Cycore's Game Crypt (By: Brad Mitchell) (1995 - 2000) I. Greetings II. Origins of "Game Crypt" III. Death of "Game Crypt" IV. Reflections V. Mystery of "Lost Archives" Maps * * VI. Into the Future * * * * * * * ===========================================+++++++++++++++++++++\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ Greetings "To All" >>> \/\//\|\||> ||| /\/\ /\ <, | < ===========================================+++++++++++++++++++++\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ * * * * Greetings, My Heroes, it has been over a decade since our adventures had last come to a close. While we have enjoyed an unexpected silence within our realm, Heroes from all over the world have risen up in our place and performed untold number of Quests all their own. Our journey might have lead to an abrupt ending, but the rewards were not what drove us into the perils of the unknown to face our destiny. Every part of all the worlds need heroes. It matters not if you are weak and small, for if you have the courage to fight against the darkness and the will to challenge injustice, every effort you make regardless of significance, is a tale worthy to be told. Sit with me, old friends and I shall relate a story of youth and adventure, a tale bound with love and excitement, and yes even the bitter end of loss and acceptance. It is stories like these that inspire others to become heroes long after we have gone, such as it was the stories before us, that inspired ourselves to attempt a life of quests all our own. This, my heroes, is our tale and looking back you will realize that while it may not have seemed as epic as other legends, that very journey helped transform and shape us, for the many different adventures that may still lie ahead. Come by the tavern fire and hear the memory, I shall now share. - Cycore Greetings, I always wanted to do an intro like that for the site; in the spirit of the small introductions at the start of each quest pack. This text file contains a vague history of the old site and my thoughts surrounding the experience. Honestly, I'm cataloguing it here as more of quest of "Self Discovery" than anything else, but I'll try to make it as interesting as possible, for those wish to read it. - Enjoy! FUN FACT: (I picked up using the term "Greetings" during the time while playing Hero-Quest, and to this day all my chats, message posts and emails still contain it as the very first thing my Cycore persona announces.) FUN FACT: (If you look at the "Mosters" page and scroll down to the new type of Orcs I made so long ago, you may get a chuckle out of the "Magistrate" character, as clearly I didn't yet understand the meaning of the word.) * * * * * * * * * ===========================================+++++++++++++++++++++\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ ORIGINS of "The Game Crypt" >>> \/\//\|\||> ||| /\/\ /\ <, | < ===========================================+++++++++++++++++++++\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ * * * * Greetings, The "Game Crypt" came about as a hobby project, where I could share additional levels and content for some of the DOS Games I was into playing at the time. One of non-computer related interests also happened to be the board game, Hero-Quest! I found Hero-Quest to be a unique medium for storytelling and player enjoyment, that almost seemed to bridge a link between the complex architecture of computer games and the simple, but realistic accomplishment of playing an adventure style board game. When the game disappeared from store shelves, I did what many had done, and began searching for new ways to add content, to replace the loss of the expansion sets I could no longer purchase. I had created a crude by fairly easy to understand Map-Icon set in a paint program on my laptop. I used it as a way to distribute copies of custom maps and adventures to my friends by printing them out. Venturing about on the Internet, it became apparent, not only were many others also dedicated to creating their own content, but some apparently weren't even able to get the two most common expansion sets that I did have. I used my Map-Icon process to recreate some of the official expansion maps and post them on the site. I figured I might as well post any of my other translated fan maps there as well, as the Crypt was always dedicated to additional content. The site always seemed to get more feedback about Hero-Quest opposed to any of the other content, so I moved all my old DOS Game Fan Sites from the "Game Crypt" to various regions of other hosts. Wherever those sites ended up is anyone's guess, as by 1997 the Crypt was fully committed to Hero-Quest. A purchase of an incomplete extra game set I had acquired from a store, gave me the initial idea of replacing as much missing content with actual scanned-printed replicas that I could paste to cardboard. What had started as a simple translation process of the official maps into a low-quality download using my own crude graphics, turned into a full "Scan Everything, as much as possible" onslaught. FUN FACT: (The PC games the Crypt initially held before the conversion to a solitary Hero-Quest site, included extra levels for titles such Warcraft 2, Stunts, Doom 2, Simcity 2000 and Tie Fighter.) * * * * * * * * * ===========================================+++++++++++++++++++++\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ DEMISE of "The Game Crypt" >>> \/\//\|\||> ||| /\/\ /\ <, | < ===========================================+++++++++++++++++++++\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ * * * * Greetings, My scanning efforts didn't go unnoticed by the Hero-Quest fan community, and by 1999 others were already helping me scan and document the sets I didn't have. Eventually it got to a point where, aside from acquiring the miniatures and plastic pieces for