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| It was a while before we got good introductory screens. |
Beneath Apple Manor
United StatesThe Software Factory (developer and publisher)
Rleased 1978 for Apple II, 1983 for Atari 800 and DOS
Date Ended: 7 December 2012
Total Hours: 4
Difficulty: Moderate (3.0/5)
Final Rating: 17
Ranking at Time of Posting: 6/79 (8%)Raking at Game #455: 109/455 (24%)
About a year ago, I started taking a tour through the earliest CRPGs, programmed in PLATO at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and still around thanks to the preservation efforts of Cyber1. I reviewed the earliest still-extant game, The Dungeon (better known by its file name, "pedit5"), and The Game of Dungeons (also better known as it's file name, "dnd"). I had intended to move from there to Orthanc, Moria, Avatar, and Oubliette, as well as a later version of dnd, but other things intervened and I never got back to it.
These early games are important because they directly influenced games we still play, thanks to two UIUC students: Daniel Lawrence and Robert Woodhead. Inspired by dnd, Lawrence created versions on other platforms, all with some variation of DND in their names, and a commercial version called Telengard. Woodhead, inspired by Oubliette, created Wizardry, which led directly to Might & Magic and other variants of first-person, multi-PC dungeon crawls. The extent to which Lawrence and Woodhead simply plagiarized the PLATO games has been hotly debated and I'm not interested in getting into it here, but whether you call it plagiarism, adaptation, or homage, the PLATO games were progenitors, through Woodhead and Lawrence, to much of what we play today.
However, in my search for the "earliest" games, I overlooked one notable entry: Beneath Apple Manor, programmed by Don Worth for the Apple II in 1978. The distinction of this game is not only that it's the first commercial CRPG (with the possible exception of Space, a quasi-RPG released the same year), but also that it's the first "roguelike" game, although it predates Rogue by two years. Had it become more popular, we might be talking about the "BAMlike" genre today.
I have no excuse for not playing it. Even if I stuck to my "DOS/PC only rule" (which I now recognize as idiotic), there was a DOS version in 1983, which Don Worth makes freely available on his web site. But those who have been trying for years to convince me to do it will be happy to know that I downloaded an Apple II emulator and figured it out enough to play some of the game in its original format.
The game allows you to set the number of "rooms per level," and then the difficulty (ranging from "a pushover" to "you're nuts!!!") before starting you off in a randomly-generated dungeon full of monsters and treasure, in which your goal is to retrieve a golden apple from the bottom level. Your unnamed character has strength, intelligence, dexterity, and "body" attributes, along with gold and experience. The game is unique in its use of attributes, which are less "characteristics" as in classic D&D games and more like pools of energy. Bashing doors and attacking monsters deplete strength, spells deplete intelligence, traps and monster attacks deplete body, and moving depletes dexterity. Resting restores all of these attributes except for body, and there's a "heal" spell to turn intelligence into body.
The lo-res version simply color-codes the square based on whether it's occupied by your character, a monster, a door, or a chest. Commands include N, S, E, W for the four cardinal directions (yes, it's tough to get used to; the DOS remake uses the arrow keys), (B)ash doors, (O)pen chests, (A)ttack, and separate keys for the (Z)ap, (H)eal, and (X)-ray spells. Unfortunately, my colorblindness gave me issues and the emulator was very slow (I'm new to Apple II emulators, so I'm not sure if it was the emulator or the game), so I switched to the DOS remake (which features better graphics, but the same gameplay) after a half hour or so.
As in modern roguelikes, you start out not being able to see beyond your immediate area, and you slowly reveal the level as you explore. Most levels have at least one secret door, as well as closed doors that you can bash open or cast "X-ray vision" to see what's on the other side. Doors lock behind you, but one advantage of this is that monsters can't follow you through them. There are chests on each level with gold, wands, or potions (which you drink immediately), and they might be trapped. More dangerous are the monsters--I've encountered slimes, ghosts, trolls, worms, vampires, stalkers (they're invisible), and dragons--some of which respond differently to physical attacks and magic attacks. Ghosts, for instance, cannot be damaged by non-magic attacks. The main magical attack is the "zap" spell which, oddly, costs a variable number of intelligence points. Sometimes it takes one, sometimes half of them.
