Hello. I just wanted ato ask you what do I have to do after getting the 5 pages (I'm playing in the easy difficulty). I always get killed and can't get into any buildings. Anyone, PLEEEASEEE, help!

You know, there were a lot of thumbs-down for this game, but it's actually a very fun game...if you can stay alive. It's extremely hard, even in the first level of play.

game is buggy, keeps on crashing on level 3 and can't save game. Pointless to play after this unless the developer fixes this

hello, I downloaded dungeons and monsters today.........thanx.......i love it........i am not complaining or anything........i just need to know if i am supposed to do anything special to keep it from crashing.........it does that quite often...........any imput wouldbe appreciated..........Mary Antone

The game has potential, but in its current state, it's no good. On the second level, the dragon takes WAY too long to kill, and it's not as if it's a "fun" battle. On the third level, fireball-casting enemies do insane damage, made all the more annoying since you have to stop moving in order to cast a spell.

Worst of all, three times (all on the third level), the game crashed back to the desktop in mid-game. Uninstalled.

I have often wondered what the reason is for the "SomeCompany" name that GAOTD uses for some games. I think the only people able to truly say what "Some Company" is and the reason for that name being used, is the GAOTD team.

My own personal suspicion is that maybe someone who participates on the GAOTD team is also the developer of those games and maybe uses the SomeCompany name so that any opinions, votes etc, will be unbiased. If this is any part of the reason for the usage of Some Company however it's backfired in the opposite (negative) direction.

I noticed when the game loaded on my Vista machine, that it was made with GameStudio...so far that was the only thing I saw regarding its origin

Nice try, there is plenty of arcade but no RPG. Give me character creation, defensive points in all levels, like in level one, because run run run is no fun. A help file would be good to describe your perks in detail and well tips on game play would help, transparent walls. Do you get where I’m going. Don’t give up!
I can’t wait for D&M 2
The firefly king

"Some Company" = Don't download because it will either have problems working, missing common things like shortcuts, incompatible with ATI &/or nVidia video cards, cause major problems with your system, or a combination of all mentioned.

"Some Company" needs to learn "some remedial programming".

Thanks anyway GGotD, but you guys really need to drop CCCP Games from your list of companies to provide this excellent service to. It ultimately makes this site look bad, which we definitely don't want.

Game would have been so much better with tooltips (holding mouse over inventory items did not explain what they were, or display enemy names, health, anything).

The game seems solid, the interface could use a lot of work.

Meh.

I prefer Fate, but thanks for the freebie.

Don't bother with this game... It's just not worth it. Not overly complex, the graphics are adequate (but not good), the isometric view would be okay if you could have some basic control (other than zoom in and out) like most games have had that use this sort of view for years... The controls are counter-intuitive, the instructions/help text sucks, and the difficulty is just stupid... There's no guidance or direction and no real method of being able to combat the hoard charging you basically non-stop other than the magic that doesn't replenish anywhere near fast enough to allow you to last more than brief fleeting moments at a time... *yawn* Don't waste your time.

This is something i never understand....
YOU try these games... and u don't like them (this is fine)
then YOU go on and on about how the game sucks,etc...
can YOU make a game ? you know dx? c++? python??
i guess some might but 99% of the whiners DO NOT so please be thankful that someone actually tried... i mean yes the game might have a bug or two or its not your style but still its something someone spent the time to make and was/is proud of... it might be a different style than what you like but if you made a game and 50+ people said it sucked wouldn't you get mad/sad?

i myself didn't download the game but i still support people who make games and let others try them out to see how it is

Signed,
Nightdemon

P.S Only Kiddies Will Try To Flame The Truth <~~

LOL to #19, gb. Well said. The mundane simply-overcome things people complain about. And once again, Stephen (whiterabbit)... you always outdo your already fabulous self/contributions. Appreciate you much.

Whiterabbit aka Stephen

I totally agree with #32, #37, and #42 and anyone else singing your praises as to how much we appreciate you. I know so many others like myself, look up your advice, reviews and suggestions for games or software. You're the best!

