Knight Lore
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''Knight Lore'' is a 1984 action-adventure game developed and published by
Ultimate Play the Game Ashby Computers and Graphics Limited, trading as Ultimate Play the Game, was a British video game developer and publisher, founded in 1982, by ex- arcade game developers Tim and Chris Stamper. Ultimate released a series of successful games for ...
, and written by company founders Chris and Tim Stamper. The game is known for its use of
isometric graphics Isometric video game graphics are graphics employed in video games and pixel art that use a parallel projection, but which angle the viewpoint to reveal facets of the environment that would otherwise not be visible from a top-down perspective o ...
, which it further popularized in video games. In ''Knight Lore'', the
player character A player character (also known as a playable character or PC) is a fictional character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are controlled by a player rather than the rules of the game. The characters that are not control ...
Sabreman The ''Sabreman'' series of games was released by Ultimate Play the Game for the ZX Spectrum in the 1980s. Some of the instalments were also released on other popular home microcomputers, namely the Amstrad CPC, BBC Micro, Commodore 64 ,and MSX ...
has forty days to collect objects throughout a castle and brew a cure to his werewolf curse. Each castle room is depicted in
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 ...
on its own screen and consists of blocks to climb, obstacles to avoid, and puzzles to solve. Ultimate released ''Knight Lore'' third in the Sabreman series despite having completed it first. The Stamper brothers withheld its release for a year to position the company advantageously in anticipation of the game's effect on the market. ''Knight Lore'' novel
image masking In computer science, a mask or bitmask is data that is used for bitwise operations, particularly in a bit field. Using a mask, multiple bits in a byte, nibble, word, etc. can be set either on or off, or inverted from on to off (or vice versa) ...
technique,
Filmation Filmation Associates was an American production company that produced animation and live-action programming for television from 1963 until 1989. Located in Reseda, California, the animation studio was founded in 1962. Filmation's founders and ...
, let images appear to pass atop and behind each other without their contents colliding. This created the illusion of depth priority, which the computer did not natively support. By delaying ''Knight Lore'' release, Ultimate protected sales of their then-upcoming ''
Sabre Wulf ''Sabre Wulf'' is an action-adventure game released by British video game developer Ultimate Play the Game for the ZX Spectrum home computer in 1984. The player navigates the pith-helmeted Sabreman through a 2D jungle maze while collecting ...
'' and created another Filmation game before other developers could
copy Copy may refer to: *Copying or the product of copying (including the plural "copies"); the duplication of information or an artifact **Cut, copy and paste, a method of reproducing text or other data in computing **File copying **Photocopying, a pr ...
the style. Ultimate released the original Sabreman trilogy in quick succession in 1984 for the
ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as t ...
. ''Knight Lore'' came last, in November.
Ports A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...
followed for the
BBC Micro The British Broadcasting Corporation Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, is a series of microcomputers and associated peripherals designed and built by Acorn Computers in the 1980s for the BBC Computer Literacy Project. Designed with an emphas ...
,
Amstrad CPC The Amstrad CPC (short for ''Colour Personal Computer'') is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Si ...
, MSX, and
Family Computer Disk System The commonly shortened to the Famicom Disk System or just Disk System, is a peripheral for Nintendo's Family Computer home video game console, released only in Japan on February 21, 1986. It uses proprietary floppy disks called "Disk Cards" f ...
. In 2008 it was unofficially ported to Atari 8-bit computers based on the BBC Micro version and in 2019 for the C64/C128/Plus4, being a Z80 to 6502 conversion of the Spectrum version. The game was later included in compilations including Rare's 2015
Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...
retrospective compilation, '' Rare Replay''. ''Knight Lore'' is regarded as a seminal work in British gaming history and has been included in multiple lists of top Spectrum games. Critics considered its technical solutions and
isometric 3D Isometric video game graphics are graphics employed in video games and pixel art that use a parallel projection, but which angle the viewpoint to reveal facets of the environment that would otherwise not be visible from a top-down perspective ...
