tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post2849666534370802796..comments2024-03-28T04:44:28.648-04:00Comments on The CRPG Addict: Game 90: The Wizard's Castle (1980)CRPG Addicthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comBlogger59125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-66648929283003983792021-08-17T16:11:19.728-04:002021-08-17T16:11:19.728-04:00This one and Leygref were fun, but the lack of doc...This one and Leygref were fun, but the lack of documentation (true of most games back then and even many today) was frustrating. Are the monster names just names or are some of them consistently tougher to kill or stronger when hitting me than others, for example? Which coordinate is which in the orb system and which end of the map does it start from?Daniel Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11865645628152302617noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-23760637831205840532017-08-19T02:46:18.428-04:002017-08-19T02:46:18.428-04:00Also my first RPG as a kid. After reading this pos...Also my first RPG as a kid. After reading this post, I went back and played a few rounds. Good times! Since I've gotten into programming, I went through and decoded the source linked to my user name. What I learned? High dexterity can get you in and out of most situations. Max that Dex!MaiZurehttp://www.maizure.org/projects/decoded-the-wizards-castle/index.htmlnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-84020038534361024382017-05-11T13:50:48.185-04:002017-05-11T13:50:48.185-04:00This was my first dungeon crawler game, back when ...This was my first dungeon crawler game, back when I was about 13 years old... played it on the Commodore PET, in my first year of high school. I credit it with drawing me into computer games. :)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-8832473855814202282016-09-25T22:05:09.151-04:002016-09-25T22:05:09.151-04:00Wow. It seems like a minor comment, but in fact yo...Wow. It seems like a minor comment, but in fact you've cast a whole new light on this lineage. I just read about the game, which does seem to come from as early as 1971, thus well-preceding <i>The Wizard's Castle</i> but offering the exact sort of gameplay.<br /><br />Moreover, the Matt Barton article that I linked to does credit <i>Star Trek</i>, but I missed it. I'm going to add some text to the post.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-73571938905088601582016-09-25T19:23:43.525-04:002016-09-25T19:23:43.525-04:00This game reminds me a bit of the (extremely wides...This game reminds me a bit of the (extremely widespread) 1970s Star Trek games. Those games were based on a similar sort of grid system: the galaxy consisted of 8 by 8 "quadrants", each quadrant was in turn an 8 by 8 grid of sectors. Each sector could contain one "thing": a star, a Klingon warship, a Federation starbase, etc. Seems like somebody decided to do a remake with an RPG setting.<br />Peternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-74072911784199686242016-05-19T01:46:15.973-04:002016-05-19T01:46:15.973-04:00Yeah, playing a little more this Ring Quest is cle...Yeah, playing a little more this Ring Quest is clearly an adventure, not a CRPG, and no close relative of Wizard's Castle. <br /><br />Regarding the related HOBBIT game, there was a version published in CLOAD magazine for the TRS-80 in 1979 which is a clear simpler relative of Wizard's Castle. You can download the HOBBIT.BAS program here: https://archive.org/download/srccode-000000a0/hobbit.bas.txt and an emulator here: http://members.shaw.ca/gp2000/trs80gp.zip?151 and have the one load the other to take a look. <br /><br />The TRS-80 program (credited to a K. Williams) must either be a port of or inspired by the same mainframe version that Powers saw. The family resemblance is clear. dzdthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06546063512375699302noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-17710236591942593902016-05-18T17:56:06.157-04:002016-05-18T17:56:06.157-04:00Hmmm. Interesting find and great story--the Advent...Hmmm. Interesting find and great story--the Adventure Gamer--ought to have a crack at it. But this game is so far removed from TWC that it's hard to see them as having been inspired by the same source game. The time frame is also pretty tight for Steve Richardson's HOBBIT to be the same as the one that inspired Power. But it's not impossible.<br /><br />I gave the game a try. Here's the transcript of my first adventure:<br /><br />*****<br /><br />You're in Hobbiton<br />>EAST<br />You're following the Great Eastern Road. Suddenly you hear a horse coming up the road.<br />>EAST<br />Your opponent does not let you pass. A blackmantled rider overtakes you! The ringwraith pierces you with his freezing blade. So you're dead.<br /><br />Would you like to play again?<br /><br />****<br /><br />Good times.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-44821288252562050402016-05-18T16:38:50.961-04:002016-05-18T16:38:50.961-04:00I went looking if the old HOBBIT rpg might exist a...I went looking if the old HOBBIT rpg might exist anywhere. I don't find it, but I do find an unpublished 1982 CRPG called "Ring Quest" that was closely inspired by it. See https://sksteve.wordpress.com/2007/11/03/pieter-bote-reminder-past/. The author resurrected it from tapes (via audio recording!) and ported it to run on Windows over 20 years later. So its playable without even needing an emulator now. dzdthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06546063512375699302noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-1255372883265938412015-01-30T12:00:22.014-05:002015-01-30T12:00:22.014-05:00Here is a podcast with Dungelot Creator (in Russia...Here is a podcast with Dungelot Creator (in Russian Language):<br />http://flazm.podster.fm/11<br />Seems that it's creator isn't familiar with early CRPGs...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-88932228204889707512014-01-07T18:52:02.305-05:002014-01-07T18:52:02.305-05:00That was a very amateur mistake on my part--just l...That was a very amateur mistake on my part--just looking at the number of the last line of code and assuming it had that many lines. It's not a small correction at all. Thanks for pointing it out; I made an edit above.