In the 8-bit computer era, TSR was probably best known for their partnership with SSI in bringing Dungeons & Dragons games to computers. Those "gold box" games were some of my favorites on the Commodore 64. However, TSR was releasing computer games well before that. This ad from the February 1983 issue of BLiP features three of the earliest on the Apple II.
Dawn Patrol is a World War I flights simulator. As you can see from the screen shots it is pretty rudimentary with a text based configuration screen at the beginning of each game. Still, it was pretty advanced for its time.
Dungeon! is an adaptation of a board game by TSR of the same name. I've never seen the board game but the goal is to explore a dungeon collecting treasure while avoiding monsters and make it back to the exit alive. The computer version is essentially a maze game in which you control a blocky character with the keyboard. There isn't a whole lot of variety as the maze is the same each time.
Finally, Theseus and the Minotaur is another maze game in which you search a randomly generated maze for the Minotaur. You must fight other monsters along the way and make it back out of the maze in order to win the game. This one was pretty advanced for the time because it was a 3D game played from a 1st person point of view.
Read more: https://www.megalextoria.com/wordpress/index.php/2013/09/26/apple-ii-tsr-advertisement/
Isn't the maze in Dungeon! randomly generated? I'm pretty sure it is in a board game or at least in a very similar one.
Not from what I recall. You can choose different paths but the overall layout is the same.
That Minotaur game looks super advanced for the time.
BTW- I love seeing the magazines, ads and screenshots of those days. Amazing how far we've come.
The Dungeon game?...ugh lol
: )
Cool! I remember playing similar stuff on a Commodore 64.
Dashing Post @maanabdullah (Website Designer , Marketer, Digital Currencies Guru)
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