An RPG in Excel is Superior to a Boss Switch Every Time

Arena xlsm

In a move that shows exactly how an ingenious mind and ingenuity can stretch the limits of our mundane office applications, Cary Walkin, a Canadian accountant in Toronto, Canada has created a full-functioning role-playing game within Microsoft Excel. Just so the gravity of this accomplishment is clear, the game features:

  • Over 2000 possible random enemies with different AI abilities
  • An interesting story with 4 different endings, depending on how the player has played the game.
  • 8 boss encounters, each with their own tactics.
  • 31 spells
  • 15 Unique items – each having special properties – can only drop from specific enemies
  • 4 pre-programmed arenas followed by procedurally generated arenas, ensuring that each play-through has its own challenges.

It’s pretty impressive stuff and definitely deserves a play through. Kudos, Cary!

Oh, and for those of you unfamiliar with boss-switches, here is a good example.