DOS Game Club

"It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire.

But obviously, the Empire has other evil plans, or shall we say, "Dark" plans? They are working on a new type of battle droid and heavily armed storm trooper: The Dark Trooper. The Rebels cannot let that happen, so Kyle sets out to destroy this threat before it even becomes one.

This all sounds nice and well, but is Lucas Arts' 1995 hit game also a good game? Is it fun?

Discussing this game with host Martijn ("Tijn") and Florian ("rnlf"), we have returning member Björn ("TigerQuoll") and new member Niklas ("Killershrew") as well as a voice message by watchful, who has sent uncountable brilliant messages over the years.

[ download mp3 ] (99 mins, 113 MB)

We got help from DGC member console editing this episode (again!). Many thanks to him and all who make this show possible!

* DGC member Pix scanned in no less than five UK magazines reviewing Dark Forces

* The Force Engine: Open source reimplementation of the Jedi engine

* Orchestral Remix of the Dark Forces theme

* The demo's "Rambo style" intro sequence that's cut from the full game

In 2119 the United Nations Seedship Calypso was launched. Headed for Beta Caeli, the farthest star yet attempted, this ark ship holds thousands of people in cryogenic sleep ready for colonising this remote system. Ever since the first interstellar war with the Centaurians broke out in 2043, the future of Earth and therefore the human race has been under threat. In 2135 the faster UNS Tantalus was launched with the same destination as the Calypso. Despite leaving years later, due to its faster engines it was projected to arrive 21 years before the Calypso would. But when the Calypso arrives and its crew is awakened, there is no sign the Tantalus was ever even here.

In Alien Legacy it's your job as head of the Calypso to find out what happened to the Tantalus, and more importantly ensure humanity's future by establishing a thriving colony far away from Earth. Developed by Ybarra Productions and published in 1994 by Sierra On-Line, this game offers a mix of management/strategy and narrative which is pretty unique.

Discussing this game with host Martijn ("Tijn") we have an interesting lineup of newcomers to the show for you! Sadly co-host Florian ("rnlf") couldn't make it, but he'll be back next time. First of all there's Tamsin ("TheLobdegg") who suggested we play this game. Then there's Chris, who's been a long-time fan of Alien Legacy and as Tamin's friend recommended it to them. And last but not least we have Brian ("SpaceGameJunkie") who got Alien Legacy on launch day back when it was originally released.

Tamsin is part of Hadrosaurus Software, who are working on Acronia, a newly made real DOS game we've talked about before in our episode about DOS Games Jam and modern DOS culture. They recently released The Aching, a Sierra AGI-style adventure game designed for Tandy 1000 computers and up. It's available on itch.io and Steam.

Brian has YouTube & Twitch channels dedicated to space games old & new and runs an active Discord community as well. Links can all be found in the list below.

[ download mp3 ] (115 mins, 132 MB)

We got help from DGC member console editing this episode. Many thanks to him and all who make this show possible!

* The Aching on itch.io and Steam by Hadrosaurus Software

* Space Game Junkie on YouTube, Twitch & Discord

* UK magazine scans by DGC member Pix

* Joe Ybarra on Mobygames

* Sierra was previously discussed in episode 8 (Quest for Glory) and episode 64 (Space Quest)

* We mention Starflight which was previously discussed in episode 17 and also Project Nomad which was discussed in episode 40

Europe, 1943. World War II is in full rage, the United States joined the war effort and are now supporting the British air raids against German occupied western Europe with their legendary B-17 Flying Fortress bombers. Can your crew help end the war by successfully bombing strategically important targets while German fighters and Flaks turn the sky into a death trap?

Microprose's 1992 flight simulation is special in many ways. While other sims let you focus on one job and often on dogfights, a B-17 requires a much larger crew of ten soldiers - and you can take over each one of the important jobs they carry out: piloting, bombing, firing machine guns, navigating, first aid, repairs - you name it.

But is it also fun to let the AI do all the other jobs you're not currently involved with?

Our hosts Martijn ("Tijn") and Florian ("rnlf") are joined on this mission by experienced flyboys Rob ("Spoonboy") and David ("EvilCommieDictator").

[ download mp3 ] (164 mins, 187 MB)

* Spoonboy's B17 beginner's guide

* UK magazine reviews scanned by Pix

* Article from CRASH covering the origins of B17 developer Vektor Graphics

* B-17 Flying Fortress credits on Mobygames showing how many people who worked on this have also worked on many other famous Microprose titles

* The famous dive scene from Memphis Belle

* Microprose was previously discussed in episode 32 (Knights of the Sky) and episode 35 (Sid Meier's Pirates!)

