Twin Kingdom Valley

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Twin Kingdom Valley
Developer(s)	Trevor Hall
Publisher(s)	Bug-Byte (1983)
Release date(s)	1983
Genre(s)	Text adventure
Mode(s)	Single player
Platform(s)	BBC Micro, Acorn Electron, Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum
Media	Cassette
Input	Keyboard

Twin Kingdom Valley was a text adventure game with animated pictures for the BBC Micro, Acorn Electron, Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum. It was released in 1983 by Bug-Byte Software.

It was inspired by the original Adventure by Will Crowther. It was one of the first games to have active Non-player characters (NPCs) living their own lives.

The NPCs are interactive with their own personality: some are friendly, following and defending the player, whilst others are hostile. Witches and kings are complex characters, whereas gorillas and trolls are simpler. Battle sequences have additional features including weapons which can be dropped, broken, thrown or taken away by enemies.

Architecture

A major section of the software is a custom graphics language. This is a very early "scalable vector graphics" format. Hundreds of images are drawn (of objects and locations) using this custom tool.

The game has "micro databases" of information, representing the locations, objects which can be used, various creatures etc. The game engine runs a simulated world for these items. A small AI module allows other participants (NPCs) to make decisions.

Past

The original game engine was written in 6502 assembly language. The game was then ported to Z80 (for the Spectrum). The newer versions (for Commodore 64 and Spectrum) have an extended game.

Present

The game is in active development again (in 2006), due to the availability of new platforms. The game engine has been ported, from the original 6502, into Java, with some game design tools in C#.

Future

Extended versions and sequels are still being considered.