style a harbinger of future game design. They praised the game's controls and atmosphere of mystery, but noted its difficult gameplay and criticised its sound and occasional graphical slowdown. ''Knight Lore'' was the best-selling game of January 1985 and was named the 1984
game of the year Game of the Year (GotY) is an award given by various award events and media publications to a video game that they feel represented the pinnacle of gaming that year. Events and ceremonies British Academy Games Awards (BAFTA Games Awards) ...
by the
Golden Joystick Awards The Golden Joystick Awards, also known as the People's Gaming Awards, is a video game award ceremony; it awards the best video games of the year, as voted for originally by the British general public, but is now a global event that can be vote ...
and ''
Popular Computing Weekly ''Popular Computing Weekly'' was a computer magazine in the UK published from 1982 to 1990. It was sometimes referred to as ''PCW'' (although that abbreviation is more commonly associated with '' Personal Computer World'' magazine). Overview ...
'' readers. Though it was not the first isometric 3D video game, ''Knight Lore'' popularised the format. When the isometric, flip-screen style fell out of fashion, ''Knight Lore'' influence persisted in computer role-playing games. Retrospective reviewers remember the game as the first to offer an exploratory "world" rather than a flat surface, but consider its controls outdated and frustrating in the thirty years since its release.


Gameplay

The player, as Sabreman, has been bitten by the Sabre Wulf and now transforms into a
werewolf In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (; ; uk, Вовкулака, Vovkulaka), is an individual that can shapeshift into a wolf (or, especially in modern film, a therianthropic hybrid wolf-like creature), either purposely or ...
at nightfall. He has 40 days to collect items throughout Melkhior the Wizard's castle and brew a cure for his curse. An onscreen timer shows the progression of day into night, when Sabreman metamorphoses into a werewolf, returning to human form at sunrise. Some of the castle's monsters only attack Sabreman when he is a werewolf. The game ends if the player completes the potion or does not finish the task in forty days. The game's only directions are given through a poem included with the game's cassette tape. The castle consists of a series of 128 rooms, each displayed on a single, non-scrolling screen. Sabreman must navigate the 3D maze of stone blocks in each room, usually to retrieve a collectible object, whilst avoiding spikes and enemies, which kill him on contact. The player starts with five
lives Lives may refer to: * The plural form of a '' life'' * Lives, Iran, a village in Khuzestan Province, Iran * The number of lives in a video game * '' Parallel Lives'', aka ''Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans'', a series of biographies of famous ...
, and loses one for each death; running out of lives ends the game. Stone blocks serve as platforms for the player to jump between; some fall under the player's weight, some move of their own accord, and some can be pushed by enemies or Sabreman. Sabreman jumps higher when in werewolf form, which helps in specific puzzles. The player often needs to move blocks to reach distant objects, which are then used as platforms to reach areas in other puzzles. To complete the game, the player must return 14 sequential objects from throughout the castle to the wizard's cauldron room. At the end of the game, the player receives a final score based on the remaining time and amount of the quest completed.


Development

Ultimate Play the Game Ashby Computers and Graphics Limited, trading as Ultimate Play the Game, was a British video game developer and publisher, founded in 1982, by ex- arcade game developers Tim and Chris Stamper. Ultimate released a series of successful games for ...
, represented by its co-founding brothers,
Tim and Chris Stamper Brothers Tim and Chris Stamper are British entrepreneurs who founded the video game companies Ultimate Play the Game and Rare. They first worked together on arcade conversion kits, which were licensed to companies, but later became developer ...
, was uncommonly taciturn in matters of press and marketing, though they provided some details on ''Knight Lore'' development to ''
Crash Crash or CRASH may refer to: Common meanings * Collision, an impact between two or more objects * Crash (computing), a condition where a program ceases to respond * Cardiac arrest, a medical condition in which the heart stops beating * Couch su ...