In 1995 Blue Byte released Albion, an ambitious 2D/3D scifi/fantasy RPG, exclusively for MS-DOS PCs. It's made by some of the same people who previously, under the banner of Thalion Software, made Amberstar and Ambermoon, an ambitious series of RPGs that shares some cosmetic similarities with Albion. But despite this overlap, Albion is very much its own game and story.

The story revolves around Tom Driscoll and Rainar Hofstedt, who take a shuttle from the interstellar spaceship Toronto to the remote desert planet of Albion. It's the year 2227 and the DDT corporation is planning to stripmine the planet for its resources. A shuttle malfunction causes Tom and Rainar to crashland onto the planet surface where they are rescued and welcomed by the Iskai, an intelligent cat-like species with a rich history and culture. Tom & Rainar quickly find out the planet is far from the deserted wasteland they were lead to believe and it's up to them to save it from DDT's plans.

Sadly our regular co-host Florian ("rnlf") decided to skip this month because it's a very big game and he couldn't find the time to play it enough to do it justice. Helping out host Martijn ("Tijn") instead is veteran DGC member Jozef ("yozy"), who is a long-time fan of Albion and even suggested we play it. Our two guests also have a long history with Albion: first of all returning from a while ago we have David ("DavidN") back on to join us. And last but not least Ben Chandler delighted us with his presence, who you might know as the graphic artist from Wadjet Eye Games among other things.

We also got two voice messages, which we're always very happy to receive. Much thanks to Peter ("pointer") and Raphael ("Ninetongues") for sending them in!

[ download mp3 ] (141 mins, 162 MB)

* Thread with magazine reviews on our forums, some scanned by Pix from his own collection

* Ambersun (previously Albion), David's power metal band

* Ben Chandler's blog

* Albion fan Discord

* Albion wiki

* A great oldschool Albion fan site by IS4

* Albion soundtrack in multiple formats

* UAlbion a work-in-progress remake of Albion for modern platforms

* We talked to two of the developers of Albion in episode 76

This is a special extra bonus episode! In December we played Albion, the 1995 fantasy/scifi RPG by Blue Byte. We had the chance to speak to Erik Simon and Jurie Horneman, two of the creative forces behind the game.

We discuss everything from the early days at the German demoscene, Thalion software, developing Amberstar & Ambermoon, the move to Blue Byte as well as everything that went into Albion and the legacy it left.

Sadly Florian ("rnlf") wasn't able to get into the game and decided to skip this month, but host Martijn ("Tijn") is supported fantastically by veteran DGC member Jozef ("yozy"), who happens to be a long time fan of Albion.

We also got a lot of great questions from the community, so we would like to thank: DavidN, number_guro, IS4, HunterZ, sheldo86, Ninetongues and MrCreosote.

Enjoy!

[ download mp3 ] (107 mins, 123 MB)

* Blog post on Albion & Avatar by Jurie Horneman

In 2097 the World Aeronautics & Robotics corporation (W.A.R.) is looking for a suitable representative to watch over Ganymede, the Jupiter moon that will soon be colonised. The Board at WAR has decided that the applicants for the position, being equally qualified, should fight for it. Now, the ten applicants must choose which Human-Assisted Robot (H.A.R.) will be their weapon and beat the others in a one-on-one competition.

This is how the manual of One Must Fall: 2097 describes the backstory of this iconic DOS robot fighting shareware game that is the subject of this month's podcast. It was developed by Diversions Entertainment and published by Epic Mega Games in 1994.

Joining hosts Martijn & Florian are two first-time guests: Ben, who only found us recently, and Biran, who has been a long-time listener. Both have spent tons of time on this game back in the day, so they can tell us all about what makes One Must Fall: 2097 such a cool title.

[ download mp3 ] (150 mins, 172 MB)

* UK magazine reviews scanned by Pix

* Diversion Entertainment's website on archive.org with a link to the freeware release of OMF 2097

* OpenOMF.org is a modern remake of OMF:2097 and has links to their wiki and Discord, among other things

* Interview with OMF2097 designer / programmer Rob Elam

* Interview with OMF2097 music composer Kenny Chou

* Kenny Chou on YouTube

* Demo group Renaissance on pouet.net of which Kenny Chou was a member

* We talked about Epic Mega Games before in episode 19 (Tyrian) and episode 46 (Jill of the Jungle)

British photographer John T. Parker travels to the isolated New England town of Illsmouth in 1910, to take pictures of Halley's comet. During the previous passing 76 years before, Lord Boleskin had made some interesting discoveries, but he subsequently went insane. Parker has three days to finish Boleskin's research before the comet passes in the sky, and it quickly becomes clear the quiet town is not what it seems. A strange cult assembles at night in the forest, a mysterious lighthouse is kept closed off to strangers. What is going on here? Who can he trust?

