Posted May 19, 2012
A couple of years ago I joined GOG in hopes of locating the game that I'm about to enlist your services to find. Right away I could tell that even GOG's oldest titles were way more advanced than the title I sought, so I never posted my request. In the months that followed, however, I became a little more accustomed to the forums and found that you GOG members were exceeding 75% proficiency in finding the titles asked about by others (probably exceeding 90% when figuring in the threads that should have had been considered SOLVED but that as yet have no such tag); I have become optimistic once again.
Still, most titles you've recalled or found for others came out at least 10-15 years later than the one I'm looking for, and nearly all have had actual graphics, so my optimism is...guarded, I guess. In other words, while I am amazed at your vast gaming knowledge, I will be absolutely astonished if you can help me find this game. For that reason, if anyone can bring this game and I closer together, I will treat you to 3 $5.99 GOGs of your choice, because you will certainly have earned it! (Clarifying note: "closer together" does not necessarily mean that I have to be directed to a place where I can buy it--I realize that this may no longer be possible--but I will need more than emphatic assurances that you know the game. Screen-shots, description and production notes, something like that, ok?)
I was playing this game in '84 or '85 from a 5 1/4-inch floppy on some PC from that era (Commodore, Tandy, Texas Instruments; I really cannot say). However, I have no idea how old the game was at that time.
It was a first-person game with very minimal graphics. The top 9/10ths (or so) of the screen showed your surroundings (more on this in a moment), while the bottom 1/10th was usually just a blinking cursor until you typed a command--then it told you the result of your action. It probably also told you about anything you encountered, but only in very brief descriptions: "there is an unlit torch on the ground;" "you have encountered a giant spider."
As with graphics of many such games--Centipede comes to mind--the graphics consisted of (hmmm, would that be called?) ANSI characters on a pitch black background. What you could see would be the outline of the corridor/hallway you were in, any monster directly in front of you, things laying on the floor, and your own weapon (and maybe shield). The outlines were in basic computer colors, I believe--white, yellow, green, blue, or red. These outlines dimmed as your torch went out: the dots that formed the outlines became less bright, as well as becoming farther and farther apart, until finally, you were in absolute darkness.
The floor and ceiling, and both walls, when you had a torch and could see them at all, were just made of two lines each, extending outward from your character, employing that visual trick of two lines narrowing toward each other as they lead away from you, like railroad tracks--so, two lines above and two lines below formed both the ceiling and floor, as well as the left and right walls. Oh, there were also equi-distant cross lines every couple of steps on the walls, ceiling, and floor, like the lines in a sidewalk. As you walked around you occasionally encountered turns in the hall and perpendicular hallways.
All that you see of yourself--also in that lit outline on black--was your weapon, shield, or whatever you were holding; I think you saw your bare hand(s) if you held nothing. Also, I cannot say for sure if your character ever had a shield, and I can't remember if you would see yourself holding the torch. In other words, you may have only seen the weapon-wielding arm; I believe you could choose either hand to hold the weapon. I'm not sure if you could have more than one weapon at a time. Ha--I sound like a dork!
As I recall, game-play basically consisted of wandering around in this maze of halls (I don't think there was a map, and I don't know if you always started in the same place, although I think you did). You were ultimately looking for a hole in the ceiling as you wandered because the goal was to reach the top level of this building or tower you were in where you would fight some big, bad-ass monster or fighter--I never got there... :( But you wanted to kill as many creatures on each level as you could because they dropped weapons, torches and useful things. I don't remember what all weapons you could find, but I think you have no weapon to begin, then find a dagger, and I'm sure there was a sword (maybe a club or hammer, too).
This is what I remember best: to attack you had to type, "hit l" (or "hit r"), repeatedly, like so:
hit l [enter]
hit l [enter]
hit l [enter]
It seems like my cousin soon introduced me to macros to improve my chances, but this could be a faulty memory (I may have discovered macros a couple years later and spent countless hours wondering how much better I would have done had I had macros then). Anyway, after each strike it would tell you if you hit or missed and if you were having any effect on the monster. I'm sure there must have been some display for my own hit points though I cannot picture that, and I'm pretty sure there was no display for the monster's hit points.
I do not recall if you moved by pressing the arrow keys or if you had to type your directions, but you would move one block of hall at a time. I think you used arrow keys, and typed "u" or "d" to go up or down a hole. I also remember that you could walk backwards, and that if you wanted to turn around in the hall it took two actions so that for a moment (after the first of the two actions) you were staring at a panel of wall.
Finally, though I don't remember the monsters' names very well, it seems like there was a Blob Monster, a Giant Spider, a Troll, and some damn big Knight or something that looked way too tall for the hallway!
So, to recap: old game ('84 or earlier), old computer; ANSI graphic (I think) outlines in basic computer colors create the only visual representation of what's happening; four lines that narrow and eventually vanish altogether like railroad tracks form the ceiling, floor, and walls; picture dims as torch fades (and, of course, you miss everything you swing at when you can't see); "hit l, hit l;" giant Knight; you wander the halls, looking for a hole in the ceiling.
