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Dark Designs Series by John Carmack

dragonbait

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Dark Designs Series by John Carmack.

OK I wanted to make a post about the Dark Design Series. The most familiar and accessible of the series are I and II as they were both released for DOS in addition to the Apple ][.

Somewhere on these forums, I discovered that the Dark Designs series had an Apple IIGS release of Dark Designs III Retribution, which I had though was the last of the series as some folks here also seem to have thought, but apparently not.

According to Mobygames, Dark Designs has a total of 6 games in this series. I and II being released for both the Apple II and DOS, while III Retribution was released only for Apple (apparently ][ and IIGS), and (IV Passage to Oblivion) and (V Search For Salvation) and (VI Restoration) were released for the Apple computer(at least the ][. Not sure about IIGS).

The entire series I-VI seems to have been released on Apple ][.

My question being, were IV and V, and VI only released on Apple ][ or did they each also have an Apple IIGS release? and did anyone here at the codex play IV and/or V and/or VI? and if so ][? or IIGS? and what was their experience in playing them? The Dark Designs series seems like a fun game series to play through. Did anyone play though all of them with an Apple ][? The DOS games of I and II seem to be available, but I'm more interested in playing the Apple ][ or IIGS versions.

Was III through VI released for both ][ and IIGS? I know III had a IIGS release. Interested in what releases IV and V and VI had.

Check out the series link to MobyGames here.
http://www.mobygames.com/game-group/dark-designs-series
 

octavius

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Nobody could answer this question? Are we turning into RPG Watch?:rpgcodex:

Anyway, I felt a craving for delving into ancient blobbery after reading about the third installment of Dark Designs on CRPG Addict's blog. I downloaded a copy of the first Dark Design (Grelminar's Staff) from Abandonia, but it turned out it was a version of a partially played game, and thus the automap filled in, very much like the Phantasie games in that regard. But fortunately Myabandonware had a "virgin" copy of the game. EDIT: Duh, turns out you can reset the game by pressing CTRL-R at the title screen.

Impressions so far:
It's like a mix of Phantasie (auto-map), Might&Magic 2 (the encounter messages and encounters checked even when turning) and Wizardry 1 (tight design and frequent returns to town to get spell points back).
Not very hard (so far at least).
Very simple character system; only small increases in HP and SP when leveling.
Feels like a competent game for a diskmag game.
Nice room descriptions in the castle. Reminds me of Wiz 6 in that regard.
EDIT: Seems to be level scaled.
 
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dragonbait

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Nobody could answer this question? Are we turning into RPG Watch?:rpgcodex:

Anyway, I felt a craving for delving into ancient blobbery after reading about the third installment of Dark Designs on CRPG Addict's blog. I downloaded a copy of the first Dark Design (Grelminar's Staff) from Abandonia, but it turned out it was a version of a partially played game, and thus the automap filled in, very much like the Phantasie games in that regard. But fortunately Myabandonware had a "virgin" copy of the game. EDIT: Duh, turns out you can reset the game by pressing CTRL-R at the title screen.

Impressions so far:
It's like a mix of Phantasie (auto-map), Might&Magic 2 (the encounter messages and encounters checked even when turning) and Wizardry 1 (tight design and frequent returns to town to get spell points back).
Not very hard (so far at least).
Very simple character systems; only snall increases in HP and SP when leveling.
Feels like a competent game for a diskmag game.
Nice room descriptions in the castle. Reminds me of Wiz 6 in that regard.

There is another post on Dark Designs III that I had later resurrected with more information on the Dark Design Series. I was able to find all of the Apple ][ and IIGS versions of the games plus a character editor. Everything except for the Apple ][ version of III Retribution. Edit: Roddy295 has found the Apple ][ version of Retribution!.
See links below. There are also DOS versions of the first couple games but the apple ones are cooler.
http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/dark-designs-iii-retribution.68101/

+ Here are my links on all of the series.
Dark Designs I Grelminar's Staff
Dark Designs II Closing the Gate
Dark Designs III Retribution!
Dark Designs Character Editor for DD1-3
Dark Designs IV Passage to Oblivion
Dark Designs V Search for Salvation
Dark Designs VI Restoration

ALso, the CRPG addict has recently posted about Dark Designs III Retribution!
 
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octavius

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Heh, I should have read that 2011 thread too.
Anyway, great job on collecting all that stuff. Too bad your site is not one of the first hits when Googling "Dark Designs".
I'll try the Apple IIGS versions when the time comes.
Or are there character transfers between the games? I guess it's like Bard's Tale; it's possible, but removes most of the challenge (and thus the fun).
 

dragonbait

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Should be able to transfer your characters through the whole series except the DOS and Apple IIGS versions only cover the first few games. The Apple ][ versions span the entire series 1-6 except I wasn't able to find III (Retribution!) for Apple ][ online. It's on (Softdisk issue 116). Looks like someone recently bought the original disks including issue 116 off of ebay in March of this year. Hopefully a copy will find its way online at some point.
 

SwiftCrack

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If you are serious about these games I would tweet/mail Carmack about them. Chances are he'll reply and maybe even release them idk.
 

dragonbait

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If you are serious about these games I would tweet/mail Carmack about them. Chances are he'll reply and maybe even release them idk.
I took your advise and tweeted to JC. But Darn twitter and their 140 character limit! Was barely able to make a coherent sentence/question. Wish I could have said more, but will wait and see if he responds. Thanks.
 

SwiftCrack

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I took your advise and tweeted to JC. But Darn twitter and their 140 character limit! Was barely able to make a coherent sentence/question. Wish I could have said more, but will wait and see if he responds. Thanks.

:mrpresident:
 

octavius

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DD1 was too easy. Only one character death in all the game.
Weakest part of the game was character system; very bare bones.
Best was the auto-map, and the level design. No funny stuff like Darkness, anti-magic zones and spinners, but it felt like I was exploring a castle. And since there was no real mapping challenge, an auto-map is very welcome.
Too short to be sold as a commercial game, but more fun than most of the commercial CRPGs released in '90-91.

I see from CRPG Addict's blog that he completed the game in one session. According to D-Fend Reloaded I started the game 12 times (some of them just to tweak the settings, though). So I guess that is the difference between a CRPG Addict and a mere CRPG fan.
 
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dragonbait

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Roddy295 has posted in the other Dark Designs III: Retribution thread with the location of the Apple ][ version of Dark Designs III: Retribution! and I have repackaged the 4 files into 1 zip file for ease of use. The files are for Apple ][ so you can use the AppleWin emulator or other Apple ][ emulator (not IIGS) to run the files.

IIIretributionsc2.png
 

octavius

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On Dungeon Level 1 of DD2, in the room next to the Old Weapon Storage Room there is an "empty" encounter; no enemies appear on the combat screen. Anyone know if this is a bug or something special?
 

KeighnMcDeath

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Yeah, but if you want your alts to go through it all, stick with just the appleII.

Anyway... shadowforge


Wraith?

I'm sure those are on the obscure lists.
 
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