This is the premise of Shadow of the Comet, a Lovecraftian horror/mystery game we played with the club this October. It was developed and released by French developer Infogrames in 1993, just one year after their previous Lovecraftian horror game Alone in the Dark. This title however is a more traditional 2D adventure game, that's not quite point & click.

We have two guests joining hosts Martijn ("Tijn") and Florian ("rnlf") to discuss this game. First there's Robin, an avid Lovecraft fan who used to write and make podcasts for the Swedish edition of PC Gamer, and now streams adventure games on Twitch under the name "RockyDennisTV". Also joining is returning DGC member Hannes, aka MrCreosote, who played both the floppy & CD-ROM editions of this game right when they came out and became an instant fan ever since.

We also got a voice message from Nick, which is very cool. If you also want to send a voice message and be part of the show, you can email them to [email protected]

Enjoy!

[ download mp3 ] (166 mins, 190 MB)

* Robin aka RockyDennisTV on Twitch

* Hannes' review of Shadow of the Comet from 2002

* Original magazine reviews on our forums scanned by DGC member Pix, as well as a machine-translation from the Finnish Pelit magazine posted by DGC member typhoon24

* List of tropes in Shadow of the Comet on TVTropes.org

* Shadow of the Comet soundtrack on Zophar's Domain

Did you ever want to be in control of the entire hive mind of an ant colony? How about taking over the house of some jerk who doesn't even acknowledge your existence and runs you over with his stupid lawn mower? Still not enough? How about gruesome, explicit and very flowery descriptions of death?

In 1991, Maxis released "SimAnt", a genre defying and to this day unique gaming experience, packed with knowledge about ants. It's not an educational title and yet playing it, you somehow learn a lot about these little creatures.

Joining hosts Martijn ("Tijn") and Florian ("rnlf") to discuss this game is DOS Game Club member Phil ("PixelProphecy").

How does the game hold up today? Is it even a game? Or a toy? A simulation? But most importantly, is it fun? Let's find out together.

[ download mp3 ] (121 mins, 140 MB)

* PixelProphecy on: YouTube and Twitch

* Digital Antiquarian on Will Wright, SimCity and the history of Maxis

* Retro Hour Podcast interviews SimAnt co-creator Justin McCormick

* SimAnt full playthrough in 14 minutes by LGR

Evil creatures beneath Waterdeep? We can't have any of this. Time for our party of heroes to investigate. But what's that? Just as we enter the sewers, the corridor behind us collapses and we're trapped down here. Will we survive? Find our way out? Will we succeed in our quest to cleanse Waterdeep of whatever is really going on here?

This is the premise of Westwood's 1991 Dungeon Crawler "Eye of the Beholder". We haven't covered any Dungeon Crawlers on the show before, and after more than five years, it's finally time to delve into this iconic genre and see how they influenced our modern RPGs.

Joining hosts Martijn ("Tijn") and Florian ("rnlf") to discuss this game are veteran DOS Game Club members Richard ("Pix") and Björn ("TigerQuoll"). We also got a voice message from Peter ("pointer")!

So what's the game like? Does it hold up? Are four AD&D noobs even qualified to talk about it?

[ download mp3 ] (114 mins, 130 MB)

* PC Format issue 4 (Jan 1992), reviewing Eye of the Beholder II scanned in by TigerQuoll

* The Digital Antiquarian on the history of grid-based dungeon crawlers (aka "blobbers")

* The All-Seeing Eye EotB auto-map tool for Windows

Robert Cath hastily jumps off a speeding motorbike onto the Orient Express, as it departs from Paris on the evening of 24 July 1914. He's been invited to join the train by his friend Tyler Whitney, who apparently has made a remarkable deal and wants to tell Robert all about it. But as soon as Robert enter Tyler's cabin, he finds him on the floor... murdered!

Those are the opening scenes of The Last Express, a 1997 first-person adventure game directed by Jordan Mechner (Karateka, Prince of Persia). What follows is a story of early 20th century mystery drama, all set on the Orient Express as it continues its voyage across Europe to Constantinople, using an interesting rotoscoped visual style and with voice actors speaking German, French, Serbian and Russian besides English.

Joining hosts Martijn ("Tijn") and Florian ("rnlf") to discuss this very unique game are veteran DOS Game Club members Richard ("Pix") and Esko ("firefyte"). We also got a voice message from Jozef ("yozy") who actually interviewed his mum for this!

So what's the game like? Does it hold up? Who murdered Tyler Whitney? Listen to find out!

[ download mp3 ] (126 mins, 145 MB)

* UK magazine reviews scanned by Pix

* Making of The Last Express (1997) from Jordan Mechner's YouTube channel

* Interview by Gamasutra with two members of the development team originally posted in 2008, served through The Wayback Machine

* Obituary by Jordan Mechner for Tomi Pierce who co-wrote The Last Express and sadly passed away in 2010