Firefall

Firefall

Release type: Freeware
Release date: October 25, 1992
Levels: 2
Author: Firefall Softwarez
Related games: Shanna

Not to be mistaken for Alan Caudel's FireAxe.

Firefall may be the definitive Game-Maker game. It’s not that Firefall is particularly excellent; it's more that it is a perfect example of the kind of game that Game-Maker was made to make. In this case the enigmatic “Firefall Softwarez” tried to clone Gauntlet, and wound up with something rather different. The most striking thing about Firefall is the rather nifty Deluxe Paint-derived visuals. Granted they can be hit and miss, but some of the monster design and most of the items and background tiles are rather grand.

You, a warrior, slowly trudge around a dungeon, hacking monsters and collecting keys and potions. There are way more keys than there are doors to unlock (indeed, rather like Gauntlet), and the potions have various effects. Sometimes they restore health; usually they upgrade the character's weapons.

It's not about strengths, as Game-Maker is kind of all-or-none with power levels. You can't set it so that a more powerful weapon does more damage to a monster; either the weapon kills it or it doesn't. Instead, in Firefall the different weapons are differently useful. The axe is wider, and chunkier, and easier to hit things with. It may fly faster than the default sword, too. The fireball is super fast, also wide, and it passes through solid walls.

Exploring the Dungeon of Firefall

There are only two levels, and they were kind of thrown together. The character has all of two frames of animation. Really, Firefall feels like a first, experimental effort by a legitimately talented designer employing a very early version of the Game-Maker package and not yet used to the tools at hand. There are grander ambitions at work here, that may or may not accurately map to RSD's game engine.

Angelo Felix reused some graphical elements in Shanna.

Story

Level one of Firefall

You, a brave warrior, while exploring in the wilderness, come upon an ancient stone door in the side of a cliff. There are runes upon it which read, "Doom comes to all who enter the Dungeon of Firefall" Taking that as a challenge, you tug at the door. Strangely you have the strength to open it. You enter, and as you do, the door vanishes. Trapped. The darkness recedes, and as soon as it does, you wish it hadn't....

Instructions

CONTROLS:

• Arrow keys move those ways.
• Space bar launches attacks.

POTIONS:

• Green potion - Health
• Blue potion - Axe
• Violet potion - Fireball

KEYS:

• Match colors or themes to the corresponding doors.

EXIT:

• Search for the flashing skull slab.

Credits

This game was produced by Firefall Softwarez, using Game-Maker, a game development environment by Recreational Software Designs.

Special thanks to Recreational Software Designs, designers of Game-Maker

Firefall (c) 1993 Firefall Softwarez; all rights reserved

Availability

During the early 1990s this game was available for download from GameLynk's Frontline BBS.

Also available on several shareware compilation CD-ROMs, including:

• Digital Impact's Software Vault: Games (March 1993),
• Digital Impact's Software Vault: Gold (1993),
• The Chicago Computer Broker's Games 1994 (April 1994),
• Digital Impact's Software Vault: The Ruby Collection (1994),
• Digital Impact's Software Vault Emerald (1994-95?),
• Super Oz Software's Sprint Games and Entertainment 6 (February 1995),
• Digital Impact's Software Vault: Sapphire (1995),
• Softkey Entertainment Pack (1996),
• Zodiac Super OZ CD (November 1997), and
• Micro Haus Black Box #7 (199x).

Archive history

This game was introduced to the archive in c1994, through download from the Frontline BBS.

Links

Interviews / Articles

• One-Hit Wonders (DIYGamer)

Listings

• archive.org entry
• demu.org entry

Misc. Links

• Shovelware Diggers #163 - Runtime Error 102 (YouTube)
• Play Firefall online

Downloads

• Firefall (212.2 kB)
• Level 1 map (87 kB)
• Level 2 map (68 kB)