Software:Dragonstone (video game)

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Dragonstone
Developer(s)Core Design
Publisher(s)Core Design
Producer(s)Jeremy Heath-Smith
Designer(s)Robert Churchill
Barry Irvine
Mark K. Jones
Simon Phipps
Programmer(s)Barry Irvine[1]
Artist(s)Mark K. Jones
Simon Phipps[1]
Composer(s)Martin Iveson[1]
Platform(s)Amiga
Amiga CD32
Release1994 (ECS/OCS)[1]
1995 (CD32)[1]
Genre(s)Role-playing
Mode(s)Single-player

Dragonstone is a fantasy action role-playing game, which Core Design published for the Amiga in 1994 and Amiga CD32 in 1995.[1][2] It was planned as a sequel to the Amiga game Darkmere, but became a standalone game over the course of development, possibly in part due to Darkmere's repeated delays.[3]

Plot

An unnamed hero travels across seven worlds to kill dragons, rescue Princess Kirstie and restore the ultimate power to the dragonstones to vanquish the dragon hordes.

Development

Dragonstone began development in August 1993, and was developed in a year.[3] Dragonstone was originally designed as a sequel to Darkmere, but over the course of its development became a standalone game.[3] The One reports a rumor as to the reason behind this change; they purport that this may have been due to Darkmere's numerous delays, and Core Design possibly believed that Dragonstone may release before Darkmere.[3] The One interviewed Bob Churchill, Dragonstone's map designer, for information regarding its development in a pre-release interview.[3] Churchill states that Dragonstone began because "The Darkmere programmers took forever and Mark Jones, the graphic artist, was left with nothing to do. So he started knocking up plans for a sequel - Darkstone, as it was then called ... However, the story has changed so much through development that it's become an entirely self-contained game."[3] Dragonstone was inspired by Zelda games, and Churchill states that he "[loves] the Zelda games to bits", and goes on to say that "There are many reasons why they're brilliant but the most obvious is that they play so nicely. The traps and puzzles are so well designed - in most cases you can see exactly what you need to do but it's the doing it which presents the problem. We wanted to do a Zelda-type game on the Amiga, because no-one has ever attempted one before."[3] Furthermore comparing Dragonstone to Zelda, Churchill states that "the two games are pretty close. There is plenty of wandering around and interacting with people, which is very Zelda-ish. The puzzles are similar as well - the in-game characters will request a specific object so that they can complete a task, so it's your job to retrieve it for them, thus opening up more areas to explore."[3]

A difference that Churchill notes between the two games is that Dragonstone has characters that "move around of their own free will" regardless of the player's involvement, posing an example of a woodcutter in a forest who chops down trees, saying that "You'll keep bumping into him and you'll discover new areas which he's cleared, enabling you to explore parts of the level which were previously out of reach."[3] In regards to Dragonstone's puzzles, Churchill expresses that designing them is difficult due to the programming aspect of getting them into the game; stating that "because the puzzles you think up are limited by what you're doing in the actual game - the amount of sprites you can use per level, that kind of thing. You often think: 'I wish we could get this bit in,' but Barry the programmer will say it's not possible."[3] To lessen this issue, Churchill states that several sprites are reused, saying that "Once you've designed a sprite for a specific purpose you'll often ask yourself whether or not it's possible to use that graphic again in another puzzle. That's what I'm doing now for the Castle Level - I've used up the amount of sprites the programmer will allow so it's a case of discovering ways in which I can use them again." Dragonstone's puzzles were designed to be logic-based, and Churchill states that players will "never have to do anything obscure to progress".[3]

The One notes the importance of atmosphere in adventure games, and Churchill expresses several ways Dragonstone is designed to be more immersive, such as sound effects increasing in volume the closer the player is to the source of the sound, and some "smart" graphic effects, such as "an interesting mosaic effect" which occurs when the player teleports.[3] According to Churchill, some parts of Dragonstone were cut so the game could work on the Amiga A500.[3] Mark Jones, Dragonstone's graphic artist, wasn't in-house for Dragonstone's development and Churchill states that "he had to send all the [graphics] up to us by post, which meant that any changes we wanted to make took a lot longer."[3] Churchill states that Mark Jones aimed for a "realistic" art style with Dragonstone's graphics.[3]

Reception

The One gave Dragonstone an overall score of 79%, comparing the game's puzzles to Dizzy, and furthermore stating, "the difficulty level seems to have been aimed at the younger player. There's nothing wrong with that, but at times the game is quite challenging as far as the arcade-ness goes ... while the puzzle solving is just too easy." The One expresses that they find the use of scrolls in the game's puzzles to be a crutch, as the later levels in which they are prevalent are "just boring - you hit the space bar, you solve the problem." The first two levels rely more upon traditional puzzle solving due to the protagonist not yet having the full extent of their powers, a section of the game that The One prefers to the later levels.[4]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 "Dragonstone". Hall of Light. http://hol.abime.net/421. Retrieved 27 July 2012. 
  2. ↑ "Dragonstone". MobyGames. http://www.mobygames.com/game/dragonstone/. Retrieved 27 July 2012. 
  3. ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 "Stone the Crows". The One (emap Images) (68): 40–41. June 1994. https://archive.org/details/theone-magazine-68/page/n39. 
  4. ↑ "Dragonstone Review". The One (emap Images) (76): 52–53. February 1995. https://archive.org/details/theone-magazine-76/page/n51. 
  • MobyGames is a commercial database website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes over 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms.[1] Founded in 1999, ownership of the site has changed hands several times. It has been owned by Atari SA since 2022.

