Runen (1996)

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Norbert
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Runen (1996)

Post by Norbert »

David wrote: October 30th, 2014, 6:57 pmDid you make the PoP screenshots, by the way?
Yes. (Late reply. :P)

We already wrote about Nosferatu (1994) and Cruel World (1993).

I found another one, German game Runen (1996).
http://archive.org//details/Runen-DOS-S ... .Baer-1996
Footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLLCUu4L9DI
Last edited by Norbert on October 7th, 2017, 10:50 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Nosferatu (1994)

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Norbert wrote: October 7th, 2017, 5:41 pm I found another one, German game Runen (1996).
http://archive.org//details/Runen-DOS-S ... .Baer-1996
Footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLLCUu4L9DI
This game is not bad, actually.
For sword fighting use + on the numeric keypad to draw the sword, then keep smashing Enter to attack.
Purple potions allow you to pass gates.
And you need the skull's green eye gem to open the level exit door.
It has plenty of checkpoints throughout the level, so you don't have to restart the level over and over.
Has some PoP2 elements too, like the crushing wall.

[Edit: In level 2 - yeah, I actually made it there - it has a trap with an Indiana Jones-like rolling boulder too. You need to grab the ledge and wait for the ball to roll by, drink the potion, exit the screen, return to the screen with the boulder and have a second boulder push away the first. And when purple, after drinking a purple potion, flames cannot harm you. And if gates have nothing above them, he can climb over them.]
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Re: Nosferatu (1994)

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Norbert wrote: October 7th, 2017, 5:41 pm
David wrote: October 30th, 2014, 6:57 pmDid you make the PoP screenshots, by the way?
Yes. (Late reply. :P)

I found another one, German game Runen (1996).
http://archive.org//details/Runen-DOS-S ... .Baer-1996
Footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLLCUu4L9DI
Hell graphics are not good, but have some interesting engine possibilities.
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Re: Nosferatu (1994)

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I've reached level 3.
In that level, after killing an enemy its head floats away, then later you fight that head.
Very difficult fight, didn't win yet...
[Edit: It is possible to run past the head and lose only 1HP, but after killing a second guard, the second head follows you and kills you anyway. I'll need save states for this...]

Attached are also the level codes I got after levels 1 and 2.
No idea yet how to enter them in-game. Maybe that's only possible in a more complete (full) version of the game.

This is actually a big game with lots of different kinds of gameplay in it.
You can see in the slideshow (SHOW.EXE) that the player even gets a gun.
That slideshow also mentions Prince of Persia, by the way.

David, I guess maybe put all the "Runen (1996)" related posts in a separate thread?
Attachments
floating head
floating head
floating_head.png (8.46 KiB) Viewed 6247 times
code after level 2
code after level 2
code_after_level_2.png (16.23 KiB) Viewed 6247 times
code after level 1
code after level 1
code_after_level_1.png (16.26 KiB) Viewed 6247 times
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Re: Nosferatu (1994)

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Norbert wrote: October 7th, 2017, 10:26 pmAttached are also the level codes I got after levels 1 and 2.
No idea yet how to enter them in-game. Maybe that's only possible in a more complete (full) version of the game.
I think attached is the full version.
At least partially, since it's now possible to enter a level code.
Maybe some of the files in share/ need to be moved into the root (main) directory.

The level codes are always the same.
And HP is always back to a default at the start of each level.
(So it doesn't matter if you ended the previous level with lots of HP.)

All the codes:
level 2: 2408
level 3: A1E7
level 4: FEDE
level 5: A239
level 6: 8146
level 7: CABA
level 8: 2309
Attachments
Runen.zip
Runen (1996), full version?
(1.29 MiB) Downloaded 146 times
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Re: Nosferatu (1994)

Post by David »

Norbert wrote: October 7th, 2017, 10:26 pm David, I guess maybe put all the "Runen (1996)" related posts in a separate thread?
Done.
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Re: Runen (1996)

Post by Norbert »

David wrote: October 14th, 2017, 12:56 pm
Norbert wrote: October 7th, 2017, 10:26 pm David, I guess maybe put all the "Runen (1996)" related posts in a separate thread?
Done.
Thanks.
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Re: Runen (1996)

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I tried the game. Lots of things to write about...

General:

The game is quite slow-paced (especially when climbing), so in DOSBox, you should configure a single key to the fast-forward function.
The default Alt+F12 is quite hard to press while playing, and if you press Alt while running, the "prince" will stop.

Climbing up or down requires too precise alignment.
Crouching pushes the kid back a bit, so if you repeat it, you will eventually be able to climb down.

You can drink potions with the down arrow. (Kinda like in some versions of PoP.)
The potions are quite big, bigger than the kid's head. I wonder how can he drink it all. :)
A difference from PoP is that they are corked (you can hear when the kid unplugs the cork), and they are in transparent glass.
And when he finished drinking, he throws the empty glass offscreen. :)
Norbert wrote:It has plenty of checkpoints throughout the level, so you don't have to restart the level over and over.
These checkpoints are invisible, like in PoP2.