Glad to see Gamegiveaway back again! Sorry to see Some Company game though. An obvious flaw in level 3 being posted and no reply from the company. I have to assume that it is a known flaw or a lack of interest.??
As always, thanks to Slava and the rest,
David

@Whiterabbit aka Stephen
I enjoy your postings immensely and take your reviews seriously. But please don't put Eschalon Book 1 and this game in comparison. Eschalon is a REAL CRPG and this game is just a 3D GameStudio cookie cutout game - basically an arcade game with fantasy elements. Like you hinted at, this is Alien Shooter with dragons. It's not an RPG at all.

@Everyone-
Game is playable but is just an action shooter. Instead of different weapons like a handgun or machine gun, you have different spells like fireball or some needle-spread type spell. If you like isometric action shooters then give this game a try. Although the controls aren't even as good as Alien Shooter.

**On level 3, the game crashes after passing through the door and descending the stairs.

I assume that is the end, but a "You win" or even "Game over" would have really been nice.

Alright, some tips for the game.

For Level 1, find the books. You can charge up the fireball spell, but I prefer the bullet spray (first attack). You have to run away from them and attack when you have gained enough distance. When you're better, you can 1 hit kill the monsters by using the first attack at a correct distance.

Level 2. THE DRAGON IS IMMUNE TO THE SPRAY AND FIREBALL. You have to use the lightning from the sky thing. (or bomb works... I guess from what I read above) It took me a while to figure it out, but he will slow down, eventually start to run away, and then die. If you still can't kill him (running out of potions), then wait until the timer in the top right hand corner run out. Be near the boss and let the rain of fireballs kill him.

Level 3. IMPOSSIBLE. It is glitched (as stated above) I am sorely disappointed because I REALLY Enjoy this game.

The game installed very nicely though and I really enjoy it. I just wish that the glitch was fixed for level 3 because it is really fun...

**On level 3, the game consistently crashes when the timer reaches 750

My strategy for beating the dragon on level 2 was to continuously lob the bombs around, then after the timer ran out, the fireballs from the sky eventually killed it.
Be sure to kill as many enemies as you can, collecting experience and acquiring new abilities.

I have NO complaints, just thanks for Game GOTD. You've saved us
a lot of money and brought mostly my adult sons a lot of entertainment. I only want to request more less violent, kind of "kid friendly" games since I have a 10 year old. He LOVES the car racing game you gave last week, thank you! If you wouldn't mind tossing in more games for younger players, they'd be much appreciated! (meaning no monsters and such) Thanks again!

#52 Had same problem - game just stops running on third level

An intesting game at first look, but several things really hurt it.

It uses WAD keys for movement, but is a third person view and is relative movement (much like the way the first GTA game worked)

You can use the mouse to move, but you have to hold down the left button to continue movement, this is much more intuitive, but the only way to attack is by using the right mouse button, and enemies are just as fast as you are.

There is no targeting of baddies. So when you fire a spell, unless you aim it correctly, there is every chance you could miss entirely.

Only 1 class offered to play. and as far as I can tell it is ONLY useful as a spellcaster

No description of items in the help file.

My main impression is that it could be a decent start, but this is NOT a complete game. This has to be a test bed for the full product that may com out later. As it is, don't even bother. With Diablo 3 coming out, and even games like FATE ($10 at wal mart) outclassing the interface by leaps and bounds, I really don't see why anyone would purchase this.

Hi,
I tried playing this game.
Not a great grahics but nice for ametures.
The third level is getting exception and i tried playing the third level for 6 times and it comes out of the game when i tried to play the third level.
Any one WHO REALLY PLAYED this game, please reply for a resolution.
Do not throw just ash to GOAD..its not a bad game..

-Selva-

This game crash back to desktop during Level 3, I dont have music either :O

I can't believe that the fist day GGOTD is back, people are already complaining about the game. That's astonishing!

I don't know how fix your problem, but you can do only first, second and third level...

Can someone please give help for post #44 above. I really want to play this game!