'' magazine. While ''Knight Lore'' was released as the third game in the Sabreman series, the Stamper brothers had finished it first. They withheld the game for about a year for market reasons: they thought that ''Knight Lore'' advancements—copyrighted as the
Filmation engine Filmation is the trademark name of the isometric graphics engine employed in a series of games developed by Ultimate Play the Game during the 1980s, primarily on the 8-bit ZX Spectrum platform, though various titles also appeared on the BBC ...
—would hurt sales of their then-upcoming ''
Sabre Wulf ''Sabre Wulf'' is an action-adventure game released by British video game developer Ultimate Play the Game for the ZX Spectrum home computer in 1984. The player navigates the pith-helmeted Sabreman through a 2D jungle maze while collecting ...
'', and used the extra time to prepare another Filmation game ('' Alien 8'') to preempt the sales that would be lost when other publishers would try to copy the technique. "We just had to sit on it because everyone else was so far behind", Tim Stamper recalled. ''Sabre Wulf'' was released to commercial and critical success in 1984. ''Alien 8'' and the next two Sabreman titles—''
Underwurlde ''Underwurlde'' is a 1984 Action-adventure game, action-adventure platform video game in the ''Sabreman'' series by Ultimate Play the Game for the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64. The player controls the adventurer Sabreman as he jumps between pla ...
'' and ''Knight Lore''—followed in close succession before the end of the year. Filmation and ''Knight Lore'' graphical novelty lay in how images could render without overlapping. Filmation introduced "masked sprites" whereas earlier games used "planar sprites", which overlapped without regard for depth order. Chris Stamper's solution was to use
image masking In computer science, a mask or bitmask is data that is used for bitwise operations, particularly in a bit field. Using a mask, multiple bits in a byte, nibble, word, etc. can be set either on or off, or inverted from on to off (or vice versa) ...
. A mask is a version of an image that defines a background from the subject matter in different colours. When combining the mask and the on-screen composite image, the mask's "background" data was ignored and a hole in the shape of the desired image sprite was added to the background. This was filled in with the sprite's details. Thus, rooms in ''Knight Lore'' were drawn one sprite at a time through this masking method. (In more recent times, contemporary images render with layer priority set at the individual pixel level.) ''Knight Lore'' is depicted in
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 ...
that changes between rooms so as to avoid
attribute clash Attribute may refer to: * Attribute (philosophy), an extrinsic property of an object * Attribute (research), a characteristic of an object * Grammatical modifier, in natural languages * Attribute (computing), a specification that defines a proper ...
, a computing limitation wherein an object's colour interfered with those of others in close proximity. Ultimate released ''Knight Lore'' for the
ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as t ...
in November 1984. In a press release, they announced the game as the beginning of a new class of adventure games and "the very pinnacle of software development on the 48K Spectrum". As standard for the cryptic company, Ultimate did not circulate screenshots of the game in its press materials or cover art. ''Knight Lore'' was subsequently released for the
BBC Micro The British Broadcasting Corporation Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, is a series of microcomputers and associated peripherals designed and built by Acorn Computers in the 1980s for the BBC Computer Literacy Project. Designed with an emphas ...
,
Amstrad CPC The Amstrad CPC (short for ''Colour Personal Computer'') is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Si ...
, and MSX later in 1985. The Amstrad version upgraded the monochromatic colouring to a two-colour foreground setup.
Jaleco was a corporate brand name that was used by two previously connected video game developers and publishers based in Japan. The original Jaleco company was founded in 1974 as Japan Leisure Company, founded by Yoshiaki Kanazawa, before being renam ...
released versions of ''Knight Lore'' for MSX and, later, the
Famicom Disk System The commonly shortened to the Famicom Disk System or just Disk System, is a peripheral for Nintendo's Family Computer home video game console, released only in Japan on February 21, 1986. It uses proprietary floppy disks called "Disk Cards" for ...
. The latter 1986 release barely resembled its namesake. Ultimate asked Shahid Ahmad, who developed the ''Knight Lore''-inspired ''
Chimera Chimera, Chimaera, or Chimaira (Greek for " she-goat") originally referred to: * Chimera (mythology), a fire-breathing monster of Ancient Lycia said to combine parts from multiple animals * Mount Chimaera, a fire-spewing region of Lycia or Cilici ...
