Ghost Crypt

Ghost Crypt

A haunted maze adventure for the Atari 2600 by virtualjames, built with VCS Game Maker (no coding experience or AI required).

The Story

The Sorcerer stole the 8 gems and sealed them in the Ghost Crypt, 24 rooms deep. You are Jensen, a young wizard with a spell that sends ghosts flying. Get the gems back and restore the light, past the Dragon, the Skeleton and the Sorcerer himself.

How to play

• Collect all 8 gold gems on each level. The bar right of the score shows how many you have.
• The east wing is sealed by gates. Find the key, walk over it, then walk into a gate to open it.
• Ghosts drift through walls, but hang back for a moment when you enter a room. The start room is always safe.
• Some rooms are pitch black. Bump a wall to glimpse it, or cast a spell to light the room.
• Some doorways lead into a haunted tunnel. Dodge left and right, or blast the ghosts.

The Guardians

One gem on each level is guarded in the far corner of the east wing:

• Level 1: the Dragon. 5 hits. Fireballs fly straight.
• Level 2: the Skeleton. 8 hits. Slow bones that curve after you.
• Level 3: the Sorcerer. 12 hits. Slow fireballs that curve after you.

Your spell only reaches a short way: get close, cast, then back off while it recharges.

Controls

- Joystick: move. Fire: cast a spell (throws nearby ghosts back).

- Your wizard dims while the spell recharges. He flashes after a hit, and can't be hurt while flashing.

- Pause: COLOR/B-W switch to B-W, back to COLOR to carry on.

- Title screen: joystick up/down or SELECT picks the difficulty, Fire starts.

Difficulty (dots on the title screen)

1 dot - Easy. Slow ghosts, quick spell.

2 dots - Normal. Faster ghosts, some twin ghosts.

3 dots - Hard. Fast ghosts, twins, the key could be anywhere, slower spell.

You start with 3 lives and earn one per level cleared (up to 4). Lose a life while carrying the key and it goes back where you found it.

Legend has it each level hides a secret room that takes you to the next... stand in the right place and press Fire!

Score

Gem 10 - Ghost dodged 10 - Ghost blasted 20 - Gate 50 - Guardian hit 50 - Level 100 - Guardian defeated 200

How to Play 

in your browser here, or download:

- GhostCrypt.bin - NTSC, for emulators and US/Japanese consoles.

- GhostCrypt_PAL60.bin - for UK/European/Australian consoles.

32K cartridge, F4SC bankswitching (F4 + Superchip). Most emulators and flash carts detect it automatically; if asked, choose F4SC.

Stella (free, stella-emu.github.io): open GhostCrypt.bin. Arrows move, Space fires, F1 is SELECT, F4/F3 pause/unpause.

Javatari: F11 is SELECT, F2 pauses.

Harmony / Harmony Encore: copy the file to the SD card and pick it from the menu. If it loads wrong, rename it GhostCrypt.F4S.

Atari 7800: I use a Concerto from AtariAge.  Use the PAUSE button to pause.

UnoCart, PlusCart, RetroArch (Stella core) and other F4SC-capable carts and emulators work too.

Credits

Game design and development: virtualjames

Made with VCS Game Maker 0.50.37 - https://haroldo-ok.itch.io/vcs-game-maker