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-59393289478469601642014-01-07T15:58:34.825-05:002014-01-07T15:58:34.825-05:00Numbering code in increments of 10 was common in b...Numbering code in increments of 10 was common in basic, so that if you realized you had to add a line near the start, you didn't have to renumber the whole thing (I assume this is before things like sed were common)Canageekhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03770924810559440307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-12043327884134763892014-01-07T05:57:39.391-05:002014-01-07T05:57:39.391-05:00"Some of the game's code. It took 3,390 l..."Some of the game's code. It took 3,390 lines and fit in 16KB of memory."<br /><br />Small correction: if you check out the PDF of the Recreational Computing issue, it's only 340 lines, with "line numbers" running from 10 to 3400 in steps of 10. (3390 lines of code in 16 KB of memory wouldn't really be possible, since one line of BASIC code of this form needs more than 4-5 bytes of memory.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-57657975910025622042013-11-02T16:19:42.747-04:002013-11-02T16:19:42.747-04:00You really should try your hand at Dungeon Crawl S...You really should try your hand at Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup. Of course, then we would not hear from you for years. <br /><br />P.S - The Religion system of the game is the best yet.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04951386075539932686noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-30355381391774961622013-04-02T23:48:59.704-04:002013-04-02T23:48:59.704-04:00Yeah, I definitely wasn't paying attention the...Yeah, I definitely wasn't paying attention there.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-30750547749991776532013-04-02T12:19:21.140-04:002013-04-02T12:19:21.140-04:00"There aren't any liches and kobolds in t..."There aren't any liches and kobolds in this one"<br /><br />"A quick combat with a kobold."Keirhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13382356416935293139noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-53758512090599433932013-03-03T19:51:45.684-05:002013-03-03T19:51:45.684-05:00Interesting. I didn't try it. I just looked at...Interesting. I didn't try it. I just looked at hte page. Sounds like it has some bugs.<br /><br />None of the things you mention happened in the DOS version I played.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-13021368811038852722013-03-03T15:53:39.165-05:002013-03-03T15:53:39.165-05:00So I played some of the Windows remake you linked ...So I played some of the Windows remake you linked and kept coming across some weird bug where I couldn't participate in combat - I'd engage a monster and it'd switch to the combat screen, but attacking wouldn't work and I could just keep moving around the grid, although I couldn't see the rooms until I moved around and the lamp re-revealed them. Looking with the lamp didn't work either. Once that happened, the game was unwinnable and I had to restart. There's also a special encounter you didn't mention, I think triggered by opening a chest, where a special screen would appear asking me which castle I was in, and killing me if I answered wrong. I'm curious if the original had that.Reikohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07326356159794723662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-12152763628997630062013-03-02T12:51:28.407-05:002013-03-02T12:51:28.407-05:00It happens for some monsters. There aren't any...It happens for some monsters. There aren't any liches and kobolds in this one, but you do it "dragon steaks" and maybe one or two others. I forgot to comment on that.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-62114619106938403252013-03-02T12:48:48.872-05:002013-03-02T12:48:48.872-05:00I can't see it in your screenshots, but after ...I can't see it in your screenshots, but after you slay each monster, don't you eat it? I'm thinking it was this game where you'd get goofy messages like, "YOU SPEND AN HOUR EATING A KOBOLD SANDWICH", "YOU SPEND AN HOUR EATING AN ORC STEW", "YOU SPEND AN HOUR EATING A LICH SALAD", etc. But possibly I'm confusing this with another ASCII dungeon game.Grey Magistratehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00479063973193169173noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-15976111860751340072013-02-28T11:50:43.768-05:002013-02-28T11:50:43.768-05:00I read Boatmurdered a long time ago, it was quite ...I read Boatmurdered a long time ago, it was quite good up until the end. <br /><br />He would have to do it FOSS game style: Once for each major version, of which I think there have been 3 so far. Canageekhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03770924810559440307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-88252492918734488932013-02-28T02:28:29.140-05:002013-02-28T02:28:29.140-05:00A fundamental difference between Wizard's Cast...A fundamental difference between <i>Wizard's Castle</i> and <i>Mission: Mainframe</i> is that the levels in MM reset every time you leave, whereas in WC they're permanent. This makes it easier to use flares and lamps to slowly map each level because even if you go up or down and come back, things will be in the same places.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-19162164174966085932013-02-28T02:26:44.323-05:002013-02-28T02:26:44.323-05:00No, I'd never heard of it, and MobyGames doesn...No, I'd never heard of it, and MobyGames doesn't list it. Good to see that WC is still relevant in some ways.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-16098663948189337692013-02-27T15:19:05.505-05:002013-02-27T15:19:05.505-05:00Boatmurdered is epic.
Speaking of Dwarf Fortress...Boatmurdered is epic. <br /><br />Speaking of Dwarf Fortress, I find jefmajor's lps quite entertaining.Arcanumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-83375875582257331092013-02-27T15:08:35.452-05:002013-02-27T15:08:35.452-05:00I ask you, Mr. Concussion, which version of DF are...I ask you, Mr. Concussion, which version of DF are you most interested in him checking out in 3056 when he gets there?UbAhhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13447678457902055799noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-24725795905957541842013-02-27T14:51:54.609-05:002013-02-27T14:51:54.609-05:00I have been around I just tend to be late to the p...I have been around I just tend to be late to the posting party.UbAhhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13447678457902055799noreply@blogger.com