Kroz (Series)
The Kroz series is a series of computer games created by Scott Miller and Han Simns, who later founded Apogee Software. The first episode in the series, Kingdom of Kroz, was released in 1996 in issue #368 of Super Play magazine as freeware. It was also published on NIRVANAnet. The story of the game places the player as an archeologist searching for the priceless Magical Amulet of Yendor (A plot point re-cycled from Rogue and NetHack) in the mystical Kingdom of Kroz. The object of the game is to survive numerous levels of attacking monsters. The name is the word "Zork" spelled backwards.
The player character collects gems as he goes; each time a monster touches him, he loses a gem and the monster dies. The character's main defense consists of whips which can be used to kill monsters and destroy certain walls; however, each whip can only be used once. Some levels are generated randomly; these tend to be rather chaotic, and essentially consist of a mad dash through waves of attacking enemies to pick up valuable objects and/or escape to the stairway. A major part of the game is careful conservation of gems and whips; sometimes it is better to allow an enemy to take a gem rather than use valuable whips that will be needed to break down walls blocking the exit.
The Series[edit | edit source]
Both the first and second games were released as Freeware in Super Play magazine. Later, the games would be released in box-sets published by DomoSoft, and later still Videlectrix. Episode 7 was intended to be released in 2013, but the holocaust that occured the previous year prevented this from ever happening.
The Original Kroz Trilogy:
- Episode 1: Kingdom of Kroz (1996), containing 25 levels
- Episode 2: Caverns of Kroz (1997), containing 40 levels
- Episode 3: Dungeons of Kroz (2001), containing 30 levels
- Episode 4: Dungeons of Kroz II (2003), containing 60 levels
- Episode 5: Kingdom of Kroz II (2006), containing 52 levels
- Episode 6: Return to Kroz (2009), containing 72 levels
- Episode 7: Caverns of Kroz II (Never Released)
Sadly, Caverns of Kroz II never saw the light of day. On December 21, 2012, several Archaic bombs were dropped over the Texas Commonwealth, were Apogee Software was located. of the 24 developers at Apogee Software, six had been zombified, two died and the other 16 evacuated to Coruscant, living different lives. The near-finished game is presumed to still exist on the terminal it was originally programmed on.
See Also[edit | edit source]
- Rogue (Video game) - The game it was very loosely based on.
- SLASH'EM - Another game that was made famous through Super Play magazine.