Software:Mystic Towers

From HandWiki
Short description: 1994 video game
Mystic Towers
Developer(s)Animation F/X
Publisher(s)
Designer(s)Lindsay Whipp
Platform(s)MS-DOS, Windows, Mac OS
ReleaseJuly 15, 1994
Genre(s)Role-playing, platform
Mode(s)Single-player

Mystic Towers is an isometric platform game developed by Animation F/X, and published in 1994 by Manaccom domestically and Apogee Software internationally. Originally exclusive to MS-DOS compatible operating systems, it was re-released on Steam in 2015 with Microsoft Windows and Mac OS support. It stars Baron Baldric, an old wizard with a magic staff and an array of amusing mannerisms, who must quest through twelve towers and rid them of monsters. Mystic Towers is a sequel to Baron Baldric: A Grave Adventure, a platform game in which Baron Baldric battled an evil sorcerer ancestor.

Gameplay

Each tower consists of 45 rooms (5 floors with 9 rooms each), 15 monsters, and 1 monster generator. In each tower, Baldric must defeat all the monsters, destroy the monster generator, and obtain the Large Red Tower Key that opens the tower entrance.

Baron Baldric has a health bar showing his hit points, which decrease as Baldric takes damage from monsters, is poisoned, or steps on traps. When his health meter runs out, Baldric loses a life. He begins with nine lives in reserve (one life in Practice Mode), and gains more with every 10,000 points he earns. Points are earned by collecting treasure.

Baldric must consume enough food and drink to avoid starvation and thirst. If his food or drink bars reach zero, Baron Baldric slowly loses life until the bar is replenished. Otherwise, Baldric's health slowly recharges over time. Food can be found in a variety of places, and some monsters can be eaten after they are killed. Drinks come in bottles and flasks, as well as water fountains. Some bottles contain wine, which makes Baron Baldric intoxicated (characterised by spinning and hiccuping) for a short while.

Baron Baldric can become poisoned by stepping on a poison tile, drinking slime, or getting hit by a venom cloud. Baron Baldric slowly loses health when poisoned. To cure poison, the player can use a heal spell, drink slime from outlets, or eat a mushroom. If Baron Baldric eats a mushroom when he is not poisoned, he dies instantly.

There are 6 towers in the game. Each tower has an "Apprentice" version, which Baldric visits on the first half of his quest, and a "Wizard" version, which he visits on the second. In Wizard towers, Baldric does not start with maps of each floor, the monsters are significantly stronger and faster, teleporters do not link in a ring but direct, the Red Tower Key is not in the starting room, and there are new classes of obstacles to overcome.

Baldric starts each tower afresh, with his food, drink, and health bars all refilled, and his inventory of spells and coins lost. Only his extra lives and score are carried over.

The game's "Practice Mode" is the opposite of what its name suggests, an extra difficult mode suited only to those who have already mastered the game's mechanics. In this mode, players select a single tower to play through, with both apprentice and wizard versions of all the towers available. All the same dangers are present as in the story mode, but the player has only one extra life and cannot save their game.

Spells

There are a total of ten spells in the game. The first five are damage spells (Ice, Sulphur, Venom Cloud, Fireball and Lightning) for killing monsters and differ from each other only in the specific amount of damage they do and the fact that Ice has unlimited ammunition. The other five spells (Reveal, Heal, Teleport, Levitate, and Bomb) are utility spells. The Reveal spell lights up dark rooms, and reveals hidden doors, treasure, and poison tiles. The Heal Spell restores Baldric's health and cures poison. Teleport can only be used on a teleport pad, which transports him to the floor indicated by the number on the pad. Levitate makes Baldric float one level higher, and can be stacked. Baron Baldric can return to the ground by jumping. Finally, the Bomb can be cast only on a monster generator, as part of the criteria of completing the level.

Coins can be collected to purchase spells. The higher the floor of the tower in which a spell is purchased, the more powerful the spell generally is. Although all the spells except Ice are collectable, only the damage spells are purchasable.

Several monsters can cast spells, with seemingly no limits. Venom Cloud has the ability to poison Baron Baldric, and Lightning can kill in two hits.

Power-ups

There are three types of power-ups, all of which last a limited amount of time:

  • Meta-power greatly boosts the power of Baron Baldric's currently equipped spell.
  • Invisibility makes Baron Baldric invisible. Monsters will not attack Baron Baldric unless they run into him, and auto-fire rooms (rooms that sense the presence of Baldric and fire) will not activate.
  • Shields make Baldric invulnerable. Monsters will not attack, and Baldric is immune to poison tiles, traps and fire. He can still be poisoned from drinking slime and killed from eating a poisonous mushroom when not poisoned.

Plot

References

  1. ↑ Humphreys, Andrew (April 26, 1994). "Baron brings unpretentious fun". The Age: p. 35. https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-age/173689247/.  open access
  • Mystic Towers page at 3D Realms
  • 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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