'' (1985), to develop a ''Knight Lore'' port for the
Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...
, but this did not come to fruition. ''Knight Lore'' later appeared in the Spectrum version of the 1986 compilation ''They Sold a Million II'' and the 2015
Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...
compilation of 30 Ultimate and Rare titles '' Rare Replay''.


Reception

''Knight Lore'' entered the UK video game charts in the week up to 8 November 1984 while ''Underwurlde'' was still number 1, and went on to replace its prequel at the top of the charts the following week. Computer game magazines lauded ''Knight Lore'', writing that its graphics were the first of its kind and marked a sea change from its contemporaries. ''
Computer & Video Games ''Computer and Video Games'' (also known as ''CVG'', ''Computer & Video Games'', ''C&VG'', ''Computer + Video Games'', or ''C+VG'') was a UK-based video game magazine, published in its original form between 1981 and 2004. Its offshoot website ...
'' (''CVG'') wrote that they had never seen graphics of its calibre and that it lived up to Ultimate's hype. Peter Sweasey of ''Home Computing Weekly'' was left speechless and predicted that ''Knight Lore'' would change the market. ''Crash'' said it was unlikely to be surpassed as the Spectrum's best game. ''Crash'' selected ''Knight Lore'' as a "Crash Smash" recommendation in its January 1985 issue. ''Knight Lore'' was the best selling game in the United Kingdom that month. ''
Popular Computing Weekly ''Popular Computing Weekly'' was a computer magazine in the UK published from 1982 to 1990. It was sometimes referred to as ''PCW'' (although that abbreviation is more commonly associated with '' Personal Computer World'' magazine). Overview ...
'' readers named ''Knight Lore'' their 1984 arcade game and overall
game of the year Game of the Year (GotY) is an award given by various award events and media publications to a video game that they feel represented the pinnacle of gaming that year. Events and ceremonies British Academy Games Awards (BAFTA Games Awards) ...
. ''Knight Lore'' was also named ''CVG'' game of the year at their 1985
Golden Joystick Awards The Golden Joystick Awards, also known as the People's Gaming Awards, is a video game award ceremony; it awards the best video games of the year, as voted for originally by the British general public, but is now a global event that can be vote ...
event, and Ultimate was named both developer and programmer of the year. ''Knight Lore'' atmosphere, which ''
Sinclair User ''Sinclair User'' was a magazine dedicated to the Sinclair Research range of home computers, most specifically the ZX Spectrum (while also occasionally covering arcade games). Initially published by ECC Publications, and later EMAP, it was pub ...
'' described as a "crepuscular world of claustrophobic menace", inspired many curious questions on the part of the adventurer in contemporaneous 1985 reviews. ''Crash'' appreciated the imaginative mystery of the game as they attempted to answer why Sabreman turns into a werewolf, who they preferred to play as, and what the collectible objects throughout the castle do. Sabreman's werewolf transformation sequence, in particular, annoyed ''CVG'' and traumatised players, according to ''Well Played'', a book of academic
close reading In literary criticism, close reading is the careful, sustained interpretation of a brief passage of a text. A close reading emphasizes the single and the particular over the general, effected by close attention to individual words, the syntax, ...
s of video games, as players empathised with the suffering Sabreman. The game design gave the impression that the castle was far grander in scale than it was in reality, and ''Crash'' wrote that the game's novel eight-way direction scheme suited the 3D space. ''Crash'' compared ''Knight Lore'' stylistically to the 1984 ''
Avalon Avalon (; la, Insula Avallonis; cy, Ynys Afallon, Ynys Afallach; kw, Enys Avalow; literally meaning "the isle of fruit r appletrees"; also written ''Avallon'' or ''Avilion'' among various other spellings) is a mythical island featured in the ...
