Saturday, April 24, 2010

Set the Wayback Machine for 1984

A while back, in my travels through the internet I came across two games that whisked me back to what was, for me, the heart of the golden age of computer gaming, 1984. The first is the Adventure Creation Kit, which is a free version of the old Electronic Arts Adventure Construction Set, which was to toolkit for crafting computer RPGs in the vein of Wizard's Crown and Ultima III. I have very fond memories of spending hours playing around with this in high school. My friends and I always hoped to use it to create adventures to share amongst ourselves. Sadly, that never panned out, but this might just offer a second chance. The Adventure Creation Kit is available for both Windows and Mac OSX. Additionally, a version is provided that is suitable for use under DOSBox for those of us who are Linux users.

The second game is Oolite, a clone of the old space trading game Elite. It's probably not the most apt description, but I think of Elite as sort of Star Raiders on steroids. Now Elite wasn't a game that I had ever played back in the day, but a friend of mine who grew up in the U.K. has regaled me with tales of the hours that he spent playing this on his Spectrum Plus. Oolite is available for Windows, Mac OSX and Linux.

Oh, and both of these games are free as in beer.

Quick Links:
Oolite
Adventure Creation Kit

Monday, April 19, 2010

Miniatures Monday

So last week while I was in Vegas, there was a glitch of some sort with my post scheduling, so this week there Will be two!
Here we see two valiant knights, exploring the unplumbed depths of the ear in search of riches.
The topmost miniature is a 1999 Reaper Miniatures casting, but the one on the bottom is a special treat. It is a 1981 lead casting from a company known as Wizards and Lizards. I distinctly remember picking this miniature up in the early 1980s at the hobby shop on the lower level of Century III mall. This was the same shop run by the crabby dudes who once told my friends and I that we were, "cluttering up the store." Never mind that there were only four of u,s and no one else was in the store. Hard to believe that they went out of business isn't it?