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''Black Crypt'' is a
role-playing video game Role-playing video games, also known as CRPG (computer/console role-playing games), comprise a broad video game genre generally defined by a detailed story and character advancement (often through increasing characters' levels or other skills) ...
. It was
Raven Software Raven Software Corporation (trade name: Raven; formerly Raven Software, Inc.) is an American video game developer based in Middleton, Wisconsin, and part of Activision. Founded in May 1990 by brothers Brian and Steve Raffel, the company is most ...
's debut title, and was published for the
Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers produced by Commodore International, Commodore from 1985 until the company's bankruptcy in 1994, with production by others afterward. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16-b ...
by
Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by former Apple Inc., Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry ...
in 1992. Its 3D
realtime Real-time, realtime, or real time may refer to: Computing * Real-time computing, hardware and software systems subject to a specified time constraint * Real-time clock, a computer clock that keeps track of the current time * Real-time Control Syst ...
style is similar to
FTL Games FTL Games (Faster Than Light) was the video game developer, video game development division of Software Heaven Inc. FTL created several popular video games in the 1980s. Despite the company's small size, FTL products were successful and received p ...
' popular '' Dungeon Master'', where the player leads a party of four heroes through a large dungeon to ultimately confront and defeat a powerful enemy. A version for the
Sega Mega Drive The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Sys ...
was in development, but never released.


Gameplay

The player is given the task of creating four heroes to traverse the twenty-eight levels of the "Tomb of the Four Heroes" and defeat the evil Estoroth Paingiver. Estoroth, a powerful cleric, was banished to a black crypt for committing unspeakable acts. The guilds of Astera believe Estoroth is attempting to unseal his crypt, and send the four heroes to seal him away forever. Unlike '' Dungeon Master'', ''Black Crypt'' does not have pre-generated characters to select as possible heroes. When starting a new game, the player must first create and name their four heroes, then choose their
class Class, Classes, or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used d ...
(fighter, cleric, magic user and druid) and set their starting
attributes Attribute may refer to: * Attribute (philosophy), a characteristic of an object * Attribute (research), a quality of an object * Grammatical modifier In linguistics, a modifier is an optional element in phrase structure or clause structure whic ...
. While most games of this type did not include maps of the dungeon (meaning players often mapped them out themselves on paper), the magic user has access to a spell called "Wizard Sight" which automatically maps the heroes movement and can be viewed in-game while the spell is active. ''Black Crypt'' also has 'bosses' on several levels, the first of which is actually within twenty spaces of the starting location.


Development

''Black Crypt'' was originally conceived by Brian Raffel and Steve Raffel in the late 1980s as an
adventure module An adventure is a playable scenario in a tabletop role-playing game. These can be constructed by gamemasters for their players, and are also released by game publishers as pre-made adventure modules. Different types of designs exist, including ...
for pen-and-paper
role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, or abbreviated as RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out ...
s, although work began in April 1990 to eventually turn their idea into a video game. The game's budget was $40,000. According to a pre-release blurb in ''
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'', ''Black Crypt'' consists of 12 interconnected dungeons rendered in 64-colour extra half-brite graphics, and an EA spokesman purported that Electronic Arts "like to think of the game as a dungeon simulator rather than a game." ''Black Crypt'' came on three 880k disks (excluding a game-save disk, used if not installed on a
hard drive A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating hard disk drive platter, pla ...
). The graphics mode used was called Extra Half-Bright, that allowed for a user defined palette of thirty-two colours, as well as an additional thirty-two colours which were half the brightness of the chosen palette. This made it possible for the game to have its gloomy atmosphere.


Reception

Upon release, ''Black Crypt'' was met with "widespread critical acclaim", receiving an 92% from ''
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'' and 83% from German reviewer ''Amiga Joker''. ''
Amiga Power ''Amiga Power'' (''AP'') was a monthly magazine about Amiga video games. It was published in the United Kingdom by Future Publishing and ran for 65 issues, from May 1991 to September 1996. History The first issue of ''Amiga Power'' was publi ...
'' gave the Amiga version of ''Black Crypt'' an overall score of 85%, the reviewer begins their review remarking their disdain for RPGs, calling them "escapism for accountants", but expressing that " 'Black Crypt''somehow managed to draw me in and keep me there". ''Amiga Power'' criticized the game's plot as "boring", and calls ''Black Crypt'' "aesthetically unremarkable" and the title sequence "dull" and accompanying music "unsuitable rubbish", and sound effects 'unatmospheric' .''Amiga Power'' furthermore calls it 'unoriginal' and expresses that ''Black Crypt'' appears based on '' Dungeon Master'', and states "The variety of monsters is not wide and none of them seem out of the ordinary." Despite these criticisms, ''Amiga Power's'' reviewer expresses that they "quickly found myself excusing its flaws, and despite a lack of atmosphere there was a healthy feeling that progress was being made. Not once did I reach the stage where I thought 'Now what?' and that impresses me. ... beneath it all, it's actually a rather absorbing and playable game." ''
The One The One may refer to: Buildings * The One (shopping centre), a shopping centre in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong * The One (Toronto), a mixed-use skyscraper under development in Toronto, Canada * The One, a residential skyscraper under constru ...
'' gave the Amiga version of ''Black Crypt'' an overall score of 92%, initially comparing it to '' Dungeon Master'', but expressing that ''Black Crypt'' is a 'unique' RPG which sets itself apart from others, calling it "The state of the art in 3D role-playing games". ''The One'' praises ''Black Crypt's'' graphics and gameplay, stating that "''Black Crypt'' is easily the best 3D role-playing game available on the Amiga. Aside from cosmetic improvements like smoother animation and superior artwork, it boasts features that are clearly the product of some thought being applied in the planning stages. ... What finally tips the balance in ''Black Crypt's'' favour is the delicate line between mental effort and combat and the superb way the plot leads you through the game." ''The One'' further praises the sound and controls, expressing that "sound effects in ''Black Crypt'' provide the player with often vital clues as to what's going on" and calling the controls 'admirable' and that they're "so intuitive that five minutes into the game you won't even notice ou're using it. In a retrospective review of ''Black Crypt'' in '' Black Gate'', John ONeill said "While critics raved, ''Black Crypt'' was released when the Amiga was already in decline, and was never successful enough to be ported to any other platform. It vanished quickly, both from store shelves and collective memory."


References


External links

* *
''Black Crypt''
at RavenGames.com {{Raven Software 1992 video games Action role-playing video games Amiga games Amiga-only games Cancelled Sega Genesis games Electronic Arts games Fantasy video games First-person party-based dungeon crawler video games Raven Software games Role-playing video games Single-player video games Video games developed in the United States