'', but suggested that the former had bolder visuals. The magazine preferred ''Knight Lore'' to its predecessor (''Underwurlde'') and one critic even considered the former to be Ultimate's best game. ''Crash'' noted how ''Knight Lore'' masking technique addressed issues of flicker and attribute clash, and ''
Sinclair User ''Sinclair User'' was a magazine dedicated to the Sinclair Research range of home computers, most specifically the ZX Spectrum (while also occasionally covering arcade games). Initially published by ECC Publications, and later EMAP, it was pub ...
'' appreciated how Sabreman disappeared from view when passing behind blocks. In criticism, reviewers considered ''Knight Lore'' sound to be its weakest component, though ''Your Spectrum'' and ''Crash'' also identified the sometimes cruel difficulty of its gameplay. Later rooms of the castle require pixel-perfect precision, compounded by the anxiety of the running timer, and the game's animations would slow down proportional to the degree of onscreen action. In reviews of the Amstrad release, ''
Amtix ''Amtix'' (stylized as ''AMTIX!'') is a magazine that originally reviewed Amstrad computer software in the mid-1980s, published monthly by Newsfield Publications Ltd. Unlike ''Zzap!64'' and ''CRASH'' (its more successful sister publications from ...
'' noted the colour additions over the monochromatic original and wrote that ''Knight Lore'' was among the Amstrad's best adventures. Their one complaint was the graphical slowdown when too many elements were moving onscreen. ''
Amstrad Action ''Amstrad Action'' was a monthly magazine, published in the United Kingdom, which catered to owners of home computers from the Amstrad CPC range and later the GX4000 console. It was the first magazine published by Chris Anderson's Future Publishin ...
'' shared this complaint but nevertheless named ''Knight Lore'' among the Amstrad's best three games—an improvement on the Spectrum release and on par with the quality of Commodore 64 titles.


Legacy

''Knight Lore'' is widely regarded as a seminal work in British gaming history. According to Kieron Gillen of ''
Rock, Paper, Shotgun ''Rock Paper Shotgun'' (also rendered ''Rock, Paper, Shotgun''; short ''RPS'') is a UK-based website for reporting on video games, primarily for PC. Originally launched on 13 July 2007 as an independent site, ''Rock Paper Shotgun'' was acquir ...
'', ''Knight Lore'' is second only to ''
Elite In political and sociological theory, the elite (french: élite, from la, eligere, to select or to sort out) are a small group of powerful people who hold a disproportionate amount of wealth, privilege, political power, or skill in a group. D ...
'' (1984) as an icon of the 1980s British computer game industry. British magazine ''
Retro Gamer ''Retro Gamer'' is a British magazine, published worldwide, covering retro video games. It was the first commercial magazine to be devoted entirely to the subject. Launched in January 2004 as a quarterly publication, ''Retro Gamer'' soon became ...
'' described players' first impressions of ''Knight Lore'' as "unforgettable", on par with the experience of playing ''
Space Harrier is a third-person arcade rail shooter game developed by Sega and released in 1985. It was originally conceived as a realistic military-themed game played in the third-person perspective and featuring a player-controlled fighter jet, but techni ...
'' (1985), ''
Wolfenstein 3D ''Wolfenstein 3D'' is a first-person shooter video game developed by id Software and published by Apogee Software and FormGen. Originally released on May 5, 1992, for DOS, it was inspired by the 1981 Muse Software video game ''Castle Wolfenstei ...
'' (1992), or ''
Super Mario 64 is a platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It was released in Japan and North America in 1996 and PAL regions in 1997. It is the first ''Super Mario'' game to feature 3D gameplay, combining traditional ''Su ...
'' (1996) for the first time. ''Retro Gamer'' recalled that ''Knight Lore'' striking, isometric 3D visuals were both a bold advance in game graphics and a foretelling of their future. British magazine ''
Edge Edge or EDGE may refer to: Technology Computing * Edge computing, a network load-balancing system * Edge device, an entry point to a computer network * Adobe Edge, a graphical development application * Microsoft Edge, a web browser developed by ...
