Dungeon Master Forum

Fellow dungen... dungeners?

..Anyway, Hi! I recently set up my old Atari and picked up a saved game that would probably be about 25 years old by now, amazingly everything still works! Now, I never did beat Dungeon Master back in the day, but I did finish the game on PC a few years ago, and something did strike me back then and I'm having the same feeling now:

Take a look at the box art:

https://www.mobygames.com/game/amiga/du ... rId,71448/

That top screenshot, with the door? I vividly remember this screenshot a kid, and how I was looking forward to THAT place with the amazingly cool door, with a fountain to the side. But as I'm nearing the end of the game for the second time, I'm going to flat out say that this exact location as depicted on the back of the box DOES NOT ACTUALLY EXIST IN THE GAME. Or have I missed it?

The game boxes were produced before the game was actually finished, and therefore the screenshot was taken from an early version of the game.
You're right that this location does not exist in the final dungeon.
You may also notice that the text message "Syra's spell fizzles and dies" does not exist either in the final version of the game.
And also that Alex has no left hand.

You'll find even more oddities in the screenshots on the very first box that was produced for Atari ST:
https://www.mobygames.com/game/atari-st ... rId,30471/

My god! So it was all a lie after all! My 13 year old self is very upset.

Yeah, I remember wondering about the "Syra's spell fizzles and dies" message, and wondering if the Atari version used a different text for "Syra needs more practice with this priest spell".
I'd seen something similar with other games differing from the Apple II version. I think I have the box for the IIGS version in my mother's basement, but I really don't feel like trying to find it even though I will be there soon. She just had surgery and I'm going to mow her lawn and do the laundry. Feels like I'm 13 again, doing all the old chores. Soon it will be time for the leaves as we just had a cold snap on Friday and the trees are starting to turn almost overnight.

There's a custom dungeon for RTC called Surgical Strike (by our very own Siophia) that pays homage to that fake location on the back of the box. It's an inspired puzzle, and gave me such nostalgia chills when I found it in her dungeon.

Gambit37 wrote: ↑Sun Oct 14, 2018 8:57 pm There's a custom dungeon for RTC called Surgical Strike (by our very own Siophia) that pays homage to that fake location on the back of the box. It's an inspired puzzle, and gave me such nostalgia chills when I found it in her dungeon.

Haha wow! That's so awesome! I finished DM on my Atari 520 last night, such an amazing experience. There's just something about the loading times, the clunky mouse, and the noise from the floppy. I should totally check out some of the custom dungeons now if they have great content like this!

If you haven't already, check out the encyclopaedia. Lots more DM/CSB/DM2 related stuff there, including custom content.
Click the link at the bottom of Christophe's posts.

victoria wrote: ↑Sat Oct 13, 2018 12:52 pm My god! So it was all a lie after all! My 13 year old self is very upset.

Great post! It brought back all those late-night, exciting times when I first played through the game on my Atari ST.
DM: King of the Late Night Classics.

Fortunately, I was old enough that no one could tell me it was time to GO TO BED!