Software:Phantasie

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Phantasie is a videogame created and published by Strategic Simulations (SSI) in 1985 that is inspired by fantasy role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons and Runequest. It was the first in the Phantasie series.

Gameplay

Screenshot of the Amiga version

A group of six adventurers explores the Isle of Gelnor and tries to defeat the evil Black Knights and their sorcerer leader, Nikademus.

Character creation

Players can choose to be one of six character classes, all drawn from Dungeons & Dragons: Thief, Fighter, Ranger, Monk, Priest, and Wizard. Each character class has unique fighting styles and options and all characters can choose their strategy for a particular round in the turn-based combat segments.

Likewise, players can choose between the races of Human, Dwarf, Halfling, Elf, or Gnome. By selecting "Random", one can also choose from ogre, troll, pixie, gnoll, orc, lizard man, Minotaur, and other races.

After a combat, experience is awarded, but the players have to return to town to purchase their levels if they qualify. A town window also allows purchases in various shops.

The game uses a top-down view for dungeon crawls and the world map, but uses a separate window for combat.

Development

Creator Winston Douglas Wood stated that the Wizardry and Ultima were his inspirations when creating Phantasie, while basic mechanics of combat and character development were inspired by the fantasy role-playing game RuneQuest.[1]

Regarding the inspiration behind the character of Nikademus, Wood said that he read Tolkien and studied Greek mythology and culture, including The Chronicles of Narnia and other fantasy novels, using all elements from them as inspiration. The name of the character comes from Nicodemus, a character from the book Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH; he thought that it sounded like a bad-guy name but also realized that it was also the name of a Biblical character, and he changed the spelling of the character Nicodemus to Nikademus.[2]

The result was Phantasie, which was published by SSI in 1985. The second and third parts of a Phantasie trilogy were published in 1986 and 1987.[3]

In 1994, Phantasie I, Phantasie III, and Questron II were re-released in one package. [4]

Reception

With more than 50,000 copies sold in North America, Phantasie was very successful for SSI.[5] By the end of 1987, it was the company's best-selling Commodore 64 game.[6]

In Issue 120 of Dragon, Hartley and Pattie Lesser complimented the Atari ST version of Phantasie, recommending that Atari ST owners should "consider Phantasie as a game well-worth their attention".[7]

Writing for ANALOG Computing, Steve Panak called Phantasie and its sequel the best fantasy role-playing games for the Atari 8-bit.[8]

Computer Gaming World's Scorpia called Phantasie "a surprisingly good little game, with many interesting features".[9][10]

In Issue 5 of Gateways, Thomas and Cynthia Than commented "The game itself is well designed for role-playing purposes. There are several character classes and races, over forty spells, several qualities of weapons and armor, and over eighty different creature types."[11]

In Issue 203 of Dragon, Sandy Petersen reviewed the recently-published collection of Phantasie I, Phantasie II and Questron II and noted, "The games date from years back, and it shows. They are in CGA four-color art, with pathetic animation, and no sound support. On the other hand, the plots and adventures are just as much fun as they ever were, and the package containing the three games is incredibly cheap." Petersen concluded by giving this package a rating of 2 out of 4, saying, "it was a bit refreshing to see a blast from my past. So often old computer games, both fun and not so fun, vanish into nothingness and are never heard of again."[4]

References

  1. ↑ "RPG Codex Retrospective Interview: Winston Douglas Wood on Phantasie and Star Command :: RPG codex > doesn't scale to your level". https://rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=8786. 
  2. ↑ "RPG Codex Retrospective Interview: Winston Douglas Wood on Phantasie and Star Command :: RPG codex > doesn't scale to your level". https://rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=8786. 
  3. ↑ Barton, Matt (2007-02-23). "Part 2: The Golden Age (1985-1993)". The History of Computer Role-Playing Games. Gamasutra. Archived from the original on 2009-03-12. https://web.archive.org/web/20090312012343/http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20070223b/barton_03.shtml. Retrieved 2009-03-26. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Petersen, Sandy (March 1994). "Eye of the Monitor". Dragon (203): 69. 
  5. ↑ Maher, Jimmy (2016-03-18). "Opening the Gold Box, Part 3: From Tabletop to Desktop". The Digital Antiquarian. http://www.filfre.net/2016/03/opening-the-gold-box-part-3-from-tabletop-to-desktop/. Retrieved 19 March 2016. 
  6. ↑ Ferrell, Keith (December 1987). "The Commodore Games That Live On And On". Compute's Gazette: pp. 18–22. https://archive.org/stream/1987-12-computegazette/Compute_Gazette_Issue_54_1987_Dec#page/n17/mode/2up. Retrieved 24 January 2015. 
  7. ↑ Lesser, Hartley; Lesser, Patricia (April 1987). "The Role of Computers". Dragon (120): 79–82. 
  8. ↑ Panak, Steve (September 1988). "Panak Strikes". ANALOG Computing: 83. http://www.atarimagazines.com/analog/issue64/panak.php. Retrieved 30 January 2015. 
  9. ↑ Scorpia (October 1991). "C*R*P*G*S / Computer Role-Playing Game Survey". Computer Gaming World: 16. http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1991&pub=2&id=87. Retrieved 18 November 2013. 
  10. ↑ Scorpia (October 1993). "Scorpia's Magic Scroll Of Games". Computer Gaming World: 34–50. http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1993&pub=2&id=111. Retrieved 25 March 2016. 
  11. ↑ Than, Thomas; Than, Cynthia (August 1987). "Red Dagger Inn". Gateways (5): 42. 
  • 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 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]

On February 13, 2025, Freyholtz stepped down as the site lead to move onto new projects, leaving operations to Tracy Poff, a veteran coder on the site, and Atari staff.[18]

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. 
  18. ↑ "An update on MobyGames leadership". 2025-02-13. https://www.mobygames.com/forum/3/thread/269628/an-update-on-mobygames-leadership/#post-269628. 
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