''Crystal Caves'' is a

side-scrolling A side-scrolling video game (alternatively side-scroller) is a video game viewed from a side-view camera angle where the screen follows the player as they move left or right. The jump from single-screen or flip-screen graphics to scrolling grap ...

platform game A platformer (also called a platform game, and sometimes a jump 'n' run game) is a subgenre of action game in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are characterized by levels wi ...

developed and published by

Apogee Software 3D Realms Entertainment ApS is a video game publisher based in Aalborg, Denmark. Scott Miller founded the company in his parents' home in Garland, Texas, in 1987 as Apogee Software Productions to release his game '' Kingdom of Kroz''. In the ...

for

IBM PC compatible An IBM PC compatible is any personal computer that is hardware- and software-compatible with the IBM Personal Computer (IBM PC) and its subsequent models. Like the original IBM PC, an IBM PC–compatible computer uses an x86-based central p ...

s. The game is divided into three episodes with the first distributed as

shareware Shareware is a type of proprietary software that is initially shared by the owner for trial use at little or no cost. Often the software has limited functionality or incomplete documentation until the user sends payment to the software developer. ...

and the other two available for purchase. Designer Frank Maddin said the method worked "pretty well" for the time. ''Crystal Caves'' was inspired by the 1982 game ''

Miner 2049er ''Miner 2049er'' is a 1982 platformer game developed and published by Big Five Software in December 1982. It is set in a mine, where the player controls the Mountie Bounty Bob. The player controls Bounty Bob through multiple levels of a mine, ...

'' for

Atari 8-bit computers The Atari 8-bit computers, formally launched as the Atari Home Computer System, are a series of home computers introduced by Atari, Inc., in 1979 with the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The architecture is designed around the 8-bit MOS Technology 650 ...

Plot

Mylo Steamwitz is a down-on-the-luck space trader. Each game in the series follows Mylo going to the planet Altair to collect enough crystals from its mines to finance his latest get-rich-quick scheme.

Volume 1: Troubles with

are the hottest new pet in the galaxy, so Mylo hopes to earn enough crystals to buy a farm. He succeeds and buys his farm, but breed so quickly that the market is soon over-saturated, and Mylo is stuck with a planet overrun with .

Volume 2: Slugging It Out

After selling his farm for a loss, Mylo heads back to Altair. A recent war has created a demand for medicinal slugs, so now Mylo wants to buy a slug farm. He collects enough crystals to do so, and for a while, business is booming, but the slugs soon burrow their way into an abandoned salt mine and perish, depriving Mylo of his stock.

Volume 3: Mylo Versus the Supernova

A late-night infomercial inspires Mylo to quit farming and try his hand at real estate. He collects enough crystals to buy an entire

planetary system A planetary system is a set of gravity, gravitationally bound non-stellar Astronomical object, bodies in or out of orbit around a star or star system. Generally speaking, systems with one or more planets constitute a planetary system, although ...

from Rip Eweoff. Mylo plans to turn the system into a vacation resort: tropical getaways on the inner planets, ski slopes on the outer planets, and luxury hotels in the middle. However, mere minutes after he buys the planetary system, the star goes supernova, destroying the system. As Mylo looks at the nebula where the system once was, he comes up with an idea. He builds a restaurant overlooking the nebula. Thanks to its spectacular view of the nebula, the restaurant becomes the hottest spot in the galaxy, and Mylo finally makes his millions.

Gameplay

The game begins in a main level containing the entrances to 16 caves. To complete the game, Mylo must collect all the crystals in all the caves. Mylo can complete the caves in whichever order he chooses. Mylo can quit a cave at any time, but in doing so, will negate all progress he made in that level. Each cave consists of some simple puzzles to solve. Pulling a lever will open the door of a corresponding colour. There will also be switches that Mylo can use to activate and deactivate obstacles. Mylo is armed with a rocket gun to destroy enemies and obstacles. Mylo begins the game with five rockets, but can collect more as the game goes on. There are many other power-ups to help Mylo: * P-Pill – supercharges Mylo's gun so it can destroy all enemies with a single shot. * G-Pill – reverses gravity, allowing Mylo to walk on the ceiling. * Stop Signs – freeze all enemies on the screen, allowing Mylo to sneak past them. Mylo begins each level with three hit points. If all hit points are lost, the player goes back to the start of the level. If a level is finished with all hit points, the player gets a bonus score of $50,000.

Development

Crystal Caves was inspired by ''

''. The main character's name, "Mylo Steamwitz", was coined by

George Broussard George Broussard is an American video game producer and designer. He is one of the creators of the ''Duke Nukem'' series, along with Todd Replogle, Allen Blum, and Scott Miller. Biography Broussard released his early games under the name M ...

and was meant to sound like a loser's name. Most graphics were created by Frank Maddin. Development on ''Crystal Caves'' began back when George Broussard was still releasing games under the name Micro F/X. A few months into the development (when about 50–70% of the game was complete) Broussard joined Apogee and Crystal Caves became an Apogee product. It was originally going to be released on September 5, 1991 but was delayed for a month. In October 2005,

3D Realms 3D Realms Entertainment ApS is a video game publisher based in Aalborg, Denmark. Scott Miller founded the company in his parents' home in Garland, Texas, in 1987 as Apogee Software Productions to release his game '' Kingdom of Kroz''. In the ...

(formerly Apogee) released a maintenance patch to fix a bug in the game which set the player's computer's clock backwards 100 years after playing on

Windows XP Windows XP is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It was released to manufacturing on August 24, 2001, and later to retail on October 25, 2001. It is a direct successor to Windows 2000 for high-end and business users a ...

Legacy

GOG.com GOG.com (formerly Good Old Games) is a digital distribution platform for video games and films. It is operated by GOG sp. z o.o., a wholly owned subsidiary of CD Projekt, based in Warsaw, Poland. GOG.com delivers DRM-free video games through i ...

released an

emulated In computing, an emulator is hardware or software that enables one computer system (called the ''host'') to behave like another computer system (called the ''guest''). An emulator typically enables the host system to run software or use perip ...

version for

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...

and

Mac OS X macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...

in 2014. An authorized remake by Emberheart Games was released in October 2020 for Windows and Linux. It features remade graphics, a new episode, new enemies, and an online leaderboard.

References

External links

*
Emberheart Games
- developer of ''Crystal Caves HD'' * {{Apogee Games 1991 video games Apogee games DOS games Games commercially released with DOSBox Linux games MacOS games Platformers Shareware games Single-player video games Video games developed in the United States Windows games