Just thought I'd share my joy!

phreakindee · 02-19-2009, 10:15 PM

This brought a tear to my eye... here's a wee bit of backstory.

When I was about 7 years old, the very first computer game I ever remember playing was Crystal Caves. My dad had a friend in a band who had this amazing computer, it was a 386 with DOS 6 I believe. He had a BBS online almost all the time and downloaded this new shareware title called Crystal Caves.

My dad then took me to this bookstore he recommended, which also sold shareware titles from id, Apogee, and Epic Megagames. I recognized Mylo immediately and we bought the game that day.

I played it non-stop, beat it countless times, dreamed of the game, wrote stories about it, drew pictures and even painted a cardboard cut-out of Mylo that was life-size as an art project. And this was just the shareware game!

Finally, the other day, after hearing some rather bleak news from my workplace and moping around being rather depressed, I randomly remembered Crystal Caves and the Twibbles and thought "holy crap, I wonder if I can get the game somewhere?"

Sure enough, the 3DR store still had disks available! I ordered it immediately, and about a week later, a box from Texas shows up on my doorstop. Mana from heaven.

I was 7 all over again... and all of the sudden having recently being terminated from my job didn't matter at all.

I smiled the rest of the day and pulled out my old 486 laptop and got to playing. Wow, I suck! I have no idea how I had the patience to get through it multiple times over, the game is BRUTAL!

I've attached a couple photos, of my original shareware from Titanium Seal and of my new full game running on DosBox! I could not be more proud to finally own this game, despite some 16 years after the fact.

Thank you, Apogee! This recession is crap, but all you need is a good classic EGA game to remember when things were simple and hey, life is good for even just a little bit.

Crystal Caves Shareware Cover

Crystal Caves Shareware Disk

Crystal Caves Ep.2 DosBox

Zztx · 02-19-2009, 10:28 PM

S'really cool.

Joe Siegler · 02-20-2009, 02:16 AM

Cool story. I'll make sure Frank Maddin sees it.

Qbix · 02-20-2009, 02:47 AM

awesome !

moron · 02-20-2009, 06:43 AM

good to see a fan I would always manige to hit the air generator right when I was going to finish the level with full health it was a big time investmint to try to get a perfict (or close to it) score

phreakindee · 02-20-2009, 08:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe Siegler

Cool story. I'll make sure Frank Maddin sees it.

Wow, that would be simply awesome, thank you!

I really wish I could find a picture of the art project I did, I was really proud of that, it was on display at a local art school / museum (The Sawtooth School for Visual Art) for a little while at the "larger than life" exhibit. I figured since Mylo was a tiny pixelated guy, making him life-size would technically be making him larger than life.

Malgon · 02-23-2009, 01:50 AM

That's a cool story man.

Jinroh · 03-04-2009, 07:20 PM

Great story!! ^_^

It's stories like this that we need nowadays. hehe.

Sorry to hear about your job though. T_T

Dopefish7590 · 03-15-2009, 07:49 PM

Cool story...

Quote:

Originally Posted by moron

good to see a fan I would always manige to hit the air generator right when I was going to finish the level with full health it was a big time investmint to try to get a perfict (or close to it) score

Oh don't even remind me...

I lost more lives on those "Air Generators" then I did on the actual enemies.

moron · 03-25-2009, 09:45 PM

ya those were crazy it was only the ones that you couldint kill that were realy nasty like the falling rocks

02-20-2009, 02:16 AM	#3
Joe Siegler 3D Realms Staff	Re: Just thought I'd share my joy! Cool story. I'll make sure Frank Maddin sees it. __________________ Apogee / 3D Realms Employee: Dec 14, 1992 - May 22, 2009, Oct 23, 2014 - current "Lifting up the Cross to the waiting lost" - Petra \| John 3:16

02-20-2009, 02:47 AM	#4
Qbix DOSBox Advisor	Re: Just thought I'd share my joy! awesome !

02-19-2009, 10:15 PM	#1
phreakindee	Just thought I'd share my joy! This brought a tear to my eye... here's a wee bit of backstory. When I was about 7 years old, the very first computer game I ever remember playing was Crystal Caves. My dad had a friend in a band who had this amazing computer, it was a 386 with DOS 6 I believe. He had a BBS online almost all the time and downloaded this new shareware title called Crystal Caves. My dad then took me to this bookstore he recommended, which also sold shareware titles from id, Apogee, and Epic Megagames. I recognized Mylo immediately and we bought the game that day. I played it non-stop, beat it countless times, dreamed of the game, wrote stories about it, drew pictures and even painted a cardboard cut-out of Mylo that was life-size as an art project. And this was just the shareware game! Finally, the other day, after hearing some rather bleak news from my workplace and moping around being rather depressed, I randomly remembered Crystal Caves and the Twibbles and thought "holy crap, I wonder if I can get the game somewhere?" Sure enough, the 3DR store still had disks available! I ordered it immediately, and about a week later, a box from Texas shows up on my doorstop. Mana from heaven. I was 7 all over again... and all of the sudden having recently being terminated from my job didn't matter at all. I smiled the rest of the day and pulled out my old 486 laptop and got to playing. Wow, I suck! I have no idea how I had the patience to get through it multiple times over, the game is BRUTAL! I've attached a couple photos, of my original shareware from Titanium Seal and of my new full game running on DosBox! I could not be more proud to finally own this game, despite some 16 years after the fact. Thank you, Apogee! This recession is crap, but all you need is a good classic EGA game to remember when things were simple and hey, life is good for even just a little bit. Crystal Caves Shareware Cover Crystal Caves Shareware Disk Crystal Caves Ep.2 DosBox Last edited by phreakindee; 02-19-2009 at 10:34 PM.

02-19-2009, 10:28 PM	#2
Zztx	Re: Just thought I'd share my joy! S'really cool. __________________ "God damn it, you've got to be kind." - Kurt Vonnegut

02-20-2009, 06:43 AM	#5
moron	Re: Just thought I'd share my joy! good to see a fan I would always manige to hit the air generator right when I was going to finish the level with full health it was a big time investmint to try to get a perfict (or close to it) score

02-23-2009, 01:50 AM	#7
Malgon	Re: Just thought I'd share my joy! That's a cool story man. __________________ -Most wanted games: Doom 4, Tomb Raider, Beyond Good and Evil 2

03-04-2009, 07:20 PM	#8
Jinroh	Re: Just thought I'd share my joy! Great story!! ^_^ It's stories like this that we need nowadays. hehe. Sorry to hear about your job though. T_T

03-25-2009, 09:45 PM	#10
moron	Re: Just thought I'd share my joy! ya those were crazy it was only the ones that you couldint kill that were realy nasty like the falling rocks