Dark Castle Game System

Notes/documentation by L. Curtis Boyle May 19, 2023

  I have not been able to find any documentation for this game/game system, other than the text from the ad from 80 Micro magazine May 1982, page 396, which states:

"DARK CASTLE GAME SYSTEM for the COLOR COMPUTER
Fully PROGRAMMABLE graphics adventure system. As well as solo adventuring, the two player option allows one player to become the dungeon's lord and direct his creatures. Graphics show moving views of the evil lair and the package allows players to create and save on tape (or disk) an unlimited number of dungeons -- three are included."

It was sold for only $12.96, and required 16K Extended BASIC.

  I haven't quite figured out how the graphics and the arrays go together (at least that makes any sense). I can say that a complete castle map consists of 3 floors (called "Levels" in the game), each with a 5x5 map. Three maps (called "Strongholds" in the game) are included:
CASTLE1
CASTLE2
CASTLE3
  You can make your own as well.These are text files that consist of 3 character codes for each location on the map, followed by a carriage return. If the location has one of the "message pillars" (as I am calling them - I have no idea what the original documentation called these), those will be on a separate line (with another carriage return) of up to 25 characters that appears right after the 3 character room code that defines a pillar being present (see the 2 player section for more details on this).
  If you load an existing map, the game will show (in rough terms) what it is loading (which level and "sector" (x,y location on the current level) it has loaded), and mention a few specifics like the presence of ladders, creatures, etc. I will give some detail on the maps later in this documentation when we get to the 2 players option. Each stronghold is the same size - 3 floors (called LEVELS in the game) of 5x5 locations (called SECTORS in the game). Some other things in the game have fixed parameters as well: only 1 Evil King (your ultimate nemesis) & 1 Dragon are allowed per STRONGHOLD. There also must be 20 creatures per STRONGHOLD.

1 player option:

  If 1 player is selected, then the player is the main character entering the stronghold. The game will do a little intro screen, and then ask for the STRONGHOLD'S NAME. Type in the name of one of the 3 listed above (or one that you have made yourself). It will load that map (showing some details as mentioned above).
  Once it is loaded, it will ask to either <S>ave the dungeon, <C>ontinue on to play the game. This only really makes sense if you picked the 2 player option (the game tried to keep it's code size small by sharing a lot of code). If you are playing 1 player, just hit C to continue on to playing the game.
  At this point, the player (called ADVENTURER in the game) is asked for their name (up to 8 characters). The game will then give you a brief description of your mission; an example is "EVIL KING IS HIDDEN IN A DARK LAIR CALLED CASTLE3". The game will then do an animation zooming towards the castle; once it reaches the castle, it will then ask from which direction the player wants to enter it. The player responds with the first letter of one of the 4 compass directions (N , S, W, E). The game will do a little animation for entering the castle, and then will show a wireframe representation of the map location the player is, including walls, halls, doors, ladders, objects and creatures. At this stage in the game (walking around the castle) the player has the following keys active:

F - Forward
B - Backward
R - go Right
L - go Left
U - Up
D - Down
T - Take (?). Take an item (like the sword, potion, treasure chest) or read a message when you are right next to it. Messages are usually clues for the player in the game.

  In order to go up to an object or creature, one must keep walking forward until the graphic for it is at it's largest size (although the player can wait for the creature to come to them as well, by hitting a useless T command). Warning - Creatures can sometimes surprise you, and they will get some extra moves in before you can respond. The player will get used to what size each object/creature must be in order to be able to interact with them. The Right and Left options you don't have to wait the entire length of a hallway to do; if there is a hallway opening or a door shown, you can immediately go there with those two keys. Sometimes when reaching the edge of the map, the game will do another animation and I think it wraps you around to the other side of the same level.

  Once you are close enough to a creature for battle (there are 9 in all, but only the King and the Dragon are specifically named), the game switches to the text screen to do the battle, which has the creatures and the player taking turns (real powerful creatures can get multiple attacks in before the player is able to respond). The game will prompt the player with "The Creature is ## feet away. What now?". Note: an attack will only land on the creature if the player is 0 feet away.

  The commands the player can use at this point are:
R - Run (evade - creatures won't always let you do this)
S - Stay/Status (I think it just reprints the previous status without wasting a turn)
H - Hit (attack).
  It should be noted that the player can occasionally drop their sword, lessening their attack capabilities. As with most games like this, most monsters require multiple attacks to kill them. If the player dies, the game ends. If the creature dies the game goes back to the graphics screen, with the creature erased. Once a creature is gone from a map location, it doesn't come back (except possibly in 2 player mode - see the 2 player section below for details).

I haven't won a game yet, so I can't tell you what happens in the particular case. And probably wouldn't anyways. :-)

2 player option:

  If 2 player is selected, one of the players plays the ADVENTURER  (as described above). The other player (called the CASTLE LORD in the game) is a limited kind of the "Dungeon Master", who can control parts of the game. In this case, the CASTLE LORD is prompted first to hit ENTER (in the 2 player game, it will prompt each player when it is their turn to do something; the other player should leave the room at this time or at the very least not look at the screen, so it is on the honor system here).

  After the ADVENTURER player has turned around/left the room, the game will ask for the name of the CASTLE LORD (up to 10 characters). The next prompt for the name of the stronghold - at this point the CASTLE LORD can either pick an existing one, or pick a name for a new one. After that it will ask NEW DUNGEON(N), OLD(O). If OLD is picked, it will attempt to then load the STRONGHOLD map with the name asked for; it will exit the program with an ?NE ERROR (non-existent file) if it doesn't exist. Otherwise it loads it the same as it does for a 1 player game.

