Deadly Rooms of Death
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| Deadly Rooms of Death (Webfoot) | |
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| Developer(s) | Webfoot Technologies |
| Publisher(s) | Webfoot Technologies |
| Designer(s) | Erik Hermansen |
| Platform(s) | PC (Windows, Linux), some for Mac OS) |
| Release date | 1997 |
| Genre(s) | Puzzle |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Media | CD |
Deadly Rooms of Death (commonly abbreviated to DROD) is a computer puzzle game. It was created by Erik Hermansen in 1997 and has been regularly extended since then. While not commercially successful at the time of its release, it has sometimes been referred to as the best puzzle game ever made [1].
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[edit] History
The original release is by Webfoot Technologies in 1997 as version 1.03 of the game, followed shortly after with versions 1.04 and 1.11 to fix some bugs with unsolvable rooms and levels. This early version is commonly known as Webfoot DROD.
In 2000, the original author of the game, Erik Hermansen, got permission from Webfoot to release the game as open source. With the help of several volunteers, he recreated the game from scratch, rewriting the entire game engine and creating improved graphics and new music for it. The main game screen, however, remained mostly the same as the original Webfoot version. This version, version 1.5, is commonly known as Caravel DROD, and was first released in late October 2002.
Version 1.6, also called DROD: Architects' Edition, included improvements to some of the graphics, but most importantly a level editor, and was released in October 2003 after a long round of open beta testing. It was followed some time after by several patches to fix bugs that were found in the game. With the inclusion of a new level editor, a whole new ability for users to create their own dungeons and levels, collectively known as "Holds", was created, extending DROD's total puzzle content far beyond the original game itself. In fact, so many new holds were built that a new system of categorising and rating them had to be set up on the website.
The sequel to 1.6, DROD: Journey to Rooted Hold, was released in April 2005 for Windows, Linux, and Mac. Also called DROD 2.0, the game includes many new additions and improvements, such as an expanded plot complete with in-game dialogue, higher resolution graphics; better user interfaces in both the editor and in game; new monsters and puzzle elements; additional customizability for holds, scripting system and connectivity to an online DROD database.
A commercial remake of the original DROD game was also released under this engine, named DROD: King Dugan's Dungeon. Several commercial add-on holds have also been released for this engine as 'Smitemaster's Selections'.
The third game in the series, DROD: The City Beneath, or DROD 3.0, was released in April 2007. It includes all the features of DROD: Journey to Rooted Hold, plus a complete new official hold with in-game dialog, 3 new design styles, and further enhanced customizability and networking. Cutscenes support, lighting system and variables that allow non-linear plot progression are the most prominent new features of DROD:TCB.
A fourth and possibly final game in the series is planned, namely DROD: The Second Sky. Other than this name, nothing is known about it.
Game features
[edit] Story
King Dugan has a problem. He let his guards eat their meals down in the dungeon, and they spread crumbs all over the place, so suddenly his lovely dungeons are swarming with cockroaches, not to mention goblins, serpents, evil eyes, and other nasty things. It's really gotten out of hand. Beethro Budkin, dungeon exterminator extraordinaire and the main protagonist, is called to the castle and, after a short briefing by Dugan, thrown into the dungeon with the doors locked securely after him. With only a Really Big Sword™ at his disposal, it's up to our hero to clear the place, so that the prisoners can receive their torture in a clean and safe environment. [2]
[edit] Gameplay
The game is entirely tile based and takes place on a 38*32 rectangular grid. King Dugan's Dungeon is made out of 350 interconnected rooms, 38*32 tiles each. Any such room is a separate puzzle, and to solve it you must defeat all the monsters in the room and exit it. Each element or monster must occupy a positive whole number of squares, and no two monsters or objects of the same type can occupy the space at once. The player controls the movement of Beethro Budkin, a dungeon exterminator equipped with a Really Big Sword™. In the fictional world where the game takes place (the Eighth), his job as a Smitemaster is to clear dungeons of invading monsters. Most gameplay stems from, or elaborates on, this concept.
Since this game is also turn based, monsters or objects will only move once per turn. In almost all cases, monster movement depends exclusively upon where it is in relation to the player. As a result, Deadly Rooms of Death requires logical problem solving rather than reflexes. Each turn, the player can wait, move into any of the eight bordering squares to his current one (if not already occupied), or rotate his sword 45 degrees. Since the game is turn based and tile based, using your sword to block advancing monsters or to manipulate them is an essential strategy, as is counting square distances to objects, since this will determine how many moves you or a monster requires to reach an object or square.
[edit] Monsters
The list of original monsters and elements (from version 1.x) includes:
- Dungeon Roaches - Roaches move directly towards the player with a beelining behavior.
- Roach Queens - These flee directly from you instead of attacking but spawn new roaches in most unoccupied adjacent squares around it every 30 moves.
- Spiders - These move in the same way as roaches, but are much harder to spot.
- Wraithwings - These little demons can fly over pits, but will only attack if there is a significant number of them.
- Evil Eyes - These are normally stationary and harmless monsters until you step into their line of sight. At this point, they "wake up" and attack like roaches.
- The Living Tar - This is a viscous blue substance with a very high surface tension that can only be found as blobs with a minimum width of 2 squares at any point inside a mass. Cutting tar to make any part of it 1 square wide will create tar babies (roach-like monsters), but only edges are vulnerable; corners cannot be cut. If it contains a Tar Mother, it will grow outwards every 30 moves, creating tar babies if, at any point, tar would be grown into a narrow spot.
- Goblins - These creatures are intelligent and cowardly. Afraid of Beethro's sword, they will try to circle around the player (and simple obstacles) to attack him. Goblins do this finding the quickest way to his person, vigorously avoiding any square adjacent to his sword.
- Serpents - These are long monsters that are invulnerable to your sword, but can only move horizontally or vertically, and must constantly move each turn. They can be killed if led into a dead end where their heads cannot move, so shortening themselves to death.
- Brains - These are stationary but insidious monsters that cause all other monsters in the room to behave more intelligently, by improving the monster's ability to navigate around obstacles. Sometimes, however, this is exploitable to the player's advantage.
- Mimics - These are created from mimic potions, and are clones of Beethro that mimic his movements. They are inedible and do not attract monsters, so are useful for wiping out enemies remotely, protecting Beethro, or navigating normally inaccessible areas.
- The 'Neather - The boss enemy on the final level of the official dungeon, he is intelligent and orchestrates monsters in a room by manipulating doors. This is the only enemy that is capable of acting beyond its basic logical programming.
