Dungeons of Avalon

Dungeons of Avalon is a German CRPG released as a free coverdisk with the April 1992 issue of Amiga Fun magazine. Following a bootleg English translated release by cracker group Paradise, an official English version was released by UK magazine Amiga Mania. Later that year it received a sequel, Dungeons of Avalon II.

Sub-Pages#

Prototype Info Bugs

Unused Areas#

On level 3 of the dungeon, a section of the map is inaccessible. A text message says "THE ROCKS ARE VERY LOOSE HERE!", or in German, "DAS GESTEIN HIER IST VERDAMMT LOSE." In fact, casting the mapping spell Eagles View will reveal that several wall blocks south and west of the message are a different type of stone, and are represented by a different block ID (0x15 instead of 0x16).

However, there is no known way to break down the stone. If you could, it would lead to Switch #5, which opens a path to Chest #2, containing 1000g, a healing potion (anti-poison), and a Key 1. The loose stone block type also appears on dungeon levels 4 and 5, but does not block any areas of the map.

Castle level 2 has a section of breakable walls in the top left corner, which, viewed in a map editor, spell "FINAL". However, it's impossible to see them, since they're not reachable, and are so far away that a mapping spell will not see them.

Unused Characters#

The NPC Hanibal can be resurrected from Gnom Bones. However, Gnom Bones do not appear in any chest in the game, making this character unavailable. This may be a bug, as Dwarf Bones appear in two locations.

Hanibal is level 10 with 68 HP and all stats at 60. His character class ID is #9, which according to strings in the alpha build of the game is called Mörder (Murderer). The other two NPCs, Beard and Clint, would be Pirat (Pirate) and Barde (Bard), respectively. There is no XP chart for NPC classes, but NPCs cannot learn spells, level up, or equip items, so their class is irrelevant.

Unused end cutscene#

Dungeons of Avalon contains a victory roll and end credits, but due to a major bug it is inaccessible. It can only be viewed by editing the game, such as with the WinUAE debugger or uncompressed save state editing. The final boss is also so difficult as to be unbeatable, but even if defeated, it does not set the flag to show the credits. It can be set manually by searching memory for 011f 051e 081e and replacing it with all zeroes.

The victory screen also contains unique music. Rudolf Stember would go on to write the music for Realms of Arkania: Blade of Destiny and Mr. Nutz: Hoppin' Mad (Amiga).

A victory text appears in the file S/TXE and S/TXD for English and German, respectively. It is presented below with changes to line-breaks and spacing, but the spelling is original.

Unused Traps#

Traps #4 and #9 are not used in any level. Trap #4 is a variant of Trap #5 with the same text, but less deadly (easier to dodge, half as much damage). Trap #9 is an identical copy of Trap #10.

Hidden Devmessages#

An unobtainable Scroll 4 reads "BUY AVALON II, IT'LL BE BETTER!" In German, Schriftrolle 4 reads "KAUFE DIR AVALON II" ("Buy Avalon II"). The chest which contains it was never added to the map, perhaps, ironically, because the game was rushed.

Both the German and English versions of the main game executable, when uncompressed, begin with the hidden message "Demoversion for Hans Ippisch, CP-Verlag". Hans Ippisch was an editor for Computec Verlag, who published Dungeons of Avalon. See also Logical (Amiga) for a game by the same developer with a hidden reference to "Hans".

The Paradise bootleg translation release replaces the hidden string with the text "Paradise Rules>                        ".

Debug Features#

Pressing "G" while in the Adventurer's Guild brings up a Monster Gallery feature. Left and right on the keyboard scrolls through the graphics, and spacebar quits. Dummy images and unused monsters are visible.

Unused monsters and monster art#

A large number of monsters appear in the first Dungeons of Avalon which are completely inaccessible through normal gameplay, as they do not appear on any encounter tables. Several use unique graphics which are not used for any other monster. Additionally, there are pieces of art which are not used for any monster.

Most of the cut monsters or graphics re-appear in some form in Dungeons of Avalon II.

Number	Image	Notes
00		Dummy image.
09		Dummy image.
10		Thorndragon.
14		Dragon. Re-uses the Green Dragon / NPC dragon Elistaire graphic.
15		Unused graphic.
16		Great Spider. Re-uses the Spider graphic.
18		Vampire.
20		Phantom.
21		Master Mage. Re-uses the Magician graphic.
22		Ninja. Re-uses the Silver Ninja graphic.
23		Woodoo Man.
25		Devil.
26		Alien.
27		Unused graphic.
29		Unused graphic.
30		Blue Dragon.
35		Unused graphic.
36		Unused graphic.
37		Unused graphic.

Unused NPCs#

A dummy third NPC entry exists. He would appear as Kham (the first NPC), and wants a scroll of Wasp Sting, giving a Killersword in exchange. His dialog when you meet him is "HURZ", and when you give him what he asks for, he also says "HURZ". It seems to be a reference to a German comedy skit which aired in July 1991.

Unused Items#

The following items appear in the game, but are not obtainable by any means. Some later appear in the game's sequel. The sprites for Kel's Crossbow, Stone-Ring, Silver-Ring, Chest, and unidentified items are completely unused.

