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| Gold Box | |
|---|---|
 Clockwise from upper left: overland map exploration; plot cut scene; overall combat interface; dungeon exploration view/battle encounter approach | |
| Developers | Strategic Simulations Westwood Associates Stormfront Studios MicroMagic Cybertech Marionette |
| Platforms | Amiga,Apple II,Mac,Atari ST,Commodore 64,MS-DOS,PC-98,NES,Genesis |
| First release | Pool of Radiance June 1988 |
| Latest release | Forgotten Realms: Unlimited Adventures March 17 1993 |
Gold Box is a series ofrole-playing video games produced byStrategic Simulations from 1988 to 1992. The company acquired a license to produce games based on theAdvanced Dungeons & Dragonsrole-playing game fromTSR, Inc.[1] These games share a commongame engine that came to be known as the "Gold Box Engine" after the gold-colored boxes in which most games of the series were sold.[2]
In the mid-1980s TSR, after seeing the success of theUltima series and othercomputer role-playing games (CRPGs), offered its popularAdvanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D) property to video game companies. Ten companies, includingElectronic Arts,Ultima creatorOrigin Systems, andSierra Entertainment applied for the license.[3][4]Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI) presidentJoel Billings had, along with many other companies, earlier contacted TSR about licensingAD&D, but TSR was not interested at that time. Although smaller and less technically advanced than other bidders, SSI unexpectedly won the license in 1987 because of its computerized wargaming experience, and instead of releasing a singleAD&D game as soon as possible, the company proposed a broad vision of multiple series of games and spinoffs that might become as sophisticated as TSR's tabletop original.[3][4]
After winning theAD&D license, the number of SSI's in-house developers increased from seven to 25, including the company's first full-time computer-graphic artists. TSR significantly participated in the games' development, including designinga tabletop module on which the first SSI game would be based. UsingWizard's Crown's detailed combat system as a base for their work,[4] the development of the Gold Box engine and the original games was managed by SSI'sChuck Kroegel[5] andGeorge MacDonald.[6] Later versions were led by Victor Penman[7] and Ken Humphries.[8]
The first game produced in the series wasPool of Radiance, released in 1988. This was followed byCurse of the Azure Bonds (1989),Secret of the Silver Blades (1990), andPools of Darkness (1991),[2] the games forming one continuous story rooted in the once-glorious city ofPhlan, later encompassing the entireMoonsea Reaches[9] and four outer regions:Dalelands,Cormyr,Cormanthyr (whereMyth Drannor is located),[10] andThar.[11] The original four titles were developed in-house at SSI, and the first three titles were the best selling Gold Box games.[12] A series of TSR novels paralleled the stories in the games.[13][14]
Released in 1990,Champions of Krynn was the first of SSI's Gold Box spin-offs based on TSR's very popularDragonlance universe, and roughly in the novels byMargaret Weis andTracy Hickman. Chronologically, it was the third Gold Box game and employed some innovations that showed up in later games, like the moon phases for mages, the choice of deities for clerics, and the level difficulty selector. The following titles wereDeath Knights of Krynn (1991) andThe Dark Queen of Krynn (1992).[15]: 139–159 While the games give players a chance to meetDragonlance characters likeTanis Half-Elven andRaistlin Majere, the gameplay is far more linear.[2]
When SSI began working on theDark Sun game in 1989, all the programmers in-house had to stop the development of Gold Box games and start working on the Dark Sun engine. AfterSecret of the Silver Blades came out, Chuck Kroegel passed the Gold Box engine and theForgotten Realms location to Beyond Software (laterStormfront Studios).[16][17] They set their firstForgotten Realms Gold Box title,Gateway to the Savage Frontier (1991), in theSavage Frontier, an area to the extreme west of the previous games location. Following the events of the first game,Treasures of the Savage Frontier (1992) added a weather system and an innovative romance system between party members andNPCs.[15]: 139–159
SSI also adapted the Gold Box engine from fantasy to science fiction for a pair ofBuck Rogers games:Countdown to Doomsday (1990) andMatrix Cubed (1992). They were based on theBuck Rogers XXVc tabletop RPG by TSR, with rules heavily based on those of the company's flagship game.[12] According to Keith Brors (former technical director of SSI), the company was pressured by TSR into developing their Buck Rogers computer game against their better judgment, due to TSR president Lorraine Williams personally owning the Buck Rogers IP. The games did not perform as well as the fantasy settings, but they do represent some enhancements to the Gold Box engine.[15]: 139–159
Apart from the main games,Spelljammer: Pirates of Realmspace was launched in 1992. Based on the 2nd edition'sSpelljammer rule set, it combined real-time ship combat, turn-based melee battles, and interplanetary trade. Besides the innovations, many gamers and critics took issue with its occasional bugs and lengthy load times.[18]
Sales declined over time, as the engine—originally designed for theCommodore 64—aged, and SSI released too many games (11 Gold Box games over four years). When SSI and TSR extended the original contract expiring in January 1993 for 18 months, SSI was required to discontinue the engine, moving to new developing technologies.[12] In March of the same year, SSI's last release wasForgotten Realms: Unlimited Adventures, an editor that allows players to create their own games using the Gold Box engine.[12] Game developers had access to 127 different monsters, 100 different event triggers, and a framework that could hold an adventure consisting of four different wilderness areas or 36 dungeon levels.[19] It also included a mini-adventure calledThe Heirs to Skull Crag.[15]: 139–159 An active community grew up around this game, includinghacks that expanded its powers and its graphical capabilities.[20]
