| The Demon's Forge | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Publisher(s) | Saber Software Mastertronic (IBM PC) |
| Designer(s) | Brian Fargo |
| Platform(s) | Apple II, IBM PC |
| Release | 1981 |
| Genre(s) | Adventure |
The Demon's Forge is a adventure game published in 1981 by Saber Software for the Apple II and IBM PC It was designed by Brian Fargo.
The Demon's Forge is a game in which the player is a mercenary banished to a dungeon. [1]
In this game, players navigate through a fantasy world filled with danger and puzzles. The goal is to explore dungeons, solve mysteries, and ultimately confront the demonic forces lurking within.
The game's interface relies heavily on text commands, where players type out actions and responses to interact with the game world. Through this approach, players uncover a rich narrative and encounter various challenges, from battling monsters to deciphering cryptic clues.
Fargo's design emphasizes immersive storytelling and strategic decision-making, typical of early text adventure games. The Demon's Forge is known for its atmospheric descriptions and inventive puzzles, which require both wit and courage to overcome. The game's legacy lies in its contribution to the evolution of adventure games and its influence on later role-playing and the former genre.
Michael Cranford, a co-developer, reviewed the game for Computer Gaming World , and stated that "I enjoyed The Demon's Forge and, on the whole, would recommend it to anyone." [1]
Interactive fiction (IF) is software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives, either in the form of Interactive narratives or Interactive narrations. These works can also be understood as a form of video game, either in the form of an adventure game or role-playing game. In common usage, the term refers to text adventures, a type of adventure game where the entire interface can be "text-only", however, graphical text adventure games, where the text is accompanied by graphics still fall under the text adventure category if the main way to interact with the game is by typing text. Some users of the term distinguish between interactive fiction, known as "Puzzle-free", that focuses on narrative, and "text adventures" that focus on puzzles.
Zork is a text adventure game first released in 1977 by developers Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling for the PDP-10 mainframe computer. The original developers and others, as the company Infocom, expanded and split the game into three titles—Zork I: The Great Underground Empire, Zork II: The Wizard of Frobozz, and Zork III: The Dungeon Master—which were released commercially for a range of personal computers beginning in 1980. In Zork, the player explores the abandoned Great Underground Empire in search of treasure. The player moves between the game's hundreds of locations and interacts with objects by typing commands in natural language that the game interprets. The program acts as a narrator, describing the player's location and the results of the player's commands. It has been described as the most famous piece of interactive fiction.
Rogue is a dungeon crawling video game by Michael Toy and Glenn Wichman with later contributions by Ken Arnold. Rogue was originally developed around 1980 for Unix-based minicomputer systems as a freely distributed executable. It was later included in the Berkeley Software Distribution 4.2 operating system (4.2BSD). Commercial ports of the game for a range of personal computers were made by Toy, Wichman, and Jon Lane under the company A.I. Design and financially supported by the Epyx software publishers. Additional ports to modern systems have been made since by other parties using the game's now-open source code.
Pool of Radiance is a role-playing video game developed and published by Strategic Simulations, Inc (SSI) in 1988. It was the first adaptation of TSR's Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D) fantasy role-playing game for home computers, becoming the first episode in a four-part series of D&D computer adventure games. The other games in the "Gold Box" series used the game engine pioneered in Pool of Radiance, as did later D&D titles such as the Neverwinter Nights online game. Pool of Radiance takes place in the Forgotten Realms fantasy setting, with the action centered in and around the port city of Phlan.
Colossal Cave Adventure is a text-based adventure game, released in 1976 by developer Will Crowther for the PDP-10 mainframe computer. It was expanded upon in 1977 by Don Woods. In the game, the player explores a cave system rumored to be filled with treasure and gold. The game is composed of dozens of locations, and the player moves between these locations and interacts with objects in them by typing one- or two-word commands which are interpreted by the game's natural language input system. The program acts as a narrator, describing the player's location and the results of the player's attempted actions. It is the first well-known example of interactive fiction, as well as the first well-known adventure game, for which it was also the namesake.