  Here we find a bug: If the CASTLE LORD picked a NEW dungeon, one would think it would create it with the stronghold name typed in above. But no, it also errors out with a non-existant file error. So, one has to copy one of the existing STRONGHOLD files to a new one with the name they want (example - I want to make a new castle called NEWDUNGN. I would first do a COPY "CASTLE1.DAT" TO "NEWDUNGN.DAT", and then use NEWDUNGN for the STRONGHOLD name above, and specify a NEW dungeon. It will then run through a loop for all levels and sectors asking for the 3 character code for each location, with the prompt:
USE FORM: ROOM DESCRIPTION, MONSTER, OBJECT/TREASURE
(Do NOT use commas, each of these 3 is just a single letter).
There are 7 letters that you can pick from for the room description, 10 for the Creature (monster), and 10 for the Object/Treasure (2 of these last ones appear to be the same object as another letter - not sure what the two versions are about). From character 1 to character 3 (NOTE: CASE SENSITIVE) your options are (with me describing as best I can with no original documentation):
1st character (Room Description)
	T=Long hallway with left/right turns and door at the end.
	E=medium length hallway with dead end
	M=medium length hallway with door at end
	L="infinite" hallway
	B=long hallway with door on left
	D=long hallway with door on right (and overdrawn)
	S=long hallway with door on left, and turn to right at end
2nd character (Creature type)
	N=none
	y=The Evil King (must be lowercase?) (only 1 per map) -stick man with "Crown"
	X='EXEC' (only 1 per map) (whatever that is) - pyramid shaped head
	Y=Spider
	Q=??? (4 arms, diamond shaped head?)
	P=Dragon (only 1 per map) Sure, we'll call it a dragon
	O=??? Scorpion maybe?
	L=Skeleton
	K=??? Ghost or Ghoul, maybe?
	J=??? Happy demon with ear muffs, antenna... and a sword.
3rd Character (Object type)
	N = none
	U or F = ladder up
	I or A = ladder down
	O=message (looks like tall rectangular cube with a slot near the middle)
	S=??? a Ring, maybe?
	B=??? almost looks like a wall plug
	H=Potion (looks like a goblet)
	C=Treasure Chest
	W=Sword

NOTE: I don't currently know what the difference between the U and F up ladders are, or the I or A down ladders.

  If you have the 3rd character as an O, it will then prompt you for the up to 24 character Message. It will also give you the number of creates left to assign (there is always 20), and reminds you if you haven't put a required ladder in the current level yet. Once you have put in all of the info, it will prompt you to Save or Continue (just play the game without saving the map). Since entering all of this takes a lot of time, I would definitely save at this point.

  Irregardless of whether an existing castle/dungeon is used or a brand new one was created, at this point the game switches to where the 1 player instructions above kick in.
  The difference with the 2 player mode enabled now is that there is a 1 in 4 random chance for each player move when the game will prompt the CASTLE LORD player to do something, with the prompt:
ORDERS LORD name
?

  At this point, the LORD has a few options:
P - do nothing and return to the Player (ADVENTURER) making moves.

If the LORD responds with anything other than P, the game will ask the LORD a few other questions:
If the LORD has any creatures already killed by the player, they are returned to the LORD as "MESSENGERS". This is displayed as:
"YOU HAVE # CREATURES WITH YOU FOR ERRANDS"
If the LORD as at least one of these, he can send them out to report back what is in specific Level/Sector (I think so they can know if a player has already gotten an object, killed a creature, etc.). This is displayed as:
"DO YOU WISH TO SEND A MESSENGER?" to which the LORD can respond with Y or YES (any other response is taken as a "no"). If Yes, the game prompts the LORD for the Level,Sector to send the messenger to. This is 3 numbers separated by commas - Level (floor) #, X position, Y position. So to pick Level 2, x position 4 and y position 3, the LORD would answer with "2,4,3" (minus the quotes).
  Irregardless if the LORD decides to send a Messenger (or even has any to send), they will always get this next prompt:
DO YOU WISH TO MOVE A CREATURE?
If they respond with Y or YES, they will be given 2 prompts:
FROM WHICH LEVEL , SECTOR WILL THE CREATE COME?
  and
WHAT LEVEL, SECTOR WILL THIS CREATURE GO TO?
For both of these, the same format is used as for the Messenger above - Level, Xpos, Ypos separated by commas.
NOTE: Level is 1-3, Xpos and Ypos are 1-5.
NOTE 2: The King and the EXEC creatures can not be moved, and the game will report this if you try.
NOTE 3: The game does not do full error checking here. For example, if one picks a level of 4 for any of these prompts, the game will quit with an error.

  And that's what I have figured out so far. The game could use some more polish and error checking, but it's actually a pretty valiant effort for such an early release and allowing players to make their own maps (although the maps don't always seem to make sense to me).

ADDENDUM:

  In this ZIP, I have included a screen shot of a partial dump of one of the CASTLE map files so that it is easier to visualize the file structure.

 I have also made a special program on the DSK image called DRKGFX.BAS. This program will let you look at the various room, creature and object graphics (with a medium zoom up). It will ask for which type you wish to view:
C - Creature
O - Object
R - Room
After picking one of the 3, the program will than ask for the # within that type to display (1-9 for Creature, 1-8 for Object, 1-7 for Room). After picking that, it will switch to the graphics screen and display it. Hit SPACEBAR to quit viewing and go back to the prompts to view another. Hit BREAK to quit.
 Maybe some of you can come up with better names for some of the graphics. :-)