Forbidden Forest

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Forbidden Forest
Studio Cosmi
Senior Developer Paul Norman
Erstveröffent-
lichung		 1983
platform Commodore 64 , Atari 8-bit
genre Shoot 'em up
Game mode Single player
language English

The forest of Demogargon: Forbidden Forest is a successful computer game for Commodore 64 and Atari home computers . It was programmed in 1983 by the musician and software developer Paul Norman in collaboration with Cosmi . It was one of Paul Norman's first games.

The game

The player controls an archer through a forest landscape. However, it can only run to the left or right. The movement is simulated by horizontally scrolling the forest panorama, the game figure always remains in the middle and at the bottom of the screen.

During the hike, the archer is attacked by various monsters. The aim of the game is to shoot the monsters with a bow and arrow without being killed by them too often (the character has several "lives", as is usual in such games). You fight your way through six levels in order to face the mysterious Demogorgon at the end. If you manage to hit this, the round is victorious and you start over in a more difficult stage.

There are points for shot down opponents, but in this game they are rather secondary. It gets darker and darker as the game progresses. There are four different levels of difficulty, which differ in the speed and number of opponents in the levels. After each completed level, the character performs a dance to music that is legendary among collectors.

opponent

At the beginning there is still daylight in the forest, although the moon is already in the sky. Therefore the opponents are easy to recognize at the beginning.

be crazy

First you have to shoot some giant spiders. They come running one at a time from the left and right. If you hit a giant spider, an oversized blood stain appears on it and the spider dissolves with a beep. If you cannot kill a giant spider in time, it attacks the player with its legs and slashes him with it, which costs a life.

bee

The second enemy is a giant bee, which flies across the screen at high speed. It flies "three-dimensionally", which is simulated with different sizes of the sprite . If the bee is small and its hum is quiet, it flies in the background, which must be taken into account when aiming. If you cannot hit it with an arrow in time and make it burst, it attacks the player with its sting and stabs the player's body.

frogs

Next, you have to take on a group of meter-sized frogs that fall from the sky to funny music. The level is over when you have met a certain number of frogs. The danger in this level is that the frog that has been hit does not disappear, but only changes its color as a sign that it is dead. The “corpse” remains just as dangerous as the living frog, because if a frog, dead or alive, falls on the pawn, nothing remains of it but a bloody pile of mud. Therefore, in this level the player is mainly occupied with dodging.

Dragon

The next enemy is a red, fire-breathing dragon. To kill the dragon you have to hit it in the heart while it flies over the pawn. If the dragon is hit, it will sink and burn. Precise aiming is required. The difficulty lies in the fact that the player has to constantly avoid the fireballs from the dragon's mouth.

If the dragon comes flying towards the player from the background, the task is relatively simple. You just have to stand up, aim straight up and pull the trigger at the right time. Since the kite always flies in the same way, you can learn this very quickly. If you miss the dragon in the learning phase, he comes closer and spits a ball of fire, which you can easily avoid.

If the kite comes from the side, you first have to avoid the fireballs, let the kite pass and then pull the trigger at the right time. Since you have to shoot while moving, this is much more difficult.

Ghosts

When the kite is done, it is usually quite dark in the forest. The fluorescent ghosts and skeletons that follow are therefore particularly eerie, but at least easy to recognize. In this level, skeletons come running from left and right and want to cut up the player with bone sticks. If you hit a skeleton, a blood stain appears and the skeleton disappears. The skeletons move like the giant spiders at the beginning and can be met in exactly the same way. In this level, however, the goal is not to shoot a certain number of skeletons. Rather, you have to hit the ghost, which can be seen in the background during the whole level, with an arrow (if the skeletons give you the time). If the player succeeds, the skeletons stop and dissolve with the ghost with loud howling.

Snake

In the next level a snake with poisonous saliva is waiting for the player. She snakes out from behind a bush and tries to catch the pawn with her saliva. If this succeeds, the player melts and only the shoes remain. However, this can be prevented by shooting the snake with an aimed shot in the face.

Boss / Demogorgon

Now the last level follows, where you meet the demon prince Demogorgon. You can't see it because it's dark. So you have to shoot in the dark. Only now and then a clap of thunder sounds and in the flash you can see the demon for a split second. However, since the animal is constantly changing location, you have to react quickly.

You have exactly one minute to shoot the bird or dragon-like creature. If you meet him, there are colorful fireworks. If the minute has passed without you having killed Demogorgon, the Demogorgon's head sinks down on the screen in the direction of the player. What the animal is doing to the pawn cannot be seen, as one gets into a menu as soon as the Demogorgon's tusks have reached the player.

The fight against Demogorgon is a final battle: if the player catches him, the round is won. However, if he catches the player, the game is over, no matter how many "lives" the character has left.

The fight against Demogorgon is a little easier if, as an experienced player, you have played your way through the previous levels very quickly and it is not yet that dark. Then you can tell by the shadow on the trees when it changes its position.

control

The controls are quite simple. You can only move the character one-dimensional to the left or right. "Move to the left" means that the figure is turning its face to the left and appears to be walking in that direction, while the background scrolls to the right. The figure remains in the middle of the lower edge of the screen.

You can shoot to the side or in the background with a bow and arrow. If you have an arrow on the bow, you can aim to the right and left with a light tap of the joystick, by moving up and down the angle of fire and thus the altitude and range of the arrow are set (small bars then appear on the side of the screen, reflecting the setting). This is especially important against the ghost and Demogorgon.

Graphics / music / atmosphere

The graphics are kept very simple (character set graphics). From today's perspective it looks very pixelated and is similar to most C64 games. Nevertheless, it is very successful, to which the "3D effect" when walking also contributes, namely that the more distant trees scroll more slowly across the screen than the closer ones. The slow darkening of the scenario, including the slowly setting moon, creates an eerie feeling that everyone knows who is in the forest when daylight is waning. The opponents are also designed imaginatively. The play figure, on the other hand, is primitive, but the fact that its death convulsions when caught are hardly distinguishable from the victory dance can now be considered a cult.

The music is very varied and contributes significantly to the atmosphere of the game. Each opponent has a different theme, and the music follows events such as "level achieved" or "player caught by opponent". This gives the music the effect of a film soundtrack.

Overall, the game enjoys its popularity due to the high artistic impression that is created here with relatively primitive means. Neither the graphics nor the game play are particularly complex, not even for C64 standards. The game offers a unique atmosphere and tempts you to play through again and again.

successor

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