The Black Cauldron

The Black Cauldron
First release	1986
Also known as	Black Cauldron
Developed by	Sierra
Published by	Sierra
Distributed by	Sierra
Platforms	MS-DOS, Amiga Apple II, Atari ST
Resolution	320x200, 16 colors
Engine	AGI
Support	Since ScummVM 0.10.0
Available for Purchase	No

The Black Cauldron was an adventure game based on the Disney movie of the same name, which was based on the Chronicles of Prydain books by Lloyd Alexander. The evil Horned King stole the pig HenWen, who has mystical abilities that allow observers to see what they seek through the pig's thought projections. The Horned King sought the mystic Black Cauldron that would release the dead and allow him to rule the land.

The game follows an assistant pig farmer named Taran, who must get Henwen back and defeat the evil Horned King.

Game Variants

The MS-DOS, Apple II, and Atari ST versions are similar in terms of graphics. The Amiga version used an extended palette.

As an FYI, Black Cauldron is the only game to have been made in AGI v1 (version 1.1K, 1.1M), v2 (v2.00) and v3 (v2.10) formats.

Installation

Required data files

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

All platforms

• *VOL.* (e.g. GRVOL.0, KQ4VOL.11, VOL.1)

• OBJECT

• *DIR* (e.g. PQDIR, MH2DIR, DMDIR, DIRS, LOGDIR, PICDIR, SNDDIR, VIEWDIR)

• WORDS.TOK

and if available

• PAL.*

Apple IIGS

These files are needed to enable music playback

• *.SYS16 (e.g. KQ.SYS16, LL.SYS16, MG.SYS16, BC.SYS16, SQ2.SYS16)

• SIERRASTANDARD

Controls

Predictive input dialog

The Predictive Input Dialog is a ScummVM aid for running AGI engine games (which notoriously require command line input) on devices with limited keyboard support.

For more information, see the AGI/Predictive Dialog wiki page.

External links

• Wikipedia article on The Black Cauldron
• Screenshots (Disney's AGI Series)