Somehow the kid (re)starts the level a bit above the floor...

There are some signs in the game. You can read them with the up arrow (and some German knowledge :) ).

The game is full of climbing rods, both horizontal and vertical.
PoP did not have these, but for example Aladdin (DOS) has similar things.

Have you seen the run-jump? It looks like the somersault you wanted to put into PoP once. :)

Level 1:

The top-left room has a tiny flying bird (or bat?) in the background.

The green potions give you one extra HP.
For some reason, you start with only one HP. In every other game I know, the player starts with a full HP meter. So why not here?

The heads of the guards on this level were copied from PoP2 skeletons.

There are some grates. They look somewhat like PoP gates, but they don't have horizontal bars, and you can't open them.
Somehow the opponents can walk through them...
Norbert wrote:Purple potions allow you to pass gates.
The manual (ANLEIT.TXT) says they're blue, and that they turn the kid into water.
Ein blauer Zaubertrunk soll Sie bei Bedarf in Wasser verwandeln (?)
~~~
A blue magic drink should transform you into water when needed.
And here is the sign about the potions:
Das grüne ELIXIER erfrischt den Reisenden und lecket seine Wunden.
Das blaue gibt die Kraft eines alten Elementes, nutze es am Gitter und gegen das Feuer.
~~~
The green elixir refreshes the traveler and licks [heals] his wounds.
The blue gives the power of an old element, use it at grates and against the fire.
Note that you lose the blueness after going through grates.
Norbert wrote:Has some PoP2 elements too, like the crushing wall.
The crusher wall is also on this level. It's near a sign that you can't even read because of this trap... But at least a checkpoint is near.
(In fact, if the crusher wasn't there, then you would be stuck there. There is no Ctrl+A in this game.)
This crusher is bloodier than the PoP2 version, you can see the kid being crushed. Eww...

And be careful, when blue, you can fall down there through a horizontal grate.
It's not always a good thing to be able to go through things...

Level 2:

This level has no enemies... instead it has some mind-boggling puzzles.
Norbert wrote: In level 2 - yeah, I actually made it there - it has a trap with an Indiana Jones-like rolling boulder too.
You need to grab the ledge and wait for the ball to roll by, drink the potion, exit the screen, return to the screen with the boulder and have a second boulder push away the first.
Oh yeah. I found this out the hard way.
The second boulder will still be there, but you can at least climb over it.
Fun stuff: Go to the top-left room. You'll see the boulder sitting on the ledge, ready to fall when needed. :)