Obviously, I was absolutely in love with this game! Any and all help in locating it or any clues that may help me to find it would be more greatly appreciated than I can put into words.
So, what say Ye all?
Still, most titles you've recalled or found for others came out at least 10-15 years later than the one I'm looking for, and nearly all have had actual graphics, so my optimism is...guarded, I guess. In other words, while I am amazed at your vast gaming knowledge, I will be absolutely astonished if you can help me find this game. For that reason, if anyone can bring this game and I closer together, I will treat you to 3 $5.99 GOGs of your choice, because you will certainly have earned it! (Clarifying note: "closer together" does not necessarily mean that I have to be directed to a place where I can buy it--I realize that this may no longer be possible--but I will need more than emphatic assurances that you know the game. Screen-shots, description and production notes, something like that, ok?)
I was playing this game in '84 or '85 from a 5 1/4-inch floppy on some PC from that era (Commodore, Tandy, Texas Instruments; I really cannot say). However, I have no idea how old the game was at that time.
It was a first-person game with very minimal graphics. The top 9/10ths (or so) of the screen showed your surroundings (more on this in a moment), while the bottom 1/10th was usually just a blinking cursor until you typed a command--then it told you the result of your action. It probably also told you about anything you encountered, but only in very brief descriptions: "there is an unlit torch on the ground;" "you have encountered a giant spider."
As with graphics of many such games--Centipede comes to mind--the graphics consisted of (hmmm, would that be called?) ANSI characters on a pitch black background. What you could see would be the outline of the corridor/hallway you were in, any monster directly in front of you, things laying on the floor, and your own weapon (and maybe shield). The outlines were in basic computer colors, I believe--white, yellow, green, blue, or red. These outlines dimmed as your torch went out: the dots that formed the outlines became less bright, as well as becoming farther and farther apart, until finally, you were in absolute darkness.
The floor and ceiling, and both walls, when you had a torch and could see them at all, were just made of two lines each, extending outward from your character, employing that visual trick of two lines narrowing toward each other as they lead away from you, like railroad tracks--so, two lines above and two lines below formed both the ceiling and floor, as well as the left and right walls. Oh, there were also equi-distant cross lines every couple of steps on the walls, ceiling, and floor, like the lines in a sidewalk. As you walked around you occasionally encountered turns in the hall and perpendicular hallways.
All that you see of yourself--also in that lit outline on black--was your weapon, shield, or whatever you were holding; I think you saw your bare hand(s) if you held nothing. Also, I cannot say for sure if your character ever had a shield, and I can't remember if you would see yourself holding the torch. In other words, you may have only seen the weapon-wielding arm; I believe you could choose either hand to hold the weapon. I'm not sure if you could have more than one weapon at a time. Ha--I sound like a dork!
As I recall, game-play basically consisted of wandering around in this maze of halls (I don't think there was a map, and I don't know if you always started in the same place, although I think you did). You were ultimately looking for a hole in the ceiling as you wandered because the goal was to reach the top level of this building or tower you were in where you would fight some big, bad-ass monster or fighter--I never got there... :( But you wanted to kill as many creatures on each level as you could because they dropped weapons, torches and useful things. I don't remember what all weapons you could find, but I think you have no weapon to begin, then find a dagger, and I'm sure there was a sword (maybe a club or hammer, too).
This is what I remember best: to attack you had to type, "hit l" (or "hit r"), repeatedly, like so:
hit l [enter]
hit l [enter]
hit l [enter]
It seems like my cousin soon introduced me to macros to improve my chances, but this could be a faulty memory (I may have discovered macros a couple years later and spent countless hours wondering how much better I would have done had I had macros then). Anyway, after each strike it would tell you if you hit or missed and if you were having any effect on the monster. I'm sure there must have been some display for my own hit points though I cannot picture that, and I'm pretty sure there was no display for the monster's hit points.
I do not recall if you moved by pressing the arrow keys or if you had to type your directions, but you would move one block of hall at a time. I think you used arrow keys, and typed "u" or "d" to go up or down a hole. I also remember that you could walk backwards, and that if you wanted to turn around in the hall it took two actions so that for a moment (after the first of the two actions) you were staring at a panel of wall.
Finally, though I don't remember the monsters' names very well, it seems like there was a Blob Monster, a Giant Spider, a Troll, and some damn big Knight or something that looked way too tall for the hallway!
So, to recap: old game ('84 or earlier), old computer; ANSI graphic (I think) outlines in basic computer colors create the only visual representation of what's happening; four lines that narrow and eventually vanish altogether like railroad tracks form the ceiling, floor, and walls; picture dims as torch fades (and, of course, you miss everything you swing at when you can't see); "hit l, hit l;" giant Knight; you wander the halls, looking for a hole in the ceiling.
Obviously, I was absolutely in love with this game! Any and all help in locating it or any clues that may help me to find it would be more greatly appreciated than I can put into words.
So, what say Ye all?
This question / problem has been solved by adambiser
