Dark Ages (1991 video game)

Last updated
Dark Ages
Dark Ages Game.gif
Developer(s) Scenario Software
Publisher(s) Apogee Software
Designer(s) Todd Replogle
Artist(s) Allen H. Blum III
Composer(s) Keith Schuler
Platform(s) MS-DOS, Windows, Mac OS
Release
  • NA: February 1, 1991
Genre(s) Platform
Mode(s) Single-player

Dark Ages is a platform game written for MS-DOS, published by Apogee Software. It was the first shareware game to feature music for the AdLib sound card. [1]

Contents

Dark Ages was distributed as shareware. It consists of three episodes, with only the first episode playable in the shareware version. The episodes are:

  1. Prince of Destiny
  2. The Undead Kingdom
  3. Dungeons of Doom

The game was released as freeware on March 20, 2009, [2] and for Steam with Windows and Mac OS support in 2015.

Plot

As a child, the Prince of the Great Kingdom was sent away by the power-hungry wizard Garth, to be raised by peasants. This turns out to be Garth's greatest mistake as one of the peasants is a retired hero who trains the Prince to be a master fighter using magic as a weapon. In the years after Garth's conquest, the kingdom had fallen into ruin and despair, with no hope of returning to the times of happiness and prosperity. Garth ruled with an iron fist and terrorized the population with undead creatures. The prince battles through badlands, castles, dungeons, caves, forests and finally to the Great Kingdom itself, with Garth's army of undead creatures attacking at every turn. After a confrontation between the Prince and Garth and after killing the evil wizard, the prince's destiny is fulfilled, having freed the kingdom from the Dark Ages of fear and tyranny. The prince assumes his rightful place as the peaceful King and Leader of the Kingdom. The Great Kingdom is once again free to prosper and grow without fear.

Gameplay

Dark Ages is a side-scrolling game where the playable character, the prince, can move sideways, jump and shoot. Gameplay involves killing and avoiding enemies and jumping over obstacles. Progression to the next level often involves a hidden door, revealed by one of several Wise Men-type characters after retrieving an item for them. The items include a key, a shield, and an apple.

The player can use magic to fight the prince's enemies, starting out with a simple energy bolt and slowly gaining access to more destructive spells as the game progresses. There are three spells in the game: a blue bolt that flies straight forward, a boomerang that flies forward then returns allowing enemies to be hit twice, and a magic beam with a shorter range but can kill most enemies in one hit and can be fired in rapid succession.

Development

When Todd Replogle first designed the game, the graphics were drawing slowly. With some aid from the Apogee members (who were still working for Softdisk at the time), the game was improved to run at a faster and smoother pace. [3] [4]

Reception

Related Research Articles

<i>Rise of the Triad</i> 1995 first-person shooter video game

Rise of the Triad: Dark War is a first-person shooter video game, developed and published by Apogee Software in 1995. The player can choose one of five different characters to play as, each bearing unique attributes such as height, speed, and endurance. The game's story follows these five characters who have been sent to investigate a deadly cult, and soon become aware of a deadly plot to destroy a nearby city. Its remake was designed by Interceptor Entertainment and released by Apogee Games in 2013. The shareware version of the game is titled Rise of the Triad: The HUNT Begins.

<i>Wolfenstein 3D</i> 1992 video game

Wolfenstein 3D is a first-person shooter video game developed by id Software and published by Apogee Software and FormGen. Originally released on May 5, 1992, for DOS, it was inspired by the 1981 Muse Software video game Castle Wolfenstein, and is the third installment in the Wolfenstein series. In Wolfenstein 3D, the player assumes the role of Allied spy William "B.J." Blazkowicz during World War II as he escapes from the Nazi German prison Castle Wolfenstein and carries out a series of crucial missions against the Nazis. The player traverses each of the game's levels to find an elevator to the next level or kill a final boss, fighting Nazi soldiers, dogs, and other enemies with a knife and a variety of guns.

Commander Keen is a series of side-scrolling platform video games developed primarily by id Software. The series consists of six main episodes, a "lost" episode, and a final game; all but the final game were released for MS-DOS in 1990 and 1991, while the 2001 Commander Keen was released for the Game Boy Color. The series follows the eponymous Commander Keen, the secret identity of the eight-year-old genius Billy Blaze, as he defends the Earth and the galaxy from alien threats with his homemade spaceship, rayguns, and pogo stick. The first three episodes were developed by Ideas from the Deep, the precursor to id, and published by Apogee Software as the shareware title Commander Keen in Invasion of the Vorticons; the "lost" episode 3.5 Commander Keen in Keen Dreams was developed by id and published as a retail title by Softdisk; episodes four and five were released by Apogee as the shareware Commander Keen in Goodbye, Galaxy; and the simultaneously developed episode six was published in retail by FormGen as Commander Keen in Aliens Ate My Babysitter. Ten years later, an homage and sequel to the series was developed by David A. Palmer Productions and published by Activision as Commander Keen. Another game was announced in 2019 as under development by ZeniMax Online Studios, but was not released.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lich</span> Undead creature from fantasy literature

In fantasy fiction, a lich is a type of undead creature.

<i>Catacomb 3-D</i> 1991 video game

Catacomb 3-D is a first-person shooter video game, the third in the Catacomb series, the first of which to feature 3D computer graphics. It was developed by id Software and originally published by Softdisk under the Gamer's Edge label, released in November 1991. The player takes control of the high wizard Petton Everhail, descending into the catacombs of the Towne Cemetery to defeat the evil lich Nemesis and rescue his friend Grelminar.

