Software:Castles II: Siege and Conquest

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Castles II: Siege and Conquest
Developer(s)Quicksilver Software
Publisher(s)Interplay Productions
Designer(s)Vincent DeNardo
William C. Fisher
Byon Garrabrant
Programmer(s)Byon Garrabrant
Artist(s)Leonard Boyarsky
Todd J. Camasta
Bob Trupe
Composer(s)Charles Deenen
Platform(s)MS-DOS, Amiga, Amiga CD32, FM Towns, NEC PC-9801, Macintosh
Release1992 (DOS)
1993 (CD32, Towns, PC-98)
1994 (DOS CD, Mac)
Genre(s)Real-time strategy
Mode(s)Single-player

Castles II: Siege and Conquest is a 1992 real-time strategy game for the MS-DOS, developed by Quicksilver Software and published by Interplay Productions. Castles II is the sequel to the 1991 game Castles. Ports for the Amiga CD32, FM Towns, NEC PC-9801 were released in 1993. DOS CD-ROM version and Macintosh port were released in 1994. The Macintosh version of the game was published by Interplay's MacPlay brand name. GOG.com released an emulated version for Microsoft Windows in 2008.

Story

The game takes place in a semi-fictionalized version of historical France . The game begins in the year 1312 A.D., shortly before the beginning of the Hundred Years' War. In the game's version of history, France's King Charles dies on the throne in the year 1311. Because Charles left no heirs to take up the crown, it is unclear who will become the new king. The Pope is willing to declare a new King, but only after one of the local nobles has gained significant influence over the land and won favor with the Church.

The player takes the role of one of five different nobles (Albion, Duke of Valois, Anjou, Aragon, or Burgundy), fighting for the title of King of Bretagne. Early on, much of the territory is controlled by local (neutral) lords, and is easily taken up by one of the major players. In addition, three territories are controlled by the Pope, but players may cede additional territories to the Church in order to improve relations.

The player's task will be to take over as much of France as possible, and then try to claim the throne. If other players remain at this time, they will attack the player to damage their claim. Eventually the Pope will decide whether or not to support the claimant, and the game will end. According to the game manual, the average in-game time passed is usually between three and ten years.

Gameplay

Gameplay includes scouting out unknown territories, conquering them, building castles to prevent revolts and line defenses, raising an army, feeding and paying them, and eventually making a claim for the title of King. Depending on how strong the human player or the other four AI-engined nobles are, the Pope will decide whether or not to endorse the claim. Therefore, attacking someone that claims the title can prevent them from getting it. Using diplomacy also allows the player to maintain high relationships with the other nobles and with the Pope, a useful feature to protect from attack. Alternately, the player can conquer everyone and even the Pope to win by default (in which case the anti-Pope will also endorse the player's claim to the throne).

Depending on which noble is picked, the player can start at any of five general areas of the map. Initially he is provided with one territory rich in one of four resources: gold, timber, iron, or food. Having more of one kind of resource territory increases the total amount that the player can harvest per turn (also dependent on the total number of "points" allocated). Players can only gather the resources in territories they control, so a player who does not control at least one of each kind must rely on trades to gain those resources.

At first the player can perform one task each of three types at once: administrative (gathering resources and building castles, represented by a green bar), military (recruiting an army, building optional weapons like a catapult, and policing the realm, represented in red), and political (sending scouts, diplomats, and spies, represented in blue). The more a type of task is performed, the more points which may be devoted to that kind of task are gained (to a limit of 9 per type). At a rating of 5, two tasks can be performed at once.

The most remarkable feature at the time for Castles II was the ability to design and save different castles. Depending on the total number of walls and turrets, the castles were assigned point values that determined how long it takes to build. Larger castles are harder to destroy or capture, which serves to keep enemies out of the controlled lands. Large castles are also used to prevent revolts. Armies include infantry, archers, and knights, each costing a different resource to recruit. The size of the army that can be raised is dependent upon the number of territories and castles the player possess.

