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Bartons D&D

Intro & Origins of CRPG

Dark Age

Bronze Age

Silver Age Early Golden Age

Golden Age (I & II)

Platinum Age Modern Age

Future

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Rob Use "Rob" (Baltimore, MD)

I would hesitate to call this book a historyof CRPGs - a chronology would be moreappropriate. Barton is comprehensive -

every major CRPG from the inception ofthe computer is covered, but as anotherreviewer pointed out it is more of acollection of review summaries - I would

liken it to Maltin's capsule reviews offilms.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A1K39D52T26S8L/ref=cm_cr_dp_pdphttp://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A1K39D52T26S8L/ref=cm_cr_dp_pdp

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By Sazan Aisu "3x3eyes"

(London (UK) + Melbourne (Aus))

Wow! What a comprehensive book. The

book consists of several sections covering

the history of computer RPGs. It starts

with the origins, and goes into the bronze

age, silver age, early golden age, golden

age and onward into the platinum age and

the modern era.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A252CUYANFO9DP/ref=cm_cr_dp_pdphttp://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A252CUYANFO9DP/ref=cm_cr_dp_pdp

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What is it?

The only common factor that stretches across

the entire span of CRPGs is the statistical

system that determines how characters fare in

combat (or whatever other tasks they are askedto perform). Unlike an adventure game, where

tasks are always and forever solved by entering

the correct commands (or performing the right

sequence of tasks), there is always a randomelement to the outcome in a CRPG.

(p. 5)

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The Torch principle

(p. 4)

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Origins

Baseball Sims

Tabletop Games

Wargames RPGs

Colossal Cave Adventure

Multi-User Dungeons (MUDs) Interactive Fiction (IFs)

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The Dark Age

The 1970s

The text game

PLATO games

Rogue and Roguelikes MUDs

Graphical MUDs

*Text games opened the door for CRPG

http://thcnet.net/zork/index.phphttp://www.play.vg/games/87-Rogue.htmlhttp://robot-club.com/lti/pub/aaai94.htmlhttp://robot-club.com/lti/pub/aaai94.htmlhttp://www.play.vg/games/87-Rogue.htmlhttp://thcnet.net/zork/index.php

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The Bronze Age

1977

Apple II, TRS-80, Commodore PET

Private hobbyists

Wizards Castle p. 49 Eamon p. 50

Akalabeth p. 59

*Games moved from text to graphics slowly andpainfully but in ways that made sense!

http://home.comcast.net/~derelict/winwiz.htmlhttp://www.lysator.liu.se/eamon/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPCwb2mg0OUhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPCwb2mg0OUhttp://www.lysator.liu.se/eamon/http://home.comcast.net/~derelict/winwiz.html

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The Silver Age

1981

Ultima p. 64

Apshai

Wizardry p. 70

Telengard p. 77

*Games evolved in complexity before they evolved graphically inways such as: multiple characters, dynamic levels, party andplayer options, etc. - But perhaps more significantly, they can beSOLD!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdfePjLerMghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCsQsKaMAekhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMZc1ZkB0Eo&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOcloIG46ighttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOcloIG46ighttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMZc1ZkB0Eo&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCsQsKaMAekhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdfePjLerMg

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Early Golden Age

1985 Mainframes revisited and classics remade (Ultima for example) Expedition Amazon p. 90 Tales of the Unknown:

Bards Tale p. 93

The Destiny Knight p. 95 Thief of Fate p. 96

Centauri Alliance p. 97 Neverwinter Nights Gold Box p. 160 And MANY others

* An explosion of innovation and diversity with hundereds of titles and agreat deal of experimentation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiUoD2QftbAhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiUoD2QftbA

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Late Golden Age

1987(ish) JRPG Zelda Series

Dragon Warrior Series Final Fantasy And MANY others

* The 8,16, 32, 64, bit eras each meant bettergraphics, bigger more complex games, and thefranchise was king! The rise of real-time 3Dwas the big change.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Hb73IEv2CQhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Hb73IEv2CQ

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Platinum Age

1990 Overlaps a MAJOR crpg failure time (ch 9) Ultima Underworld Elder Scrolls (p. 298) Daggerfall (p. 300)

Series play catch up Might and Magic (VII IX) (p. 305) Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (p. 304)

Diablo (p. 323) Baldurs gate

Fallout

*Technology and Graphics finally catch up, and the idea of if youcan think it you can find a way to do it becomes standard thoughnot without some major headaches.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpuTbxkaZ94http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asFNo2f1noUhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhG1FCcv3iMhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSfwDgFeIHUhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSfwDgFeIHUhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhG1FCcv3iMhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asFNo2f1noUhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpuTbxkaZ94

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Modern Age

2000(ish)

Neverwinter Nights

KotR

Fable

MMORPGs MANY others

And whatever comes out next year.

* Possibly the last transition time before truly realistic andintuitive roleplay. A time of great refinement and MASSIVEcontent development. The standards have been set.

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Matt Barton says:

Read my book!*

*No he doesnt I made that up, but I bet he would. Now go home and write your papers.