Castle Master

Castle Master
First release	1990
Also known as	N/A
Developed by	Incentive Software
Published by	Domark Limited, The Hit Squad
Distributed by	Incentive Software, Ubisoft France SAS, Domark Limited
Platforms	DOS, Amiga, AtariST, Commodore64, ZX Spectrum, AmstradCPC
Resolution	320x200, 16 colors (DOS, EGA)
Engine	Freescape
Support	Since ScummVM X.X.0
Available for Purchase	No

Castle Master is an action/adventure game featuring scaling and rotating polygon graphics. The game requires the player, through a first person view, to explore Castle Eternity in order to save their twin. There are riddles on many of the castle walls, which give gameplay hints. There are also keys and pentacles hidden in various locations for the player to collect.

Installation

For more information on how ScummVM uses game data files, see the user documentation.

Castle Master was released in a number of platforms over the years. Depending on release you have, you need to extract and/or copy different files.

ZX Spectrum releases

If the ZX Spectrum release is from a tape, it should be saved first from the original cassette into a tzx file. Make sure you save the complete disk, not just a single program from it. Once the tape is saved, install tzxtools you will need to extract three files:

• The title screen image, which should be renamed as "castlemaster.zx.title" and has exactly 6912 bytes.
• The game data, which should be renamed as "castlemaster.zx.data" and is around 36 kbytes.
• The border image, which should be renamed as "castlemaster.zx.border" and has exactly 6912 bytes.

For instance, for the original Incentive release (1990), you can inspect their files using the tzxls command:

$ tzxls castlemaster.tzx

...

5 Turbo Speed Data Block 6912 bytes of bogus header

6 Turbo Speed Data Block 36096 bytes of bogus header

7 Turbo Speed Data Block 6912 bytes of bogus header

In order to extract these files, use the tzxcat command:

tzxcat castlemaster.tzx -b 5 > castlemaster.zx.title

tzxcat castlemaster.tzx -b 6 > castlemaster.zx.data

tzxcat castlemaster.tzx -b 7 > castlemaster.zx.border

Amstrad CPC releases

All the Amstrad CPC releases should be saved first from the original cassette/disk into a Extended dsk file.

Once the data is saved, use Disk Image Manager to open the image and extract the following files:

• cm.bin

• cmload.bin

• cmscr.bin

Make sure the files are extracted with header.

DOS releases

For the DOS release, copy the following files:

• castle.exe
• cm*

So far, only EGA rendering mode are supported so far.

Other releases and demos

We are working to support other Castle Master releases in other platforms. Some demos are also supported, following the corresponding instructions. We collected all the supported Freescape demos, in case you want to test them. If you find an unsupported demo, please open an issue or contact us.

Cheats

The original game actually a "cheat" feature hidden in the first level bytecode. It should work correctly in ScummVM.

• Shooting the ground when you start the game gives you access to some cheats. This procedure can be found in an Amiga game magazine:

   "AS SOON AS YOU'VE STARTED THE GAME, look straight down (SHIFT+L), then press the right (action) button a number of times (between 12 and 25 should do the trick) until you hear a noise; then look straight forward. You'll see four coloured squares on the ground ahead. Throw rocks at them for a choice of infinite revitalisation, all 10 keys, rock travel or the end-game sequence."

This also works in the DOS release, however, it does NOT work in the ZX Spectrum release.

Besides the general Freescape cheats, this engine also implements some specific Castle Master cheats:

• Rock travel: it starts the game with rock travel.

Bugs

This is an incomplete list of bugs in the original implementation, indicating if the bug is already fixed (✓) or not fixed (✗) in ScummVM:

✓ The game grants 17500 points for every time a new area is visited. The score starts with 0 in the first area. However, coming back to the first area still adds 17500 as it was visited for the first time.

✓ The mouse pointer is still visible when a riddle is shown.

✓ A specific riddle in the German translation is incorrectly encoded/encrypted in the data files (tested in the DOS release).

1. Start a new game, selecting German as the language.

2. Enter the castle and go to the great hall

3. Read the riddle from the chimney. The game will hang for a minute or so, and eventually display some random colors.

✗ Once the character is selected (prince or princess), it cannot be changed (ZX Spectrum only):

1. Start a new game

2. Select one character

3. End game

4. The game will start without allowing you to change the character

✓ Rock travel can be simulated pressing a key such as "U" while you shoot (ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC only). It is unclear if this was a cheat or not (it looks like a bug).

Guides and Walkthroughs

Castle Master is not exactly the same in different platforms. While the areas are the same, they feature puzzles with different solutions. We compile a list of walkthroughs for different platforms:

• ZX Spectrum
• Amiga (video)
• Amiga (text)
• C64

External links

• MobyGames entry for Castle Master
• Wikipedia article on Castle Master