Adventure
Adventure is a video game for the Atari 2600 video game console, released in 1980. In the game, the player controls a square avatar whose task is to search for a magic chalice in an open world and return it to the golden castle. The game world is populated by roving enemies: dragons that can eat the avatar and a bat that randomly steals items and hides them in the game world. Adventure was designed and programmed by Atari employee Warren Robinett and published by Atari, Inc. At that time, Atari programmers usually had full control over the creative direction and development cycle of their games, which forced them to plan their next game as they neared completion of their current game in order to remain productive. Robinett submitted the source code for Adventure to Atari management in June 1979 and left Atari soon after. Atari released the game in early 1980.
Story
According to the game instructions, an evil wizard has stolen the enchanted chalice and hidden it somewhere in the kingdom. The player's goal is to find the chalice and return it to the Golden Castle. The game character, represented by a square avatar, explores a landscape with multiple screens containing castles, mazes and various rooms, thirty rooms in total. Hidden throughout the world are a sword, keys that open each of the three locks (the golden, the black and the white), a magic bridge that lets the avatar travel through obstacles and a magnet that attracts the other items. Three dragons roam the world. Yorgle, the yellow dragon, is afraid of the golden key and flees from it. He roams freely through the game, but can guard the chalice or help the other dragons guard items. Grundle, the green dragon, guards the magnet, the bridge, the black key and the chalice. Rhindle, the red dragon, is the fastest and most aggressive. He guards the white key and the chalice. The dragons have four possible states, indicated by different sprites: They chase the player, they bite, they have swallowed the player's avatar and they are dead. When a dragon first appears, it is in the chase state. When a dragon collides with the avatar, it is bitten and freezes in place. After a split second, the dragon completes the bite. If the dragon collides with the avatar a second time at that moment, it swallows the avatar, which is then trapped in the dragon's belly.