Advanced Dungeons and Dragons: Treasure of Tarmin

Advanced Dungeons and Dragons was a game originally for Mattel's Intellivision Gaming Console (At the time the main competitor of the Atari 2600). Advanced Dungeons and Dragons was a spin off from the popular D&D traditional titles and featured adventure-style exploration of mazes (which were randomly generated) while combating monsters much like in the original traditional RPG , features which would later become trademarks of the RPG genre in Video Gaming Consoles.

Also:

• • Published by: Mattel Electronics

  • Developed by: APh Technological Consulting

  • Designer: Tom Loughry (Programmer)

  • Platform: Intellivision (By Mattel)

  • Year Released: 1983

  • Significant Contributors to Game Development: Intellivision Productions Inc.

  • Genre: Action-Adventure / RPG

  • Other Games in Series: "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons: Cloudy Mountain (Unlicensed)" and "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (2nd Edition)"

History

The development of Advanced D&D , like most other Intellivision games , came from the same company that designed, and programmed the Intellivision system, and that produced its original M Network and Keyboard Components. Treasure of Tarmin is very different from most of the games of its era, being that it was an attempt at creating the 3 Dimensional feel by making the game in First-Person perspective. The game was actually the second game in its series as the first was a version unlicensed by TSR Hobbies (Owners of the D&D franchise). The Treasure of Tarmin is easily recognized as part of the "Golden Age" of video game classics for its (at the time) impressive breakthroughs in creating "enthralling" mazes. It was the first game to be allocated a whopping 6k of storage on a cartridge (all other games maxed at 4k)

Game Design Elements

Gameplay

You begin at the first level of the dungeon, and delve deeper, until you reach the minotaur that guards the "Treasure of Tarmin". A continuous corridor surrounds each level of the dungeon, and each of the four sides has two entry points into the labyrinth. These entrances are always in the same place, but the layout of each level can be different. There are regular, secret, and magically sealed doors throughout the mazes. You may actually need to enter combat to 'destroy' some of the doors. Moving between levels in the dungeon is done by climbing the ladders you will find.

The game throws the player straight into the dungeon crawl (unlike its predecessor that contains an outdoor play element where one travels a general map) and features RPG battles with weapons and items in the categories of "War" or "Spiritual".

The game itself provides four levels of difficulty, each determining how many monsters and supplies the player will find along any given level of the dungeon.

There are 256 "Floors" or levels in the entire dungeon.

The battle system consists on "to death" battles unless one decides to retreat. The player and enemy alternate attacks and the player must strategize to survive through each battle as they only get to decide one action per turn (Much like in basic Gameboy Pokemon games)

Controls

The game originally provided an overlay for the Intellivision controller which would designate key gameplay features such as picking up items, attacking, resting, and of course movement. The controls were generally responsive, yet upon turning a corner on a hallway the game would literally redraw the whole screen to provide for the new perspective.