Nooooo!
This game is IMPOSSIBLE, infact I opened the ultimate door, but all times when you are about exceed the level the game close without save :(:(:(

to me, the game is not as bad as somebody else think. I was able trough levels 1 and 2, but it just closes once and again in middle of level 3... i have XP SP2... how can i fix this? ty.

For the second level, all you must kill the dragon. I used bomb and bonus :D

But the third level is impossible, because there is a bug (THE GAME AUTOMATICALLY CLOSE AFTER 164 SECOND).

I have tried several times to download dungeons and monsters. I have never had a problem with downloads here but this one is giving me probelms. I saved it to my downloads folder like always. When I clicked on the file to open and unzip it my whole screen starts flashing on and off. I deleted it file and downloaded again. Same thing. Then I cleaned my registry and cleared all internet files and tried again. Same thing. I have to either log off or power off to stop the flashing. Even task manager won't stop it.

Steven (Whiterabbit), any ideas? I love this type of game!

wow! this looks pretty awesome for a giveaway

only thing is is that this game looks VERY much like a take-off on Fate which was a very good game check that out if you liked this game (not a freebie) but still VERY cool

Whiterabbit aka Stephen

Unbelievable!

Like the game or not , one thing everyone should like is the effort you give to help out others and give them all the possible information they need to make a decision to download or not.

I just want you to know it is appreciated. Thank you.

I've been a proffesional application developer for almost 15 years now, and the one thing I hate is when people say that someone is an ameteur simply because they don't package thier application in an installation media.

Granted this game does not come in an installatin media, the game is still decent as is. I have massive respect for any developer that is capable of using graphics, especially 3d graphics, as I myself have yet been unable to implement a smooth running graphics engine for a game.

Anyways, on to the review:

Graphics 7/10
The graphics in the game could use a bit more work. Especially where picking up scrolls are concerned. Perhaps the developer could use a seperate and larger image for the shot that's displayed when you pick up a scroll, as simply blowing up the tiny graphic leaves me feeling like the graphics suck. However, on the other hand, the graphics are good, as long as they aren't being blown up.

Sound 5/10
I didn't feel there was enough sound in the game, especially when navigating the main menu. There should at least be some background music. As I was playing it, I didn't notice any background music at all, though I didn't really play it all that long. But the sounds that I did hear, were on que to when certain actions were being performed, and were accurate audio depictions.

Control 4/10
There are simply too many keyboard buttons involved in playing this game. A general rule of thumb is to either limit the number of buttons to what exists on an average console controller, or to include a sort of tutorial within the first level or two that teaches how to control your character. An alternative to the current method is to assign each spell to a key on the number row(1-9,0,-,=). The zoom option should probably make use of the mouse's scroll wheel, as this would be a better implementation than O, L, and K which are not normally obvious for zooming. Another option for zooming should be moving the mouse while holding a accessor key such as CTRL or SHIFT.
As for attacking with a normal weapon, holding SHIFT and clicking is a good approach, but should also have a secondary option of merely clicking on a nearby enemy to attack(No SHIFT required).

Storyline 7/10
The storyline is rather generic, but is an obvious permutation of the standard evil steals something, go get it trend. You should continue with the storyline that you've already started, but fill it in a lot more. Add some additional elements as to why you have to get the book. Granted Lord of Shadows was given the book to hide by your enemy Night Tramp, who feared to be killed soon, why was he so afraid to die? What does the Lord of Shadows intend to do with the book? What can you do with the book once you get it, other than simply taking it out of the world? Who else is involved in this, and what is thier role? Are they after the book for thier own evil/good purposes? If this book is so powerful, why doesn't Night Tramp simply use it to defeat you? Answer these questions, and apply the answers to the storyline.

Overall 6/10
This game isn't all that great at the moment, but I do see great potential in it. The overall score may seem a bit low, but is among some of the highest scores that I've provided to non-proffesional developers. (This use of Non-Proffesional referrs to the fact that the game is not being developed by a large corporation or entity, not to the developers skill level.)