the furniture, you could re-create the whole game, by printing out all the scanned images and pasting them to stiff cardboard. The Icon-Map set I used for making my own quests worked well until early 2000, when I noticed that the site had slowly fallen into disarray, with sections half-finished, some adventures being professional looking, and more of the homemade stuff looking rather childish, also unfinished. I had already lost the access to the web account for the main site, though I managed to continue to update the "Downloads" archive which was hosted on a new upstart service. I decided to strive one last time on a major site re-design, something that would complete everything that lay unfinished and would be a fitting end to an unexpected half-decade effort. During mid 2000, school started eating up my free time ferociously, so much that it took some prodding of emails for me to continually update the "Download" archive like I said I would. My friends hadn't time to game anymore and only I seemed obsessed about reviving our old, Fan-Made maps for others to play. October 2000 is the last time I officially worked on the site. Shortly into the new year, I lost trace of the site completely. Soon afterward, someone asked if I still had backups of the files located in the now-defunct "Download Archive". To the best of my memory I sent along every ZIP file associated with the project, possibly even a copy of the site itself. FUN FACT: (During the site re-design that was never finished, I stumbled across a perfect sounding midi file for the site itself. I believe the tune was from one of the Ultima games, but I cannot be sure. The melody stuck with me and I used it as a lullaby for my baby nephew.) FUN FACT: (The unfinished map pack "Fallen Knights" was my first trial using the scanned Icon-Map set, to give it more of a professional look. Although the pack was never finished nor placed on the site, you can download it from a hidden link at the bottom of the "Downloads" page, by clicking on the middle star icon.) * * * * * * * * * ===========================================+++++++++++++++++++++\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ REFLECTIONS of the Past >>> \/\//\|\||> ||| /\/\ /\ <, | < ===========================================+++++++++++++++++++++\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ * * * * Looking back now, I had forgotten how much love I held for that small site, as it represented a very important part of my youth. It pains me to see it in the hallows of cyberspace as nothing but an empty shell, with much of the custom images I had edited, no longer functioning and all the dead download links. It actually resembled a lot of my later projects and endeavors, bursting with potential, but ultimately unfinished. I never left a very big footprint in the cyberspace universe, nor am I an easy character to get a hold of online or otherwise. However, one of the last updates I managed to do to that Hero-Quest site was include the newest (now oldest working) contact address. I must have been a very different person back then, for I don't think I leave a contact address for anything I do anymore. How ironic after all this time, a thread of my childhood would lead me back to this project, back to happier times, fond memories of friendships and the adventures they brought. FUN FACT: (The Cycore persona became "Lord Cycore" specifically for the Hero-Quest site itself, and also to distinguish from the growing number of avatars named Cycore out there. After the fall of the site, I stopped using the "Lord" part as it seemed to suggest a smug superiority, no longer linking to its original purpose.) * * * * * * * * * ===========================================+++++++++++++++++++++\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ MYSTERY behind "The Lost Archives" >>> \/\//\|\||> ||| /\/\ /\ <, | < ===========================================+++++++++++++++++++++\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ * * * * Chances are if you were a fan of the site, you at least heard mention of something called "The Lost Archives" map quests. Having a painfully enormous ego, I hyped the mystery at every turn, in full hope that not only would I be able to make good on such a promise, but as to always have a planned conclusion for the site itself. Judging by the amount of response I got inquiring about "TLA", I'd say perhaps I pushed the experiment a bit too far, seeing as the maps weren't even in my possession, which was the main reason why they were never released. I personally used it as something I could also look forward to, although I knew I would likely never again play those maps. The "TLA" quest pack was something I and my Hero-Quest playing friends at the time had come up with, long before I ever had an internet connection. Sadly I think I am the only one out of all my old friends that still has their Hero-Quest game collection. Rather than keep making excuses why I was never able to live up to the promises on my site, let me try to describe what "The Lost Archives" were really all about... Every once in a while, it became apparent that everyone had more fun playing as a Hero character. Naturally someone had to always play as Zargon and control the game board. While you were playing as the enemy, your hero could not partake in the adventure, and as such missed out on the rewards. As our custom map adventures got longer and more complex, it started becoming an irritable chore to keep the role as the enemy for several days until the current quest finished. Afterward someone else would whine about having to do the duty while the others got to go on another adventure, or continue a cliff-hanger story line. During one day of heated discussion an unofficial list of reasons came about as to why it sucked to play as the bad team, and why it sucked