Jump to content

Mana

  • entries
    52
  • comments
    15
  • views
    19335

Video Game History : Wizardry Proving Grounds Of The Mad Overlord!


ExtraMana

954 views

Video Game History : Wizardry Proving Grounds Of The Mad Overlord!

 
Wizardry%2Bbox%2Bart.jpg
Wizardry box art

 


In 1974 Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson publish the tabletop role playing game dungeons and dragons. It isn't long before people start making there own versions of the game on computers.
In the early 1970's access to computers is very limited due to there high cost. one of the only places you could get public access to them was on University campuses. It's during this time that people would begin to program their own role playing games on mainframe computers such as the PLATO system.  Gary Whisenhunt and Ray Wood create the game 'dnd' on the PLATO system it is heavily based on dungeons and dragons.  As the 1970's draw onward there would many more computer role playing games programmed on the PLATO system such as 'Oubliette' & 'Moria'. Because the PLATO system was designed for educational purposes however there are many computer role playing games created on it that would be deleted when found by an administrator and so have been lost to time.

In 1979 Richard Garriot creates 'Alkalabeth' the prequel to his ultima series. Garriot had been making games since High school where he wrote 28 games called 'D&D1' through D&D28' with Alkalabeth being 'D&D28b'. 'Alkalabeth' and Richard Garriots following 'Ultima' series would go onto become very successful on the apple II and many other systems over the coming years. His games would become hugely influential in the computer role playing games genre.

Akalabeth%2Bbox%2Bart.JPG
Akalabeth box art

Alkalabeth like games on the PLATO system before it had been heavily influenced by Gary Gygax & Dave Arneson's tabletop role playing game Dungeons and Dragons even using the same game play mechanics such as turn based combat, character classes and attribute points. In the late 1970's a man called Robert Woodhead began to work on a game called 'Galactic attack' it was a single player version of a game Woodhead had played on the PLATO system. The game would be released in 1980. 'Galactic attack' was a real time space combat game in which you could control the speed and direction of your ship as well as fire torpedoes and phasers at your enemies.

Woodhead's was  dungeon style rpg called 'Paladin' it was during the early production of this game that Robert Woodhead met Andrew Greenberg. Greenberg had himself written a game in BASIC and had named it 'Wizadry'.  What would set Woodhead & Greenbergs game 'Wizardry' apart from Richard Garriot's Akalabeth was the fact that Wizardry was the first computer role playing to feature a party system. On it's release Wizardry was very successful. The game was praised for it's depth, innovation and game play. At the time it was one of the best selling role playing games in North America.

Many ports of Wizardry would be made over the coming years the one shown in this video is the NES port of the game that sports improved graphics and sounds. Both Wizardry and the Ultima series would also see a release in Japan on systems such as NEC PC-8801 and MSX. The influence of Wizardry can still be felt in computer role playing games today. Simply put it is one of the most important games in video game history.

YouTube Channel:

 

0 Comments


Recommended Comments

There are no comments to display.

Guest
Add a comment...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...