With They Create Worlds having tackled the early influence of D&D on video games, what better time than to air out some thoughts on the first CRPGs?
The information on the internet is extremely confused but I think we can get quite close to answering this difficult question. #videogamehistory #rpg
The only thing Daleske ever said about the game was that it was, “Predecessor to Moria.”
In 2021, CRPGAddict commentor “half” extracted the completed images from the game’s files. While this doesn’t prove much, it gives very strong evidence that this game begot both Moria and The Dungeon.
The door graphic and signs particularly look like they are meant for a first-person perspective - much like Moria.
The main warrior character in the bottom left and the room overview in the bottom right look quite a bit like The Dungeon.
Dungeon may have been the wellspring of all PLATO RPGs.
To recap:
Dungeon begins development in 1975.
The Dungeon (pedit5) is created ahead of Dungeon and is playable by August 1975.
pedit5 is deleted after early October 1975 - Orthanc, dnd, and m199h come online in late 1975 or 1976.
Moria inspired by Dungeon and Orthanc, probably playable in 1976.
Unfortunately, supporting evidence is thin on the ground for precise dates - beyond one (extremely helpful) fanzine snippet.
As far as I know, there was precious little reporting from D&D zines on computer games - though one fanzine did report on the removal of PLATO games.
The same goes for Don Daglow’s Dungeon for the PDP-10.
We really only have his word for when it existed and it probably never reached enough people to have been noticed by external forces.
Maybe it was first, maybe it wasn’t. Interesting to read about.
https://geekomatick.com/2015/04/02/lhistoire-du-rpg-don-daglow-dungeon-1975/
This level of understanding about early RPGs wasn’t even possible a few years ago.
Here’s to all the dedicated enthusiasts who have helped create a semi-complete picture of the foundations of this influential genre.
There’s more to find out there - we just have to reach for it!
@[email protected] Did the character statistics in those early games serve character customization or were they more in the background?
@[email protected] You couldn’t allocate stats most of the time, so it wasn’t user driven customization.
As far as I understand, most stats did affect gameplay, if some in more minor ways than others. I defer to playthroughs by others on that - I have yet to sink my teeth into these games more than briefly testing.