<i>Cosmos Cosmic Adventure</i> 1992 video game

Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure: Forbidden Planet is a video game programmed by Todd Replogle and published by Apogee Software. It is a two-dimensional side-scrolling platform game. The game was released in mid March 1992 for MS-DOS compatible systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Owlbear</span> Fictional monster from Dungeons & Dragons

An owlbear is a fictional creature originally created for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. An owlbear is depicted as a cross between a bear and an owl, which "hugs" like a bear and attacks with its beak. Inspired by a plastic toy made in Hong Kong, Gary Gygax created the owlbear and introduced the creature to the game in the 1975 Greyhawk supplement; the creature has since appeared in every subsequent edition of the game. Owlbears, or similar beasts, also appear in several other fantasy role-playing games, video games and other media.

<i>Kroz</i> 1987 video game

Kroz is a series of Roguelike video games created by Scott Miller for IBM PC compatibles. The first episode in the series, Kingdom of Kroz, was released in 1987 as Apogee Software's first game. It was also published on Big Blue Disk #20. Kroz introduced the scheme of the first episode being free and charging money for additional episodes, a technique which defined the business model for Apogee and was adopted by other MS-DOS shareware publishers.

Doom, a first-person shooter game by id Software, was released in December 1993 and is considered one of the most significant and influential video games in history. Development began in November 1992, with programmers John Carmack and John Romero, artists Adrian Carmack and Kevin Cloud, and designer Tom Hall. Late in development, Hall was replaced by Sandy Petersen and programmer Dave Taylor joined. The music and sound effects were created by Bobby Prince.

<i>Monuments of Mars</i> 1991 video game

Monuments of Mars is a third-person puzzle-platform game developed by Scenario Software for MS-DOS and compatible systems. It was published by Apogee Software. The game consists of four 20-level episodes, the first episode being shareware, the rest being commercial software. It is similar to the games Arctic Adventure and Pharaoh's Tomb but uses an unrelated engine.

<i>Catacomb Abyss</i> 1992 video game

Catacomb Abyss is a fantasy themed first-person shooter (FPS) game developed by Softdisk and released in November 1992 for MS-DOS. It is the fourth entry in the Catacomb series of video games. Its predecessor, Catacomb 3-D, was developed by id Software as part of a contract with Softdisk. When the contract ended, Softdisk kept ownership of both the 3D engine as well as the intellectual property of Catacomb 3-D. The company formed a new, in-house team to develop three sequels, known as the Catacomb Adventure Series. This trilogy consists of Catacomb Abyss, Catacomb Armageddon and Catacomb Apocalypse. Softdisk published a shareware version of Catacomb Abyss, which could be freely distributed and played to encourage gamers to purchase the full trilogy.

Lich (<i>Dungeons & Dragons</i>) Undead creature in "Dungeons & Dragons"

The lich is an undead creature found in the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fantasy role-playing game. Liches are spellcasters who seek to defy death by magical means.

<i>Alien Carnage</i> 1993 video game

Alien Carnage, originally released as Halloween Harry, is a side-scrolling platform game developed by Interactive Binary Illusions and SubZero Software, and distributed by Apogee Software. The game features 256-colour VGA graphics and background music in MOD format. Alien Carnage is composed of four episodes. The first episode was released as shareware, and the rest were distributed commercially. In May 2007, John Passfield and 3D Realms released Alien Carnage as freeware. In 2014, the game was re-released with Windows support.

<i>Pharaohs Tomb</i> 1990 video game

Pharaoh's Tomb is an MS-DOS platform game created by George Broussard and published by Apogee Software.

<i>Arctic Adventure</i> (video game) 1991 video game

Arctic Adventure is a platform game written for DOS, published by Apogee Software. It is the sequel to Pharaoh's Tomb. The protagonist, Nevada Smith, is an archaeologist searching for a Viking treasure in the Arctic. It was re-released on Steam in 2015 with support for Windows and macOS.

<i>Lords of Darkness</i>

Lords of Darkness is the name of two accessories for the fictional Forgotten Realms campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game.

<i>Commander Keen in Goodbye, Galaxy</i> 1991 video game

Commander Keen in Goodbye, Galaxy is a two-part episodic side-scrolling platform video game developed by id Software and published by Apogee Software in 1991 for DOS. It consists of the fifth and sixth episodes of the Commander Keen series, though they are numbered as the fourth and fifth, as Commander Keen in Keen Dreams is not part of the main continuity. The game follows the titular Commander Keen, an eight-year-old child genius, as he first journeys through the Shadowlands to rescue the Gnosticenes so they may ask the Oracle how the Shikadi plan to destroy the galaxy, and then through the Shikadi's Armageddon Machine to stop them. The two episodes feature Keen running, jumping, and shooting through various levels while opposed by aliens, robots, and other hazards.

<i>Commander Keen in Aliens Ate My Babysitter</i> 1991 video game

Commander Keen in Aliens Ate My Babysitter is a side-scrolling platform video game developed by id Software and published by FormGen in December 1991 for DOS. It is the seventh episode of the Commander Keen series, though it is numbered as the sixth, as Commander Keen in Keen Dreams is outside of the main continuity. The game follows the titular Commander Keen, an eight-year-old child genius, as he journeys through an alien world to rescue his kidnapped babysitter. The game features Keen running, jumping, and shooting through various levels while opposed by aliens, robots, and other hazards.

References

  1. Todd Replogle & Allen Blum (1991). "Dark Ages Manual" (PDF). Apogee Software . Retrieved December 5, 2017.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. "Several old games released as Freeware". 3D Realms . Retrieved 26 March 2009.
  3. Romero, John (May 1997). "Audience - John Romero". Edge . No. 45. Future plc. p. 20.
  4. Romero, John (June 1997). "Talking - John Romero". Next Generation . No. 30. Imagine Media. p. 10.