Re: Ebay crazyness

[Mark Percival <mark@syndicomm.com>]

Andy McFadden wrote:

>The trouble with Akalabeth is that it wasn't a very good game.  If it
>weren't for Ultima I, Akalabeth would be forgotten.  That's why I put
>the "first edition" Ultima I at the head of the list.

I agree that compare to Ultima I, Akalabeth seems pretty week.
However at the time Akalabeth first hit the stores, about a year
before Ultima, that it was a pretty innovative game.

First time I had seen:

- A 3D perspective wire-frame dungeon.
- Monsters that you could watch approach you from a distance within
  the dungeon..
- If you had a long distance weapon you could also shoot them before
  they got to you.
- Monsters with special abilities and hidden traps in dungeon.
- Exterior tile-based graphics that featured towns, a castle along
  with the dungeons.
- Being sent on a series of quests by Lord British to reach your final
  destiny.

To have all of this done in a single Applesoft program boggled the
mind at the time. However it was completely overshadowed by Ultima
when that was released.  But in as much as Ultima has prevented
Akalabeth from being forgotten, without Akalabeth, Ultima may never
have happened.  That is why it is at the head of my list. :)

-- Mark

Try DiskMaker 8
http://www.syndicomm.com/~mark/DM8/