Towdie

Last updated
Towdie
Towdie Cover Art.png
Cover art
Developer(s) DSA Computer Graphix
Publisher(s) Ultrasoft
Designer(s) Dušan Balara
Ladislav Balara
Platform(s) ZX Spectrum
Release
Genre(s) Adventure game, Platform game
Mode(s) Single player

Towdie is a platform adventure game published in Europe in 1994 by Ultrasoft for the ZX Spectrum. [1] The game, similar in style to Dizzy series, is set in a fantasy land called Alkria and follows adventures of a little restless creature called Towdie. The player controls Towdie, the titular character, who is on the mission to save the kingdom of Alkria from the evil dragon Quido.

Contents

The game was developed by Balara brothers (DSA Computer Graphix), where Dušan Balara created all the graphics & animation and Ladislav Balara programmed the game engine.

In May 2, 2013, Ultrasoft launched a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter to fund a HD remake of this game for Android, iPad, and PC with a funding goal of $50,000. Unfortunately, this campaign failed to reach its target. [2]

Plot

Towdie's title screen, ZX Spectrum version Towdie Title Screen.png
Towdie's title screen, ZX Spectrum version

The inhabitants of the kingdom of Alkria were living their happy and carefree lives, until one day the evil dragon Quido descended on the land, burning everything and everyone with his fire breath. The only hope now rests on an unlikely hero - little Towdie, who must overcome all the obstacles which get into his way on a mission to unite the remaining citizens of the kingdom and, with their help, defeat the dragon Quido.

Throughout the game Towdie meets and interacts with many of Alkria's inhabitants, including a prince and princess, a cook, a smith, an executioner, an evil sorceress, along with various other creatures who can help or hinder Towdie's progress towards his goal.

Gameplay

Screenshot of Towdie Towdie Screenshot.png
Screenshot of Towdie

The player guides Towdie, a juvenile-troll-like character, through an interior and exterior of a castle in an attempt to save the kingdom of Alkria from the evil dragon Quido. The locations are all situated in or around the castle and are fantastical in nature, many loosely inspired by fairy tales. Movement from one room (screen) to the next is through flip-screen such that when Towdie touches the outer edge of one room (screen) he appears at the beginning of the adjacent room.

The individual rooms consist of platforms, stairs and ropes with Towdie able to both walk and jump to navigate the castle and its obstacles. Towdie can hold up to four items at once which are then used at specific locations to solve puzzles and advance through the game. At the start of the game the player has a full health bar, which goes down in dangerous situations and once depleted the game is over. The health bar can be replenished by finding and eating Amanita mushrooms scattered throughout the castle.

Related Research Articles

Andrew Nicholas Oliver and Philip Edward Oliver, together known as the Oliver Twins, are British twin brothers and video game designers.

<i>Dizzy</i> (series) Video game series

Dizzy is a series of video games, created by the Oliver Twins and published by Codemasters. It was one of the most successful British video game franchises of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Originally created for the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC, the series appeared on multiple home computer and video game console formats, with over a dozen games being published between 1987 and 1992.

<i>Jet Set Willy</i> 1984 platform video game

Jet Set Willy is a platform video game originally written by Matthew Smith for the ZX Spectrum home computer. It was published in 1984 by Software Projects and ported to most home computers of the time.

<i>Wonder Boy in Monster Land</i> 1987 video game

Wonder Boy in Monster Land, known by its original arcade release as Wonder Boy: Monster Land, is a platform video game developed by Westone Bit Entertainment and released by Sega in Japanese arcades in 1987 and for the Master System in 1988, with a number of other home computer and console ports following. The game is the sequel to the 1986 game Wonder Boy and takes place eleven years after the events in the previous game. After enjoying over a decade of peace on Wonder Land following the defeat of the evil King by Tom-Tom, later bestowed the title "Wonder Boy", a fire-breathing dragon called the MEKA dragon appeared; he and his minions conquered Wonder Land, turning it into "Monster Land". The people, helpless due to their lack of fighting skill, call for Wonder Boy, now a teenager, to destroy the monsters and defeat the MEKA dragon. Players control Wonder Boy through twelve linear levels as he makes his way through Monster Land to find and defeat the MEKA dragon. Players earn gold by defeating enemies and buy weapons, armor, footwear, magic, and other items to help along the way.

<i>Magicland Dizzy</i> 1990 video game

Magicland Dizzy is a platform adventure game published in Europe in 1990 by Codemasters for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and Amiga platforms. By 1992 there were also MS-DOS, Atari ST and Amstrad CPC versions available. It is the sixth game in the Dizzy series, and the fourth adventure-based Dizzy title. The story, set in a fantasy world called Magicland, follows on from the events of Fantasy World Dizzy, the previous adventure title. In Magicland Dizzy the player controls Dizzy, an egg-shaped character, who is trying to save six of his friends who have been placed under spells by the Evil Wizard Zaks.

