Caravel DROD

Infobox VG| title = Deadly Rooms of Death (Caravel)


developer = Caravel Games
publisher = Caravel Games
designer = Erik Hermansen
released = 2002
genre = Puzzle
modes = Single player, Editor
ratings =
platforms = PC - Windows, Linux
media = Download
requirements =
input =

"Caravel DROD" is an open source remake of the computer puzzle game Deadly Rooms of Death. It was released by Erik Hermansen in late October 2002.

History

The original Deadly Rooms of Death game was released in 1997 by Webfoot Games. In 2000, the original author of the game, Erik Hermansen, got permission from Webfoot to release the game as open source. With the help of several volunteers, he recreated the game from scratch, rewriting the entire game engine and creating improved graphics and new music for it. The main game screen, however, remained mostly the same as the original Webfoot version. This version is commonly known as Caravel DROD, and was first released in late October 2002.

In October 2003, after a long round of open beta testing, an improved version known as Architects' Edition was released. It included improvements to some of the graphics, but most importantly a level editor. Several patches followed the release after some time, to fix bugs that were found in the game. With the inclusion of a new level editor, a whole new ability for users to create their own dungeons and levels, collectively known as "Holds", was created, extending DROD's total puzzle content far beyond the original game itself. In fact, so many new holds were built that a new system of categorizing and rating them had to be set up on the website.

DROD:Architects' Edition is the top-rated puzzle game of all times at Home of the Underdogs [http://www.the-underdogs.info/genre.php?id=6&sort=rating]

Features and Changes

Being a remake, Caravel DROD is almost an exact copy of the original Webfoot version, with only a few additions. The most notable new feature is the level editor, which allows creating new holds (levels), which then can be shared and played by anyone. Checkpoints, another new addition, save progress in the middle of a room, allowing restoring to the latest checkpoint rather than having to start the room anew. Finally, the Roach Egg hatching time changed from 4 turns to 5 turns, although it had little impact on the gameplay. [http://sourceforge.net/pm/task.php?func=detailtask&project_task_id=83672&group_id=10939&group_project_id=12058] .

Architects' Edition

The one thing that completely distinguishes the remake from the original game, is the addition of the editor. This powerful tool allowed anyone to create new dungeons (holds) for the game which could be exported and sent to other people for playing. The original hold, King Dugan's Dungeon, which was the base of Deadly Rooms of Death consisted of 350 rooms spread over 25 levels. Allowing users to create their own holds, with different degrees of challenge and depth was an important step in DROD history. So many holds were released in fact that not only did Caravel create CaravelNet (a community of DROD players with features such as beta testing and a system in Journey to Rooted Hold that allowed one to download levels on the fly from the menu) but also built Journey to Rooted Hold's editor so that Architect's Edition holds were also playable. So many holds were released that in a demo advertisement for Journey to Rooted Hold a salesman explains how the game is bigger than Canada.

External links

* [http://www.caravelgames.com/ Caravel Games]
* [http://forum.caravelgames.com/ CaravelNet Forum]
* [http://drod.caravelgames.com/ DROD Community Site]
*moby game|id=/caravel-deadly-rooms-of-death|name=Caravel DROD
*moby game|id=/deadly-rooms-of-death-architects-edition|name=DROD: Architects' Edition
* [http://saqqara.iuplog.com/default.asp Confessions of a Hopeless DROD Addict] (blog)