Tunnels of Doom
Developer(s)Texas Instruments
Publisher(s)Texas Instruments
Designer(s)Kevin Kenney
Composer(s)Hank Mishkoff
Platform(s)TI-99/4A
ReleaseDecember 31, 1982
Genre(s)Role-playing

Tunnels of Doom is a role-playing video game programmed by Kevin Kenney for the TI-99/4A home computer and published by Texas Instruments on December 31, 1982.[1] It was available in two formats: cartridge with accompanying disk and cartridge with cassette.[2]

Based loosely on the tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, it is a dungeon crawl in which players control the fates of 1–4 characters as they navigate a maze of tunnels.[1][3] Texas Instruments used the game in its marketing, citing it as entertainment software involving "strategy and logic".[4]

Gameplay

The game has four character classes: hero, fighter, rogue, and wizard. In a single character game, only "hero" is used.[1]

Upon encountering an enemy, the game transitions to a separate, graphical, overhead battle screen, where a tactical turn-based combat system is used that allows for movement and positioning. It's possible to listen at doors for sounds of monsters, which can be negotiated with in combat as well.[5]

Legacy

In 2008, Howard Kistler of DreamCodex developed a revised version of the game with the permission of Kevin Kenney.[6]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Tresca 2011, p. 138.
  2. ^ 1984 complete sourcebook of personal computing, p. 272.
  3. ^ Wolf 2001.
  4. ^ National Geographic 1983, p. 288.
  5. ^ "Review: Texas Instruments' "Tunnels of Doom"(1982)"
  6. ^ "Dream Codex: Tunnels of Doom Reboot". Retrieved 2010-03-10.

References

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