Software:Volcanic Dungeon

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Volcanic Dungeon
Volcanic Dungeon cover.jpg
Publisher(s)Carnell Software
Mastervision
Designer(s)Roy Carnell
Stuart A. Galloway
Platform(s)Dragon 32/64, ZX Spectrum, ZX81
Release1983
Genre(s)Role-playing

Volcanic Dungeon is a role-playing video game designed by Roy Carnell and Stuart A. Galloway and released by Carnell Software for the ZX Spectrum, Dragon 32/64 and ZX81 computers in 1983. It is a follow-up to 1982's Black Crystal.

Plot

A war between the forces of good and evil has been won by the light and the dark goddess Methzar and the Snow Queen were both defeated. But the witch Magra has managed to escape with some of her army into the titular volcanic dungeon, taking with her a captive elfin princess named Edora. The task of a hero known as the Knight of Star Jewel is to hunt down and kill Magra, and to rescue Edora from her glass coffin.

Reception

According to a Sinclair User ZX-81 retrospective in 1985, "Volcanic deserves recognition as the first graphics adventure for the ZX-81, and therefore one of the first of all adventures. Unfortunately, the game mechanics are rather crude and it is frequently a matter of good fortune."[1] In a "Favourites of Yesteryear" article that same year, Sinclair User rated it 5/10, complaining of the game's slowness and how "death is always too swift. It is as if the computer is playing the player and not the other way around."[2]

Legacy

Volcanic Dungeon was the second part of the 'Third Continent Trilogy';[3] See also Black Crystal, 1982 and, The Wrath of Magra, 1984.

The BASIC source code listing of Volcanic Dungeon is available online.[4]

References

  1. Sinclair User Annual 1985, page 54.
  2. Sinclair User 27 (June 1984), page 38.
  3. "Third Continent Trilogy". https://www.mobygames.com/game-group/third-continent-trilogy. 
  4. VolcanicDungeon on ZX81stuff.org (2005)

External links