Dark Seed (video game)

Dark Seed
Developer(s)	Cyberdreams
Publisher(s)	Cyberdreams
Artist(s)	H. R. Giger
Platform(s)	Amiga, Amiga CD32, DOS, Macintosh, Sega Saturn, PlayStation
Release date(s)	1992
Genre(s)	Adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player
Rating(s)	USK: 6+
Media/distribution	3½" floppy disk, CD-ROM
System requirements DOS 20 MHz 386 640 KB RAM 500 KB Hard disk space MS-DOS 3.x

Dark Seed is a computer game in the adventure game genre. It was developed and published by Cyberdreams in 1992. It exhibits a normal world and a dark world counterpart, which is based on the artwork by H. R. Giger. It was one of the first adventure games to use high-resolution (640 x 400 pixels) graphics, to Giger's demand. A sequel, Dark Seed II, was released in 1995. The original game was released for Amiga, Amiga CD32, DOS, Macintosh, Sega Saturn and PlayStation. The Playstation and Saturn versions were released only in Japan; however, the Saturn version is not dubbed in Japanese, only subtitled,^[1] making the game's story still accessible to English speakers. The Saturn version is compatible with the Sega Saturn Mouse. There was also a version developed for the Sega Mega-CD and even promoted for American release, but publisher Vic Tokai never released it. An unlicensed version was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in Chinese. The main character, Mike Dawson, is named after the game's designer and producer. He also lent his appearance to the character's sprite.

Story

Mike Dawson is a successful advertising executive and writer who has recently purchased an old mansion on Ventura Drive (named after Ventura Boulevard) in the small town of Woodland Hills. On his first night at the house, Mike has a nightmare about being imprisoned by a machine that shoots an alien embryo into his brain. He wakes up with a severe headache and, after taking some aspirins and a shower, explores the mansion. He finds clues about the previous owner's death, which reveal the existence of a parallel universe called the Dark World ruled by sinister aliens called the Ancients.

On the second day, he travels to that universe through the living room mirror and meets the Keeper of the Scrolls, a friendly darkworlder. She tells him that the nightmare at the beginning of the game was real and warns him that if the embryo — the eponymous Dark Seed — is born, it will kill him and all of humanity. The only way to stop this, she says, is to destroy the Ancient's Power Source.

On the third and final day, Mike executes an elaborate plan that culminates with the Ancient ship's departure on the Dark World, depriving them of their power source, and the destruction of the living room mirror, sealing the Ancients out of the Normal World. The game ends with the town librarian visiting Mike and telling him she found some pills in her purse. "It's a prescription filled to you, "she says," for relief of severe headaches." The medication will presumably kill the embryo inside his head. A morphing animation reveals that, unbeknown to the librarian, she is the Keeper of the Scrolls' counterpart. Mike then states that he's just beginning to understand.

Reception

The game was reviewed in 1992 in Dragon #188 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the game 3 out of 5 stars.^[2]

Legacy

In its time, Dark Seed was notable for its impressive graphics.^{[citation needed]} Unlike most adventure games, which give the player time to explore, almost every action in Dark Seed has to fall within precise time limits, or the game will end up in an unwinnable state. As a result of this as well as the game's frequent crashes^{[citation needed]}, one must start over repeatedly to win without resorting to a walkthrough.

An urban legend spread that the intense pressure of designing Dark Seed gave lead designer, Mike Dawson, a mental breakdown.^[3] However, he actually left the games industry after completing Dark Seed and moved into television writing (including some episodes of Family Matters) until the late 1990s, wrote four books on programming (including Beginning C++ Game Programming and Python Programming for the Absolute Beginner) and is teaching game design and programming classes at Stanford University and UCLA.^[4][5]

In 2006 Gametrailers.com named it the seventh scariest game of all time.^[6]

References

1. ^ Segagaga, see the Dark Seed video in "Movie Vault".
2. ^ Lesser, Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk (December 1992). "The Role of Computers". Dragon (188): 57–64. 
3. ^ http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/column_index.php?story=8420
4. ^ http://programgames.com/
5. ^ Gamasutra - Playing Catch-Up: Darkseed's Mike Dawson
6. ^ Gametrailers Top Ten Scariest Games

External links

• Dark Seed at MobyGames
• Dark Seed at Adventure Classic Gaming
• Dark Seed at the Internet Movie Database
• Dark Seed at the Let's Play Archive