''Spelunx and the Caves of Mr. Seudo'' is an educational computer game intended for young children developed by Cyan (now Cyan Worlds) in 1991.

Gameplay and plot

Spelunx is a first-person point-and-click adventure game. It is structured as a collection of rooms connected by a series of tunnels (accessed via elevator). Each room contains interactive mini-games and experiments, most of which introduce the player to a specific field of knowledge. A hidden control panel within the game allows for the rearrangement of the caves and other locations, and even for the expansion of the caves with the addition of newer rooms. Although it was the intention of Cyan to continue releasing new rooms over time for players to explore, this never occurred. Although Spelunx contains a basic frame story (centered on the scientific endeavors of one Professor Spelunx and his willing assistant, Mr. Seudo), there is no other plot. Although the characters Professor Spelunx and Mr. Seudo are mentioned (and even depicted in-game) the player never meets them.

Development

It was designed by the brothers

Robyn Robin Miriam Carlsson (born 12 June 1979), known as Robyn (), is a Swedish pop singer, songwriter, record producer, and DJ. She arrived on the music scene with her 1995 debut album, ''Robyn Is Here'', which produced two ''Billboard'' Hot 100 t ...

and

Rand Miller Rand Miller (born January 17, 1959) is a C.E.O. and co-founder of Cyan Worlds

(better known now as the creators of ''

Myst ''Myst'' is a graphic adventure/puzzle video game designed by the Miller brothers, Robyn and Rand. It was developed by Cyan, Inc., published by Broderbund, and initially released for the Macintosh in 1993. In the game, the player's charact ...

''). The game was programmed and implemented using

HyperCard HyperCard is a software application and development kit for Apple Macintosh and Apple IIGS computers. It is among the first successful hypermedia systems predating the World Wide Web. HyperCard combines a flat-file database with a graphical, f ...

, with Robyn Miller hand-drawing all of the in-game graphics and scenery. The game's title was derived from the verb " to spelunk", referring to the act of exploring caves. It was intended to be explored and played with—like a toy—rather than completed or won.

Reception

'' Computer Gaming World'' stated that ''Spelunx'' would "provide hours of entertainment in a variety of ways for both children and adults".

Legacy

In 1993, following the release of Myst, Cyan produced a colorized version of Spelunx. Although the original

monochrome A monochrome or monochromatic image, object or palette is composed of one color (or values of one color). Images using only shades of grey are called grayscale (typically digital) or black-and-white (typically analog). In physics, monochrom ...

version contained small amounts of color at specific locations or during specific events (utilizing MacroMind Player, a predecessor of

Adobe Flash Adobe Flash (formerly Macromedia Flash and FutureSplash) is a multimedia software platform used for production of animations, rich web applications, desktop applications, mobile apps, mobile games, and embedded web browser video players. Fla ...

), this new version (colorized by artist Josh Staub) contained full-color scenery and animation (as well as a small

easter egg Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs, are eggs that are decorated for the Christian feast of Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. As such, Easter eggs are common during the season of Eastertide (Easter season). The oldest tr ...

: an image of Myst Island hidden within one of the original rooms). More recently, the color version has been ported to Windows and released on the Steam digital distribution service as part of the ''Cyan Complete Pack'', alongside other early Cyan titles (including Myst).

References

External links

* * {{MobyGames, id=/spelunx-and-the-caves-of-mr-seudo
Entry for ''Spelunx''
at

Home of the Underdogs Home of the Underdogs (often called HotU) is an abandonware archive founded by Sarinee Achavanuntakul, in October 1998. Before shutting down the original version in 2009, the site provided reviews for over 5,300 games and offered downloads of so ...