that your hero can't participate all the way through...pretty much in those words. Thus came about the idea of quests where playing as the villain held just as much importance as playing as the heroes. "The lost Archives" or as we came to call it, "Artifact Wars" was a series of 7 maps in which the standard rules of Hero-Quest game were modified depending on the map. I don't have all the nitty-gritty details of the rule changes, but here's the just of the overall quest pack. In each of the first six maps, there was a powerful artifact that was required in some way to affect the outcome of the final map. Each of the six maps took place in a different realm, with their own rules of movement and how things work. Each player has a hero, but there is always one hero under Zargon's control in each map. The person playing the bad side actually has two roles. He/She controls the game board against the heroes, as well as the bad hero having His/Her own dark quest objectives to complete, which comes with it's own rewards, that again adjusts the final outcome in the seventh map or realm. How can a player be a bad hero as well as a game master? Wouldn't they know everything about where they have to go to accomplish their objective? Why yes, they do, but the heroes don't! It's the job of the good heroes to acquire the artifact, stop whatever the bad hero is attempting to do or not, and escape the realm. This play style came about when discussing the artificial intelligence in computer games, how the enemy has to be programmed to know what to do, for a game to function. It was a thrilling concept, keeping the heroes guessing to what the possessed hero's plans were. The order in which the enemy accomplishes their goals depends on the order the heroes are trying to accomplish theirs. During the course of the six map realms, six powerful artifacts were acquired and possibly any or all of the six evil power abilities were learned. The artifact and ability can only be held or used by the hero character that earned them. The final map or the "Archive of Artifacts" is where the fate of the story and each hero is decided. In this map, there are no hidden objectives, if a player asks what purpose their ability/artifact plays, the game master, whoever it is at the time, must reveal what is written in legend, the possible destiny of that player. The final map wasn't so much a maze, as it was deciding if you wanted to use your artifact to help your friends complete the quest, find a way to win on your own, or exchange the artifact at the proper sacrifice alter, escaping with your life and a very powerful reward item. Three of the six artifacts were needed just to unlock various parts of the archives, to open the inner sanctum. The other three were used to help win the map, although it was entirely possibly, to battle it out with no artifacts and still be victorious, but that involved using the sanctum's unique trap triggers to weaken the boss, providing you could reach them. Unlike the first six maps, the Hero character controlled by the bad team can change at any time. This was done with a die roll check after the evil team's turn had ended. Not only does the evil spirit move from one possessed hero to another, the former evil team gets to take one of the newly possessed hero's quest artifacts, but just one. This ensured that someone who's had the misfortune of playing the villain through the first six maps, still has a chance at a happy ending in the last, should the spell controlling their mind finally give sway. Having satisfying endings and rewards despite what team you played for, was the real challenge. They couldn't be so powerful that any further maps presented to that character was unchallenging, but everyone wanted them to be above the normal trinkets one usually gets, something to really stand out. I remember when my hero sacrificed my acquired artifact instead of using it to help fight the boss, they were blessed with regenerating youth. If I was wounded, all I had to do was flee to another room without enemies, wait a turn, and I would gain back some body points. A lot of the rewards functioned like spell cards, but could be reused after certain conditions were met. In fact if I remember correctly, I could also recover any of my affected stats by a little amount, eventually back up to starting levels over time, without needing any potions. One could say "A coward's power helps only themselves, while a hero's power helps everyone." One of the artifacts I remember was the "Silver Scepter of Truth?" and while carried by a hero, it would dispel all illusion and traps that hero came across. The map which you needed to retrieve the scepter from, was a realm full of illusions and crisscrossing tunnels. Anytime you killed an enemy, another would appear on the mirror side of the maze. Part of the bad guy/girl's quest involved using special levers to rearrange the maze, so the heroes had to backtrack through previously slain enemies to get the prize. The map was best played with the heroes in teams, as sending all hero characters on the same path, usually resulted in everyone having to backtrack when the villain reaches an objective to change the maze path. By using the Scepter on the boss in 7th map, it breaks and infuses the hero with a limited ability to see and avoid any trap. By walking into a room or corridor, the hero will be instantly told were the traps are located, although not what they are. If the hero accidentally springs a trap, the hero's ability warns them in time to avoid danger, but the ability has a recharge time, before the hero is protected again. Traps that are triggered elsewhere, cannot be automatically seen by the hero, only traps that are triggered on the same tile. Naturally to gain this cool ability, not only did you have to use up your artifact, but also had