Features

Edits and submissions to the site (including screenshots, box art, developer information, game summaries, and more) go through a verification process of fact-checking by volunteer "approvers".[2] This lengthy approval process after submission can range from minutes to days or months.[3] The most commonly used sources are the video game's website, packaging, and credit screens. There is a published standard for game information and copy-editing.[4] A ranking system allows users to earn points for contributing accurate information.[5]

Registered users can rate and review games. 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 sub-forum.

History

Logo used until March 2014

MobyGames was founded on March 1, 1999, by Jim Leonard and Brian Hirt, and joined by David Berk 18 months later, the three of which had been friends since high school.[6][7] Leonard had the idea of sharing information about computer games with a larger audience. The database began with information about games for IBM PC compatibles, relying on the founders' personal collections. Eventually, the site was opened up to allow general users to contribute information.[5] In a 2003 interview, Berk emphasized MobyGames' dedication to taking video games more seriously than broader society and to preserving games for their important cultural influence.[5]

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount.[8] This was announced to the community post factum , and the site's interface was given an unpopular redesign.[7] A few major contributors left, refusing to do volunteer work for a commercial website.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025} 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).[9] Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel,[10] and for the next eight years, the site was run by Freyholtz and Independent Games Festival organizer Simon Carless.[7]

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million.[11] The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager.[12][13][14] Over the next year, the financial boost given by Atari led to a rework of the site being built from scratch with a new backend codebase, as well as updates improving the mobile and desktop user interface.[1] This was accomplished by investing in full-time development of the site instead of its previously part-time development.[15]

In 2024, MobyGames began offering a paid "Pro" membership option for the site to generate additional revenue.[16] Previously, the site had generated income exclusively through banner ads and (from March 2014 onward) a small number of patrons via the Patreon website.[17]

See also

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

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sheehan, Gavin (2023-02-22). "Atari Relaunches The Fully Rebuilt & Optimized MobyGames Website". https://bleedingcool.com/games/atari-relaunches-the-fully-rebuilt-optimized-mobygames-website/. 
  2. ↑ Litchfield, Ted (2021-11-26). "Zombie company Atari to devour MobyGames". https://www.pcgamer.com/zombie-company-atari-to-devour-mobygames/. 
  3. ↑ "MobyGames FAQ: Emails Answered § When will my submission be approved?". Blue Flame Labs. 30 March 2014. http://www.mobygames.com/info/faq7#g1. 
  4. ↑ "The MobyGames Standards and Practices". Blue Flame Labs. 6 January 2016. http://www.mobygames.com/info/standards. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Miller, Stanley A. (2003-04-22). "People's choice awards honor favorite Web sites". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 
  6. ↑ "20 Years of MobyGames" (in en). 2019-02-28. https://trixter.oldskool.org/2019/02/28/20-years-of-mobygames/. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Plunkett, Luke (2022-03-10). "Atari Buys MobyGames For $1.5 Million". https://kotaku.com/mobygames-retro-credits-database-imdb-atari-freyholtz-b-1848638521. 
  8. ↑ "Report: MobyGames Acquired By GameFly Media". Gamasutra. 2011-02-07. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/report-mobygames-acquired-by-gamefly-media. 
  9. ↑ 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. 
  10. ↑ Wawro, Alex (31 December 2013). "Game dev database MobyGames getting some TLC under new owner". Gamasutra. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/game-dev-database-mobygames-getting-some-tlc-under-new-owner. 
  11. ↑ "Atari invests in Anstream, may buy MobyGames". November 24, 2021. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-11-24-atari-invests-in-anstream-may-buy-mobygames. 
  12. ↑ Rousseau, Jeffrey (2022-03-09). "Atari purchases Moby Games". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/atari-purchases-moby-games. 
  13. ↑ "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/. 
  14. ↑ "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/. 
  15. ↑ Stanton, Rich (2022-03-10). "Atari buys videogame database MobyGames for $1.5 million". https://www.pcgamer.com/atari-buys-videogame-database-mobygames-for-dollar15-million/. 
  16. ↑ Harris, John (2024-03-09). "MobyGames Offering “Pro” Membership". https://setsideb.com/mobygames-offering-pro-membership/. 
  17. ↑ "MobyGames on Patreon". http://www.patreon.com/mobygames. 
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