Forgotten Realms is a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fantasy role-playing game. Commonly referred to by players and game designers as "The Realms", it was created by game designer Ed Greenwood around 1967 as a setting for his childhood stories. Several years later, it was published for the D&D game as a series of magazine articles, and the first Realms game products were released in 1987. Role-playing game products have been produced for the setting ever since, in addition to novels, role-playing video game adaptations, comic books, and the film Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.
Eye of the Beholder is a role-playing video game for personal computers and video game consoles developed by Westwood Associates. It was published by Strategic Simulations, Inc. in 1991, for the MS-DOS operating system and later ported to the Amiga, the Sega CD and the SNES. The Sega CD version features a soundtrack composed by Yuzo Koshiro and Motohiro Kawashima. A port to the Atari Lynx handheld was developed by NuFX in 1993, but was not released. In 2002, an adaptation of the same name was developed by Pronto Games for the Game Boy Advance.
Castlevania, known in Japan as Akumajō Dracula, is a gothic horror action-adventure video game series and media franchise created by Konami. The series is largely set in the castle of Count Dracula, the main antagonist of the Belmont clan of vampire hunters.
Pools of Darkness is a role-playing video game published by Strategic Simulations in 1991. It is the fourth entry in the Pool of Radiance series of Gold Box games, and the story is a continuation of the events of the third game, Secret of the Silver Blades. Like the previous games in the series, it is set in the Forgotten Realms, a campaign setting from Dungeons & Dragons. Players must stop an invasion from an evil god, eventually traveling to other dimensions to confront his lieutenants.
Level 9 was a British developer of computer software, active between 1981 and 1991. Founded by Mike, Nicholas and Pete Austin, the company produced software for the BBC Micro, Nascom, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Oric, Atari 8-bit computers, Camputers Lynx, RML 380Z, Amstrad CPC, MSX, Amiga, Apple II, Memotech MTX, and Enterprise platforms and is best known for its successful text adventure games until a general decline in the text adventure market forced their closure in June 1991.
Spyro is a platform game series originally created by Insomniac Games as an exclusive for Sony's PlayStation console. The series features the adventures of the main protagonist of the title character, a dragon. Since the series' introduction in 1998, there have been numerous sequels and a reboot trilogy. The series was originally produced by Universal Interactive, later became known as Vivendi Games; the rights to the intellectual property were acquired by Activision after its merge with Vivendi in 2008.
Telecomsoft was a British video game publisher and a division of British Telecom. The company was founded by Ederyn Williams in 1984 and operated three separate labels: Firebird, Rainbird, and Silverbird. The first employee was James Leavey, seconded from elsewhere in BT, who, along with Tony Rainbird, became the driving force behind the company in the early days.
Stonekeep is a role-playing video game developed and released by Interplay Productions for the PC in 1995. It is a first-person dungeon crawler game with pre-rendered environments, digitized characters and live-action cinematic sequences. Repeatedly delayed, the game that was supposed to be finished in nine months took five years to make.
The Lords of Midnight is an epic fantasy video game combining aspects of wargames and graphic adventures, written by Mike Singleton and originally released in 1984 for the ZX Spectrum. Well received from the beginning, it was soon converted for the Amstrad CPC and Commodore 64. The game featured an innovative 3-D effect that Singleton called landscaping, which served to bring the player into the game much more than usual. The Lords of Midnight is often named with Elite as among the top role-playing games of the 1980s. The player must destroy Doomdark, the evil Witchking who has locked the Land of Midnight in perpetual winter. There are multiple ways in which this can be achieved. It was followed by Doomdark's Revenge also in 1984, and Lords of Midnight: The Citadel in 1995.
Might and Magic V: Darkside of Xeen is a science fantasy role-playing video game published and developed for multiple platforms by New World Computing in 1993. Based on the Might and Magic III: Isles of Terra game engine, it is the fifth game in the Might and Magic series, and is a direct sequel to Might and Magic IV: Clouds of Xeen, concluding the story arc started in the original Might and Magic Book One: The Secret of the Inner Sanctum.
Lords of the Realm is a turn-based strategy computer game published and developed by Impressions Games. It was first released on June 15, 1994, and is the first game in the Lords of the Realm series.
Doomdark's Revenge is a role-playing and wargame video game developed by Mike Singleton and published by Beyond Software for the ZX Spectrum in 1984. It is a sequel to Singleton's 1984 seminal The Lords of Midnight and has similar game mechanics but adds more detail and complexity with the number of characters and locations increased.
Gateway to the Savage Frontier (1991) is a Gold BoxDungeons & Dragons computer game developed by Beyond Software and published by SSI for the Commodore 64, PC and Amiga personal computers.
Treasures of the Savage Frontier (1992) is a Gold Box Dungeons & Dragons role-playing video game. It was developed by Beyond Software and published by SSI for the Amiga and DOS.
Al-Qadim: The Genie's Curse is an action role-playing game for the personal computer set in the Al-Qadim campaign setting of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. The game was developed by Cyberlore Studios and published in 1994 by Strategic Simulations (SSI). The game combines role-playing game and adventure with a simplified interface; the player character is a young corsair trying to clear his family's name, rescue his betrothed and determine who has been freeing genies from their masters.
Midwinter is a post-apocalyptic first-person action role-playing game with strategy and survival elements for the Atari ST, Amiga and PC. It was designed by Mike Singleton and released in 1989 by Microplay Software. The game was critically acclaimed and commercially successful enough to get a sequel titled Flames of Freedom in 1991.
Mike Singleton was an influential British video game designer who wrote a number of well-regarded titles in the 1980s, as well as being a contributor to games in the 21st century. His titles include The Lords of Midnight, Doomdark's Revenge, Dark Sceptre, War in Middle Earth and Midwinter. Before developing video games, Singleton was an English teacher in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, England.
Beyond Software was a video game publisher in the UK in the 1980s. It was set up by the EMAP publishing group in 1983 and published numerous games on the Commodore 64, Dragon 32, ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC, but met with very little success until the release of Mike Singleton's The Lords of Midnight in 1984. The Tolkien-esque strategy game became an instant success and allowed Beyond to establish a distribution deal with American developers First Star, as well as a publishing deal with developer Denton Designs.
Menzoberranzan is a 1994 role-playing video game created by Strategic Simulations (SSI) and DreamForge Intertainment. Menzoberranzan uses the game engine that was used previously in SSI's Ravenloft: Strahd's Possession (1994), and is set in the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Forgotten Realms campaign setting.
Throne of Fire is an action strategy video game. It was designed by Mike Singleton, developed by Consult Computer Systems, and published by Melbourne House. The game was released for the Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum in 1987. Throne of Fire is set in the Burning Citadel, located around the rim of a volcano.
