Exclusive Look at 'Sword of Fargoal': Remake of an 80's Classic
posted November 15th, 2009 2:22 AM EST by Blake Patterson in $2.99, $4.99, Adventure, Exclusives, Retro, Upcoming Games, iPhone games, iPod touch games
Dungeon crawler fans that like to equip an iPhone or iPod touch when it comes time to hew a row of ogre necks are in for a real treat in a coming iPhone remake of a true classic of the genre. Jeff McCord at age 17 originally wrote Sword of Fargoal for the Commodore PET — in BASIC — in 1980. Two years later he teamed up with Epyx and released the game commercially for the VIC 20 (still in BASIC). The following year, Jeff and friends brought the game to the newly-released Commodore 64, and the rest is history.
Sword of Fargoal is one of the best loved roguelike games ever to light up a CRT. In its 1996 anniversary issue, Computer Gaming World listed the game as #147 in the "Top 150 Best Video Games of All Time." It has been inspiration for many dungeon crawlers created since, and has itself been remade for various platforms.
In a nutshell, the game places the player within the top level of a deep series of dungeons with the quest of seeking out the legendary "Sword of Fargoal" and escaping with it from the depths of said dungeons. Complicating matters is the fact that the layout of each dungeon level is randomly generated when the player enters it, and that the dungeons are all initially bathed in darkness, revealing themselves only as the player explores. Those lucky enough to locate the sword have only 2,000 seconds to find their way out of the dungeons which, even on the way up, are randomly generated…. Not a proposition for the meek.
Along the way, the player encounters a vast array of enemies, both human and not-so-human. Battling these enemies, the player builds experience points which allow the character to level, increasing his fighting abilities and hit points. As well, various spells can be found throughout the dungeons that aid the player in completing his quest: Invisibility, Drift, Light, Regeneration, Teleport, and Shield.
Now, the astute reader might be asking themselves just how well a game written almost 30 years ago in BASIC for a 1MHz, 50 lb computer suits the iPhone. The answer is, in fact: quite well. As the game moved from PET to VIC 20 to C64 to PC it has certainly evolved graphically, but never moreso than in its latest jump to the iPhone. Jeff and his partner in this effort Paul Pridham (who brought us Saucelifter) have done an excellent job with this remake.
The iPhone version, with which I've spent notable time this weekend, features completely redone graphics utilizing OpenGL ES to add depth to the stony visuals. It allows for pinch-and-spread zoom control to focus on the action at hand and features an optional on-screen mini map to aid in negotiating the twists and turns of each dungeon level. What's more, Paul has implemented a full, real-time music synthesizer system for the game which delivers sound that, while ringing of retro, surpasses the quality of the C64's SID-based score.
But, really, what makes the game so well suited for the iPhone is its casual nature as compared to the typical roguelike. And that's not to say the game is shallow or light on dungeon crawling action, but rather I feel it's simply a bit more accessible to the typical gamer than, say, Nethack, Moria, or Rogue thanks to an economy of controls, spells, and the like. Those who've never played a dungeon crawler before might just find themselves drawn in to Sword of Fargoal.
Have a look at the developers' trailer video for a glimpse of the action.
[ Full HD version | Low Bandwidth version ]
Sword of Fargoal will be submitted to the App Store sometime next week and should go live in early to mid December at a one-week introductory price of $2.99 (regular $4.99). After the game goes live, the developers plan to release a series of free, episodic updates that will introduce new game elements, level types, and the like. Additionally, new graphical tile sets will eventually be made available as in-app purchases for those wanting to apply a whole new look to the game.
I've enjoyed recent dialog with both Jeff and Paul as they've introduced me to their upcoming iPhone title and we plan to post an in-depth interview with the developers in the next week that takes a closer look at the game's history, the iPhone remake, and iPhone development in general. Accompanying the interview will be a detailed gameplay video that should give prospective buyers a solid look at Sword of Fargoal for the iPhone.
Holy crap! Sword of Fargoal? I freaking *loved* that game! (Vic20 and c64) ..The retrogamer in me is so excited, I think a little pee came out.
Hey, Thanks! TKO (and others). This game has been a labor of love for us — both the original and the new iPhone version. We hope to blow your socks off!
Cheers Jeff. This version certainly looks like blow-yer-socks-off material. Absolutely gorgeous. ..If you can speed up the cave-generation a tad from how long I took on the Vic20 too, I'd much appreciate it.