ID	Sprite	German	English	Notes
0x00		UNBEKANNT	UNKNOWN	Not an item, but a dummy title used for unidentified items. However, no unidentified items appear in the dungeon in the first Dungeons of Avalon, so the question mark sprite is unused. If it could be instantiated, its stats allow it to be wielded as a weapon dealing 3 damage. Technically uses item sprite 0x00, a blank tile, and normally represents an empty item slot.
0x12		TODESBLITZ	DEADLY FLASH	Spell scroll. For all the spells on this list, the spells can be cast by player characters, but scrolls cannot be found.
0x16		KEL`S ARMBRUST	KEL`S CROSSBOW	A ranged weapon which can be wielded by Fighter, Knight, Hunter, and Healer. Deals 10 damage and adds +4 Attack. Kel's Arrows can be found in a chest on the top floor of Rhateph's Castle, but not the bow. This is the only item which uses this sprite, so it's an unused graphic.
0x1b		STEINRING	STONE-RING	Adds +1 attack and can be used to cast Medusas Eye. Holds 5 charges. Known in the alpha build as Ghal's Ring. This is the only item which uses this sprite, so it's an unused graphic. The Bee-Ring is the only ring slot item in the game.
0x1c		SILBERRING	SILVER-RING	Adds +1 armor, and can be used to cast Silver Speer. Holds 15 charges. Known in the alpha build as Perl's Ring. This is the only item which uses this sprite, so it's an unused graphic.
0x2c		TRUHE	CHEST	An item which can be sold for 438 gold. None of these appear in the first Dungeons of Avalon.
0x33		SCHRIFTROLLE 4	SCROLL 4	A scroll which reads "BUY AVALON II, IT'LL BE BETTER!" In German, it reads "KAUFE DIR AVALON II" ("Buy Avalon II").
0x35		ANTISTEIN	RESTONE	Spell scroll.
0x37		EISATEM	ICE BREATH	Spell scroll.
0x39		HEILUNG II	HEALING II	Spell scroll.
0x3b		HEXERRÜSTUNG	MAGIC ARMOUR	Spell scroll.
0x3e		GNOMSCHÄDEL	GNOM BONES	A set of bones which can be used to raise the NPC Hanibal. He is level 10, has 68 HP, and all stats are 60. Perhaps his omission is a bug, since there is a duplicate Dwarf Bones.
0x4b		VOGELBLICK	BIRDS VIEW	Spell scroll.
0x4c		-----	-----	Dummy item. Would function as Key 7.
0x4d		-----	-----	Dummy item. Would function as Key 8.
0x4e		-----	-----	Dummy item. Would function as Key -1 with unlimited uses.
0x4f		LINKS	LEFT	Dummy item representing an empty left hand holding no weapon.
0x50		RECHTS	RIGHT	Dummy item representing an empty right hand holding no weapon.

In addition to the aforementioned unreachable Chest #2 on Dungeon level 3, several chests appear in the list of chests, but were never placed in the map, making them inaccessible. Several of the unavailable items (marked in bold) are only placed in these chests.

Unused Text#

A string "MONSTER GALLERY!" appears in the list of strings used for the main town menu, suggesting that it was to be available, perhaps as a reward for completing the game, as in the sequel. However, the menu entry is unused.

There is an unused status effect, abbreviated VR. It doesn't do anything, and no monster or effect in the game afflicts it.

Regional differences#

There are four main versions of the first Dungeons of Avalon:

• An alpha build dated 8 May 1991, a cracked version of which was released on 1 October 1991 by Skidrow. Apparently a leaked build, but how it was leaked is unknown.
• The German release, distributed as a free coverdisk with Amiga Fun magazine, published by CompuTec Verlag.
• The official English translation, distributed in the UK as a free coverdisk with issue 4 of Amiga Mania magazine, published by MC Publications. Based on build timestamps, both the German and English versions were produced by the same developer at the same time, although the German release happened to occur first.
• A bootleg English translation released by group Paradise, who were evidently unaware that an official English translation was forthcoming. Identifiable by the text "PARADISE 92". Bizarrely, Amiga Mania issue 4 includes screenshots from this pirate version of the game. Due to the lack of English manual to explain the game's provenance, this version was accidentally distributed by public domain software companies as freeware.

Like many Amiga games, various pirate versions were also distributed, including cracktros, trainers, or small changes to the save files.

The German version of the game included a comprehensive 4,575-word German-language manual describing the game's lore and gameplay. This was removed from the English release, presumably since the developers were unable to translate it into English on time.

The manual includes a backstory explaining the rise of the evil magician Rhateph, who took control of the kingdom of Avalon and covered it in snow. A party of five heroes have gathered to recover the rune of the good sorcerer Arakus, hidden in the dungeons, which holds the key to defeating Rhateph. The backstory alludes to two features removed from the alpha version: a graphical effect where snow appears on the mountains; and the party size of 5, which was increased to 6 in the final release.

A few additional details appear in the German game text which aren't mentioned in English, such as how the good wizard Kham's party were killed after being led into an ambush by a traitor, and the name of the rune is the Rune of Hakan, after the game's programmer.

A bug occurs on dungeon level 5 in the English version only, due to a missing floor text line, causing three texts to be off by one. They appear in the north-south corridor between the ice floor room and the room full of monster encounters.

The bootleg English release by Paradise is based on an early pirate release by another group, Tequila. It describes itself as "Dungeons of Avalon I V1.0E". The translation is full of spelling errors, although to be fair, the official translation is also full of different spelling errors. The executable, which was compressed from 119KB to 62KB to fit on disk, had to be uncompressed in order to edit it. To make room, various files were deleted, including one copy of the dungeon map file, which the translators probably assumed was an unused duplicate. This leads to a bug where the dungeon is empty on a new game, although loading a save game allows play as normal.

References#