It appears that each level has a fixed amount of experience available from either gold or enemies. The game informs you how much experience you have left to find when the level is created. However, I think that's just the amount of experience upon generation, because I've exceeded it with random wandering monsters.
The entrance square isn't marked on each level, so you'd best remember where it is: you need to return to it to spend your experience and gold, and to move on to the next level. Unlike later roguelikes, you don't need to "find" the stairs down--they're right where you came in--and there's no backtracking.
The ability to "spend" experience is unusual; you can use it to buy increases in your maximum attributes. Gold can be spent on weapons (hand axe or sword), armor (leather, chain, plate), or a "brain scan" which saves your game. Without it, "death" reduces your attributes (but still lets you continue to play). I love the idea of having to pay to save. It would solve a lot of the difficulty issues in other games.
Aside from what you can buy, you find a lot of gear in the chests in the levels. In my playing, I found boots of silence, a wand of unlocking doors, potions of clairvoyance (shows you all levels without the "fog of war" from then on), a potion that doubled my strength, magic armor, and a magic sword (which works against ghosts). From what I can tell, there is only one of each item in each game, and it never "runs out"--that is, the potion of clairvoyance makes you permanently clairvoyant, and the wands never run out of charges. Not all equipment is good: there are potions that make you "forget" the current level, potions of poison that kill you immediately, and a wand that halves your intelligence.
I soon found that I had far more gold than I needed to buy anything, but gold also converts to experience, and creating save "scans" gets progressively more expensive, so it remains useful. My biggest problem was getting cornered by ghosts when low on intelligence; since physical attacks don't harm them, if your intelligence depletes, you're screwed. The "teleport" spell is a Hail Mary that can get you out of that situation, but then you need to rest up and restore your intelligence before starting off again. Another common problem is to run out of strength in the middle of combat, so you have to "wait" to restore it, all while an enemy is pummeling you.
I've tried playing on various difficulty settings; the hard ones are so hard I'm not sure how you could possibly win, since there aren't many "tactics" in combat other than bashing and zapping. I'm guessing the key is to avoid combat as much as possible (since you get most of your experience via treasure anyway) and to use the boots of silence to dash for the treasure chests and, if nothing's there, bolt down to the next level. (I suppose it's theoretically possible to zoom right down to Level 40+ and luckily find the apple in a chest near the entrance.) I also learned to stop drinking potions after about Level 15, because they were 100% likely to be poison. I think this is because there's only one of each magic item in the game, so once you've drunk all the "good" potions, poison is all that's left.
After a number of false starts, I managed to find a golden apple on Level 36, but it exploded when I picked it up, killing me. Rather than restart, I resurrected and kept playing. Within a few levels, I found another golden apple--but it also exploded! I sucked up the decreased statistics, resurrected, went down a few more levels, and was blown up again. I finally found the real golden apple on about Level 43 and won the game. The winning screens played an amusing joke related to the platform on which I was playing: it told me that after a closer look at the golden apple, I realized it was, in fact "A GOLDEN IBM PC!!" Presumably, that wasn't in the original.
In an e-mail exchange a few days ago, Don Worth told me he was inspired to create Beneath Apple Manor by Dragon Maze, a simple maze game (not a CRPG) that came with the Apple II, and a desire to make a computer simulation of Dungeons and Dragons. He had limited experience with other games and wasn't familiar with any of the PLATO games (he wouldn't have had access to them). The original 1978 game, with lo-res graphics, was released by Worth's company, The Software Factory, and sold in zip-lock bags in computer stores. In 1980, Quality Software began marketing the game, and a "special edition," using hi-res graphics, came out in 1983 for both Apple II and DOS.
It's tough to assess Beneath Apple Manor's importance in the development of CRPGs without knowing if the developers of Rogue played it. Don charitably opines that they probably came up with it independently. I'm not so sure. Both feature randomly-generated mazes, fog-of-war, similar attributes and commands, and a quest to find a MacGuffin at the bottom of the dungeon. Then again, none of these elements are so groundbreaking (Dragon Maze, it appears, also had randomly-generated mazes) that it's impossible to imagine separate developers thinking of them on their own. Rogue is notably more difficult, especially in that Manor doesn't have permadeath. And Glenn Wichman's narrative of how he and Michael Toy developed Rogue mentions other games but not this one.