Done! Just for you!! — Jeff
It's an instant-buy for me.
Nice, I love Fargoal!
It's hard waiting for all these games that have been submitted, but not released.
Wow, believe it or not, I've *never* played the Sword of Fargoal. That said, this seems to be a very impressive upgrade from the C64 days, and one that I'll be watching closely for- not only to play, but as a yardstick for how well a prettier dungeon crawler does in the App Store.
Fortunately my next rogue-like masterpiece is much further away from completion so we won't step on each other's toes with release dates
Is this game controlled by a virtual joystick ? I am wondering about the control. That is my main concern.
Peter, we're using a very intuitive "swipe" movement which is somewhat like a virtual joystick, but more flexible and natural in my opinion. As well, you can tap a destination point on the screen, and the hero dude will run to that position. I'm sure you will like our controls.
That sounds great !!! I really don't care for regular 4-way virtual pads like in castle of magic. Being an old school player, I like real 4-ways pads like on the DS if that's the control method chosen. It sounds like you are doing something innovative that really goes with the touch screen and your control method sounds very good
Some games are just not meant for the idevice when they are ported with the same controls that were used for a console or computer version. (castle of magic, ghosts and goblins…etc) To me if an appropriate control methos can't be found, then don't bother. Not all games can be ported properly to this device, just like arcade ports to the playstation, xbox…etc just don't work if you have played these games on an arcade machine.
ok, enough babbling !
Looking forward to this game………:)
Wowza! This is a classic with many innovative twists still NOT properly emulated to this day (like if you are hanging out on a level too long, one of those seemingly push-over beasties might be a super-charged bad-ass in disguise)! Insta-buy and neat that it is actually you, Jeff, behind this and not some mere fan-boy trying to add his own spin in the modern makeover!
Lord gek– I'm almost certain it's really him — same guy that did faithful but modern ports to mac and windows, too. That's where I discovered it juSt prior to getting the original on the c64-on-a-stick release.
Cmdr Data — competition is good!
I agree competition is good! Every new rogue-like I see hit the app store makes me work that much harder to separate myself from the pack. Recently we've had Isle of 8-Bit Treasures, next will be Sword of Fargoal, sometime after that maybe 100 Rogues will arrive.
I think there's room for all of these and more… I have purchased and will continue to purchase every one that is released. Learning more about them will help me to make my next dungeon crawler even better
Yup, it's really me! An old geezer at 47. ;^) But Paul Pridham and Elias Pschernig are my partners in crime. They had been diehard Fargoal fans, about 10 years my junior when we met in the early 2000s, and they painstakenly made the Mac and PC ports, complete down to the reproduction of the original C64 SID chip sounds! This iPhone version is a whole new beast, however. Though faithfully a "retro" game at heart, the "engine" beneath the hood makes it a Ferrari in classic MGB clothing. We are using OpenGL for subtle 3D rendering of the walls as you walk, and Paul has completely written his own sound synth so that it can handle not only the SID-like sounds, but also the "orchestral" background track that you will hear more about later this week from "Touch Arcade" (Google search "Daniel Pemberton" Apple and read our wonderful musician's Apple profile). Oh, I'd better be quiet now or there won't be more to hear about at "Touch Arcade". Thanks for the nice SoF fan comments! — Faithfully, Jeff McCord
I remember schools teaching us Basic on the Pet computers back in 4th grade
all "if then" code
I've been buying Apple computers since that early '80s (!) and have never heard of Sword of Fargoal. Did it ever make it to the Apple II or Macintosh?
That said, the game looks great on the iPhone. The graphics look very polished, and the voice-overs in the trailer are obviously professionals, rather than the developer and developer's wife you usually get. The static nature of the screen sprites is a little off-putting, but it looks like a great throwback style game.
I will check this out – $3 or $5 seems very reasonable.
Hey Patrick,
Great comments! We have had long discussions about the static vs. animated sprites and may revisit that question in future tile-sets we make available for the game!
In the mean time, we liked finding that *sweet spot* between "retro" and "modern" in the way that we produced the graphics. You'll find there is no shortage of fantastic animation in the game! Both with the in-game "particle effects" for lighting and atmospheric occurrences, and with the Emmy-winning animator, Charlie Canfield (www.canfield.com), who gives us the transitional animations for the big events in the game!
We think you will be pleased! Our intent is to steer away from the beat-'em-ups and make ours more about fun surprises around every corner … and a challenging quest to complete!