'' described the game's graphics engine as "the single greatest advance in the history of video games", and ''Retro Gamer'' compared the engine's impact to that of the introduction of sound in film. ''Knight Lore'' was not the first to use isometric graphics—earlier examples include ''
Zaxxon is an isometric shooter arcade game, developed and released by Sega in 1982, in which the player pilots a ship through heavily defended space fortresses. Japanese electronics company Ikegami Tsushinki is also credited for having worked on the d ...
'' (1982), ''
Q*bert ''Q*bert'' (also known as ''Qbert'') is an arcade video game developed and published for the North American market by Gottlieb in 1982. It is a 2D action game with puzzle elements that uses isometric graphics to create a pseudo-3D effect. The ...
'' (1982), and ''
Ant Attack ''Ant Attack'' is a ZX Spectrum computer game by Sandy White, published by Quicksilva in 1983. It was converted to the Commodore 64 in 1984. While ''Zaxxon'' and ''Q*bert'' previously used isometric projection, ''Ant Attack'' added an extra degre ...
'' (1983)—but its graphic style and large in-game world further popularised the technique and put Ultimate and Filmation in its epicentre. Several
video game clone A video game clone is either a video game or a video game console very similar to, or heavily inspired by, a previous popular game or console. Clones are typically made to take financial advantage of the popularity of the cloned game or system, bu ...
s were inspired by ''Knight Lore''. When programmers at
The Edge David Howell Evans (born 8 August 1961), better known as the Edge or simply Edge,McCormick (2006), pp. 21, 23–24 is an English-born Irish musician, singer, and songwriter. He is best known as the lead guitarist, keyboardist, and backing voca ...
struggled to replicate the isometric style, visiting developer Bo Jangeborg devised his own solution. The result, '' Fairlight'' (1985), is regarded as another classic of the platform. The Edge's version of Filmation received its own branding as "Worldmaker". Shahid Ahmad said Firebird's ''Chimera'' (1985) was even closer to ''Knight Lore''. Ahmad's "shock" and "admiration" from playing ''Knight Lore'' reportedly changed his life and convinced him to continue making games. He released ''Chimera'' on the Amstrad CPC, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, and ZX Spectrum, customising each
port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...
for the processing limitations of its hardware. By 1986, many British video game publishers had produced ''Knight Lore''-style isometric games; examples include '' Sweevo's World'', ''
Movie A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
'', '' Quazatron'', '' Get Dexter'', ''
Glider Rider ''Glider Rider'' is an isometric action-adventure game published by Quicksilva in 1986 for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, and Amstrad CPC. The music was composed by David Whittaker. Plot The criminal Abraxas Corporation must be destroyed. A ...
'', ''
Molecule Man The Molecule Man (Owen Reece) is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He first appeared in ''Fantastic Four'' #20 in November 1963 and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. He is often portrayed as a supervi ...
'', ''
Spindizzy ''Cities in Flight'' is a four-volume series of science fiction novels and short stories by American writer James Blish, originally published between 1950 and 1962, which were first known collectively as the "Okie" novels. The series features ent ...
'', and '' Bobby Bearing''. Many of these titles suffered the same slowdown issues as ''Knight Lore'' due to too much on-screen activity. Ultimate itself released four more Filmation games. ''Alien 8'' (1985) was rushed for release before developers had an opportunity to react to ''Knight Lore'', though ''Retro Gamer'' said that its rush was not noticeable, as ''Alien 8'' had a larger game world than ''Knight Lore'', with even more puzzles. ''Alien 8'' and ''Knight Lore'' are similar in gameplay, but the former is set in
outer space Outer space, commonly shortened to space, is the expanse that exists beyond Earth and its atmosphere and between celestial bodies. Outer space is not completely empty—it is a near-perfect vacuum containing a low density of particles, pred ...