to survive to the end of the quest, being the defeat of the boss. Another of the realms involved magic alters that would steal attributes from the heroes and release a shadow creature that tries it's best to escape capture by fleeing to a "Chaos Warrior" statue. If the creature is caught and killed before reaching the statue, the stats are returned to said hero, if not, the statue guards the hero's essence until it is defeated, or used by the enemy hero with one of the dark powers. The dark power that the enemy can acquire on this map, allows them to recover the stolen stat points for themselves from the statues, but not the shadow creatures. I should mention that any time the enemy hero is defeated, Zargon gets to resurrect him/her back at their starting point, which is always different from the that of the heroes. I remember it was made possible that if the final battle went poorly for the bad team on map 7, the enemy hero could still survive the game if they retreated to a certain area, and would get to keep any artifacts they had stolen, but the dark powers they had would vanish. I could keep going on about things I remember, although most of the exact names we came up with escape me... but then somebody would be tempted to read it all. Ultimately, you can make up your version of the "Lost Archives". The main purpose, was to find a way for more interactivity between the teams of the game, have maps that allowed more strategy for each player as well as a group of heroes, that had different final outcomes where the bad team could win, but in a way that the entire quest wasn't a wash, where rewards are special enough that you remember how and where you got them. In retrospect, I'm sure this all sounds really fantastically complicated to those that are used to playing the standard Hero-Quest. Honestly, the maps we built for it, were mostly sparse, to keep the game play simple. Some quests were completed quite quickly, while the last map dragged on and on, as players turned on one another, but were forced to work together in the end to survive. The best part about out little experiment was the immense re-playability. Now that the bad team had an equal chance at questing against the heroes, there was greater appeal to be role playing Zargon and the enemy hero. The back story of why the heroes needed to collect the artifacts, or why Zargon always held a puppet under his control, or exactly how the evil boss (forgot his name, I'm so ashamed) managed to trap itself in the archive of ultimate knowledge... none of this was really developed. The important thing was breathing new life into playing the game through challenging the play style itself. Of course, if I could interview myself back then, I would probably resound with "Because it's COOL!". Thus that one summer, we all got together and through a few weeks work, produced a 7 map campaign which entertained us for close to a month, having completed it three times and failing to finish the fourth. It was a joint project to create the maps, and about a week working out all the proper endings and scenarios for the final level. It was good fun, but it worked well because we all had a say in it's creation. It might have been extremely confusing for someone other than us to play it. Alas, a few years later video games had completely filled the void, and I'm not sure any of us talked of Hero-Quest again, until I started my work on the web site. The "Lost Archive" maps were something different, and they didn't work all the time. They were flawed, but they were fun. I'd like to say it was my suggestion that lead to their creation, but the "Lost Archives" was never my baby. I just seem to remember them the most. Perhaps I got a deeper meaning out of the experience than the others, who knows, maybe I'm just too sentimental and still cling to the past like a scared child, not wanting to lose his toys to the harsh reality of adulthood. Whatever the reasoning, I may have not been the best player of the "Hero-Quest" game, but I really liked it, I built a site for it and I helped others who liked the game, I'm proud for that. FUN FACT: (Before the "Lost Archives" a group of friends and I tried to create a good team vs bad team quest pack that functioned similar to chess, but in a Hero-Quest maze. It was a total disaster and fast became frustrating.) * * * * * * * * * ===========================================+++++++++++++++++++++\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ INTO the FUTURE "Hero-Quest Today" >>> \/\//\|\||> ||| /\/\ /\ <, | < ===========================================+++++++++++++++++++++\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ * * * * I've only glanced at the sheer magnitude of offerings the current Hero-Quest fan community beams with today, and it made me feel like a cave dweller who had just emerged from the darkness to catch a blinding glimpse of a golden sun, so intense that even back inside his comfortable cave, everything seems that much brighter. If you have any interest in creating content for Hero-Quest, I would liken it designing a video game, as the only restriction is your imagination. If my time building with LEGO has taught me about creating worlds without rules, Hero-Quest has taught me the importance of rules keeping things fair for all playing, so that a story of adventure can be both told and enjoyed. My old passion for the game is coming full circle, now that my young nephew has taken an interest in many things I was once fascinated by. Soon, he too will be old enough to start a quest character of his very own. Long live "Hero-Quest" and the lives of its players that it will undoubtedly change, forever. - Cycore FUN FACT: (Even in the grand scheme of things, although I have logged many more hours in computer games than Hero-Quest, I'll always consider myself to be a Quest-er!)