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The Shadow of Yserbius

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The Shadow of Yserbius
File:TSOY.png
Developer(s)Sierra On-Line
Publisher(s)Sierra On-Line
Platform(s)MS-DOS
Release1992
Genre(s)MUD
Mode(s)Single player, Multiplayer

'The Shadow of Yserbius', originally published by Sierra On-Line, was the first of three graphical MUDs for the online community. Opening to rave reviews, The Shadow of Yserbius, according to industry critics, set the standard by which all future MUDS would be judged. The game was followed by two sequels entitled The Fates of Twinion (1993) and The Ruins of Cawdor (1995). Until recently, only The Shadow of Yserbius and Fates of Twinion were playable in offline mode.

The Shadow of Yserbius, along with its successors, remained online until 1996, when America Online purchased the rights from then-owner AT&T for an undisclosed price (rumored to be $40 million). AOL soon pulled the plug on the The Shadow of Yserbius, which was a competitor to its existing online RPG Neverwinter Nights.

Source http://www.sierragamers.com/ owned by Creator Ken Williams Source http://www.yserbius.org Archives Source http://www.vintage-sierra.com/index.php


Game play

Combat was simple turn-based point and click fare, typical of many graphical RPG's of its time.

The goal of the game was to kill an evil elemental creature called En-li-Kil. There were a number of "rooms", where up to 30 (later 60) people could meet and adventure together in groups of up to four. Combat was turn-based.

The available professions were Barbarian, Knight, Ranger, Thief, Cleric, and Wizard. Player races included Human, Orc, Elf, Troll, Dwarf, Gnome, Halfling, and Gremlin.

Another popular pastime was player vs player sparring. This later became corrupted by cheating, as well as version compatibility issues, which later versions tried to address with little success. The most popular of these cheating programs was a macro called VitaminF.

Many players were members of guilds, ranging from the large SoF (Soldiers Of Fortune), KoY (Kingdom Of Yserbius) and DEADZ, to the smaller guilds such as TheMercs, KoC (Knight of Chivalry), and KAAOS (Killing As An Organized Sport). Most guilds were based on role playing with very little questing being done later in the game. A handful of the guilds started in Yserbius during the early 1990's, such as SoF, TheCelts, KAAOS, DEADZ, TheMercs, and the New Outriders, still exist to this day.

Source of information for gameplay. Detailed walkthrough available at http://www.yserbius.org/forum Source of information for Gameplay Original Manual in PDF form http://www.yserbius.org/download/Yserbius_Manual_Original.pdf

The Tavern

The Shadow of Yserbius tavern was a social hub for the game where players could meet to chat.

The tavern was the social hub for the game. Players who spent a lot of time in the tavern were known as "tavern rats". Many games and challenges took place there, as well as a significant amount of roleplaying.

Remakes

Doubtless due to the popularity of The Shadow of Yserbius, the perceived simplicity of its engine, and the fact that most of the graphics are easily reproduced, there have been several attempts to remake the game.

The Ruins of Cawdor (second sequel to Yserbius) has been patched to be playable offline.

Current Projects

As of June 2006, there are no projects that are in active development. However, there is a test version of The Shadow of Yserbius that allows users to enter the tavern and chat. This version was built in java and can be found at Yserbius.Org.

Abandoned Projects

The first remake attempt was Gandalf's 'Yserbius project', which was in development in 1998. Gandalf, a major force in the Yserbius community, disappeared in early 1999. With his going, all information regarding his project was lost.

In mid 1999, Xenther and EtoneDarkKnight worked together on developing 'Project Asunder', a spiritual successor to Yserbius. Numerous screen shots were shown, with actual gameplay implied. However, EtoneDarkKnight fell out of communication with the public late that year, and Project Asunder was closed shortly thereafter.

In early 2000, Mithrandel announced development of 'Yet Another Yserbius' (YAY). While Mithrandel claimed to have finished development of the Tavern and extended beta test invitations to a small group of testers, no public beta test was ever released. Mithrandel later went on to develop FauxINN, a recreation of The ImagiNation Network.


Sources

Source http://www.sierragamers.com/ owned by Creator Ken Williams Source http://www.yserbius.org Archives Source http://www.vintage-sierra.com/index.php

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