Thanks for the positive comments. :) This was a game I designed MANY years ago, but it still brings in more email than anything else I've worked on (including the Elder scrolls series). The pixel art took YEARS! I was was forever tinkering with it. a LOT of artwork never made it into the game because of memory restrictions. Anybody interested in a mobile port? ;) Thanks again. :) Mark Jones
Man, if it´s really you I must say I was just DROOLING ALL over this 4hr video of the game and it´s 2021...From those 4hrs I spent at least 3hrs questioning myself HOW HOW HOW? :))) It is absolutely beautiful, I love it.
Marvellous!!! YOu made this gem?!?! Congratulation!!! I knew nothing about it in germany!!! No one had it - Whatever as an original or illegally copy - It would be the HAMMER when we had it in the 1990ies!!! I love this game!!!!!!
Just popped in to say thank you so much for all the nice comments. Been busy recently ( on Ravensword II iOs and android). Darkmere still remains my favourite after all this time. Still in contact with most if the crew who worked with me on this
aside from horrible interaction/inventory handling and totally awkward fighting/AI, this is definitely one of the top masterpieces of coding and graphics on AMIGA !!!
@mjonesgraphics This is something I look back on with much nostalgia. I remember my grandmother and farther playing this for hours. And later, me and my brother in the early 90's. Amazing work on the game.
Back then I actually never made it out of the first village and I've played 'in it' for months. Just seeking out NPCs, drawing the village map, picking up everything I I could and exploring the dark creepy streets. Such great pixel work, awesome atmospheric music and sound effects that made my skin crawl. God, I miss the good old days when games were made out of love first, and not just for the money.
ahhh amiga such a unique thing ...the sound's...the graphics...some of the best games in history...i want my amiga back...A1200 with 3 disk drives i fookin loved it so why did i sell it? oh i feel bad now..........tit
I had this game too. Never got passed the first stage either. Unfortunately my Amigas were stolen, Buuuut, this can be played nowadays on the A500 mini that's recently been released. So I'm hoping after all these years, that I finally get off that first stage!
Darkmere still holds up really well when it comes to aesthetics and atmosphere. The gameplay not much so. Except walking endlessly, doing the same basic actions over and over again and spending the rest of your time fighting/avoiding stupid ennemies, the game hasn't much to offer. Still spent hours playing it back then and eventually completed it. The wonderful Mark Jones graphics had me hooked.
Feels like open world brother of Cadaver with some of the most beautiful pieces of pixel art I have ever seen including all BB games. The dullness of the wasteland could be kinda improved with a simple tree of skills with some more magic or technology to select but anyway it´s a jaw-dropping piece of art even without it...
WOW!!!! I never heard of this game!!!! In Germany it is still unknown until today I think!!! What a wonderful icon of beautiful graphics and action,gameplay and Role playing!!!!
Wow! This looks like a really awesome game. The introduction is intense, and reveals a fascinating story. I will be getting an emulator to play this one very soon indeed. This 4-1/4 hour game play is the longest I've ever seen -- thanks for putting all of this together for everyone to see, and keeping memories of an old game alive.
I played this game when i was arround15 or 16. Unfortunatly my english was not so good at the time, and so i couldn't appreciate the game as much as i would today. But i remember i reached that forest, affter many days of playing. Never saw the 3rd part, in that cavern. Thanks !
This looks like a awesome game. Too bad it doesn't have ingame music. I must say that this game has great art. It's very beautiful. I never cared about realism in graphics what we see in todays games. In my opinion cartoony look is better & has more personality. I raise my hat for the makers of this game & the player. Good job!
The music from this game is simply GREAT! I was thinking of it this evening, then I had to check it again on UA-cam just to listen to this beauty. Also the graphical art is amazing! Mark K. Jones is the king.
Back in the day after spending days in the village, drawing maps etc I got to the forest only for the game to immediately crash. And that was the end of Darkmere for me. I preferred Cadaver though it too crashed after weeks of playing it and again I never finished it because of this. Crashing on the Amiga 500+ seemed to happen rather a lot, probably why 80% of the games I had remain unfinished to this day.