. With the updated Filmation II engine, ''
Nightshade The Solanaceae , or nightshades, are a family of flowering plants that ranges from annual and perennial herbs to vines, lianas, epiphytes, shrubs, and trees, and includes a number of agricultural crops, medicinal plants, spices, weeds, and orna ...
'' (1985) added colour and scrolling graphics (in place of
flip-screen This list includes terms used in video games and the video game industry, as well as slang used by players. 0–9 A ...
room changes); however, ''Retro Gamer'' regarded its gameplay as comparatively dull. ''
Gunfright ''Gunfright'' is an action-adventure game developed by Ultimate Play the Game and published by U.S. Gold. It was first released for the ZX Spectrum in December 1985, then released for Amstrad CPC and the MSX the following year. The player tak ...
'' (1986), reported as the Stampers' last game, also used Filmation II and was more robust than its predecessor. ''
Pentagram A pentagram (sometimes known as a pentalpha, pentangle, or star pentagon) is a regular five-pointed star polygon, formed from the diagonal line segments of a convex (or simple, or non-self-intersecting) regular pentagon. Drawing a circle aroun ...
'' (1986) returned to flip-screen rooms and its action-based gameplay included shooting enemies. It sold poorly and was the last Sabreman game. Meanwhile, the Stamper brothers sought to enter the burgeoning console industry. They sold Ultimate to
U.S. Gold U.S. Gold Limited was a British video game publisher based in Witton, Birmingham, England. The company was founded in 1984 by Anne and Geoff Brown in parallel to their distributor firm, CentreSoft, both of which became part of Woodward Brown Ho ...
in the mid-1980s and established Rare to develop
Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...
console games. While Ultimate's last two isometric games were of lesser quality, consumer interest in the genre endured. The isometric, flip-screen trend continued in Britain for several years. Apart from ''Fairlight'', ''Sweevo's World'' and ''Get Dexter'', other isometric flip-screen games included
Jon Ritman Jon Ritman is a game designer and programmer notable for his work on 1980s computer games, primarily for the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC home computers. His first experience with a computer was when he was 13, his first computer was a Sinclair ZX ...
's ''Knight Lore''-inspired ''
Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...
'' (1986), '' Head over Heels'' (1987), ''
The Last Ninja ''The Last Ninja'' is an action-adventure game originally developed and published by System 3 in 1987 for the Commodore 64. It was converted to the Apple IIGS, MS-DOS, BBC Micro, and Acorn Electron in 1988, the Apple II in 1989, the Amiga, and ...
'' (1987), ''
La Abadía del Crimen ''La abadía del crimen'' (''The Abbey of Crime'') is a video game written by Paco Menéndez with graphics made by Juan Delcán and published in 1987 by Opera Soft. It was conceived as a version of Umberto Eco's 1980 book ''The Name of the Rose ...
'' (1987), ''
Cadaver A cadaver or corpse is a dead human body that is used by medical students, physicians and other scientists to study anatomy, identify disease sites, determine causes of death, and provide tissue to repair a defect in a living human being. Stud ...
'' (1990), and console games ''
Solstice A solstice is an event that occurs when the Sun appears to reach its most northerly or southerly excursion relative to the celestial equator on the celestial sphere. Two solstices occur annually, around June 21 and December 21. In many countr ...
'' (1990) and ''
Landstalker is an action-adventure game that was developed by Climax Entertainment and released for the Sega Genesis in 1992 in Japan and 1993 elsewhere. Players take on the role of a treasure hunter named Nigel (Ryle in Japan and France, Niels in German ...
'' (1992). As players grew tired of the genre's similar reiterations, Ritman's games, in particular, brought new ideas. Sandy White, who developed the pre-''Knight Lore'' isometric game ''Ant Attack'', was impressed by Ultimate's in-game "balance" and gutsy design decisions. The developer of '' The Great Escape'', another isometric game, considered ''Knight Lore'' to be more "a rival title than an inspiration", but it still spurred him to spend nine months making ''
Where Time Stood Still ''Where Time Stood Still'' is an isometric action-adventure game released by Ocean in 1988 for the Sinclair Spectrum 128K, MS-DOS and Atari ST. The game was ported by fans to Amiga in July 2014, and on Amiga CD32 in December 2014 and was conv ...