The Bard's Tale is a fantasy role-playing video game designed and programmed by Michael Cranford for the Apple II. It was produced by Interplay Productions in 1985 and distributed by Electronic Arts. The game was ported to the Commodore 64, Apple IIGS, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Amiga, Atari ST, MS-DOS, Mac, and NES. It spawned The Bard's Tale series of games and books. The earliest editions of the game used a series title of Tales of the Unknown, but this title was dropped for later ports of The Bard's Tale and subsequent games in the series.
Frank Brian Fargo is an American video game designer, producer, programmer and executive, and founder of Interplay Entertainment, inXile Entertainment and Robot Cache.
Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast is an expansion pack of the fantasy role-playing video game Baldur's Gate. Developed by BioWare and published by Interplay, it adds 20 to 30 extra hours of gameplay, including the addition of four areas and minor tweaks to some of the mechanics. The expansion consists of four notable quests that take place within the same game world as Baldur's Gate, and sees players taking their character and their party of companions across the Sword Coast, from travelling to a distant island, to exploring the fortress dungeon of a dead dwarf. Tales of the Sword Coast sold 600,000 units by 2003.
Beyond Zork: The Coconut of Quendoris an interactive fiction video game written by Brian Moriarty and released by Infocom in 1987. It was one of the last games in the Zork series developed by Infocom. It signified a notable departure from the standard format of Infocom's earlier games which relied purely on text and puzzle-solving: among other features, Beyond Zork incorporated a crude on-screen map, the use of character statistics and levels, and RPG combat elements.
The Bard's Tale is a fantasy role-playing video game franchise created by Michael Cranford and developed by Brian Fargo's Interplay Productions (1985–1992) and inXile Entertainment (2004–present). The initial title of the series was Tales of the Unknown. The Bard's Tale II: The Destiny Knight dropped the Tales of the Unknown series title, as did all ports of the original game after 1988. From then on, the series was known as The Bard's Tale series. Both Cranford and Fargo have refuted the assertion that the original projected titles for the second and third installments were The Archmage's Tale and The Thief's Tale.
The Bard's Tale II: The Destiny Knight is a fantasy role-playing video game created by Interplay Productions in 1986. It is the first sequel to The Bard's Tale, and the last game of the series that was designed and programmed by Michael Cranford.
The Bard's Tale III: Thief of Fate is a computer fantasy role-playing video game created by Interplay Productions in 1988. It is the second sequel to The Bard's Tale. It was designed by Rebecca Heineman, Bruce Schlickbernd, and Michael A. Stackpole. The game was released for the Amiga, Apple II (64k), Commodore 64, and MS-DOS.
Dungeon Hack is a 1993 role-playing video game developed by DreamForge Intertainment and published by Strategic Simulations for DOS and NEC PC-9801.
An action role-playing game is a subgenre of video games that combines core elements from both the action game and role-playing genre.
Demon Stalkers: The Raid on Doomfane is an action role-playing video game released in 1987 for the Commodore 64 and in 1989 for IBM PC compatibles. The game is a top-down dungeon crawl about killing monsters during the descent. A sequel, Fire King, was released for the same systems.
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.
Anvil of Dawn is a 1995 fantasy role-playing video game developed by DreamForge Intertainment and published by New World Computing. Anvil of Dawn was named the best role-playing game of 1995 by Computer Gaming World and Computer Game Review.
An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story, driven by exploration and/or puzzle-solving. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media, such as literature and film, encompassing a wide variety of genres. Most adventure games are designed for a single player, since the emphasis on story and character makes multiplayer design difficult. Colossal Cave Adventure is identified by Rick Adams as the first such adventure game, first released in 1976, while other notable adventure game series include Zork, King's Quest, Monkey Island, Syberia, and Myst.
Hunted: The Demon's Forge is an action role playing game set in a dark fantasy world. The game was developed by inXile Entertainment and published by Bethesda Softworks for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows.
Borrowed Time is an interactive fiction game about a detective, who tries to rescue his kidnapped wife. The game was developed by Interplay and published by Activision in 1985. Mastertronic republished it as a budget title as Time to Die.