Value 8/10
$9.95 is a good price for the game as it is, and will be an excellent price once the game is fleshed out and remastered. If the game is remastered, and built to proffesional standards, then the asking price of $9.95 will be a low price for selling it on the market. At that point I would charge no less than $19.95, but no more than $49.95 depending upon the number of levels and in-game options.

Finished the first level after a few tries. The second seems impossible. Not sure what the objective even is on the second level, other than "don't die". :-)

Lack of documentation or any sort of help other than basic controls makes gameplay difficult at best.

Having said all that, thank you GAOTD. This free game was a good diversion for a little while.

Simple Arcade game with nice graphics. First level is a bit overwhelming, even in easy mode. I couldn't get past the first level, but hey, I'm not a fulltime gamer. But it would be great to be able to get used to the game a bit before dying.

hi all,
this game has a bug in the 3° level, infact after some time the game automatically close... :(
Then is impossible continue the game...

p.s. Sorry for many errors (if there are), but I don't know english very well...

Thanks Stephen for the review, was real helpful, decided to download game, seems to be worth it so far, I'd say download it, works great.

Hi and welcome back....
Todays game is not my cup of tea but that does not mean I am not grateful for all the free games I have downloaded and like. Keep up the good work. Kind regards....

oops!!!!!!!!

I love this screensaver, it truly is beautiful!! If you don't like screensavers..even FREE ONES...then why comment at all? Judge as a screensaver.
I personally LOVE screensavers...and I build computers for a living.....if your computer can't handle a screensaver...dude....upgrade that heap!!!

i've followed all instructions created my desktop icon and all it does is open the file containing all the files from download. how do i get the game to run/work/do something?

Steven, you almost always post the most useful comment on the board, then you apologize for it? Don't put so much pressure on yourself. What you do is always of the highest quality. Just keep doing it, please! :)

this took about 2 minutes to download with FIOS.
When I went to install the PGM , it wanted to install in where I installed the last program. So you have to watch where it goes.
I can't get thru the first level .
so for me to day, its a no vote. If your a lot younger and have beter reflexes, you may love this.

Glad the games are back. This one is simply not my cup of tea so I'll pass today and be back tomorrow hoping for something I'll enjoy. If not, thanks anyway, I'll keep checking back. I know it's impossible to please everyone all of the time, and I'm OK with that. I'm just glad we have this wonderful opportunity available to us.

(would love to see a neutral or 'not interested' voting option, since I {and I'm sure others} end up stuck with 'thumbs down' just because a game is a genre we don't enjoy {so we choose to not even download it} when there is really nothing wrong with the game, in and of itself.)

this is a like an HP game know as FATE but yeah its a neat game

i don´t like this game...,please gamegiveaway ..., when will we have good games ???

Thank you GGOTD. One should never look a gift horse in the mouth. If you don't like this game, then wait for the next. What don't you understand about the word "FREE"??? Requesting what game you prefer is how to influence that type of game in the future... not bad mouthing!

Hi Joe comment #23. You can get Nuclear Ball for free from Gametop, though they have changed the name to A-Ball. they have at least 10 arkanoids, all of which are still sold elsewhere. The only price is having your browser opened everytime you close the game down./ I've checked the files and all are clean. If you like Nuclear Ball, you'll like Scaraball, which is another arkanoid developed by Erse games who made Nuclear Ball/A-Ball. (you'll see the similarities. You can download all 10 arkanoids from the following link:

http://www.gametop.com/category/breakout.html

They have at least four that we've been given via the giveaway project, that include the two mentioned above, plus Egyptian Ball, a great little 3D arkanoid with excellent Brick Physics and Geometry Ball, where you play against an opponent. All four games are well worth having despite the browser thing (which is simply sorted by clicking on the X, lol.

Other Arkanoids you can download from the above link are Cosmoball, Aztec Bricks, Turbo Ball, Brixout, Sawnoid and Starball.

All those, together with Psi-Ops, Shadowflare episode one, todays giveaway should keep everyone happy this weekend (hopefully) :)

Haha, well, that's about as cliche as it gets! The evil dark lord of blackness hides the black book of darkness in the dark evil bloody dungeons of despair. Now go get it!