– Jeff McCord
It's amazing how the iphone manages to bring back a classic game almost every week
Looks like fun. I'll be getting it!
For a second I thought this was a remake of Gateway to Apshai. I remember playing that a lot on the Atari 800 when I was a kid. Is this the same creators? I know EPYX did both games.
With the talk of Basic and Vic20, I was thinking of "Tomb of Drewan" for a minute there. But I had just as much fun with "Sword of Fargoal" so I'm happy either way.
..IMHO the simpler nature of Fargoal makes it a better fit for the iPhone too.
Can't recall this app either, despite being an avid gameplayer in the C-64 era. (Man, talk about waisting your life infront of the screen!) I DO remember the Apshai games though, and this seems somewhat similar. Weren't the Apshai games released by Epyx as well?
Looking forward to this and fell in love with the title as well. "Fargoal"
A look at the orig over at Armchair Arcade:
http://armchairarcade.com/neo/node/919
what's "causal" about having 2000 seconds to get out of a dungeon?
i'd rather buy the whole quest series for $14, don't think they make you rush for anything.
This isn't anti-retro, or anti-sword of Fargoal… but I don't get all the hype over re-releasing old 'classics' on the new platforms… I'm sure this game was awesome when it came out for the Vic 20… I played tons of games on my old Vic (loved that tape drive)… But this is 2009, not 1981. Are the new games built to run on new hardware so bad that we have to resort to re-releasing 25 year old games? Are we running out of new/fresh ideas?
If the game was/is as good as everyone here seems to think, then why not update it for the power of the new platform? I mean, these games were written for 5 kb of RAM!!
Again, not a shot at anyone here, I'm honestly curious as I've been around for enough years to appreciate how much better things are now, then they were when I started writing code for the vic 20.
Regardless of my thoughts, I hope those who loved the game continue to do so on thier Ipod's (much more desireable than lugging around thier old Vic 20's I guess)…
Actually I think we're using more than 5K of RAM for this version.
It's a remake… an all new take on the fun classic. Fun doesn't go obsolete, you know! Just ask Chess.
Good point! (chess) Touche
Sure it might be a lot of nostalgia going on here but, in an Appstore where almost all of the games are copies of Flight Control or Bejeweled, it's a treat to see an original game…even if that means having to reach back 25+ years to get the game. ;-P
My only experience with a rogue-like is Rogue Touch, but it's one of my hands down favorite games. I love the random generation, and brutal difficulty. It's the type of game you can play forever and never get sick of it. If this is of similar ilk, but with really nice looking graphics and sounds, I'll be buying day one. Hopefully they can nail the controls and interface as well as RT, too. However, me buying this game has absolutely no diminishing effects on how much I am looking forward to CommanderData's new dungeon crawler. I'd love to hear any information on that *hint*
BTW I love love love Saucelifter and think it's really under-appreciated on the app store.
I can't wait to see what CommanderData's next offering is either! If it's another roguelike, that's awesome… can't get enough good roguelikes!
Thanks for the Saucelifter support. I imagine people still think it's an app about a soup ladle. Whaddya do.
I'll make sure the name of the sequel is more obvious!
LOL! Actually I never thought about the ladle reference. I always thought it was a clever name, a Choplifter remake with a flying saucer… Saucelifter! Makes sense to me
As a joke you should make a Saucelifter 2 that is actually lifting sauce from a pot and putting it on spaghetti or something. Heh, I'd buy that.
Three posts in a row for Blake? Now that's gotta be some sorta record…
when will people realize that "80's" shouldn't have a apostrophe?? you're pluralizing eighty, which is eighties, so it should be 80s. damn that peeves me!
Well, I guess if we're being picky about this, it should be '80s ; )
'80's
'
In my case, it would be the A.D.D.'s
Dear, devs,
Any consideration toward including tilt control, as well, just to round-out the control options? It seems like it could be a good fit for this title.
Sure, we've already tested with tilt controls, and although we are currently focusing on swipe, we may re-introduce the tilt if it provides an intuitive alternate control method for players.
Can't knock it til I try it but I'd think tilt controls could be deadly in a game such as this.
"Okay, tilting just a little bit more to the right, aww crap, now I'm sailing past the monster, he gets a free hit on me as I whiz by…now let's tilt back left and hope I can stop and swing at him before he gets a crack at me this time!"