PC CD-ROM version

A CD-ROM version of the game features an extensive amount of full motion video about the history and purpose of different castles around Europe, presented by a historian as short informative clips that were separate from the game. The CD version also featured a full orchestral soundtrack by composer Charles Deenen. Also present are video scenes taken from The Private Life of Henry VIII and Alexander Nevsky that play during certain events that occur throughout the game.[1]

Copy protection

Occasionally, a question will be given to the player to "determine if he is the real king". The answer to this question can only be found in the manual, done as a form of copy protection. A wrong answer will result in a game over screen. This was not used in the CD-ROM edition.

Reception

Computer Gaming World in 1993 called Castles II "a first-rate strategy game ... a joy to play", praising the user interface, variety of play options, and strong computer AI.[2] In a 1993 survey of pre 20th-century strategy games the magazine gave the game three-plus stars out of five, calling it "much more of a wargame than the former, and worthy of examination by anyone interested in the period".[3] The game received 4 out of 5 stars in Dragon.[4]

Reviews

  • Amiga Down Under (Apr, 1994)[5]
  • Computer and Video Games (Oct, 1994)
  • Amiga Format (Feb, 1994)[6]
  • Power Play (Jan, 1993)[7]
  • Joker Verlag präsentiert: Sonderheft (1993)[8]
  • CU Amiga (Feb, 1994)[9]
  • Amiga Joker (Jan, 1994)[10]
  • The One Amiga (Feb, 1994)[11]
  • Amiga Power (Feb, 1994)[12]
  • Amiga CD32 Gamer (Mar, 1994)[13]

See also

  • Hundred Years' War

References

  1. ↑ "MobyGames credits". http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/castles-ii-siege-conquest/credits. 
  2. ↑ Hill, Ken (April 1993). "Interplay's Castles II". Computer Gaming World: 100. http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1993&pub=2&id=105. Retrieved 6 July 2014. 
  3. ↑ Brooks, M. Evan (June 1993). "An Annotated Listing of Pre-20th Century Wargames". Computer Gaming World: 136. http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1993&pub=2&id=107. Retrieved 7 July 2014. 
  4. ↑ Lesser, Hartley; Lesser, Patricia; Lesser, Kirk (May 1993). "The Role of Computers". Dragon (193): 57–63. 
  5. ↑ "Castles 2: Siege and Conquest review from Amiga Down Under 8 (Apr 1994) - Amiga Magazine Rack". http://amr.abime.net/review_10313. 
  6. ↑ "Castles 2: Siege and Conquest review from Amiga Format 56 (Feb 1994) - Amiga Magazine Rack". http://amr.abime.net/review_2983. 
  7. ↑ http://www.kultboy.com/index.php?site=t&id=3772 [bare URL]
  8. ↑ "Amiga Joker Amiga Joker Sonderheft Nr.5 - Strategie Page scans - Amiga Magazine Rack". http://amr.abime.net/issue_2934_pages. 
  9. ↑ "Castles 2 review from CU Amiga (Feb 1994) - Amiga Magazine Rack". http://amr.abime.net/review_4304. 
  10. ↑ "Castles II review from Amiga Joker (Feb 1994) - Amiga Magazine Rack". http://amr.abime.net/review_18990. 
  11. ↑ "TheOne Magazine Issue 64". February 1994. https://archive.org/details/theone-magazine-64/page/n71/mode/2up. 
  12. ↑ "Castles 2 review from Amiga Power 34 (Feb 1994) - Amiga Magazine Rack". http://amr.abime.net/review_1498. 
  13. ↑ "Amiga CD32 Gamer Issue 01 Spring 1994". March 1994. https://archive.org/details/AmigaCD32Gamer01/page/n33/mode/2up. 
  • Short description: Video game database
MobyGames
Logo since March 2014
Screenshot
Frontpage as of April 2012
Type of site
Gaming
Available inEnglish
OwnerAtari SA
Websitemobygames.com
CommercialYes
RegistrationOptional
LaunchedJanuary 30, 1999; 26 years ago (1999-01-30)
Current statusOnline

MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes nearly 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms.[1] The site is supported by banner ads and a small number of people paying to become patrons.[2] Founded in 1999, ownership of the site has changed hands several times. It is currently owned by Atari SA.

