| Through the Dragon's Eye | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Longman Logotron |
| Publisher(s) | BBC Enterprises |
| Year released | 1989 |
| System(s) | BBC Micro, Acorn Archimedes |
| Preceded by | Geordie Racer |
| Followed by | Sky Hunter |
| Series | Look and Read |
| Designer(s) | Peter Smith, Christopher Russell, David Watkins |
|---|---|
| Genre(s) | Educational |
| Players | 1 |
| Modes | Single player |
Through the Dragon's Eye is an educational game, which was developed by Longman Logotron for BBC Enterprises (known as BBC Worldwide since 1995) and released to British primary schools for the BBC Micro in 1989; it is based on the thirteenth serial of the BBC's drama series Look and Read, and the player is guided through it by the eponymous dragon Gorwen (taking on the Wordy role from Geordie Racer). It also requires Watford Electronics DFS version 1.30 or 1.44 (or Acorn DFS version 2.26) to finish, as it asks the player to insert its second disk and press Enter to proceed to its second part after the fifth challenge's intro - and the player must also remember the Book Tree's passwords.
On November 26, 1992, an updated version of this game was released for the Acorn Archimedes; it featured a new loading screen and title screen along with several new sound effects and sprites. Furthermore, after each challenge the question "You are doing well! Do you want to carry on?" would appear on the screen, with the answers "Yes" and "No" below it, and the player had to select "Yes" in order to continue - and as this version was all on one disk, it did not ask the player to insert the disk for its second part after the fifth challenge's intro (it could also be transferred to the hard drive of an Archimedes and ran from there). Finally, at the end of the game, the question "Would you like to begin the adventure again?" would appear on the screen, again with the answers "Yes" and "No" below it, and the player had to select "No" if they wanted to get back to RISC OS (the latest version of which at the time was 3.11, but it ran on all subsequent versions until 3.71 in 1997); on January 26, 2022, an ADF file of this version was also uploaded to Archimedes Archive.
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The game's title screen.
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Archimedes load screen.
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Archimedes title screen.
Story[edit | edit source]
This is taken from the back of the disks' inlay card, the front of which is seen in the image to the right:
This Look and Read adventure program invites pupils to join the quest to save the magical world of Pelamar.
The Veetacore has exploded and the missing pieces must be found in order to bring Pelamar back to life.
Pupils are guided through the program by the mighty dragon Gorwen.
They must solve the clues and puzzles in the program by reading and thinking.
Pupils are encouraged to: choose word endings to bring the clouds down to earth; find their way through the snowstorm using logic and memory; play a word game with the mischievous Widgets; read the map and avoid the marsh; and unjumble the words to read the spell that brings Pelamar back to life.
© BBC Enterprises Ltd 1989