I didn't knew this game, but you did an amazing job here, Mark Jones. It's a pity that pixel art is not used anymore in games. Of course there's a lot of nostalgia involved, but not just that - aesthetic quality of 2D games are something that should be preserved. Like traditional animation, pixel art's just marked as obsolete by the money-hoarders everywhere. =/
Awesome gameplay. I try to play it too, but got problems with finding 3 herbs for herbalist in town. When I figure that hooded man got them I only find two. No matter how much I kill those hooded thieves they have only 2 herbs and some random stuff or nothing. Any advice?
Darkmere always kinda creeped me out playing it. Would have been groundbreaking if they'd ramped the horror elements up a bit and created a survival horror.
If only the Amiga had the bandwidth to have more audio channels. it's very hard to have multiple sound effects and music with 4 channels. CPU mixing takes up valuable cycles, especially when there is no Fast RAM.
@mjonesgraphics Have been a fan of your work for long time, enjoyed exploring this city in darkmere ! I can make ipad/iphone games, it would be great honnor to make something in service of your art !
@mjonesgraphics An iOS or Android remake would be awesome with all the missing animation sequences placed back in (if they still exist). I loved the gloomy city and the forest, to bad I couldn't beat the game back then.
combat looks cheezy but graphics look good. must be ecs being used if not aga. a little weird theres no in game tune. i think of the game the immortal when i see this style.
It's OCS. Enhanced ECS graphics capabibilities where used like never in any game, because the additional resolutions with less colors didn't make much sense at all for games and made the machine way slower. Screenmodes like productivity where good for Workbench usage, though. There where some games that claimed to need ECS, but those where all related to the need of 1MB ChipRAM, by using the 1MB ECS Fat Agnus, available years before the same name ECS chipset that included Hires Denise featuring higher resolutions. In the most cases the additional Chip RAM was used for some more sound samples.
The gameplay mechanics are quite poor and monotonous. You basically just walk back and forth through the three levels and do the same limited actions all the time. If it wasn't for its great visuals and atmosphere, I would never have found the motivation to complete this game back then.
Thanks for the positive comments. :)
This was a game I designed MANY years ago, but it still brings in more email than anything else I've worked on (including the Elder scrolls series). The pixel art took YEARS! I was was forever tinkering with it. a LOT of artwork never made it into the game because of memory restrictions. Anybody interested in a mobile port? ;) Thanks again. :) Mark Jones
An Hard Disk version extended for Amiga would be good too - with animations of course
Any chance of an android port of this game? or even a windows port would be awesome.
Man, if it´s really you I must say I was just DROOLING ALL over this 4hr video of the game and it´s 2021...From those 4hrs I spent at least 3hrs questioning myself HOW HOW HOW? :))) It is absolutely beautiful, I love it.
Marvellous!!! YOu made this gem?!?! Congratulation!!! I knew nothing about it in germany!!! No one had it - Whatever as an original or illegally copy - It would be the HAMMER when we had it in the 1990ies!!! I love this game!!!!!!
Any kind of port with an extended version would be awesome!
Just popped in to say thank you so much for all the nice comments. Been busy recently ( on Ravensword II iOs and android). Darkmere still remains my favourite after all this time. Still in contact with most if the crew who worked with me on this
Hello, sir! Would it be possible to ask you a few questions about Darkmere for a feature I'm currently writing?
Yes! and put the "The Dragons Eyrie" back online too ;) Thanks
Darkmere straight-up has some of the best graphics I've ever seen. I wish this style hadn't disappeared.
+Luke Consani Thanks Luke! Yes, I meant disappeared from gaming. I'll definitely check out that link!
Amiga's had the best color palettes out of all those early 90's computers, IMO.
aside from horrible interaction/inventory handling and totally awkward fighting/AI, this is definitely one of the top masterpieces of coding and graphics on AMIGA !!!
This looks amazing. I'm loving the visual style.
@mjonesgraphics This is something I look back on with much nostalgia. I remember my grandmother and farther playing this for hours. And later, me and my brother in the early 90's. Amazing work on the game.
Lol, I was thinking "Looks like Heimdall, sounds like Universe..", they were all made by Core/8thDay. I loved their games on Amiga.
This was one of my favourites on the Amiga. I wish they'd remake this for modern consoles with updated gfx & sound.
