The Legend of Blacksilver
Encyclopedia
The Legend of Blacksilver is a fantasy adventure game developed by Charles W. Dougherty and John C. Dougherty of Quest, Inc. and published by Epyx, Inc.
in 1988. It is an indirect sequel to the game Legacy of the Ancients
.
The principal character in the game is first contacted by Princess Aylea in a dream-vision. They are told that the evil Baron Taragas from the Kingdom of Maelbane has conspired with a local baron, Baron Mantrek, to find a magical material called Blacksilver. Supposedly in the hands of evil, Blacksilver could be used to create weapons of mass destruction
. Princess Aylea instructs the character to rescue her father, King Durek, who has been abducted by Baron Taragas.
used in its predecessor, Legacy of the Ancients, which in turn was loosely based on the engine used in the Questron
series. The game is written in BASIC
supplemented with a few disk, sound, and graphics routines coded in machine language for speed.
, the game was ported
to the Apple II
. An IBM PC
DOS
port was in development by Quest but was halted when Epyx
, the game publisher, went into bankruptcy.
gave the game a mixed review, saying, "The game is fine on a technical level, but on an artistic level it seems to be a rehash of a thousand other games, with nothing new or interesting for experienced players."
The game was reviewed in 1989 in Dragon
#144 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the game 4 out of 5 stars.
Epyx
Epyx, Inc. was a video game developer and publisher in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s. The company was founded as Automated Simulations by Jim Connelley and Jon Freeman, originally using Epyx as a brand name for action-oriented games before renaming the company to match in 1983...
in 1988. It is an indirect sequel to the game Legacy of the Ancients
Legacy of the Ancients
Legacy of the Ancients is a fantasy RPG computer game published by Electronic Arts in 1987.-Gameplay:The player takes on the role of a young shepherd who finds and loots a recently dead body while on a first trip to the city, taking a black disk, a bracelet, and a leather scroll. The Galactic...
.
Introductory plot
Weapons of mass destruction
A weapon of mass destruction is a weapon that can kill and bring significant harm to a large number of humans and/or cause great damage to man-made structures , natural structures , or the biosphere in general...
. Princess Aylea instructs the character to rescue her father, King Durek, who has been abducted by Baron Taragas.
Game engine
The Legend of Blacksilver uses an improved version of the engineGame engine
A game engine is a system designed for the creation and development of video games. There are many game engines that are designed to work on video game consoles and personal computers...
used in its predecessor, Legacy of the Ancients, which in turn was loosely based on the engine used in the Questron
Questron
Questron is a fantasy RPG computer game series produced by Strategic Simulations, Inc.-Questron:In Questron the player takes on the role of a young serf who tries to make a name for himself by traveling the realm in order to gain the power and experience necessary to defeat the wicked "Mantor",...
series. The game is written in BASIC
BASIC
BASIC is a family of general-purpose, high-level programming languages whose design philosophy emphasizes ease of use - the name is an acronym from Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code....
supplemented with a few disk, sound, and graphics routines coded in machine language for speed.
Hardware platforms
Originally designed for the Commodore 64Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
, the game was ported
Porting
In computer science, porting is the process of adapting software so that an executable program can be created for a computing environment that is different from the one for which it was originally designed...
to the Apple II
Apple II
The Apple II is an 8-bit home computer, one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products, designed primarily by Steve Wozniak, manufactured by Apple Computer and introduced in 1977...
. An IBM PC
IBM PC
The IBM Personal Computer, commonly known as the IBM PC, is the original version and progenitor of the IBM PC compatible hardware platform. It is IBM model number 5150, and was introduced on August 12, 1981...
DOS
DOS
DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...
port was in development by Quest but was halted when Epyx
Epyx
Epyx, Inc. was a video game developer and publisher in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s. The company was founded as Automated Simulations by Jim Connelley and Jon Freeman, originally using Epyx as a brand name for action-oriented games before renaming the company to match in 1983...
, the game publisher, went into bankruptcy.
Reception
Computer Gaming WorldComputer Gaming World
Computer Gaming World was a computer game magazine founded in 1981 by Russell Sipe as a bimonthly publication. Early issues were typically 40-50 pages in length, written in a newsletter style, including submissions by game designers such as Joel Billings , Dan Bunten , and Chris Crawford...
gave the game a mixed review, saying, "The game is fine on a technical level, but on an artistic level it seems to be a rehash of a thousand other games, with nothing new or interesting for experienced players."
The game was reviewed in 1989 in Dragon
Dragon (magazine)
Dragon is one of the two official magazines for source material for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game and associated products, the other being Dungeon. TSR, Inc. originally launched the monthly printed magazine in 1976 to succeed the company's earlier publication, The Strategic Review. The...
#144 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the game 4 out of 5 stars.