The Castles of Dr. Creep
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The Castles of Dr. Creep is a computer game for the Commodore 64, written by Ed Hobbs and published by Brøderbund in the 1980s.
The Castles of Dr. Creep is a platform game with a heavy puzzle element in the game. The game's setting is influenced by classic horror movies such as Frankenstein or Dracula. The game takes place in twelve medieval castles owned by the eponymous Dr. Creep, and the player's task is to escape from each castle. One or two-player game is possible, allowing collaborative gaming for solving the puzzles.
When the game starts, the player can select from any of the twelve castles, which have medieval-style names such as Sylvania, Carpathia, Callanwolde or Lovecraft, or a tutorial castle. The player then starts from a specific room inside the castle, and must use his wits and skill to traverse through a vast network of interconnected rooms to find the exit.
The rooms consist of platforms on various levels, connected by ladders and sliding poles. Doors lead from one room to another. Some doors are locked, and the player must find a key to be able to go through them.
A central aspect of the game is the imaginative use of various contraptions and devices in the rooms. Conveyor belts, force fields, teleports and laser guns hinder the player's progress, and in some places he must avoid mummies and Frankenstein monsters.
Unlike normal platform games, the player in The Castles of Dr. Creep can have an unlimited amount of lives. If the player dies, he re-enters the castle at the "start" door. The game constantly keeps track of how much time has passed, and when the player manages to escape the castle, the time taken is recorded into the Hall of Fame, but only if unlimited lives is turned off (in this case there are three lives).
An unauthorized spin-off made by a band of cracker known as Star Frontiers was released in 1985, with name "Dungeons of Dr.Creep". The game was the result of a reverse engineering of the file format, and became an immediate hit among gamers.
[edit] Trivia
The names of the castles are diverse. Lovecraft was most likely named after the author H.P. Lovecraft, Romania is named after Romania, the country that Transylvania is now a part of. Teasedale, Freedonia, and Sylvania may have been taken from Duck Soup, a Marx Brothers film.