Don had plans for an "outdoor" version of Beneath Apple Manor but got distracted with other projects (including a book called Beneath Apple DOS) and never worked on another CRPG. He says he still plays Dungeons & Dragons regularly and is "quite addicted" to Lord of the Rings Online and its community.
I'm going to stop short of saying that Beneath Apple Manor is "fun" to play today, with no character creation, back story, combat tactics, or NPCs, limited equipment, and a primitive economy. A quick GIMLET on it returns a score of 17. Nonetheless, I give it credit for the customizable settings and difficulty (making it somewhat replayable), the ability to spend experience points on attributes, and the "buying save slots" feature, which I've never seen in a CRPG before. I appreciate the opportunity to play the game and fill in this hole in my chronology, and I thank Don for offering some background information.
Let's check out Drakkhen!
I have no excuse for not playing it. Even if I stuck to my "DOS/PC only rule" (which I now recognize as idiotic), there was a DOS version in 1983, which Don Worth makes freely available on his web site. But those who have been trying for years to convince me to do it will be happy to know that I downloaded an Apple II emulator and figured it out enough to play some of the game in its original format.
 |
| In defense of my choice, I was a beginner. |
The game allows you to set the number of "rooms per level," and then the difficulty (ranging from "a pushover" to "you're nuts!!!") before starting you off in a randomly-generated dungeon full of monsters and treasure, in which your goal is to retrieve a golden apple from the bottom level. Your unnamed character has strength, intelligence, dexterity, and "body" attributes, along with gold and experience. The game is unique in its use of attributes, which are less "characteristics" as in classic D&D games and more like pools of energy. Bashing doors and attacking monsters deplete strength, spells deplete intelligence, traps and monster attacks deplete body, and moving depletes dexterity. Resting restores all of these attributes except for body, and there's a "heal" spell to turn intelligence into body.
 |
| Exploring a lo-res level. |
The lo-res version simply color-codes the square based on whether it's occupied by your character, a monster, a door, or a chest. Commands include N, S, E, W for the four cardinal directions (yes, it's tough to get used to; the DOS remake uses the arrow keys), (B)ash doors, (O)pen chests, (A)ttack, and separate keys for the (Z)ap, (H)eal, and (X)-ray spells. Unfortunately, my colorblindness gave me issues and the emulator was very slow (I'm new to Apple II emulators, so I'm not sure if it was the emulator or the game), so I switched to the DOS remake (which features better graphics, but the same gameplay) after a half hour or so.
 |
| The results of an awesome potion. |
As in modern roguelikes, you start out not being able to see beyond your immediate area, and you slowly reveal the level as you explore. Most levels have at least one secret door, as well as closed doors that you can bash open or cast "X-ray vision" to see what's on the other side. Doors lock behind you, but one advantage of this is that monsters can't follow you through them. There are chests on each level with gold, wands, or potions (which you drink immediately), and they might be trapped. More dangerous are the monsters--I've encountered slimes, ghosts, trolls, worms, vampires, stalkers (they're invisible), and dragons--some of which respond differently to physical attacks and magic attacks. Ghosts, for instance, cannot be damaged by non-magic attacks. The main magical attack is the "zap" spell which, oddly, costs a variable number of intelligence points. Sometimes it takes one, sometimes half of them.
 |
| Trying to find the invisible stalker. |
It appears that each level has a fixed amount of experience available from either gold or enemies. The game informs you how much experience you have left to find when the level is created. However, I think that's just the amount of experience upon generation, because I've exceeded it with random wandering monsters.
 |
| I guess this is to help you decide when to stop searching for secret doors. |
The entrance square isn't marked on each level, so you'd best remember where it is: you need to return to it to spend your experience and gold, and to move on to the next level. Unlike later roguelikes, you don't need to "find" the stairs down--they're right where you came in--and there's no backtracking.
