Dungeon hack
| Dungeon hack | |
|---|---|
| Studio |
 DreamForge Intertainment
|
| Publisher |
SSI
|
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
1993 |
| platform | DOS |
| Game engine | AESOP / 16 |
| genre | Computer role playing game |
| Subject | Dungeons and Dragons |
| Game mode | Single player |
| control | Keyboard , mouse |
| system advantages preconditions |
|
| medium | Floppy disk , CD-ROM |
| language | English German |
| copy protection | Manual query |
Dungeon Hack is a computer role-playing game released for MS-DOS in 1993 , developed by DreamForge Intertainment and published by SSI . This is the last exploitation of the AESOP / 16 engine from Eye of the Beholder 3: Assault on Myth Drannor and has a graphically recreated, rogue-like game principle with numerous randomly generated content.
Gameplay
Dungeon Hack had no plot except for the information that the character should find an artifact at the end of a dungeon. Instead, it was a transfer of the well-known rogue-like game principle from the early days of computer role-playing ( rogue , hack , NetHack ) into a graphic framework, using all the familiar elements of the Eye-of-the-Beholder games. The AESOP / 16 engine developed by SSI for Eye of the Beholder 3: Assault on Myth Drannor was used as the graphic framework .
At the beginning the player creates a character according to the specifications and possibilities of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons . For the first time, all seven character classes (bard, cleric, fighter, magician, thief, paladin, ranger) were implemented in an AD&D computer game, including multi-class characters, but without the dual class for human characters that deviates from it. Furthermore, the player could determine gender, race and ethos. The game figure is upgraded to at least the 3rd character level at the beginning. A special feature is that the player can then use a number of sliders to influence the design and level of difficulty of the level. The dungeon to be explored consists of ten to 25 levels. A special level of difficulty, the "Character Death Real" destroyed all scores when the player character died and thus ensured the permanent death of the figure.
The game is presented from the first person perspective and takes place in real time. The main part of the game consists of finding ways to descend into the deeper regions of the dungeon. The main aim is to fight monsters. Dialogues and thematic quests are not available, puzzles are limited to finding keys, switches and entrances hidden by illusion. For a higher level of difficulty, puzzles can be activated over several levels, which means that, for example, the appropriate key has to be retrieved from another level. In addition, there are randomly generated treasures and auxiliary items such as food, which is needed to refresh the life energy, to be discovered. The generator takes into account the choice of character in order to place suitable objects. The game has a mapping system that automatically documents the explored areas, including the locations of monsters and walls of illusions. A small automap is displayed in the lower left corner of the screen, which changes to a large view by clicking. The card can be printed out on request. By keeping the engine and implementing the implemented rules, the peculiarities of Eye of the Beholder were also adopted, such as the non-existent possibility of being able to do magic with armor on. This still had to be laboriously removed and then created again via the point & click interface.
reception
The tester came to a positive result for the US computer game magazine Computer Gaming World . She praised the game for its fast, easily accessible gameplay, as a counterpoint to the action-oriented role-playing games. She positively emphasized the many design options for the player when creating dungeons. She praised the character-related random routines, but criticized that the results of the random generation in detail were often insufficient. Even with the highest number of dungeon levels, the game principle without action is too repetitive in the long run.
"If random creatures and meaningless hallways are your thing, you'll love Dungeon Hack - the rest of us like at least a little story to justify our monster butchery."
"If random creatures and meaningless corridors are your thing, you'll love Dungeon Hack - the rest of us would welcome at least a little bit of action to justify the monster slaughter."
"In spite of its minor flaws, Dungeon Hack managed to be an enjoyable and addictive little hack-and-slasher."
"Despite its minor issues, Dungeon Hack was a fun and addicting little hack-and-slasher ."
“SSI had tried something similar with its Dungeon Hack game and editor back in 1993, which tried to marry the venerable old mainframe classic with its Eye of the Beholder engine. Again, one has to wonder why so many developers seem to miss the point that it's precisely the lack of distracting graphics and complex interfaces that make the classic Rogue games so novel and playable. "
“As early as 1993, SSI tried something similar [Note: like Diablo ] with their game Dungeon Hack and the associated editor, which tried to marry the time-honored mainframe classic [ Rogue ] with its own Eye-of-the-Beholder engine. Once again one can only wonder why so many developers don't seem to understand that it is precisely the lack of distracting graphics and complex user interfaces that make classic rogue so original and accessible. "
Web links
- Dungeon Hack at MobyGames (English)
- German-language test reports on Kultboy.com
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Andrew Park, Elliott Chin: Gamespot's History of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Dungeon Hack ( English ) In: GameSpot . CNET . Archived from the original on November 11, 1999. Retrieved April 15, 2013.
- ↑ a b Allen Rausch: A History of D&D Video Games - Part III ( English ) In: GameSpy . News Corp. . August 17, 2004. Retrieved April 15, 2013.
- ↑ Cory Brock: Eye of the Beholder III: Assault on Myth Drannor. In: Hardcore Gaming 101. November 20, 2011, accessed July 15, 2019 (American English).
- ↑ http://www.gamebanshee.com/news/106214-rpg-spotlight-8-dungeon-hack.html
- ↑ a b c Scorpia: Hackin 'The Nights Away . (Article scan) In: Computer Gaming World . No. 115, February 1994, pp. 62-64.
- ^ Matt Barton: The History of Computer Role-Playing Games Part III: The Platinum and Modern Ages (1994-2004) ( English ) In: Gamasutra . UBM plc . April 11, 2007. Retrieved September 15, 2011.