Transylvania (series)

Transylvania was the name of a trilogy of computer games released for several home computers of the 1980s. The games were graphic adventure games created by Antonio Antiochia and produced by Penguin Software/Polarware.[1]

Transylvania
Developer(s)Antonio Antiochia
Publisher(s)Penguin Software
Platform(s)Apple II, Atari 8-bit family, Commodore 64, Macintosh, Amiga, Atari ST, MS-DOS
ReleaseApple II, Atari 8-bit family, Commodore 64:
  • WW: 1982
Macintosh:
  • WW: 1984
Amiga, Atari ST, MS-DOS:
  • WW: 1985
Genre(s)Adventure game
Mode(s)Single player, multiplayer

Transylvania

In 1982, this game was released for the Apple II, followed by conversions to the Atari 8-bit family and Commodore 64. It was later released for Macintosh in 1984, then the Amiga, Atari ST and MS-DOS in 1985.

It sets the player on a quest to rescue Princess Sabrina from a countryside roamed by a werewolf, a vampire, a prankster goblin, a witch, and an alien spaceship. The game has a time limit (dictated to the player by a note encountered early on that reads, "Sabrina dies at dawn"), as the Princess is trapped in a coffin in the castle tower. The game's usage of hand-drawn graphics were part of a trend where once entirely text adventure games started to use computer graphics to show the game's environment. It remains the most popular title in the trilogy.

An iPhone version of Transylvania was released on October 30, 2009 under the name "Transylvania Adventure". The iPhone version features a touch-friendly user interface, sounds, and vintage "retro" graphics.[2]

The Crimson Crown - Further Adventures in Transylvania

Released in 1985 under the title The Crimson Crown, on the same platforms as its predecessor. The game tasks the player with a quest to defeat a magical vampire with the assistance of Princess Sabrina (who is now a fledgling magician) and the heir to the throne, Prince Erik.

Transylvania III - Vanquish the Night

Released in 1989 under the title Transylvania III: Vanquish The Night, this game was released for Apple IIGS and PC. It used VGA graphics (PC version), more complex puzzles and a larger vocabulary. The game also had some digital voice and many of the puzzles involved references to ancient mythology. In this game the player had to vanquish an evil king.

Reception

The first game in the series was well received, appearing in the Billboard[3] and Softalk best-sellers charts and in The Wall Street Journal[4] in a list of best-selling software. It received a Certificate of Merit in the category of "1984 Best Computer Game Audio-Visual Effects" at the 5th annual Arkie Awards.[5] It is considered one of the best examples of the adventure game genre.[6] ANALOG Computing disliked the Atari ST versions of the first and second games, stating that "There just wasn't much of a story line" and that the ideal player age was a young teenager, not an adult. Despite this, however, because of their low price and "excellent" production values, graphics, and parser, the magazine recommended the games for those seeking graphic adventures for the ST.[7]

Legacy

Many years later, Penguin Software released several of the game series as freeware.[8]

Also after end of official support, an enthusiast reconstructed a source code variant of the game's series engine to port it to modern platforms.[9]

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References
  1. Maher, Jimmy. "Transylvania". The Digital Antiquarian. Retrieved July 25, 2017.
  2. Transylvania Adventure by RetroVenture, LLC (iTunes preview)
  3. Billboard magazine, Oct. 13, 1984, p.27
  4. Wall Street Journal, July 18, 1984, p.23
  5. Kunkel, Bill; Katz, Arnie (February 1984). "Arcade Alley: The 1984 Arcade Awards, Part II". Video. Reese Communications. 7 (11): 28–29. ISSN 0147-8907.
  6. Maher, Jimmy. "Hall of Fame". The Digital Antiquarian. Retrieved July 25, 2017.
  7. Panak, Steve (December 1986). "Panak Strikes". ANALOG Computing. p. 97. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  8. "The Comprehend Adventures". Polarware Archive site. Retrieved July 25, 2017.
  9. recomprehend by Ryan Mallon on github.com
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