Pool of Radiance

Did You Know?

• The party begins in the civilized section of "New Phlan" governed by a council.
• The ancient trade city of Phlan has fallen into impoverished ruin, with only a small portion inhabited by humans.

Development

Pool of Radiance marked the first official video game adaptation of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rules. The scenario came from TSR designers Jim Ward, David Cook, Steve Winter, and Mike Breault, while programmers from SSI's Special Projects team handled the coding. The portion of the Forgotten Realms setting featured in the game was set aside exclusively for SSI to develop. Built for the Apple II and Commodore 64, the project took a year and involved thirty-five people.

The SSI development team was headed by Chuck Kroegel, who noted that the biggest hurdle was translating the AD&D rules into a precise digital format. The team also had to balance graphics and gameplay to capture a true AD&D experience within the limits of home computers. Alongside the core AD&D rulebooks, the developers used Unearthed Arcana and Monster Manual II, with monster artwork copied straight from the Monster Manual. The game was originally programmed by Keith Brors and Brad Myers, developed by George MacDonald, and its graphic art was created by Tom Wahl, Fred Butts, Darla Marasco, and Susan Halbleib.

Reception

SSI moved 264,536 copies of Pool of Radiance for computers in North America, a figure triple that of Heroes of the Lance, another AD&D-licensed action game SSI put out that same year. This made it the company's biggest hit by a wide margin; even its hint book sold more than any earlier SSI title. The game kicked off a series that, by 1996, had racked up over 800,000 sales worldwide. A preview in Computer Gaming World pointed out a "sense of deja vu," noting the screen layout borrowed from earlier computer RPGs: the 3D maze view in the top-left corner resembled Might & Magic or Bard's Tale, the character list window came from Wasteland, and using a single active character to stand for the whole party was a trick from Ultima V. The reviewer also said the gameplay design felt closer to SSI's own Wizard's Crown adventures than to other genre entries.

Pool of Radiance earned mostly favorable reviews. G.M. described the graphics as "good" and praised the role-playing and combat, saying roleplayers would find it essential, though pure computer gamers might hesitate. Tony Dillon at Commodore User scored it 9 out of 10, calling it the best RPG ever for the C64. Computer + Video Games called it a must-have for any roleplayer or adventurer.

The Games Machine gave it 89%, applauding the third-person arcade combat view as a big step up for SSI, but noting the colors were "a little drab." Zzap was less enthusiastic at 80%, complaining the game leaned too heavily on combat and not enough on puzzles.

Sequels and related works

In November 1989, James Ward and Jane Cooper Hong wrote a novelization of the game, also titled Pool of Radiance, which TSR published. The story takes place in the Forgotten Realms and kicks off a trilogy, with Pools of Darkness and Pool of Twilight following. The computer game Pool of Radiance was the first of four D&D adventures set in the Forgotten Realms, all released by SSI a year apart: Curse of the Azure Bonds in 1989, Secret of the Silver Blades in 1990, and Pools of Darkness in 1991.

SSI also made Hillsfar in 1989, but it wasn't a direct sequel. Dragon magazine called it a side trip for players waiting for the next game. Characters from Pool of Radiance can be imported into Hillsfar, though they drop to basic levels and lose all weapons and magic items. Hillsfar characters cannot move into Pool of Radiance, but they can be exported to Curse of the Azure Bonds.

GameSpot noted that Pool of Radiance, despite offering only four character classes and a low level cap, succeeded in bringing a standard version of AD&D to home computers. Scott Battaglia of GameSpy said many gamers consider it the pinnacle of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons role-playing games.