Crisis Mountain
Crisis Mountain is a platform game written by David H. Schroeder for the Apple II and published by Synergistic Software in 1982. A port to the Atari 8-bit family was released in 1983. Creative Software published cartridge versions for the Commodore 64 and Commodore VIC-20. Ports for the FM-7 and PC-8800 series were from Comptiq. In "Crisis Mountain", the player must defuse bombs left in a lair below a volcano which was abandoned by terrorists. One of the first games with regenerating health, the player is not always killed by an individual mishap. Health—labeled as "strength"—is  shown as a number from 0–3, and after taking damage it slowly increases over time. Schroeder later developed "Dino Eggs" for the Apple II. Gameplay. The player runs, jumps, kneels, and crawls through the volcanic lair, attempting to reach bombs with timed detonators. Digging up a bomb disables it, a task which goes faster if the player has found the shovel. The remaining time is added to a bonus clock. After all bombs have been dealt with, the player is given the accumulated time for a "bonus run" where the goal is to collect valuable items left by the terrorists . There are two separate lairs, and the bombs and collectible items are in random locations each play. The player starts with a strength of 3 and dies if it falls to 0. Being hit by rocks ejected from lava pits takes away 1 or 2 units, depending on the type of rock. Falling in the lava or being hit by Bertrum the radioactive bat results in immediate death. Strength slowly regenerates over time. Development. David Schroeder was inspired to write video games after playing "Donkey Kong", and "Crisis Mountain" started out as a minimalist version of that game in Applesoft  BASIC. He chose the Apple II, because that's what was in the lab at Seattle Central Community College. He didn't own a computer until he purchased an Apple II Plus with royalties from "Crisis Mountain". Reception. Writing for "Compute!", Patrick Parrish found the bat to be a key feature: He concluded by calling it "a superior programining achievement and a thoroughly entertaining game." "Softline" magazine wrote, "One of the nicest things about "Crisis Mountain" is that no two games seem alike," and "There are enough things going on all the time that it never becomes boring." Crisis Mountain