1991 DMV
Platform: Commodore Amiga
One that we missed this year, but Jan / TCD found this unreleased German graphic text adventure whilst working on Hall of Light and which was uploaded for all to see.
We’re not 100% sure of the background to the title, apart from knowing that the game was developed and designed by Gregor Widuch, with graphics by Sonja Heil. Neither seem to have worked on any other games that are in the archives.
According to the Hall of Light entry, the game was due for release in 1991 through a publisher called DMV.
The game itself looks quite decent, with icons to navigate through the game as well as text commands – though unfortunately I am unable to play the game due to my non-existent German. It is a great finding though and yet another title for Amiga users to play.
Thanks to contributor Thomas (see comments), we learn that there was a page set up by the author on the game which explains a bit about its background: http://www.das-tier.de/flash/htm/index.htm
With thanks to Jan / TCD for highlighting and recovering and Thomas for the game link.
Download
Gallery
Hi Frank,
it could be possible to contact Gregor via the homepage he created for this game: http://www.das-tier.de
Best regards
Thomas
Thanks Thomas and great spot! I’ll ping Gregor a message!
Oh, your work here is greatly appreciated! I’m a loyal follower for years! One of my first consoles was the Odyssey, and, likewise, I would argue that eg their SUPER COBRA adaption was graphics-wise pretty good – considering its technical capabilities.
And that is why I find it hard to argue that these graphics are anything more than awful: 16 bit was capable of far, far more – I pointed at THE PAWN which showed what’s possible, and its graphics are so much better than what we see here, 5 years later! In 1991, the graphics of TIER might have been acceptable for some kind of public domain or shareware game. But for something commercial???
As much as I can understand that it’s exciting to discover yet another lost game, we should also remain somewhat critical. And in this case, it’s just SO obvious to me why this thing went nowhere.
So don’t take this personally – I think you’re doing great work here!
No worries, and thank you – and nothing taken personally, don’t worry. I understand your point about the graphics, and I agree – we should still be critical with such things. Personally, I just didn’t think the graphics were awful – that was all. That’s the beauty of life, is that we often have different opinions and if you think the graphics are awful, then that’s fine.
They’re certainly no Monet, but I’ve also seen commercial 16-bit titles with far worse graphics in the past. If I honestly felt something was awful, then I’d say it (and hopefully I’ve done that on other entries in the past). But as I say, Art is a subjective thing – and during my time on an art course many years ago, I saw a lot of things I considered as “crap”, but which the teachers strangely loved. It’s a very bizarre thing, and might be just that I have very bad taste! :-D
“The game itself looks quite decent […]” – no, it does not: It looks horrible!
The graphics are awful! There is no light, no shadows, not a single use of a color gradient…they look like a mid-80s adventure on the C64 in a slightly higher resolution! Calling the graphics “bland” is a vast understatement.
Just as a reminder: THE PAWN was released for 16 Bit platforms around 1986. That was half a decade earlier! Compare those graphics to what you see here and tell me that the graphics look “decent” with a straight face!
Make no mistake: No matter what merits the text adventure part might have had, the presentation was just not competitive, and it is easy to see why this game disappeared.
Art is subjective, and I thought (personally) the graphics they looked fine. I haven’t said they look amazing and I’ve just said that they look “quite decent”. I’ve seen far worse graphics in the past, and personally I see beauty in games as primitive as some Atari 2600 titles as well as life in general. Primarily I’m just trying to share news of the game’s recovery, which is the most important thing, and not my opinion.
Sorry you didn’t like the graphics – but life is really too short.