The single hint on this level is also about the boulders. And it rhymes:
Der erste Stein ...
..der sperrt Dich ein !
Muß etwa noch ein zweiter sein ???
~~~
The first stone blocks you!
There must also be a second one?
Norbert wrote:And if gates have nothing above them, he can climb over them.
I found that out accidentally...
There are two adjacent grates in one room.
You need to use the blue potion for the first one, but climb the second.
If you climb the first, you fall down and die...
And you can't use the potion for the second, because you already used it for the first.

Somehow you can't *jump* through gates, even when blue.

There are some fires on this level.
They will burn you, unless you have drunk the blue potion before. (No, you can't pick the flame up even then. You're already blue anyway. :) )
This fire-walking won't use up your blue power, unlike the grates.
The first fire is constant.
The other two are timed. If you run straight from the left room, then they will go out exactly when you reach them. How convenient! :)

It seems that some blue potions come back when you come back to their room, but only if you're not blue.

There are some blue floors on this level. But they don't seem to do anything, or do they?

And just when you'd reach the end, there is that lightning that fries you if you touch it.
I was stumped at this part. I tried to jump to the magenta potion, but the kid either fell *by* the small platform and died, or he fell *onto* it and died.
I accidentally found a hint about what to do in the slideshow...

Level 3:

You can get four green potions before the first enemy, but that's not enough...
Norbert wrote:In that level, after killing an enemy its head floats away, then later you fight that head.
And this one was copied from the PoP2 flying heads.
Oddly enough, the head has *more* HPs than the "original" enemy!
Is this because "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger"? :)
Norbert wrote:Very difficult fight, didn't win yet...
I couldn't complete level 3 yet.

Other:
Norbert wrote: You can see in the slideshow (SHOW.EXE) that the player even gets a gun.
Another picture shows something oddly similar to PoP2 temple levels...
Looks like there will be "naked" skeletons (also copied from PoP2)... with a ray gun!?
And two doors labeled "G" and "L". Is that a teleport puzzle?
Norbert wrote:Maybe some of the files in share/ need to be moved into the root (main) directory.
They are just the shareware versions of those files that differ from the full version.
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Re: Runen (1996)

Post by Norbert »

You pretty much summarized what I also noticed while playing it. :)
Summarized... as you wrote, there's definitely lots of things to write about.
Yep, the run-jump also made me think of my 2012 efforts. :)
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Re: Nosferatu (1994)

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Norbert wrote: October 8th, 2017, 12:39 am I think attached is the full version.
The full version can also be found on archive.org: https://archive.org/details/Runen
It's a self extracting LHA archive, but unfortunately it seems that its end is missing: I get a CRC Error in WH.MAC and some files are fully missing.
The game will start, though, but the background will be garbled.

There is one comment at the bottom. I wonder who wrote it... :)
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Re: Runen (1996)

Post by David »

Here are the maps of the areas that I could reach so far:

Level 1: (full)
Runen_level_1.png
Level 2: (full)
Runen_level_2.png
Level 3: (Incomplete, you can thank the top-left guard for that. :) )
Runen_level_3_partial.png
It seems that at least the first two levels are the same size.
Where did I see that before?... viewtopic.php?p=13351#p13351
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Re: Runen (1996)

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David wrote: October 21st, 2017, 12:53 pmHere are the maps of the areas that I could reach so far: [...]
Quite an investment of time for something so obscure. :)
Nicely done though.
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Re: Runen (1996)

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I could get past that guard on level 3.
Here is what's there:
R50_C46.png
R50_C46.png (8.25 KiB) Viewed 6120 times
Nothing really interesting.
Except that a head suddenly appeared from nowhere and killed the kid!
So I couldn't go farther.

Fighting is so unfair in this game...

I'm thinking of skipping this level, since you posted all the level codes.
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Re: Runen (1996)

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David wrote: October 29th, 2017, 2:07 pmI could get past that guard on level 3.
As I wrote (edited)...
Norbert wrote: October 7th, 2017, 10:26 pm[Edit: It is possible to run past the head and lose only 1HP, but after killing a second guard, the second head follows you and kills you anyway. I'll need save states for this...]
...you can just kill the first guard, run past its head, kill the second guard, run past its head.
Then you end up in the leftmost room, which has a potion in its top-left.
The problem is that you cannot drink the potion without first killing the second head, because it follows you.
And the main problem with the heads is that they attack not just from the front but also the character's back.
There are enough life potions in the level to potentially kill the heads if there was a quick way to turn around.
But the only way I've found was to put away the sword, turn around and... then you're already too late.
Even with (unstable, unfortunately) save states (using ykhwong's DOSBox) I couldn't finish the section.
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Re: Runen (1996)

Post by David »

Norbert wrote: October 29th, 2017, 6:46 pm Then you end up in the leftmost room, which has a potion in its top-left.
The problem is that you cannot drink the potion without first killing the second head, because it follows you.
And the main problem with the heads is that they attack not just from the front but also the character's back.
I finally found out how to get rid of the second head!
(I also needed save states for this.)
Spoiler: show
You have to go to the left side of the room, and attack every time the head flies past the left post of the fence.
Like this:
attack_now.png
attack_now.png (10.59 KiB) Viewed 6083 times
I have lost one HP while going there.
If you do this right, you won't lose any more hit points, and you will still have one HP after you cross the first head when going back.
The rest of the level is quite straightforward.
There are two more guards, and they too will lose their heads, but at least those heads won't attack... Whew!

Here is the full map of level 3:
Runen_level_3.png
There is one room I couldn't reach.
On its right side, there is a climbing rod.
You can climb up onto the leftmost block with a move not in PoP (jump at the wall), but the rod is just too far from it.
jump_climb.png
jump_climb.png (11.86 KiB) Viewed 6083 times
End of level 3.

Level 4: (completed)
Spoiler: show
Full map of level 4:
Runen_level_4.png
You start this level with 2 HPs.

On this level, the (skeleton) guards wield spears, and some walls also shoot spears at you.
(One spear shoots from behind a guard. Of course the guard won't get hurt...)
Also beware the falling rocks!

In the bottom right room there is a logical puzzle with three golden heads.
(They are "the heads of insight", as the manual and the first sign say.)
You have to arrange their red and green crystal eyes in a certain way.
(The second sign says something about this.)
As a hint, each head will smile if it likes the current state of its eyes.
And you also have solve the puzzle fast, because there's a fire slowly coming from the right towards you!

Less interesting things:
There is a gate that closes itself behind you. You don't have to go back anyway.
In the room with the sun (or moon?) you can see the flying bird/bat from level 1 again.
End of level 4.

Level 5: (not finished)
Spoiler: show
Incomplete map of level 5:
Runen_level_5_partial.png
You start this level with 3 HPs.

This is a snowy mountain. Despite this, skeletons are "naked".
But more importantly, they have ray guns! :shock:
Even if you manage to go near the skeletons, you just can't hurt them with your sword.
The manual says that you have to take the ray gun away from one of them. But how?...

There are also some impassable ice blocks on the level. (The game seems to slow down in those rooms.)
I guess you can melt them with the ray gun. Once you get it, that is.
I don't see any other way out...

And beware the surprise spikes!
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