Content

The database began with games for IBM PC compatibles. After two years, consoles such as the PlayStation, were added. Older console systems were added later. Support for arcade video games was added in January 2014 and mainframe computer games in June 2017.[3]

Edits and submissions go through a leisurely verification process by volunteer "approvers". The approval process can range from immediate (minutes) to gradual (days or months).[4] The most commonly used sources are the video game's website, packaging, and credit screens. There is a published standard for game information and copyediting.[5]

Registered users can rate and review any video game. Users can create private or public "have" and "want" lists which can generate a list of games available for trade with other registered users. The site contains an integrated forum. Each listed game can have its own subforum.

History

Logo used until March 11, 2014

MobyGames was founded on March 1, 1999 by Jim Leonard and Brian Hirt, then joined by David Berk 18 months later, three friends since high school.[6] Leonard had the idea of sharing information about computer games with a larger audience.

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount.[7] This was announced to the community post factum and a few major contributors left, refusing to do volunteer work for a commercial website.

On December 18, 2013, MobyGames was acquired by Jeremiah Freyholtz, owner of Blue Flame Labs (a San-Francisco-based game and web development company) and VGBoxArt (a site for fan-made video game box art).[8] Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel.[9]

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million.[10] The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager.[11][12]

See also

  • IGDB – game database used by Twitch for its search and discovery functions

References

  1. ↑ "MobyGames Stats". https://www.mobygames.com/moby_stats. 
  2. ↑ "MobyGames Patrons". http://www.mobygames.com/info/patrons. 
  3. ↑ "New(ish!) on MobyGames – the Mainframe platform.". Blue Flame Labs. 18 June 2017. http://www.mobygames.com/forums/dga,2/dgb,3/dgm,237200/. 
  4. ↑ "MobyGames FAQ: Emails Answered § When will my submission be approved?". Blue Flame Labs. 30 March 2014. http://www.mobygames.com/info/faq7#g1. 
  5. ↑ "The MobyGames Standards and Practices". Blue Flame Labs. 6 January 2016. http://www.mobygames.com/info/standards. 
  6. ↑ "20 Years of MobyGames" (in en). 2019-02-28. https://trixter.oldskool.org/2019/02/28/20-years-of-mobygames/. 
  7. ↑ "Report: MobyGames Acquired By GameFly Media". Gamasutra. 2011-02-07. http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/32856/Report_MobyGames_Acquired_By_GameFly_Media.php. 
  8. ↑ Corriea, Alexa Ray (December 31, 2013). "MobyGames purchased from GameFly, improvements planned". http://www.polygon.com/2013/12/31/5261414/mobygames-purchased-from-gamefly-improvements-planned. 
  9. ↑ Wawro, Alex (31 December 2013). "Game dev database MobyGames getting some TLC under new owner". Gamasutra. http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/207882/Game_dev_database_MobyGames_getting_some_TLC_under_new_owner.php. 
  10. ↑ "Atari invests in Anstream, may buy MobyGames". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-11-24-atari-invests-in-anstream-may-buy-mobygames. 
  11. ↑ "Atari Completes MobyGames Acquisition, Details Plans for the Site’s Continued Support". March 8, 2022. https://www.atari.com/atari-completes-mobygames-acquisition-details-plans-for-the-sites-continued-support/. 
  12. ↑ "Atari has acquired game database MobyGames for $1.5 million" (in en-GB). 2022-03-09. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/atari-has-acquired-game-database-mobygames-for-1-5-million/. 





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