Dungeon Master (video game)
Influential first-person dungeon crawler that popularized real-time combat.
Dungeon Master is a role-playing video game developed and published by FTL Games for the Atari ST in 1987, with ports to Amiga and PC (DOS) in 1988 and 1992. It became the best-selling game for the Atari ST of all time and was an influential early example of the first-person party-based dungeon crawler genre, later inspiring titles such as Eye of the Beholder (1991).
- Developer
- FTL Games
- Publisher
- FTL Games
- Initial release platform
- Atari ST (1987)
- Genre
- Role-playing video game
- Perspective
- Pseudo-3D first-person
- Notable for
- Popularizing real-time combat, dynamic lighting, and skill-based progression in dungeon crawlers
Quick Facts
- Title
- Dungeon Master
- Developer
- FTL Games / Victor Musical Industries / (X68000)
- Director
- Doug Bell
- Producer
- Wayne Holder
- Programmer
- Doug Bell · Dennis Walker · Mike Newton
- Artist
- Andrew Jaros
- Platforms
- Atari ST, Amiga, Apple IIGS, MS-DOS, SNES, TurboGrafx-CD, X68000, PC-9801, FM Towns
- Released
- NA · December 15, 1987 · EU · 1988 · JP · 1990
- Genre
- Role-playing, dungeon crawl
- Modes
- Single player
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
Dungeon Master was originally started under the name Crystal Dragon, coded in Pascal and targeted at the Apple II platform. Doug Bell and Andy Jaros began development in their studio PVC Dragon before joining FTL Games in 1983. The game was finished using a combination of assembly language and a custom language called 'Dungeon Master Language' (DML), and first published for the Atari ST in 1987. A slightly updated Amiga version, ported by Phil Mercurio, was released the following year. The game was later ported to many platforms including PC, Apple IIGS, TurboGrafx-CD, Super NES, X68000, PC-98, and FM Towns, and translated into German, French, Japanese, Chinese, and Korean. The packaging cover art was painted by David R. Darrow, depicting a scene from the game's prologue.
Reader's Guide
Dungeon Master established several new standards for role-playing video games and first-person video games in general, such as the paper doll interface. In contrast to the traditional turn-based approach common in 1987, it added real-time combat elements akin to Active Time Battle. Other immersive features included sound effects to indicate nearby creatures and primitive dynamic lighting. The game eschewed abstract Dungeons & Dragons-style experience points and levels in favor of a system where characters' skills improved directly through use. While not the first game to introduce these features—Dungeons of Daggorath for the TRS-80 Color Computer employed them in 1982—Dungeon Master was responsible for popularizing them. It also allowed players to directly manipulate objects and the environment by clicking the mouse in the enlarged first-person view, and introduced a novel spell casting system involving sequences of runes. The game sold 40,000 copies in its year of release alone and became the best-selling game for the Atari ST of all time; Bell estimated that at one point more than half of all Atari ST owners had purchased the game. Its Amiga version was the first prominent Amiga game to require more than the standard 512 KB of memory, likely driving many to purchase additional RAM.
Did You Know?
- Dungeon Master was originally started under the name Crystal Dragon, coded in Pascal and targeted at the Apple II platform.
- The packaging cover art was painted by David R. Darrow and does not contain the word 'Master'.
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