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Dungeon Master was the first, then many came. How Dungeon Master works? in these kind of games you firstly chose your team; sometimes this is done once at the beginning, sometimes you can change characters during the game.

The target of this kind of games (suchas all Fantasy games) is to defeat some kind of evil entity.

"Krogh" the evil Lord in "Ishar"

What makes the difference with the modern games is that your team is really ALIVE: you have to feed them, arm them, train them, experience them, make them sleep, make them fight with monsters, make raise their skills... in brief: have care of them.

The Life Values in DungeonMaster

Once you begin, you have to travel around, collecting anything you find: items, weapons, clothes, money and so on. This is useful because some items can be directly used, some others can be changed or sold, some have to be treasured for future uses (Keys) and some just to be dropped in specific places to keep orientation (you'll often find lost in mazes)

Hangin' around trough birches woods... what's that? a money bag?

You have to be curious, reading notices, scrolls, listening humbles in taverns, contacting characters all around to be teached about anything useful.

in these games, the tip is not just to find a Key or a lever to walk throu the next door: sometimes you'll be forced to menage with your immagination, using weird items in uncommon way to get the clue for make something work, a door opening, a wall disappear, a pit re-fill... sometimes trying anything you can, sometimes drawing back in despair, but, at the end, getting the solution. This is a good brain training anyway, don't you?

Not just this. Sometimes, buttons, pads, levers, rooms, spinners and passages work in some very difficult combination, mostly hidden and hard to get right sequences. You often have to draw maps to try to understand where you are and where you'll probably find the wayout, the solution, or maybe just the way to safety go over a damn-hard fight with some kind of VERY mad Gargoyle.

The Lever-Room's solution in Ishar

The good and bad guys are taken from the wide Fantasy World: Elves, Mages, Witches, Orcs, Goblins, Gnomes, Ghouls, Minotaures, Gargoyles, Snakes, Dragons, Bats, Lycantropes, Lizard-Freaks, Golhems, Devils, Mummies, Trolls, Skeletons, Ogres, Mutants, and any kind of ugly and deformed living thing. Some are friendly, some can be aquired, and some can be VERY dangerous!

You walk on a "Map" following 4 directions: North, South, East and West, using a sort of "movement pad" with Forth, Back, Left and Right movement Buttons, plus a couple of Rotation buttons that makes your team turn of 90 degrees

The Movement Pad in "Knightmare"

Your Team's point of view, is a "First-Person" 3D like perspective. It's not a real 3D but an "Illusion" of tridimensional look, based on a "cubic" interaction related to the "main-map" points - in fact you walk step by step in the planar squared board but you see a representation of what is related to your position. Is just an effect but is the only limitation and anyway the 3D effect is good enough to feel in fear behind corners,,, don't you?

The 3D view in "Knightmare"

Ok, thaz all. if you think you feel curious enough you can try this games on some Atari or Amiga Emulator (There are many), or buy a cheap 2nd hand Atari ST... it could surprise you!