Back then I actually never made it out of the first village and I've played 'in it' for months. Just seeking out NPCs, drawing the village map, picking up everything I I could and exploring the dark creepy streets. Such great pixel work, awesome atmospheric music and sound effects that made my skin crawl. God, I miss the good old days when games were made out of love first, and not just for the money.
ahhh amiga such a unique thing ...the sound's...the graphics...some of the best games in history...i want my amiga back...A1200 with 3 disk drives i fookin loved it so why did i sell it? oh i feel bad now..........tit
i sold my amiga 1200 for £80 it had fast ram an internal 2.5 inch IDE 80MB hard disk!!
I had this game too. Never got passed the first stage either. Unfortunately my Amigas were stolen, Buuuut, this can be played nowadays on the A500 mini that's recently been released. So I'm hoping after all these years, that I finally get off that first stage!
I've always found the mood set by the soundtrack on Darkmere to be OUTSTANDING, it's the best intro I've ever seen in a computer game hands down.
Darkmere still holds up really well when it comes to aesthetics and atmosphere. The gameplay not much so. Except walking endlessly, doing the same basic actions over and over again and spending the rest of your time fighting/avoiding stupid ennemies, the game hasn't much to offer. Still spent hours playing it back then and eventually completed it. The wonderful Mark Jones graphics had me hooked.
Feels like open world brother of Cadaver with some of the most beautiful pieces of pixel art I have ever seen including all BB games. The dullness of the wasteland could be kinda improved with a simple tree of skills with some more magic or technology to select but anyway it´s a jaw-dropping piece of art even without it...
The setting in the old European streets and droning wind really really sets the mood. A fantastic atmosphere!
WOW!!!! I never heard of this game!!!! In Germany it is still unknown until today I think!!! What a wonderful icon of beautiful graphics and action,gameplay and Role playing!!!!
Wow! This looks like a really awesome game. The introduction is intense, and reveals a fascinating story. I will be getting an emulator to play this one very soon indeed.
This 4-1/4 hour game play is the longest I've ever seen -- thanks for putting all of this together for everyone to see, and keeping memories of an old game alive.
Soundtrack is absolutely charming
Loved the atmosphere of this game!
I played this game when i was arround15 or 16. Unfortunatly my english was not so good at the time, and so i couldn't appreciate the game as much as i would today.
But i remember i reached that forest, affter many days of playing. Never saw the 3rd part, in that cavern. Thanks !
still own the boxed original of this game, loved it when i was younger :)
This looks like a awesome game. Too bad it doesn't have ingame music.
I must say that this game has great art. It's very beautiful. I never cared about realism in graphics what we see in todays games. In my opinion cartoony look is better & has more personality.
I raise my hat for the makers of this game & the player. Good job!
Most modern games doesn't come close to looking this beautiful
The art is beautiful!
I never was good at RPGs, but this game hooked me.
Graphics are outstanding!!
At 16 minutes, this has to be the longest intro of any Amiga game!
I loved this game, finished it once. The similar amazing one on Amiga was "Darkstone".
The music from this game is simply GREAT! I was thinking of it this evening, then I had to check it again on UA-cam just to listen to this beauty. Also the graphical art is amazing! Mark K. Jones is the king.
Iveson. Nuff said!
@@simonebernacchia5724 indeed one of the very best composer on the amiga
Back in the day after spending days in the village, drawing maps etc I got to the forest only for the game to immediately crash. And that was the end of Darkmere for me. I preferred Cadaver though it too crashed after weeks of playing it and again I never finished it because of this. Crashing on the Amiga 500+ seemed to happen rather a lot, probably why 80% of the games I had remain unfinished to this day.
I didn't knew this game, but you did an amazing job here, Mark Jones.
It's a pity that pixel art is not used anymore in games. Of course there's a lot of nostalgia involved, but not just that - aesthetic quality of 2D games are something that should be preserved. Like traditional animation, pixel art's just marked as obsolete by the money-hoarders everywhere. =/
Holy epic backstory Batman! Almost 20 minutes and 5 commercials...
You designed this game, it rocked so much!
this looks amazing; never played this 'back in the days', so gonna dload and play this fer sure!!!
reminds me of cadaver by the bitmap brothers. this looks a nice game. love the music and the graphics.
@cubex55 Still nice to see it again! :) Thanks.
Always loved your work, but one thing I will say about the scrolls and the font used in this game..... STORMLORD! ;)
OMG, it was only 4 hours ! I remember weeks of playing this game ;].
