Crystal Quest: Thal's Quest for the Crystals
Not to be mistaken for James W. Morris's Crystal Mania 4.
Crystal Quest is a genial, primarily top-down, action-adventure that calls to mind early NES games by weird third parties like Carry Lab and Pony Canyon. You wander around, throwing well-animated flashing bones at monsters, collecting keys and health upgrades, on your mission to find the four crystal shards.
There are four main levels, each linked off of a peaceful hub world. Each level has its own theme, and must be completed to exit to the hub. Especially interesting are the water and mountain levels, which feature different character sprites and somewhat different mechanics. The water level is full of Mario-style current wells that suck the player into oblivion, and the mountaintop is full of randomly slippery patches that the player must work around to reach the summit.
Probably the most interesting feature of Crystal Quest is the intro. The game was originally produced with one of the earliest versions of Game-Maker, before RSD even supported Sound Blaster effects. Rather as Mark A. Janelle did with Barracuda, Robin Ward programmed an original introduction in QBasic and tacked it onto the front. The visuals to the intro and menu appear to have been drawn in Deluxe Paint.
One possible problem with the design to Crystal Quest is the design of the Crypt and Castle levels. Keys are at a premium; if one unlocks the wrong door, one may be stuck with no way to continue. There is no "suicide" feature, there is no easy escape from levels, and monsters may not be available to kill off the character.
Otherwise, Crystal Quest is a charming game. The levels are all distinctive and memorable. The hub world is generally well designed. The character's animations are cute. Salomon and Ward didn't exactly go to town on the details, but the broad strokes are solid enough and the ambition at hand is strong enough to spill outside of Game-Maker's boundaries.
Q: The musics are charming, and especially well fitting the atmosphere. They do not sound like any of the well-known sharewares of the nineties that used .CMF files. That is rare enough to be worth of mention. Any info on that ?
Contents
Story[edit]
You begin your adventure in the land of Landria.
It is said that all the magic in Landria can be controlled by three magical crystals. Whomever possesses these three crystals will control very strong magical powers.
In the past, there were three continents in Landria, each with its own king. Each of these three kings had one crystal.
One unfortunate day, an evil gargoyle came to the kingdom of Landria and stole the crystals from the kings so that he could be ruler and control the land. He used the powers of the crystals to increase his own strength and make himself more powerful. He then broke each of the three magic crystals into four pieces and hid the twelve pieces all across the three continents of Landria.
The kings have chosen you, their bravest knight, to journey about the land and retrieve all the pieces of the crystals from their hiding places on the continents. Then, using the power instilled in the crystals, overpower and destroy the gargoyle. Finally, return the crystals to each of the kings of your kingdom.
Since this game is shareware you will only be able to retrieve the four pieces of one crystal, and not fully complete your quest.
If you have any problems, comments, or questions, please don't hesitate to send me a letter. I love hearing from fellow adventurers.
May luck be with you!
Instructions[edit]
Move Thal using the Cursor Keys on the Numeric Pad and shoot by hitting the space bar. Hitting F2 will show you your status.
Objects and what they do:
Key - Opens door
Red Skeleton key - Opens red doors.
Blue Skeleton key - Opens blue doors.
Crystal Pieces - Unlock doors on pier to access boat.
Hearts - Give you an extra hit point.
"1 Up" - Gives you an extra life.
Credits[edit]
Designers: Martin Salomon, Robin Ward
Graphics: Robin Ward
Sound: Martin Salomon
Testing: Jason Kogan
Background[edit]
On the game's origin...
I was only 13 years old!
I got in trouble for that game. We pirated Game-Maker, then used a hex editor to remove the copyright. They sent us a letter.
My mom had to call them long distance and say "My son is only 13 years old! Don't sue!"
— Robin Ward, Twitter conversation
My dad's fav part of the game? getting the elf to trample those flowers.
— Martin Salomon, Twitter conversation
On whether the game was ever completed...
Just the shareware episode. We never actually finished it sadly :(
— Robin Ward, Twitter conversation
Availability[edit]
Available on several shareware compilation CD-ROMs, including 100 Games and More (May 1995).
Archive History[edit]
This game was added to the Archive on June 2, 2011. A search for common Game-Maker file types turned up a listing on the 100 Games and More CD-ROM, as archived on cd.textfiles.org.
Links[edit]
Social Media / Discussion[edit]
- DOS Adventure Game ~1993 (DOSGames.com)
Other links[edit]
Downloads[edit]
- Crystal Quest (217.4 kB)
- Crystal Quest (original) (190 kB)
- Overworld map (25.9 kB)
- Crypt map (11.9 kB)
- Water map (32.8 kB)
- Mountain map (15.5 kB)
- Castle map (21.7 kB)
