses interface; many modern ports continue to offer an ASCII or curses-like mode in addition to graphical tiles.

Characteristics: ASCII or simple tile glyphs, grid-based maps, turn-based mechanics, emphasis on keyboard controls, and on-the-fly color schemes provided by the library. The UI tends to be compact and dense, prioritizing information density over visual flourish.

Notable examples and context: Notable curseslike titles include NetHack and Angband; Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup also supports ASCII mode. Contemporary roguelikes may offer curses-like options alongside tile-based or graphical interfaces. The term highlights the historical and technical roots of these games rather than a formal genre.