Hey man,that was my favorite game when i was 14!
Spent hours and hours and hours playing this GREAT game :-)
Heh, loved some of the Tolkien, LotR references they put in there.
Awesome graphics by Mark Jones!
It gets old watching someone scroll through action screens for hours
Amazing art.
Intro is beyond reality
Opening almost sounds like something out of castlevania :)
I remember owning this game when i was about 10, I never made it past the first stage! lol
Awesome gameplay. I try to play it too, but got problems with finding 3 herbs for herbalist in town. When I figure that hooded man got them I only find two. No matter how much I kill those hooded thieves they have only 2 herbs and some random stuff or nothing. Any advice?
Darkmere always kinda creeped me out playing it. Would have been groundbreaking if they'd ramped the horror elements up a bit and created a survival horror.
The graphics are beautiful but the combat is kind of dumb.
In 2018 this sentence still applies to 99% of all video games featuring melee combat. Its just sad.
@@eiszapfenderwutendenwinde3233 Turn-based combat is still the best. Ultima III-V were great.
was mich bei dem spiel immer abgeschreckt hat,das waren die ladezeiten.ok,mit whdlload gehts jetzt etwas flotter..
gotta love the graphics
Think I would've loved this.
Such a shame it doesn't have ingame music. This game would be great If it had music, better combat and maybe a bit of blood/gore.
@mjonesgraphics Great Work Mark. Loved the Game! iphone version would be great.
I'm interested in a Falcon Port. :D
Love to see this ported to the gp2x caanoo :-)
Why why these gems on Amiga most of the times didn't have music.. Only if they did...
If only the Amiga had the bandwidth to have more audio channels. it's very hard to have multiple sound effects and music with 4 channels. CPU mixing takes up valuable cycles, especially when there is no Fast RAM.
@mjonesgraphics
Have been a fan of your work for long time, enjoyed exploring this city in darkmere !
I can make ipad/iphone games, it would be great honnor to make something in service of your art !
@mjonesgraphics
Hah, I remember writing you a mail because of the graphics as well. But damn are they gorgeous. No wonder.
@mjonesgraphics An iOS or Android remake would be awesome with all the missing animation sequences placed back in (if they still exist). I loved the gloomy city and the forest, to bad I couldn't beat the game back then.
For some reason those menus reminds me of Spellbound game on ZX
Great game, but holy hell, that intro is longer than a stack of bibles
I have the Original in my house right next to me since the day it was out ! Fabulous game ! Can you make it on tablet please ;)
This looks awesome, only thing that really lets it down for me is the super repetitive fight animation & fight mechanics
@mjonesgraphics a mobile port?
yes please!!!
@mjonesgraphics how long it actualy took to make this game ?
unreal tournament intro...
combat looks cheezy but graphics look good. must be ecs being used if not aga. a little weird theres no in game tune. i think of the game the immortal when i see this style.
It's OCS. Enhanced ECS graphics capabibilities where used like never in any game, because the additional resolutions with less colors didn't make much sense at all for games and made the machine way slower. Screenmodes like productivity where good for Workbench usage, though. There where some games that claimed to need ECS, but those where all related to the need of 1MB ChipRAM, by using the 1MB ECS Fat Agnus, available years before the same name ECS chipset that included Hires Denise featuring higher resolutions. In the most cases the additional Chip RAM was used for some more sound samples.
I like it...!!.
Mi piace!!.
ha un account director registrato nel 2006...nessun altro può,a meno che tu non abbia un director registrato in quella data XD
The atmosphere and graphics are fantastic but the fighting mechanics are horrible
The gameplay mechanics are quite poor and monotonous. You basically just walk back and forth through the three levels and do the same limited actions all the time.
If it wasn't for its great visuals and atmosphere, I would never have found the motivation to complete this game back then.
"Amiga Longplay"? These videos are all of games for the Amiga computers, hence this word in all the titles.
Cant find tidy potions anywhere :(
^____^
Danke !
★★★★★
god that load screen annoys me when i die and have to sit thru the entire beginning. especially if i die and don't save.
2:07:26 mushroom nymph
Ähhhh...Sound??????????
I jumped to 24:03, saw the gameplay and went "yea, no" and stopped..
Like so many Amiga games, this is visually stunning, but gameplay is looks tedious and boring.
The combat is just dumb