Seven Cities of Gold

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The Seven Cities of Gold
Studio United StatesUnited States Ozark Softscape
Publisher United StatesUnited States Electronic Arts (North America) Ariolasoft UK (Europe)
United KingdomUnited Kingdom
Senior Developer Dan Bunten (project management)
Bill Bunten (concept)
Jim Rushing (map generator)
Alan Watson (graphics)
Erstveröffent-
lichung		 1984 (Atari 800, C64, Apple II)
1985 (Amiga 1000, IBM-PC)
1986 (Apple Macintosh)
platform Apple II , Atari home computers , Commodore 64 , Amiga 1000 , Apple Macintosh , IBM PC compatibles
genre Computer strategy game
Subject Discovery of America; Conquest, trade and proselytizing
Game mode Single player
control Joystick, keyboard
system advantages
preconditions		 48 KB RAM (Atari home computer)
medium 5¼-inch diskette (Atari 800, C64, Apple II, IBM-PC)
3½-inch diskette (Amiga 1000, Apple Macintosh)
language English

Seven Cities of Gold (full title "The Seven Cities of Gold" , often abbreviated to the acronym "7COG" or "Seven Cities" ) is a by the US development studio Ozark Softscape under the auspices Dan Buntens kreiertes strategy video game , in 1984 published by Electronic Arts in North America. In Western Europe, the game was distributed by Ariolasoft . Seven Cities of Gold was originally developed on the 8-bit Atari 800 home computer and is set in the Age of Discovery in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. The main task of the player is to discover, explore, mission and conquer an unknown continent in the western hemisphere based on the historical model of the Spanish conquistadors .

The map engine integrated into the game, which generated a two-dimensional game plan that was unusually large for the time, is considered a step forward in the history of computer games. Many of the game elements first used in Seven Cities of Gold influenced the development of other open-world strategy games with drivable maps. With a total of 150,000 copies sold, Seven Cities of Gold was also a commercially successful title and Bunte's best-selling work.

title

The title of the game goes back to the Coronado expedition (1540–1542) leading to today's US state of Kansas in the Midwest and the Ibero-American myth of the "Seven Golden Cities of Cibola" , which, similar to the legends of the Amazon region, suspected Goldland Eldorado or the Fountain of Youth attracted many adventurers to Spanish America in the early 16th century . With the choice of this title, initiated by Dan Bunten and his brother Bill, the expectation of an adventurous treasure hunt leading into unknown territories was created among the American public familiar with this myth and the course of the Coronado expedition.

Gameplay

The gameplay covers the founding phase of the Spanish Empire with the years 1492 to 1540 running in accelerated real time . At 48 years of age, playing time roughly corresponds to the average active life span of an adult individual. In terms of space, Seven Cities of Gold has three clearly separated areas of activity, which are referred to in the research literature as the “harbor sequence”, “village sequence” and “expedition sequence”. The latter forms the spatiotemporal center of the game and continuously requires the player to make singular decisions, while the other two areas of action tend to have few surprises and consistently show very similar courses of action with repetitive decision-making situations.

With the blessing of the Spanish royal family, the player must first take care of the equipment, food and crew of his ship in the harbor sequence before he can set off for the New World . In Spain, you can visit various buildings shown in side 2D views. From right to left the player's home, the palace, a pub, the equipment house and finally the flagship at the harbor.

The expedition sequence begins with the departure. The view changes at a glance from above on the map. After crossing the Atlantic, the player begins to explore the coast and then enters the newly discovered land for the first time. There applies missions and forts to establish contact with the indigenous people receive and gather wealth through trade or conquest. Depending on how successful you are, you will be offered a promotion when you return to the Old World and greater funds are available for the next crossing. The game makes it possible to fully reveal the playable card and ultimately to be appointed governor or even viceroy of the new world by the Spanish court. But there is neither a clear end to the game nor a rigidly prescribed process. It is up to the player, in the village sequence, which begins with a visit to indigenous settlements, to move carefully through the indigenous people towards the chief and engage in peaceful trade with him, or to march aggressively, slaughter the angry population and their supplies want to loot.

A special feature of The Seven Cities of Gold was the further development of the game character as the game progressed and the possibility of generating a new random map at the beginning of the game instead of a map based on the American continent. In contrast to other games with preprogrammed playing fields, The Seven Cities of Gold made it possible to discover a “New World” again and again, without the knowledge about the location of treasures or crucial locations that was gained in previous games bringing an unrealistic advantage.

Versions and ports

Seven Cities of Gold
(Commemorative Edition)
Studio United StatesUnited StatesOzark Softscape SEGA Interactive Development Division
United StatesUnited States
Publisher United StatesUnited States Electronic Arts
Senior Developer Dan Bunten , Bill Bunten, Michael Kosaka
Erstveröffent-
lichung		 1993 (DOS)
2014 (Windows, Mac OS)
platform DOS , Windows , Mac OS
genre Computer strategy game
Game mode Single player
control Keyboard, joystick, mouse
medium Diskette (DOS)
Download (Windows, Mac OS)
language English

The game was developed in 1984 for the Atari 800 . Shortly after its release, it was also available as a port for Apple II and Commodore 64 . In the following year it was released for Amiga 1000 , Apple Macintosh and as a boot version for IBM-compatible PCs . Compared to the Atari original version, there were small differences in the ports, which were due to the capabilities of the respective target systems.

In 1993, Ozark Software, with the support of SEGA Interactive Development Division, brought out a completely newly developed Commemorative Edition with higher-resolution graphics and background music for DOS . Until the beginning of 2014, with the support of the online community at GOG.com, it was adapted for the current Windows and Mac OS operating systems and has since been available again as a download version.

reception

The multi-award-winning game, which was ported to other hardware platforms with 8-bit or 16-bit architecture common at the time , was consistently rated positively in the German and English-language specialist press. Seven Cities of Gold is now a classic computer game due to its innovative game mechanics and its role model for subsequent strategy games. A remake released in 1993, however, was unable to match the great success of the model, neither in terms of gameplay nor commercially.

The original game was named Strategy Game of the Year in 1985 by the American magazine Computer Gaming World . The Commemorative Edition for DOS won the Origins Award for Best Military or Strategy Computer Game of 1993 (best military or strategic computer game 1993).

In 1996, Computer Gaming World ranked the game 61st out of the 150 best games of all time.

However, the remake also received clear criticism in Europe. The German magazine Power Play found the graphics to be too simple and the user guidance without mouse support antiquated. PC Player even judged the gameplay to be stupid and agreed with the French Tilt that the music was annoying and that it was better to be content with just remembering the original.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Dominic Berlemann: Simulation and documentation of the "New World" in Dan Buntens' strategy classic 'The Seven Cities of Gold'. In: Paidia. Computer game research magazine . May 6, 2015, accessed November 19, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Game of the Year . In: Computer Gaming World , November / December 1985: pp. 32–33, archived at the Computer Gaming World Museum, accessed on November 25, 2013 (English).
  3. ↑ 150 Best Games of All Time . In: Computer Gaming World , November 1996 Anniversary Edition, archived at CDAccess.com. Accessed January 20, 2014
  4. ^ The Press Says . In: MobyGames, accessed on January 20, 2014 (English)