Ravenskull (computer game)

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Ravenskull

Developer(s)	Martin Edmondson & Nicholas Chamberlain (BBC Micro / Acorn Electron), John Wallace (Acorn Archimedes / Risc PC), Darren Izzard (PC)
Publisher(s)	Superior Software / Superior Interactive, ProAction
Platform(s)	BBC Micro Acorn Electron Acorn Archimedes Risc PC Microsoft Windows
Release date	BBC Micro 1987 Acorn Electron 1987 Acorn Archimedes 1997 Risc PC 1997 PC 2003
Genre(s)	Action-adventure game
Mode(s)	Single player
Media	1 x 5.25" BBC Micro DFS Diskette, 1 x BBC Micro or Acorn Electron Cassette, 1 x 3.5" Acorn Archimedes or Risc PC ADFS Diskette, 1 x PC CD-ROM or PC Downloadable Archive
Input methods	Keyboard

The Eerie Loading Screen
(BBC Micro)

The Adventurer Collects a Treasure Piece (BBC Micro)

Ravenskull is a British computer game, of the graphic adventure genre, originally developed by Martin Edmondson & Nicholas Chamberlain for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron and released by Superior Software in 1987. The player may choose from one of four character types - an Adventurer, a Wizard, a Warrior or an Elf - a choice which defines both the graphics for the character's player and the treasure pieces to be collected. The player is tasked with entering Baron Strieg's Castle Ravenskull in order to defend the village of Austberg and retrieve a stolen silver crucifix, which has been split into quarters and found on four different levels of the castle. The game was originally conceived after the authors created a new routine for hardware scrolling - when the player uses a speed scroll, the routine can be seen at full speed. Due to lower hardware specifications, the Acorn Electron version used a much smaller playing window and the speed scrolls were omitted.

Faithful 32-bit ports for the Acorn Archimedes and Risc PC by John Wallace, were released by ProAction in 1997. A fully-revamped PC version was released in 2003 by Superior Interactive, the modern publishing label of Superior Software, with new graphics and a significantly larger second set of levels known as Castle Danube. The possibility of a mobile phone port from Masabi was circulated around the Acorn Gaming and Acorn Arcade sites in late May 2002, but it never appeared. More recently, David Bradforth - of ProAction / Alligata - has claimed that a port to Mac OS X is coming soon.