# The Warlock of Firetop Mountain (video game) {#the-warlock-of-firetop-mountain-video-game .reader-title}
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5-6 minutes
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The Warlock of Firetop Mountain |
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![[file:///home/geoff/Documents/wikipedia%20extra/The%20Warlock%20of%20Firetop%20Mountain%20%28video%20game%29%20-%20Wikipedia_files/Warlock_of_firetop_mountain_spectrum_cover.jpg){file-width="250" |
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Cover art by Peter Andrew Jones
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Developers: Crystal Computing
Neil Mottershead
Simon Brattel
Publisher: Puffin Books
Designers: Neil Mottershead
Simon Brattel
Series: 'Fighting Fantasy*
Platform: ZX Spectrum
Release
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EU: 1984
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Genre: Action
Mode: Single-player
'The Warlock of Firetop Mountain' is an action game published by
Crystal Computing in 1984 for the ZX Spectrum home computer. It is
loosely based on the adventure
gamebook[*[broken anchor]{title="The anchor (Adventure gamebooks) has been deleted. (2024-07-28)"}*]
of the same name (the first in the 'Fighting Fantasy' series) written by
Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone and published by Puffin Books in
1982
The game was sold both as a regular cassette-only release and as a
"software pack" edition that included a copy of the original 'Fighting
Fantasy' title at a higher price point
As a third-person arcade adventure game the player takes the role of an
adventurer on a quest to find the treasure of a powerful warlock hidden
deep within Firetop Mountain. The treasure is stored in a chest with
fifteen locks with the keys guarded by various monsters (e.g. orcs
slime moulds and spiders) in the dungeons of Firetop Mountain. The
adventurer (equipped with a bow and a sword) must attempt to retrieve
the keys with an added feature (over the game's predecessor 'Halls of
the Things*) being the ability to open and close doors to block the path
of pursuing monsters. Gameplay varies with each new game as the maze is
randomly generated
*The Warlock of Firetop Mountain' was announced in issue two of 'Micro
Adventurer' magazine which published a feature on the expansion of
Penguin Books children's imprint Puffin into the science fiction
software market with the video game 'The Warlock of Firetop Mountain*
hoping to emulate the success of the book title. The game was
announced as the first in the "Puffin Personal Computer
Collection" line together with three other unrelated titles
(based on science fiction titles by author Peter K. McBride)
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Puffin contracted Crystal Computing who had developed the fantasy game
*Halls of the Things' to create the game. According to game
designer Simon Brattel they ended up doing it by accident: they met
Steve Jackson one of the authors of the book and after their
discussion he became supportive of the project
According to hidden text within the game's code the developers only had
three weeks to complete the project. The Peter Andrew Jones
artwork for the original title was used for the video game
cover.[10]
Puffin Books briefly continued the trend of adapting the 'Fighting
Fantasy' titles into video games with early titles 'The Citadel of
Chaos*[11] and 'The Forest of Doom*[12][13] being released for
the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 respectively
*ZX Computing' described the game as simply a "variation" of 'Halls of
the Things' but praised the inclusion of the book as it encouraged
children to read.[14] 'Micro Adventurer' also commented on the
similarities stating that "it is so similar that it would be pointless
buying both games"
*CRASH' magazine criticized the control scheme (the number of control
keys and the developer's decision to use the horizontally adjacent N
and M keys to move the player's character up and down) but also claimed
the game less difficult and confusing and with better graphics
*Computer and Video Games' expressed disappointment that the game had
little resemblance to the original 'Fighting Fantasy' title
- 'The Warlock of Firetop Mountain' at SpectrumComputing.co.uk
- 'The Warlock of Firetop Mountain' at MobyGames