Help me identify this Apple II game.
June 10, 2016 8:13 PM Subscribe
We all have some vaguely remembered but of childhood that we'd like to revisit. Mine was on an Apple II. Can you help me?
I've searched through game collections both on archive.org and other sites but haven't been able to find anything that matches my memories. None of the games in this thread sparked my memories, though the game as described sounds a lot like mine.
Here's what I can remember: I had an Apple IIGS but I think this was an Apple II game based on the graphics. The gameplay consisted of you navigating a maze of single-screen rooms. The background was black and the walls green or blue. There were no jumping physics like Montezuma's Revenge, just motion up down left and right. The only major obstacle I remember are walls that alternate between glowing red bars and black, requiring you to time your motion through these dangerous areas. The obstacles came in a wide field or in narrow bars. There may have also been doors operated by keys/buttons, but this may just be 30 year old memories playing tricks on me. What I do distinctly remember is the game had both a normal mode as well as a level creation mode. I spent my time exclusively making multi-room dungeons in this creator mode. It almost surely was played off a 5 1/4 inch floppy disk.
If anyone can help me identify this game, I would be eternally grateful.
I've searched through game collections both on archive.org and other sites but haven't been able to find anything that matches my memories. None of the games in this thread sparked my memories, though the game as described sounds a lot like mine.
Here's what I can remember: I had an Apple IIGS but I think this was an Apple II game based on the graphics. The gameplay consisted of you navigating a maze of single-screen rooms. The background was black and the walls green or blue. There were no jumping physics like Montezuma's Revenge, just motion up down left and right. The only major obstacle I remember are walls that alternate between glowing red bars and black, requiring you to time your motion through these dangerous areas. The obstacles came in a wide field or in narrow bars. There may have also been doors operated by keys/buttons, but this may just be 30 year old memories playing tricks on me. What I do distinctly remember is the game had both a normal mode as well as a level creation mode. I spent my time exclusively making multi-room dungeons in this creator mode. It almost surely was played off a 5 1/4 inch floppy disk.
If anyone can help me identify this game, I would be eternally grateful.
Was it top-down gameplay? Would you be able to narrow down the year you played it?
Some of the details from your description reminded me of Think Quick! from The Learning Company.
It had single-screen rooms, locked doors, and a "Castle Creator" that allowed you to build your own mazes. The glowing red/black moving walls don't sound familiar though...this game had giant worms you had to navigate around.
posted by rangefinder 1.4 at 9:59 PM on June 10, 2016
Some of the details from your description reminded me of Think Quick! from The Learning Company.
It had single-screen rooms, locked doors, and a "Castle Creator" that allowed you to build your own mazes. The glowing red/black moving walls don't sound familiar though...this game had giant worms you had to navigate around.
posted by rangefinder 1.4 at 9:59 PM on June 10, 2016
Best answer: Spinnaker Adventure Creator?
posted by HeroZero at 11:42 PM on June 10, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by HeroZero at 11:42 PM on June 10, 2016 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Some Spinnaker Adventure Creator screenshots. Apparently the game was for Atari and Commodore 64 rather than Apple IIGS, but otherwise it fits.
posted by HeroZero at 6:50 AM on June 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by HeroZero at 6:50 AM on June 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Adventure Creator definitely had an Apple ][ port, as I played it there, and is the only game I can think of that had a creation mode. I remember it being a single disk game (mayyybe another for saving?), and had a mildly catchy intro theme. Here's some more screenshots.
posted by Phredward at 8:42 AM on June 11, 2016
posted by Phredward at 8:42 AM on June 11, 2016
Response by poster: I definitely played Think Quick! the slime worms (and being inside one) seem super familiar.
That being said, I'm 95% certain it's Adventure Creator. The screenshots Phredward linked to includes one of the creatures you can populate the world with and those seem super familiar! I guess I probably didn't use them much as a tiny boy. I guess I played more great games as a kid than I realized!
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 8:05 PM on June 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
That being said, I'm 95% certain it's Adventure Creator. The screenshots Phredward linked to includes one of the creatures you can populate the world with and those seem super familiar! I guess I probably didn't use them much as a tiny boy. I guess I played more great games as a kid than I realized!
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 8:05 PM on June 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by girlgenius at 8:40 PM on June 10, 2016 [2 favorites]