Software:Siege of Avalon

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Siege of Avalon
The cover of the Siege of Avalon Anthology.
The cover of the Siege of Avalon Anthology.
Developer(s)Digital Tome
Publisher(s)Take 2, Globalstar, Blackstar
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows
ReleaseJuly 19, 2000
Genre(s)Action role-playing game
Mode(s)Single player

Siege of Avalon (SoA) is a fantasy action role-playing PC game developed by Digital Tome and published on July 19, 2000.[1] The game follows the player's attempts to lift the siege of Avalon, a castle in the fictional land of Eurale. SoA was initially released in six separate installments, before being released in a combined "Anthology" edition.

History

Siege of Avalon was originally released as six individual "chapters." Each chapter expanded on the game's story, and included other new content. The game's first chapter was free for download, but the remaining five chapters had to be purchased. In 2001, Global Star Software released all six chapters of the game as "Siege of Avalon - Anthology". The anthology CD made minor changes to the game but was primarily identical to the downloadable chapters. The chapters are no longer available for download online.

There was initially a sequel to Siege of Avalon, titled Pillars of Avalon, planned, but Digital Tome went out of business prior to completing development of the second game.

In approximately 2003, Digital Tome granted permission for modification of the first chapter of Siege of Avalon. The intent was for the game to be developed to run on other platforms, have continued support available, and for the game to be distributed as open-source software under a Lesser General Public License (LGPL).[2] As a result, the source code of the game was made available on Source Forge.[3] In 2011 the project was moved to GitHub.[4]

In 2014, Blackfly Studios announced that a digital re-release of Siege of Avalon was planned, but the developer went out of business prior to any release.[5]

In March 2016, a community developer from Germany started to work on the Delphi 4 source code from GitHub, but got many errors at first. So the work lasted until January 2017 when he finally fixed everything in order to play the game with that new application (Siege.exe). In August 2017, he released a newer version including better resolution like HD (1280x720p) and Full-HD (1920x1080p).[6]

In June 2019, another community developer tried to port the source code to a newer version of Delphi. Since January 2021 his released version works without any errors. Now his aim is to get rid of the DirectX stuff and .dll-files.[7]

Meanwhile, in January 2020 the developer mentioned before enhanced his version in order to support some SoA-Mods. Since March 2021 there's also an English localization integrated.[8]

In April 2021, an updated version of the game was released on Steam and GOG by SNEG (publisher).[9][10]

Plot

Screenshot of the game showing the inventory and user interface (UI)

Siege of Avalon takes place in the fictional land of Eurale. Within Eurale are seven kingdoms: Nisos, Aratoy, Oriam, Fornax, Elythria, Cathea, and Taberland. The seven kingdoms united to build the citadel of Avalon as a central capital of the alliance. Within Eurale is a nomadic race called the Sha'ahoul. The Sha'ahoul, led by the leader Mithras, declared war on the seven kingdoms, ultimately besieging the city of Avalon.

The protagonist of the game is the playable character, which the user can customize and name. The protagonist arrives in Avalon by boat, several years into the siege. The protagonist's brother, Corvus, is already present within the castle when the player begins the game. The course of the gameplay follows the player through various quests related to maintaining Avalon's defenses and foiling plots to overtake the castle. The game climaxes in a battle between the player and Mithras, the leader of the Sha'ahoul, after the invading force breaks through the outer wall of Avalon.

Reception

Reception
Review score
PublicationScore
GameSpy80/100[11]

References

  1. ↑ "Siege of Avalon" (in en). https://www.metacritic.com/game/siege-of-avalon/critic-reviews/?platform=pc. 
  2. ↑ Going Open Source! on soaos.sourceforge.net "In order to give the Siege game an extended practical life, allow ongoing player support, give the game a chance to be made available on other platforms, and to share our technical learning experience with the game development community, the Board of Directors at Digital Tome LP have agreed to release the Delphi source to the Siege game to the Open Source community under an LGPL license!" (23 June 2003)
  3. ↑ http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=674133[yes|permanent dead link|dead link}}]
  4. ↑ CartBlanche/Siege-of-Avalon-Open-Source on GitHub
  5. ↑ "Siege". Blackfly Studios. Archived from the original on 2016-09-29. https://web.archive.org/web/20160929020735/http://www.blackflystudios.com/Siege.html. Retrieved 2014-08-29. "I am currently engaged in discussions to re-release Siege of Avalon. Stay tuned." 
  6. ↑ Rucksacksepp from SoAmigos.de
  7. ↑ SteveNew from SoAmigos.de
  8. ↑ Rucksacksepp from SoAmigos.de
  9. ↑ Siege of Avalon: Anthology on Steam
  10. ↑ Siege of Avalon: Anthology on GOG
  11. ↑ Wessel, Craig (December 2001). "Reviews: Siege of Avalon (PC)". GameSpy. Archived from the original on April 4, 2002. https://web.archive.org/web/20020404063010/http://www.gamespy.com/reviews/december01/siegeofavalon/. 
  • 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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