Magic Knight is a computer game franchise created by freelance programmer David Jones originally for the 1985 game Finders Keepers on the Mastertronic budget label. Finders Keepers is a flip-screen platform game released on the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, MSX and Commodore 64. The game spawned three additional sequels on the Mastertronic Added Dimension budget label: Spellbound (1985), Knight Tyme (1986) and Stormbringer (1987). The three sequels are far less action-orientated, being effectively graphic adventure games using a basic menu system ("Windimation") for Magic Knight to interact with characters and items instead of typed commands.

<i>Finders Keepers</i> (1985 video game) 1985 video game

Finders Keepers is a video game written by David Jones and the first game in the Magic Knight series. It was published on the Mastertronic label for the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, MSX, Commodore 64, and Commodore 16 in 1985. Published in the United Kingdom at the budget price of £1.99. Finders Keepers is a platform game with some maze sections.

<i>Cauldron</i> (video game) 1985 video game

Cauldron is a video game developed and published by British developer Palace Software in 1985 for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, and Amstrad CPC home computers. It contains both platform game and horizontally scrolling shooter sections. Players control a witch who aims to become the "Witch Queen" by defeating an enemy called the "Pumpking".

<i>Twin Kingdom Valley</i> 1983 video game

Twin Kingdom Valley is a text adventure game with animated pictures for the BBC Micro, Acorn Electron, Commodore 64, Commodore 16, and ZX Spectrum. It was released in 1983 by Bug-Byte.

Perestroika is a Soviet video game released in 1990 by a small software developer called Locis in 1990, and named after Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's policy of Perestroika. The music playing on the title screen is a Russian folk song "Dubinushka" from the 19th century.

<i>Hunchback</i> (video game) 1983 video game

Hunchback is a video game developed by Century Electronics and published in arcades in 1983. The game is loosely based on the 1831 Victor Hugo novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame and the player controls Quasimodo. Set on top of a castle wall, the player must guide the Hunchback from left to right while avoiding obstacles on a series of non-scrolling screens. The goal of each screen is to ring the church bell at the far right.

<i>Black Lamp</i> (video game) 1988 video game

Black Lamp is a platform game, originally published by Firebird Software for the Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum computers in 1988, and later published by Atari Corporation for the Atari 8-bit family in 1989.

<i>Dracula 2: The Last Sanctuary</i> 2000 video game

Dracula 2: The Last Sanctuary is a 2000 graphic adventure video game developed by Wanadoo Edition and jointly published by Index+, France Telecom Multimedia, Canal+ Multimedia and Cryo Interactive. Originally released for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS, it was ported to the PlayStation in 2002. In 2012, a slightly modified version developed and published by Microïds was released for iOS and OS X, and, in 2013, for Android. In 2014, the remade iOS/OS X/Android version was made available on Steam. There were dubbing mutations in French, English, Spanish, German, Italian, Hungarian and Czech.

<i>Kokotoni Wilf</i> 1984 video game

Kokotoni Wilf is an action-adventure game released by Elite Systems in 1984 for the Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, and ZX Spectrum home computers. The game was inspired by Jet Set Willy.

<i>Football Manager</i> (1982 video game) 1982 video game

Football Manager is the first game in the Football Manager series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boomzap Entertainment</span> Video game developer

Boomzap Entertainment is a casual games developer registered in Singapore with a virtual office environment. It was formed in 2005 and has released 50 games to date that are ported on various platforms. Boomzap has developed for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Nintendo DS, Wii, iOS, and Android. Its games are available on games portals such as Big Fish Games, Yahoo!, WildTangent, GameHouse, Google Play, Amazon, iTunes, Steam and others.

<i>Hamlet</i> (video game) 2010 video game

Hamlet or the Last Game without MMORPG Features, Shaders and Product Placement is an indie adventure game based on William Shakespeare's Hamlet. It was developed and published by indie game developer Denis Galanin.

<i>Dark Lands</i> (video game) 2013 video game

Dark Lands is an indie video game by Czech company Mingle Games. It was released in 2013 exclusively for Windows Phone. The game was scheduled to be released for iOS and Android in 2014. It was originally planned to fund these versions with Kickstarter but the campaign was unsuccessful.

Dragon's Lair is a video game franchise created by Rick Dyer. The series is famous for its Western animation-style graphics and complex decades-long history of being ported to many platforms and being remade into television and comic book series.

<i>Rastan</i> (video game) 1987 video game

Rastan Saga, known as Rastan in North America, is a side-scrolling hack and slash arcade video game released by Taito in 1987. It was a critical and commercial success and was ported to home platforms.

References

  1. "Towdie by Ultrasoft at ZX Spectrum Games". ZX-Spectrum Games. Retrieved 2012-10-23.
  2. "Classic 90s adventure game Towdie could come to iPad and Android if its Kickstarter is successful". Pocket Gamer. 2013-06-06.