The ability to "spend" experience is unusual; you can use it to buy increases in your maximum attributes. Gold can be spent on weapons (hand axe or sword), armor (leather, chain, plate), or a "brain scan" which saves your game. Without it, "death" reduces your attributes (but still lets you continue to play). I love the idea of having to pay to save. It would solve a lot of the difficulty issues in other games.
 |
| I'm trying to think of any other game that allows you to "buy" character development directly with experience points, but the only one I come up with is Wizard's Crown. |
Aside from what you can buy, you find a lot of gear in the chests in the levels. In my playing, I found boots of silence, a wand of unlocking doors, potions of clairvoyance (shows you all levels without the "fog of war" from then on), a potion that doubled my strength, magic armor, and a magic sword (which works against ghosts). From what I can tell, there is only one of each item in each game, and it never "runs out"--that is, the potion of clairvoyance makes you permanently clairvoyant, and the wands never run out of charges. Not all equipment is good: there are potions that make you "forget" the current level, potions of poison that kill you immediately, and a wand that halves your intelligence.
 |
| These boots prevent enemies from being drawn to you. |
I soon found that I had far more gold than I needed to buy anything, but gold also converts to experience, and creating save "scans" gets progressively more expensive, so it remains useful. My biggest problem was getting cornered by ghosts when low on intelligence; since physical attacks don't harm them, if your intelligence depletes, you're screwed. The "teleport" spell is a Hail Mary that can get you out of that situation, but then you need to rest up and restore your intelligence before starting off again. Another common problem is to run out of strength in the middle of combat, so you have to "wait" to restore it, all while an enemy is pummeling you.
I've tried playing on various difficulty settings; the hard ones are so hard I'm not sure how you could possibly win, since there aren't many "tactics" in combat other than bashing and zapping. I'm guessing the key is to avoid combat as much as possible (since you get most of your experience via treasure anyway) and to use the boots of silence to dash for the treasure chests and, if nothing's there, bolt down to the next level. (I suppose it's theoretically possible to zoom right down to Level 40+ and luckily find the apple in a chest near the entrance.) I also learned to stop drinking potions after about Level 15, because they were 100% likely to be poison. I think this is because there's only one of each magic item in the game, so once you've drunk all the "good" potions, poison is all that's left.
 |
| This was fools gold! (Note the dragon and vampire nearby.) |
After a number of false starts, I managed to find a golden apple on Level 36, but it exploded when I picked it up, killing me. Rather than restart, I resurrected and kept playing. Within a few levels, I found another golden apple--but it also exploded! I sucked up the decreased statistics, resurrected, went down a few more levels, and was blown up again. I finally found the real golden apple on about Level 43 and won the game. The winning screens played an amusing joke related to the platform on which I was playing: it told me that after a closer look at the golden apple, I realized it was, in fact "A GOLDEN IBM PC!!" Presumably, that wasn't in the original.
 |
| Before you get all congratulatory, I should mention that I won the game on a fairly easy setting with a limited number of rooms. |
 |
| The DOS remake not only features the titular manor on the title screen but a beep-and-boop version of Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King" in the background. |
It's tough to assess Beneath Apple Manor's importance in the development of CRPGs without knowing if the developers of Rogue played it. Don charitably opines that they probably came up with it independently. I'm not so sure. Both feature randomly-generated mazes, fog-of-war, similar attributes and commands, and a quest to find a MacGuffin at the bottom of the dungeon. Then again, none of these elements are so groundbreaking (Dragon Maze, it appears, also had randomly-generated mazes) that it's impossible to imagine separate developers thinking of them on their own. Rogue is notably more difficult, especially in that Manor doesn't have permadeath. And Glenn Wichman's narrative of how he and Michael Toy developed Rogue mentions other games but not this one.
Don had plans for an "outdoor" version of Beneath Apple Manor but got distracted with other projects (including a book called Beneath Apple DOS) and never worked on another CRPG. He says he still plays Dungeons & Dragons regularly and is "quite addicted" to Lord of the Rings Online and its community.
I'm going to stop short of saying that Beneath Apple Manor is "fun" to play today, with no character creation, back story, combat tactics, or NPCs, limited equipment, and a primitive economy. A quick GIMLET on it returns a score of 17. Nonetheless, I give it credit for the customizable settings and difficulty (making it somewhat replayable), the ability to spend experience points on attributes, and the "buying save slots" feature, which I've never seen in a CRPG before. I appreciate the opportunity to play the game and fill in this hole in my chronology, and I thank Don for offering some background information.
Let's check out Drakkhen!
