Software:Lighthouse: The Dark Being

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Short description: 1996 video game
Lighthouse: The Dark Being
Developer(s)Sierra On-Line
Publisher(s)Sierra On-Line
Producer(s)Oliver Brelsford
Designer(s)Jon Bock
Programmer(s)Sean Mooney
Artist(s)Jon Bock
Writer(s)Jon Bock
Susan Frischer
Composer(s)Victor Crews
Brian Min
Platform(s)MS-DOS, Windows, Mac OS
ReleaseSeptember 20, 1996[1]
Genre(s)Adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

Lighthouse: The Dark Being is an adventure game developed and published by Sierra On-Line. It was the first and only game designed by Sierra On-Line art director Jon Bock.

Gameplay

The game is a first-person graphic adventure with a point-and-click interface. It is played very similarly to the popular video game Myst.

Plot

The Player starts the game in their new cottage on the Oregon coast. According to the Player's diary, he or she (the character's gender is never explicitly defined) is a struggling writer who has just moved in, and recently met their eccentric next door neighbor, Dr. Jeremiah Krick, and his daughter Amanda, who live in a nearby lighthouse. Glancing out of the window, the Player sees the lighthouse struck by lightning and then begin to glow strangely. On the Player's answering machine, Dr. Krick has left a frantic message begging the player to come over to his house and watch Amanda.

Upon arriving at Dr. Krick's house, the player discovers the front door locked, darkness inside, and silence. After turning on the power and entering, the Player finds Amanda in her crib, alone. Once the Player has explored the house, a snap is heard, and Amanda begins crying. When the Player enters her room, the "Dark Being", described in Dr. Krick's journal, takes Amanda, and jumps through a portal. At this point, the Player can either follow him through or use Dr. Krick's laboratory to construct their own portal. Either way, the Player ends up on a rocky beach in a parallel world. Krick's notes on this make reference to the real physical concept of Godel's universe.

The Player must explore the parallel world and save Dr. Krick & Amanda from the Dark Being.

Development

Lighthouse on the cover of the Summer 1996 edition of Interaction, a fan magazine by Sierra On-Line.

The game was conceived expressly as a "Myst clone"; lead designer Jon Bock later recalled that 'Ken Williams called me into his office one day, pulled out a copy of Myst and said; "Can you do this?" I said yes, and the game went into development.'[2] Bock acknowledged the similarity to Myst in promotional interviews for the game, but also remarked that it has some key differences, in particular that he was working to create more character interaction and a stronger focus on story than Myst had.[3]

Reception

Reception
Review scores
PublicationScore
GameSpot6.4/10[4]
Next GenerationStarStar[6]
PC Gamer (US)82%[5]
Entertainment WeeklyC−[7]

Lighthouse received mediocre reviews, averaging a 71.29% on GameRankings based on 7 reviews.[8] A review in Next Generation, a magazine with a very vocal stance against Myst and its imitators, commented, "Granted, just like most games of this type, the graphics are beautiful. And as much as it hurts to admit it, the story is rather intriguing, involving alternate dimensions, weird creatures, and some machines that would make Leonardo da Vinci proud. However, any sort of positive aspect of the game gets stripped away when lever, tile, and object-manipulation puzzles rear their ugly head during the course of the adventure."[6] Rebecca Anderson of GameSpot likewise said that the graphics are beautifully detailed, but the puzzles are often vague, obscure, and even illogical, citing how the player is punished for attempting to rescue the baby in their charge when he is kidnapped.[4]

Entertainment Weekly derided the control scheme, voice acting, and plot, which they characterized as "a talentless rip-off of a Stephen King novel", and concluded the game to be almost a total loss.[7]

References

  1. ↑ "News for September 20, 1996". September 20, 1996. http://www.ogr.com/news/news0996.html. 
  2. ↑ Salvador, Phil (March 6, 2011). "Lighthouse: The Dark Being". http://obscuritory.com/adventure/lighthouse-the-dark-being/. Retrieved 24 February 2017. 
  3. ↑ "Lighthouse". Next Generation (Imagine Media) (15): 69. March 1996. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Anderson, Rebecca (Oct 17, 1996). "Lighthouse Review for PC". https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/lighthouse-review/1900-2535697/. Retrieved 2018-01-07. 
  5. ↑ McDonald, T. Liam (December 1996). "Lighthouse". PC Gamer US. http://www.pcgamer.com:80/reviews/628.html. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Lighthouse". Next Generation (Imagine Media) (25): 184. January 1997. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Lighthouse: The Dark Beginning" (in en). EW.com. https://ew.com/article/1996/11/01/lighthouse-dark-beginning/. 
  8. ↑ "Lighthouse: The Dark Being". Archived from the original on December 9, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20191209001525/https://www.gamerankings.com/pc/197785-lighthouse-the-dark-being/index.html. Retrieved 7 January 2018. 
  • 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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