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Dark Chamber
Author: Del Duio Submitted: 18th June, 2006 Favourites:0
Genre: Adventure Downloads: 271
Rated:


Edited By Del Duio on 6/20/2006

The latest in the "Home Computer Backlog Series" pits Daxon (in his first ever adventure) from the Captain of the Guard games against the Dark Wizard in a giant magical maze-like dungeon. When the Dark Wizard stole the kingdom's power gems- the source of all magic- Daxon went into the maze to try and get them back. But the Wizard has heavily trapped his sanctuary with all manner of monsters and traps. Will Daxon survive the 26 levels for the final confrontation?

Features: A randomly-made 26-level dungeon to fight your way to the bottom and kill the evil wizard-TM. Collect food, potions, gems, keys, and other treasures to help you out. Use 6 different weapons and 13 various magical spells to squash the enemy threat. Talk to helpful priests, treasure hunters, gem knights and more for assistance.

PROS: If it works correctly for you, it's a poor man's Diablo! There's a lot of stuff in the game and it's randomness is vastly superior to Equin Adventures' as far as level building goes. The variety of spells isn't bad (teleport is a good one). You might get tons of hard levels or tons of easy ones, who the hell knows!?

CONS: There are a few issues, but since this is an old game I am not going to go back into the code and try to fix it all for now, sorry.

Main issues:

BUGS / GLITCHES!

Unfortunately, this game has bugs and stuff that pop up from time to time. Even with so much time put into it (back in 2002) they still appear. Some computers (i.e. sucky ones like mine) sometimes get a "Operation too complex" error, while others might get an error when they try to save. This doesn't happen all the time, and is an extremely strange occurance indeed.

The game's music I ripped from myself, so I guess it's original- just not for this game. They were all originally decent .wav files but were WAY too large for internet usage. Therefore, the music has been taken from my Captain of the Guard game.

Daxon is always shown in the "front" position while moving around. That said, you won't be able to tell in which direction he's going to attack until you press the Space Bar (the attack button). This can easily be overcome by simply moving in the direction you want to go in / attack first and then press the attack button.

To skip any cutscene, just click on the main picture.

To save your game, you must wait until you've completely cleared the level of enemies AND walked through the exit door. When you see the big picture of the doors going down, you can select "Save Game" from the menu bar up the top. Click on the "You saved your game" picture to continue to the next level.

To load your game, run the program and choose "Load Old Game" from the top menu. Be sure to finalize your options first before loading, as you can only select your game options before you actually start playing.

* * *

Q&A Fun Time!

Q: I can't go through the doors, I don't have any keys!
A: Do not fret! If you can't buy or find a key right away you can still get through doors by hiting them with your weapon. It will take 9 hits to destroy the door. If you are affected by the Brute Strength spell, it will be easier to knock the door down. Enemies will come after you, so try to get through the doors fast if you can! There's also a glitch that might happen where the door is destroyed but it doesn't disappear- just walk through it like normal if this happens.

Q: I hit a purple orb.. and a monster came out!!
A: Yeah, that'll happen on the mid to later levels. It's random, but there are so many good things in those orbs (like magic books that instant-cast spells) it's worth it to open them all.

Q: I can't seem to find the exit door!
A: When all the enemies are killed, the exit door will randomly appear somewhere on the level. Remember, a lot of the levels have secret walls you can walk through- maybe the exit door will be there?

Q: What happens when the time runs out?
A: You die- But you're given so much time this almost never happens, only on the later levels will this ever become an issue. Besides, if you find a magic clock the time will stop altogether for the level's duration.

Q: Hey, look ma a score! What's it for?
A: Killing enemies and picking up items increases your score. If you get a LOT of points and exit the level, you may be magically whisked away to the golden bonus level. Oh, you'll like those places, alright. Careful though- getting hit by any trap takes points AWAY from Daxon, though not many.

Q: Where the hell are the shops!?
A: Well, shops (the Lady Blacksmith, no less) are randomly placed in some levels. There won't be any possibility of shops until the 4th level, so use your time in the caverns (dirt areas) to amass as many coins as possible.

Q: How do I cast a magic spell?
A: It's simple! First you select the spell you want by clicking it's icon on the status bar with your cursor. You'll know you've done it right when you can see that spell's name in the box there. The spell is now "loaded" and ready to go. Just hit the "enter" key to cast it, provided you have enough mana left to do so.

Q: My mana sucks! Why doesn't it regenerate?
A: It DOES regenerate, but at an extremely slow rate. Find power gems to regenerate your mana back faster, or drink any light or dark blue potion to gain it back quickly.

Q: My offensive spell doesn't work against (insert enemy here).
A: There are some spells that won't affect some types of enemies. You'll know when it doesn't work- just watch the enemies themselves after you've cast it.

Q: My God! There must be 30 friggin' monsters on this level, what the hell Duio?
A: Nobody said this was an easy game!

Q: How will I know when all the enemies are dead on my level?
A: Easy, each enemy that still survives is represented by a small green orb up in the top-right corner of your status bar. When they're all gone, an orange "CLEAR!" sign replaces it. Go find the exit door down and whack it to leave. You may want to stick around and gather all the treasures first though!

Q: There must be a zillion traps, I hate this game!
A: Yes, there just MAY be a zillion traps! Make sure to grab the "Detect Traps" spell from the shop when you can. It's wicked cheap too.

Q: The shield is awesome, but why does it disappear??
A: Easy, your shield will protect from ALL damage 8 times. After that 8th hit, it is destroyed. You can see the wear on your shield in the status bar as it starts to get dented and crappy. If it's red, it only has one more hit to go before it's destroyed. If you find an anvil, you can repair it for free, or go to a shop and buy another one.

Q: Does the spell Frog Form ever WORK or what?
A: Yes, but it's so powerful the chances of working aren't high as it can affect every enemy within sight of Daxon.

Q: Why doesn't the teleport spell work?
A: Make sure that the area you want to teleport to is clear of bricks, chests, items, or enemies. NOTHING can be on the area you want to teleport to, or the spell will fail. If it's clear and the spell still won't work, there may be an invisible trap on the seemingly empty space..

Q: It's too hard, I can't kill anything!
A: Just select the game option (in the beginning) for FULL DAMAGE and make sure you get a decent weapon from the shop. Remember, you can play as a bad-ass weapon toter, a powerful magician, or a mixutre of both. It doesn't matter so just have fun with it.

* * *

The readme lists all the spell and weapon info you may need. I don't expect this game to be a classic by any stretch as it does have occasional bugs and etc, but if some people like it then it was worth resurrecting its ass from 2002 and onto yon Daily Click!


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http://del_duio.sitesled.com/forums/darkchamber.zip (1.94 mkb )



Posted by Del Duio 18th June, 2006

If you're having problems, try turning the music off from the menu bar in the beginning. It's worth a shot!
 
Posted by Mruqe 19th June, 2006

Let me be frank with you, Del Duio - this isn't the best of your creations. It has lots and lots of nice features that boost it's playability and those cool skeletons... but it kind of lacks in the engine departament. I felt that the gameplay was very random when I was playing. And I'm afraid I don't mean the random dungeons. At times I felt I have very little controll over things happening on the screen.

A decent shot at a randomly generated dungeon crawler. But not a game I would like to play from the begining to the end.

Still - one can easily see that lots of hours of work has been put into that project. For that, and for all the features that work fine - Thumbs up!



And I'm pretty sure there Is a maniac out there that will enjoy the game as much as I enjoyed Equin Village.


regards
 
Posted by BeamSplashX 25th June, 2006

Too bad about King's Quest being put up in the same week as both of 'em, eh?
 

 



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