I played the Amiga version of Knightmare, I was very disappointed with it - it's like Eye of the Beholder, but with the inspired feature that you lose health if you walk into a wall.
I do have some programming knowledge (if you count using MMFusion as 'real' programming), but a Knightmare game would never really work as the point was that the advisors didn't have direct control over the game - it was about the ability of the dungeoneer to be guided as much as the advisors to guide.