''Crystal Caves'' is a side-scrolling

platform game A platform game (often simplified as platformer and sometimes called a jump 'n' run game) is a sub-genre of action video games in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are charac ...

developed and published by

Apogee Software 3D Realms Entertainment ApS is a video game publisher based in Aalborg, Denmark. Scott Miller founded the company in his parents' home in Garland, Texas, in 1987 as Apogee Software Productions to release his game '' Kingdom of Kroz''. In the ...

for

IBM PC compatible IBM PC compatible computers are similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT, all from computer giant IBM, that are able to use the same software and expansion cards. Such computers were referred to as PC clones, IBM clones or IBM PC clones. ...

s. The game is divided into three episodes with the first distributed as

shareware Shareware is a type of proprietary software that is initially shared by the owner for trial use at little or no cost. Often the software has limited functionality or incomplete documentation until the user sends payment to the software developer ...

and the other two available for purchase. Designer Frank Maddin said the method "worked pretty well for the time." ''Crystal Caves'' was inspired by the 1982

Atari 8-bit family The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced by Atari, Inc. in 1979 as the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The series was successively upgraded to Atari 1200XL , Atari 600XL, Atari 800XL, Atari 65XE, Atari 130XE, Atari 800XE, ...

game ''

Miner 2049er ''Miner 2049er'' is a platform game created by Bill Hogue that was released in 1982 by Big Five Software. It was developed for the Atari 8-bit family and widely converted to other systems. The title "Miner 2049er" evokes a 21st-century take on th ...

''.

Plot

Mylo Steamwitz is a down-on-the-luck space trader. Each game in the series follows Mylo going to the planet Altair to collect enough crystals from its mines to finance his latest get-rich-quick scheme.

Volume 1: Troubles with

are the hottest new pet in the galaxy, so Mylo hopes to earn enough crystals to buy a farm. He succeeds and buys his farm. However, breed so quickly that the market is soon over-saturated, and Mylo is stuck with a planet overrun with .

Volume 2: Slugging It Out

After selling his farm for a loss, Mylo heads back to Altair. A recent war has created a demand for medicinal slugs, so now Mylo wants to buy a slug farm. He collects enough crystals to do so, and for a while, business is booming. However, the slugs soon burrow their way into an abandoned salt mine and perish, depriving Mylo of his stock.

Volume 3: Mylo Versus the Supernova

A late-night infomercial inspires Mylo to quit farming and try his hand at real estate. He collects enough crystals to buy an entire solar system from Rip Eweoff. Mylo plans to turn the system into a vacation resort: tropical getaways on the inner planets, ski slopes on the outer planets, and luxury hotels in the middle. However, mere minutes after he buys the solar system, the star goes supernova, destroying the system. As Mylo looks at the nebula where the solar system once was, he comes up with an idea. He builds a restaurant overlooking the nebula. Thanks to its spectacular view of the nebula, the restaurant becomes the hottest spot in the galaxy, and Mylo finally makes his millions.

Gameplay

The game begins in a main level containing the entrances to 16 caves. To complete the game, Mylo must collect all the crystals in all the caves. Mylo can complete the caves in whichever order he chooses. Mylo can quit a cave at any time, but in doing so, will negate all progress he made in that level. Each cave consists of some simple puzzles to solve. Pulling a lever will open the door of a corresponding colour. There will also be switches that Mylo can use to activate and deactivate obstacles. Mylo is armed with a rocket gun to destroy enemies and obstacles. Mylo begins the game with five rockets, but can collect more as the game goes on. There are many other power-ups to help Mylo: * P-Pill – Supercharges Mylo's gun so it can destroy all enemies with a single shot * G-Pill – Reverses gravity, allowing Mylo to walk on the ceiling. * Stop Signs – Freeze all enemies on the screen, allowing Mylo to sneak past them Mylo begins each level with three hit points. Lose all hit points, and the player goes back to the start of the level. Finish a level with all hit points, and the player gets a bonus score of $50,000.

Development

Crystal Caves was inspired by ''

''. The main character's name, "Mylo Steamwitz", was coined by

George Broussard George Broussard is an American video game producer and designer, one of the creators of the '' Duke Nukem'' series ( Todd Replogle, Allen Blum, and Scott Miller being the others). Broussard released his early games under the name Micro F/X. In ...

and was meant to sound like a loser's name. Most graphics were created by Frank Maddin. Development on ''Crystal Caves'' began back when George Broussard was still releasing games under the name Micro F/X. A few months into the development (when about 50–70% of the game was complete) Broussard joined Apogee and Crystal Caves became an Apogee product. It was originally going to be released on September 5, 1991 but was delayed for a month. On October 24, 2005,

3D Realms 3D Realms Entertainment ApS is a video game publisher based in Aalborg, Denmark. Scott Miller (entrepreneur), Scott Miller founded the company in his parents' home in Garland, Texas, in 1987 as Apogee Software Productions to release his game ' ...

(formerly Apogee) released a maintenance

patch Patch or Patches may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Patch Johnson, a fictional character from ''Days of Our Lives'' * Patch (''My Little Pony''), a toy * "Patches" (Dickey Lee song), 1962 * "Patches" (Chairmen of the Board song) ...

to fix a bug in the game which set the player's computer's clock backwards 100 years after playing on

Windows XP Windows XP is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It was released to manufacturing on August 24, 2001, and later to retail on October 25, 2001. It is a direct upgrade to its predecessors, Windows 2000 for high-end and ...

Legacy

GOG.com GOG.com (formerly Good Old Games) is a digital distribution platform for video games and films. It is operated by GOG sp. z o.o., a wholly owned subsidiary of CD Projekt based in Warsaw, Poland. GOG.com delivers DRM-free video games through it ...

released an

emulated In computing, an emulator is Computer hardware, hardware or software that enables one computer system (called the ''host'') to behave like another computer system (called the ''guest''). An emulator typically enables the host system to run so ...

version for

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...

and

Mac OS X macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. Within the market of ...

in 2014. An authorized remake by Emberheart Games was released in October 2020 for Windows and Linux. It features remade graphics, a new episode, new enemies, and an online leaderboard.

References

External links

*
Emberheart Games
- developer of ''Crystal Caves HD'' * {{Apogee Games 1991 video games Apogee games DOS games Linux games MacOS games Platformers Games commercially released with DOSBox Shareware games Video games developed in the United States Windows games Single-player video games