Hi Folks.

Back in 1995 I started to create games based on the television gameshow, Knightmare.  I used a presentation package to create these games, Harvard Graphics 3.0 for DOS.  It was my first real game creation outing on the PC.

Each Knightmare game was part of an on going story.  As the series progressed, characters came, characters went, the dungeon changed, the stories got more detailed.

But as time went on and DOS gave way to Windows 95 and upwards, Harvard Graphics 3.0 for DOS stopped working and eventually was lost.  The games, stored in Harvard Graphics 3.0 for DOS format, sat on floppy disks with no way to access them.

2011, I was clearing out some old files and removing my dependence on floppy disks forever (I hadn't used a floppy disk in many years previous), I found my old Knightmare files.  After a bit of trial and error, I finally managed to get these games transfered over to Microsoft PowerPoint.

Unfortunately the move did not go fully...  All the gameplay elements were lost, what I had was a collection of slides.  And not all the Knightmare games made it off their aging floppy disks.  Of 16 games, I saved Knighmare 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 11, 15 and 16.  While disappointed to have lost so many games, I was glad to get these ones back.

As I looked through the games, the memories were wonderful.  These were decade and a half old games, many of which I had forgotten about.  So I got to work on restoring the gameplay to the games.

This took a few days to do and not all of the elements could be restored.  I found it funny that two decades old Harvard Graphics 3.0 for DOS had more power then todays Microsoft PowerPoint!  LOL!!  For example, there is no way to loop frames in PowerPoint or to control where a frame jumps to when it times out.  There is also no way to recognise key inputs.  Such a shame.  But I did manage to get the games back up and running in some shape and form and so here they are for everyone to enjoy.

I recommend that you play the games in order, Knightmare 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 11, 15 and 16.  You will need a bit of paper to take notes and that's it.

Knightmare 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 11 and 15 are all PowerPoint games, you will need PowerPoint to play them.  If you do not have PowerPoint, you can download a FREE PowerPoint viewer from the Microsoft website, just Google PowerPoint Viewer and you'll find it.  Once installed, you can play these games.

Knightmare 16 saw the series move over to Clickteam's The Games Factory.  This is a stand alone EXE file, it runs in Windows, you don't need any extra software to play it.  There is a help file with this game which will tell you how to play.

For the PowerPoint games, you just need the mouse.  Click to interact with the environment.  On screens with just text, click to move forward.

When you pick up an object or spell, you will be told which letter to press to use it.  This function does not work in PowerPoint so just click the mouse to advance the story.

There will be parts that were ment to loop a number of frames, this also does not work in PowerPoint.  If you do not click the mouse button on these automated looping frames, they will just advance naturally.

So what is there for you to do in the these games?  Well, you can play them, follow the story, take part in the puzzles, etc.  While a lot of gameplay elements are lost, the games are still fun to play.

Knightmare 16 was the last Knightmare game I made so while it ends on a cliff hanger, there was no additional installments.

I hope you like these games, they certainly brought back a lot of memories for me.  If you'd like to drop me a message about them I'd welcome hearing from you.  You can email me at pkb@iol.ie

Enjoy!!
Paul Boland.
