Darkmere

Darkmere
Developer(s)	Zero Hour Software
Publisher(s)	Core Design Ltd.
Designer(s)	Mark K. Jones
Platform(s)	Amiga
Release date(s)	1993
Genre(s)	Action Adventure
Mode(s)	Single player
Media/distribution	Floppy disk
System requirements Amiga 500 with 1MB RAM, optimised for Amiga 1200

Darkmere - The Nightmare's Begun is an Action Adventure computer game developed by Zero Hour Software and published by Core Design Ltd. in 1993. It is Zero Hour's only title to date. Core Design went on to publish a less-well received pseudo-sequel to Darkmere in 1994 called Dragonstone, on Amiga and Amiga CD32.

Story

The player takes the role of Prince Ebryn, son of King Gildorn, as he attempts to solve the mystery of the "Darkmere", a literal darkness that has descended on the kingdom bringing with it monsters such as orcs and dragons, who slew or took away many villagers. The quest begins in "the village" (which is never named), and requires the player to perform quests in order to escape its walls. Later levels see Ebryn travelling through forests and the lair of the orcs on his way to find Malthar the Mage, whom he hopes will help banish the Darkmere.

Reception

• Some reviewers criticised what they saw as a "generic fantasy setting" and the predominantly menu-driven interface which would slow down greatly when a large number of items were in the player's inventory.
• Darkmere was almost universally praised for the quality of its graphics, artwork and animation, despite some original animation frames having been cut from the released game due to memory and floppy disk space limitations. The atmosphere of the game, with its dark and gloomy levels was also seen as a highlight.

Credits

Graphics and game design by Mark K. Jones, also known for his graphical work on Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind.

Programming by Paul A. Hodgson, Andrew J. Buchanan and Stewart Gilray.

Level interlude graphics by Richard Fox.

Music and sound effects by Martin Iveson, who later went on to score Tomb Raider.

External links

• Darkmere at MobyGames
• The Dragon's Eyrie site of designer and graphics artist Mark K. Jones