All of the online RPGs of the 1980s were text-basedMUDs, describing the action in the style ofRogue orWill Crowther's originalAdventure game. Stormfront'sDon Daglow had been designing games forAOL for several years, and the new alliance of SSI, TSR, America On-Line, and Stormfront led to the development ofNeverwinter Nights, the first graphicalMMORPG, which ran on AOL from 1991 to 1997.NWN was a multi-player implementation of the Gold Box engine,[21] and was the most popular features on AOL's service,[22] raising between US$5 million and US$7 million annually to the company from 1992 to 1997.[23] It paved the way for later hits such asUltima Online (1997) andEverQuest (1999).[16]
When SSI and TSR announced in 1994 that the latter would not renew the former'sAD&D license, the two companies described the end of the relationship as amicable. A SSI spokesperson said that the company disliked the license's restrictions.[24] With the Gold Box engine's sales finally fading after a six-year run, the losses SSI absorbed during those two years of delays played a critical role in the sale of SSI toMindscape in 1994.[25][15]: 271–279
Although the interest in the series eventually waned, the mantle of this genre was later assumed by more recent role-playing games such asBaldur's Gate,Planescape: Torment andNeverwinter Nights.[3]
The "Gold Box Engine" has two main game play modes. Outside of character creation, game play takes place on a screen that displays text interactions, the names and current status of your party of characters, and a window which displays images of geography, pictures of characters or events.[26] When combat occurs, the screen changes to a top-down mode resembling the one found inWizard's Crown, in which player character icons can move about to cast spells or attack icons representing the enemies.[15]: 143–144 All the games typically involve longdungeon crawls, and are heavier on combat than on role-playing.[27]
The Gold Box games form a number of series in which you can move characters who finish one game to the next one in the series.[28] In addition, characters fromPool of Radiance can be imported intoHillsfar, a game based on an entirely different engine, and then exported intoCurse of the Azure Bonds.[15]: 168–169 The system was improved over time, adding better colors, graphics, more player-class levels, new story lines, and real-time multiplayer gameplay.[15]: 139–159
Games were released for theAmiga,Apple II,Mac,Atari ST,Commodore 64,MS-DOS,PC-98,Nintendo Entertainment System,[18] andGenesis.[29]
The C64 and Apple II versions were written completely in6502assembly, and were extremely advanced for the time, since those computers had around 64 KB ofRAM.[30] Most of the later ports and releases were written inPascal. The latest official releases,Pirates of Realmspace andUnlimited Adventures areC/C++ based.[31]
Although the engine creation and most of the games were initially developed by SSI, there were many official ports and titles from other companies.Westwood Associates was in charge of some ports for the Amiga, which added mouse support and improved the graphics well before SSI's ownMS-DOS versions going toVGA display mode.[12] MicroMagic made the only port of the series for the Atari ST home computer,Curse of the Azure Bonds;[32] following this, they developedThe Dark Queen of Krynn and theUnlimited Adventures for SSI.[15]: 139–159 Stormfront Studios did all the development for theSavage Frontier series and also the remarkableNeverwinter Nights.[16] Also mentionable, Cybertech was responsible for the development ofSpelljammer: Pirates of Realmspace.[33] For video game consoles, there were only two ports:Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday for the Sega Genesis[29] andPool of Radiance for the Famicom/NES (from theJapanese company Marionette).[34]
With 264,536 copies sold for computers in North America,Pool of Radiance became by far the most-successful game in SSI's history,[4] outsellingUltima V andBard's Tale III.[12] It was given a score of 90% byCommodore User. The reviewer Tony Dillon was impressed with the features.[35]
The next game in the series,Curse of the Azure Bonds, was also well received. It was given a score of 90% by magazineThe Games Machine,[36] and 89% onCU Amiga-64.[37]Dave Arneson, one of the creators ofDungeons & Dragons, expressed his disappointment that the Gold Box games did not innovate enough from previous CRPGs, comparing them to "a cross ... betweenQuestron andWizard's Crown presented in a new setting".[38]
The final Gold Box game,The Dark Queen of Krynn (1992), sold 40,640 copies.[12] SSI had sold over1.5 millionAD&D products by 1992,[39] and more than two millionAD&D-licensed games when it announced the end of the TSR license in 1994.[24]
The games run well inDOSBox on modern operating systems.[40] Also the Gold Box Companion has been developed to smooth out some of the rough edges in the programming of some of the games. Some of the early games, for instance, do not allow turning off Quick Fight, which sets characters to automatic in combat.[41] The Gold Box Companion was included in the 2022 Steam release of the Gold Box games.[42]
GOG.com released thePool of Radiance andSavage Frontier Gold Box seriesdigitally on August 20, 2015, as a part of"Forgotten Realms: The Archives - Collection Two".[43][9] Later on October 27, they released theDragonlance series as part of"Dungeons & Dragons: Krynn Series".[44][45]
SNEG released the Gold Box Classics digitally throughSteam on March 9, 2022.[46]