Robotfindskitten

robotfindskitten

Original author(s)	Leonard Richardson
Initial release	1997
Stable release	2.8284271.702  / 1 March 2020 (1 March 2020)
Repository	sourceforge.net/projects/rfk/
Written in	Assembly language, C/C++, Flash, Gambas, Inform, Java, JavaScript, PHP, Python, Scratch
Platform	Amiga, Android, Apple II, Arduboy, Atari 2600, Atari 7800, Atmel AVR, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, Dreamcast, Game Boy Advance, Lego Mindstorms NXT, Mac Classic, Maemo, Nintendo DS, Palm OS, PlayStation Portable, POSIX, QNX, Rockbox, TI-83 Plus, TI-99/4A, Z-machine, ZX Spectrum
Available in	English
Type	Game
License	GPL v2 or later
Website	http://robotfindskitten.org/

robotfindskitten (rfk) is a "Zen simulation", originally written by Leonard Richardson for MS-DOS.

Game

It is a free video game with an ASCII interface in which the user (playing the eponymous robot and represented by a number sign "#") must find kitten (represented by a random character) on a field of other random characters. Walking up to items allows robot to identify them as either kitten, or any of a variety of "Non-kitten Items" (NKIs) with whimsical, strange or simply random text descriptions. It is not possible to lose (though there is a patch that adds a 1 in 10 probability of the NKI killing robot). Simon Carless has characterized robotfindskitten as "less a game and more a way of life ... It's fun to wander around until you find a kitten, at which point you feel happy and can start again".

The original robotfindskitten program was the sole entrant to a contest in 1997 at the now-defunct webzine Nerth Pork — the object: create a depiction of "robotfindskitten". (The robotfindskitten concept was originally created by Jacob Berendes, but the only submission he received depicted kittens meeting an untimely end at the hands of malevolent robots.)

When the author rewrote the program for Linux in 1999, it gained popularity and now has its own website and mailing lists. Since then, it has been ported to and/or implemented on over 30 platforms, including POSIX, the Dreamcast, Palm OS, TI-99/4A, the Z-machine, the Sony PSP, Android, and many more. Graphical versions, such as an OpenGL version with # emblazoned on an otherwise featureless cube, also exist. Remakes of it are also used as programming tutorials, such as for Gambas.

External links

• "robotfindskitten... helping robots find kittens since 1997". robotfindskitten.org. Retrieved 2014-06-09.
• robotfindskitten in a Java applet
• Fictional Back-story to the game, detailing robot's creation
• "The Ultimate robotfindskitten Fan Site" on the original author's web site