''. ''Retro Gamer'' wrote that ''Knight Lore'' influence persisted 30 years later through titles such as '' Populous'' (1989), ''
Syndicate A syndicate is a self-organizing group of individuals, companies, corporations or entities formed to transact some specific business, to pursue or promote a shared interest. Etymology The word ''syndicate'' comes from the French language, Frenc ...
'' (1993), '' UFO: Enemy Unknown'' (1994), and '' Civilization II'' (1996). The style also spread to computer role-playing games like ''
Baldur's Gate ''Baldur's Gate'' is a series of role-playing video games set in the Forgotten Realms ''Dungeons & Dragons'' campaign setting. The game has spawned two series, known as the ''Bhaalspawn Saga'' and the ''Dark Alliance'', both taking place mostly ...
'', '' Planescape: Torment'', '' Diablo'', and ''
Fallout Nuclear fallout is the residual radioactive material propelled into the upper atmosphere following a nuclear blast, so called because it "falls out" of the sky after the explosion and the shock wave has passed. It commonly refers to the radioac ...
''. Though ''GamesRadar'' Matt Cundy reported in 2009 that isometric perspective was no longer as prominent a topic in game design, in 2014, Chris Scullion of ''
Vice A vice is a practice, behaviour, or habit generally considered immoral, sinful, criminal, rude, taboo, depraved, degrading, deviant or perverted in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character tra ...
'' traced ''Knight Lore'' isometric influence to ''
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'' (2014) and ''
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'' (2012). ''Knight Lore'' was included in multiple lists of top Spectrum games and even top games for any platform. Note: ''Knight Lore'' is ranked number 88. It inspired two
fangame A fangame is a video game that is created by fans. They are usually based on one, or in some cases several, video game entries or franchises. Many fangames attempt to clone or remake the original game's design, gameplay, and characters, but it ...
s: a 1999 sequel and a 2010 3D
remake A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the same ...
, which was in development for four years. Though isometric games had existed previously, in a retrospective review, Gillen (''Rock, Paper, Shotgun'') recalled that ''Knight Lore'' was the first game to offer a "world" with physical depth for exploration as opposed to the simple mechanics of arcade games. Jeremy Signor of ''
USgamer Gamer Network Limited (formerly Eurogamer Network Limited) is a British mass media company based in Brighton. Founded in 1999 by Rupert and Nick Loman, it owns brands—primarily editorial websites—relating to video game journalism and other ...
'' agreed that ''Knight Lore'' felt more like a world than a painting and added that the game's innovative use of successive, single-screen rooms ("flip-screen") pre-dated ''
The Legend of Zelda ''The Legend of Zelda'' is an action-adventure game franchise created by the Japanese game designers Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. It is primarily developed and published by Nintendo, although some portable installments and re-rele ...
'' by years. Gillen said the game's punishing style (unforgiving gameplay, high difficulty, awkward controls) had become obsolete in the 30 years since its release and criticised ''Knight Lore'' as "enormously innovative, incredibly atmospheric, and totally unplayable", suggesting that the similar ''Head over Heels'' (1987) had aged much better. Peter Parrish (''Eurogamer''), too, found the game frustrating, though well-made. Dan Whitehead of the same publication appreciated that the 2015 ''Rare Replay'' compilation version of ''Knight Lore''
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 ...
the original's choppy animations as the ZX Spectrum's processor once struggled to render the onscreen objects.


Notes


References

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External links

* * {{featured article 1984 video games Action-adventure games Amstrad CPC games BBC Micro and Acorn Electron games Famicom Disk System games MSX games Platform games Rare (company) games Single-player video games Video games with isometric graphics Video games set in castles Werewolf games ZX Spectrum games Golden Joystick Award for Game of the Year winners Jaleco games Video games developed in the United Kingdom