Slashdot Mirror
Dungeon Master Returns
Jonathan J. writes "Back in 1987 an all-time classic RPG game came out called Dungeon Master. It defined gui for that type of rpg to this day. It's still fun to play. Chaos Strikes back (1989) was the first sequel, and D.M. 2 came out in 1995 (dm2 was the least exciting, for me). There are a lot of very loyal fans of the first two, like myself.
Please announce that Dungeon Master Java is out, it's free! The graphics are greatly improved and it's a
whole new game with new content! There is also a level editor included. For more information about the game check the
Dungeon Master Encyclopedia website
" I can distinctly remember many hour spent playing this game in the basement of my friend's house - in between Alamaze and Monster Island - 'course I'm still playing the latter two, so it might be time to play the former again as well.
I was working at Origin Systems in Austin when Dungeon Master came out. We were still coding for Apple IIs for the most part, but there were a couple of Atari STs in the office, and Dungeon Master brought the whole place to a standstill.
:-) Richard Garriott, in particular, revamped his whole user-interface philosophy after playing Dungeon Master. It was probably the single largest influence behind the "icon-oriented" GUI implemented, for better or worse, in Ultima VI. Richard didn't spend a lot of time playing other peoples' games, but DM was an exception.
Technically speaking, DM was indeed a souped-up Wizardry clone. But it was one of the first games that looked real. It heralded several sea changes in the industry:
1) Programmers alone couldn't write graphically-competitive games anymore. "Programmer art" was considered good enough for most purposes at the time, but you had to have some serious professional art talent on staff to compete in Dungeon Master's league. We'd already pretty much gotten that particular clue at Origin by then, but most other game companies hadn't.
2) User interface is every bit as important as any other aspect of game design. It's no exaggeration to say Dungeon Master's UI was a revolution. DM demonstrated that you didn't have to force your users to memorize an entire keyboard map to play a game. Believe it or not, this was by no means obvious at the time, especially at Origin.
3) DM was among the very first mainstream titles to show off the graphical capabilities of the next-generation consumer machines at the time (Atari ST, Amiga, and Apple IIGS). Consequently, it showed us how first-person games were going to look for years to come, on platforms like the IBMs, color Macs, and later-generation consoles. Again, you have to remember that DM was one of the first games that looked like the real world. Hell, as far as I'm aware, it was the first game that looked like the real world.
Even though the first wave of machines that could run games like Dungeon Master were all hopeless flops in the marketplace, DM's overall look and feel proved very durable. SSI's Eye of the Beholder series was basically the same game, with strong sales as late as 1992-1993. Later Wizardry titles revealed some cross-pollination as well, not to mention the heavily-iconic Ultima Underworld.
In short, DM kicked major ass throughout the game industry. FTL did everything right on that one.
Dahlmann tightly grips the knife, which he may have no idea how to use, and steps out into the plain.
My fond memory: playing Dungeon Master for several hours, then walking out of my room and encountering my brother in the hallway. My first impulse was to throw a club at him.