The Missing Ring was written by Terry Romine and published by Datamost in 1982 for the Apple II.
The Missing Ring would later see a re-release in the 79th issue of Softdisk in 1988.
I played the original version which was released by Datamost in 1982 using an Apple emulator.
I’ve often talked about how much I am enjoying the thrill of discovery with each of these early games. Every game is so incredibly unique and they are so wonderfully different from one another. The biggest reason for this is that there was so much experimentation taking place as each author had their own unique vision as to how best to emulate the tabletop role-playing experience. Many of the developers were themselves avid Dungeons & Dragons players and they were trying to translate not only the game itself but the community experience as well. This is certainly the case with the Missing Ring in which from one to five players can undertake the quest. The promotion here is that you can enjoy this game with a group of players. One person can make the moves for each character in turn or a number of players can take their turn at the keyboard. We’ve seen this type of ideology in a couple of previous games as well. It reflects what Lord British and many other developers would try to do over the next ensuing two decades. How do you create both a great game AND the shared communal experience that you get with friends sitting around the table?
Matt Barton, in his fabulous Dungeons & Desktops book, refers to this period as the Silver Age and mentions that there was an acclimation period by developers to the hardware limitations of personal computers in their infancy.
When the game begins you get to choose from these various player options:
When you choose your characters you do not get to name them nor do you get to manipulate their equipment or view their attributes in any way. Melee characters such as the Dwarf with Ax or Elf with Sword move adjacent to their opponents and then you merely hit the space bar to attack. Characters that can shoot arrows or cast spells will see a flashing crosshair that is moved to the target with the move keys and then fired by another press of the space bar. The cleric can also cast healing spells.
Once you have your party selected it is time to venture into the dungeon. There is no grand backstory in the documentation that comes with the game. You are merely told that your quest for the magical ring takes you through myriad rooms and corridors of an enchanted palace. The game is much like Dunjonquest: Temple of Apshai in that at the beginning of the game you can visit the “merchant” to spend your gold on healing potions, spells, and experience. Multiple characters from several games can have “accounts” with the merchant. If you succeed in exiting the labyrinth your character can keep all of the accumulated treasure and powers and then use it for another foray into the enchanted palace. In this way you can build up experience points and treasure. Alas, this is the feature that gave me difficulties and I tried many different variations of the game. I WAS able to complete the entire game and find the ring but upon exiting the merchant did not recognize my experience or treasures nor was I able to save my progress in any way. I suspect it is some sort of issue between the emulation hardware and the disk itself.
Each character is controlled individually and the keyboard is setup so that two individuals can sit side by side. There are a left and right set of movement keys. Remember that a big premise of the game is that you could choose to play it with a group of friends. Movement keys on the right are OLKP and the movement keys on the left are RDEF.
Monsters that I encountered included a lot of goblins and orcs and an occasional hell hound. The big bad of the dungeon is an evil mage who is always found in the same location and he is the one in possession of the ring which you seek.
The map is one of the most eccentric features of the game. You can see my hand drawn map depicted above. The dungeon for each game is randomly generated only to a degree. The monster and treasure locations, except for the location of the ring, can be found in different rooms and the access points or doors to each room can be all different but the overall map layout is always the same. It is always an 8 x 10 grid and the rooms are numbered 0 through 79. I highlighted room 68 on the map above by shading it in green because that is the room the big bad is always located in. The big bad is an evil mage and he will always be in possession of the ring that you seek. In order to access the room you will need a key because the room adjacent to it will be locked. Once you find a key and unlock the adjacent room you’ll need to then search for secret doors. Searching for secret doors may require more than one attempt until you find it.
The evil mage is extremely hard to beat but I was eventually able to do so.
Movement through the dungeon takes a bit of getting used to as north, south, east, and west are used as reference points. The map can also wrap from one end of the map to the other. What makes it much easier however is that the room number you are in is always displayed at the top of the screen. It is a pretty easy affair to move through the dungeon in an orderly fashion and equally easy to determine which areas of the dungeon you have not yet explored.
Most of the time the treasure chests contain only gold but there are goblets that can heal your or hurt you if you drink from them as well as statues that crumble into gems and coins. You can also find keys which give you access to locked rooms within the dungeon. There are usually a few of these each game.
I found it a novel approach to control each of the five characters however after awhile with the game I found that controlling each of the five characters individually became a bit tedious. I ended up trying a game with just a solo character and I enjoyed that experience much more and I was also able to defeat the evil mage in the end and obtain the ring with just a single character. For my solo experience I chose the Fighter with Sword option.
When you obtain the ring you have to traverse back through the dungeon to the exit. You only then have the opportunity to save and name your character. You can also finally see character attributes which seem to increase with experience and levels. My main concern was that the merchant did not recognize the treasures that I took from the dungeon nor did he allow me to keep the ring or recognize that I found a ring. This may be an error rearing it’s ugly head in emulation or this could be like Temple of Apshai which also doesn’t congratulate you or tell you that the game is over in any way. If there had not been this issue I may have decided to go through the dungeon a third time merely to boost my character statistics and see more closely how that works.
I remember when I was a teenager seeing the box for The Missing Ring sitting on the store shelf and immediately entranced by the art on the cover. Many of these early games used the artwork to lure would be prospective buyers. I consider it a blessing that I was finally able to experience the game albeit 40 years later! I wonder if someone 40 years from now will be chronicling on an old game entitled Dark Souls and how antiquated it seems today. Technology advances in leaps and bounds now. I spent roughly four to five hours with the game and enjoyed the experience.
Next up on the docket is Ulysses & the Golden Fleece a graphic adventure which I have wondered about and wanted to play for some time. Until next time…