The Black Cauldron (video game) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids The Black Cauldron |
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| Developer(s) | Sierra On-Line |
| Publisher(s) | Sierra On-Line |
| Producer(s) | Joe Hale |
| Designer(s) | Al Lowe |
| Programmer(s) | Scott Murphy |
| Artist(s) | Mark Crowe |
| Engine | Adventure Game Interpreter |
| Platform(s) | MS-DOS, Amiga, Apple II, Apple IIGS, Atari ST, Tandy 1000 |
| Release date(s) | 1986 |
| Genre(s) | Adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
The Black Cauldron is an exciting adventure game from 1986. It was created by Al Lowe and his team at Sierra On-Line. This game is based on the Disney movie The Black Cauldron. The movie itself was inspired by a book called The Black Cauldron from The Chronicles of Prydain series by Lloyd Alexander.
The game came out shortly after Sierra's first King's Quest game. Because of this, it shares many similarities with that famous adventure. The Black Cauldron is one of the few adventure games by Sierra that are based on movies. Another one is The Dark Crystal.
Gameplay
In The Black Cauldron, you play as a young assistant pig-keeper named Taran. Your big mission is to stop the evil Horned King. He wants to find Hen Wen, a magical pig owned by the wizard Dallben. Hen Wen has special powers to see the future. The Horned King wants to use her abilities to find the Black Cauldron and take over the land.
Your first job as Taran is to lead Hen Wen to the Fair Folk. This is important because the Horned King's dragons are looking for her. If Hen Wen gets caught, you can still go to the Horned King's castle to rescue her. Once inside the castle, you will meet Eilonwy, who has a magic glowing ball. You might also rescue Fflewddur Fflam and find a special Magic Sword.
Later in the game, you discover that the Black Cauldron is held by three mysterious witches in a place called Morva. They will trade the Cauldron for the Magic Sword you found. After getting the Cauldron, a dragon takes it, and you must go back to face the evil Horned King himself.
The game has different story paths and several possible endings. What happens at the end depends on choices you make. For example, it matters if you saved Hen Wen, how you destroyed the Cauldron, and what reward you chose. This idea of multiple endings was quite new for games at the time. It even came out a year before Maniac Mansion, another famous game known for its different endings.
How to Play
To make The Black Cauldron easier for younger players, Sierra used a clever new way to control the game. Instead of typing commands, you use special function keys on your keyboard. This was a big change that wasn't seen again in adventure games for about 10 years!
Here's how the keys worked:
- Pressing `F3` would let you choose an item from your inventory (the things you are carrying).
- Pressing `F4` would let you use that item.
- Pressing `F6` would perform a general "Use" action near your character.
- Pressing `F8` would let you "Look" at things around you.
This way of playing, with simple "Look" and "Use" actions, made the game much easier to learn. While Sierra didn't use this exact system in their later games, it was similar to how some point-and-click adventure games worked later on. For example, King's Quest VII and The Dig also had simpler controls. Because the game was based on a Disney movie, its graphics were more flexible and lively compared to other games from that time.
See also
In Spanish: The Black Cauldron (videojuego) para niños
