The Seven Cities of Gold
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Seven_Cities_of_Gold.jpg
Screenshot of the Amiga version of Seven Cities of Gold
The Seven Cities of Gold is an adventure game created by Dani Bunten for Ozark Softscape and published by Electronic Arts in 1984 for the Apple IIe, the Atari ST and Commodore 64 computers. The Atari ST version was the only "complete" version, according to the authors. The name derives from the "seven cities" of Cibola that were said to be located somewhere in the American Southwest.
The player takes the role of a late-15th century explorer for Spain, setting sail to the New World. The player has options to equip and purchase food for the vessel, and to hire men and crew to sail with. Once sailing, the player guides the ship to the New World, then explores the coastline, sets up missionaries and forts, and interacts with the native peoples. The player has the option to give tribute or kill the natives. The goal of the game is to return with riches from the New World.
The game is widely important for pioneering the use of randomly generated maps and allowing career progress for a character. The game's rich development and gameplay heralded it as one of the best games of its time.
It was released on the Amiga 1000 in 1985 and re-released for DOS in 1993. The DOS "Commemorative Edition" won the Origins Award for Best Military or Strategy Computer Game of 1993.
External links
- The MobyGame's entry on The Seven Cities of Gold (http://www.mobygames.com/game/sheet/gameId,3451/)
- A 1984 review of the game (http://www.cyberroach.com/analog/an20/seven_cities.htm)
- Classic PC Games (http://www.kevinmandeville.com/weblog/2004/11/download-classic-pc-games.html)