I didn't post on Facebook, for fear of looking even more like a nerd
... But there's no denial here so...
More screenies...
http://dinomicro.online.fr/Test/Atari/Captive/Captive.html
Captive, Mindscape (Tony Crowther) 1990. It was an epic RPG inspired by Dungeon Master, however it was kinda developed to be better on the Amiga as revenge for their 1mb only version of DM. The game was massive, would take a lifetime to see the whole game, as it used a level generation system. Only the first level was actually designed.
What I liked most about it, was even back in 1990, it was a strong sand box style game - you had full control over everything, from opening and closing doors, locking doors even, to hacking computer terminals, running software on your droids to auto-map, or to add a compass. It allowed a lot of customisation, several weapons and interchangable armor. At one point I remember being stuck with a badly damaged droid behind a door, so I took it to pieces and left it there while I cleared the area and found a shop to buy some replacement parts. Not many games back then allowed that sort of freedom, in fact I struggle to remember one game that even comes close. As I said, Tony Crowther prefered the Amiga, but the ST version was still amazing, some game designs are too good to be ruined by the lack of a few colours, or sound channels, or blitter chips.
I wouldn't change very much if I had worked on it - the most annying thing was a few bugs that made levels impossible to complete, until a fix was released, mentioned in a magazine, and you were lucky enough to have the magazine and find the fix - which was usually just a lock combination. Gaming was sometimes a dark and lonely place before the internet. It was Dungeon Master with decent graphics, and lots of gadgets, and had some great positional stereo sound on the STE and Amiga (best sound of any ST game IMO).
The game is still discussed, with fans hankering for a remake, however Tony Crowther has said that he doesn't want anyone to remake it, which is a little rich considering that it was inspired by Dungeon Master. Personally, I'd love to see an iPhone or DS version - I'd kill to see a multiplayer version.
Health, Ammo, and bacon and eggs!
