Akalabeth Remake
Richard Garriott fondly recalls the old days in an interview with CD Mag : It really is Ultima 0. Literally, if I go into a dungeon, the exact same code is used in Ultima I. The only thing we added was the bitmapped graphics for the outdoor areas. I created Akalabeth for me, in the summer after my senior year in high school when I was working at a ComputerLand store. The owner convinced me to self-publish the game, so I went out and produced 200 ziplock bags, coversheets and printed manuals. None of these have disks because they were expensive, and I'd only copy them when I needed them. I created 16 of them, and sold 15 in the store. Then a publisher in California got hold of it and purchased the publishing rights.
As it turns out, the publisher is called California Pacific, and it sells 30,000 units of Akalabeth. Considering that many new games nowadays dont sell even close to this number, Garriotts success is remarkable. Originallly released for the Apple II computer only, the game was later ported to PC, enhanced from black and white to 4-color CGA graphics, and included in the Ultima Collection compilation.
This fanmade remake sports many enhancements over the original black-and-white-stick-figures version, even though they are bells and whistles that have no bearing on actual gameplay. A lot of new EGA graphics have been added, including a title screen, outside graphics, intro, ending, and color to dungeons and monsters. There are .WAV sound effects, MIDI songs, and even a setup program to toggle sound on and off. Overall, the enhancements make Akalabeth much better looking while keeping the fun (if simplistic) gameplay intact. Definitely worth a look if you want a nostalgic walk into the famous designers past but dont want to put up with his ugly drawings ;)
Average Rating: | 8.32 [52 votes] |
Genre: | RPG |
Designer: | Richard Garriott & MinerJr |
Developer: | Origin Systems |
Publisher: | Freeware |
Year: | 2000 |
Software Copyright: | MinerJr |
Theme: | Fantasy |
Multiplayer: | |
Related Links: | Official site , Classic Games' review of CGA original , Fans for Ultima |
More Info: | Mobygames | The Web |
System Requirements: | DOS |
If you like this game, try: | Ultima IV: Quest of The Avatar VGA, Dungeon Master Java, Ancient Domains of Mystery |
Thanks to... | Pieter |
Technical Notes: |
Screenshots © The Good Old Days