Strategy / Strategy - Miscellaneous · 0

Seven Cities of Gold (The)

Published by Ariolasoft (Germany) · Developed by Ozark Softscape

atarimania.com — atari-400-800-xl-xe-games-seven-cities-of-gold-the-6805

Information

Genre: Strategy - Miscellaneous
Language: Machine Language
Controls: Joystick
Players: 1
Programmer(s): Bunten, Dan, Rushing, Jim, Watson, Alan
Graphic Artist(s): Watson, Alan, Glover, Roy
Sound: Glover, Roy
Cover Artist(s): Chang, Warren
Publisher: Ariolasoft (Germany)
Developer: Ozark Softscape
Country: Germany
License: Commercial
Medium: Disk
Rarity: 8

Votes / Statistics

Rating: 8.8/10 · Votes: 1,638 · Downloads: 4,072 · Hits: 21,173

Additional Comments

Many thanks to Bernhard for the scans of this rare game.

Comments by Dani Bunten (found here):

'This was my best selling game. It garnered a SPA Gold Disk and a number of minor awards. It was also my first game that didn't allow for more than one player. It was planned to be multi-player but during during development it lost that aspect, along with colonists and development. To keep it's focus (and allow for a really large world) it ended up just covering the early exploration and conquest of the new world. It was published in '84 by Electronic Arts and it was the game Trip Hawkins (founder of EA) coined the term "edu-tainment" to describe on the press tour introducing it. (Back then the term wasn't the kiss of death it is now).

There are several things I'm proud of about that game. Unlike most strategy-adventure games then (and now as well) which load the player with numerous economic and logistical decisions, it only used four commodities to model the constraints and opportunities facing the Conquistadors (men, food, [trade] goods and gold). I also like the way I was able to reflect the unique interactions between natives and Conquistadors when they shared neither a language nor cultural values in common. I came up with a simple arcade element which also included a number of subtle "secret" opportunities that I was quite gratified to learn that folks found on their own. Finally, the fact that our "New World" was randomly generated (and so large it required disk caching and overlays) made exploring a challenge fraught with peril and surprises. It sufficiently captured the sense of panic that comes from being lost in the wilderness and running out of supplies as well as the joy of rescue (which was something I experienced once backpacking and wanted to make a touchstone of this design).

Our biggest frustration with this product was that it was developed in the days when you had to write a number of different versions since no platform was pre-eminent. There were Atari 800, C64, Apple, Mac and IBM PC versions of the game put out but the only "full" version was on the Atari. On the others we did the best we could with wha
t we had.'

Cover Art (2)

Book / Magazine Reviews (2)

Electronic Games · October, 1984

Sail the unknown seas in the hope of fame and fortune in a solitaire action-strategy game brilliantly crafted by the same design team that produced the 1984 Arcade Award winner M.U.L.E. Ozark is obviously a unit on the rise, because the fluid play-action, exceptional animated graphics and painstaking attention to detail and nuance of Seven Cities are significantly improved over the group's previous effort.

The program can generate two types of environments. You can cross the Atlantic to explore the New World as it existed circa 1492, or a special hemisphere generator can create a "what if?" scenario through application of geological and sociological principles. The latter has the advantage of smoothing the edge resulting from whatever you remember from all those U.S. geography lessons in school.

The simulation begins in Europe, where the player must outfit an expedition. The Royal Court sometimes grants a loan to speed you forward. The next phase involves sailing the fleet across the ocean and finding something without knowing the longitude.

Reaching land permits the option of dropping anchor and sending out an expedition. Such parties earn players points for making discoveries such as the sources of rivers, contacting natives and amassing gold. A visit to court back in Europe lets the gamer see a rating for the voyage just completed and for the game as a whole. A compaign can be saved from play-session to play-session, or a new game can be initiated with either a new or the existing hemisphere.

The joystick-operated native interaction phase is not only a triumph of computer graphics, it is almost a game in itself. After entering a village, an expedition may try a variety of strategies ranging from bribery with gifts to wholesale murder to achieve desired objectives. Credit the designers with sensitivity for making a bloodyhanded approach to dealing with indigenous civilizations something other than an expressway to glory. Killing the natives can work - let's face it, several countries had pretty good success with hard tactics -but it-also leads to mounting resistance, heavy casualties for the expedition and a reprimand from the sovereign back at home.

And if bribes and force fail, you can always do something to amaze the locals into submission.

Seven Cities of Gold is fascinating, sophisticated and yet easy to learn. And that makes this disk worth considerably more than its weight in precious metal to any computer gamer.

Computer Games · November, 1984

The New World is waiting to be discovered, and it's all yours to explore, plunder, discover lost cities, kill and return to Spain to the acclaim of your countrymen. Of course, it's not all fun. You can get completely lost, your men can panic or mutiny, and you can starve to death. Nobody ever said discovering America was going to be easy.

Before you set sail, stop off at the outfitters to stock up on food, provisions and your crew. This decision is important, because once you hit the New World your food supply dwindles every day and the natives get very angry if you don't have any trinkets to leave them. If you're in the mood, you can just take their gold and mow them down Robotron-style, but that doesn't earn you any brownie points back home and word that you are a creep travels very quickly to other villages. They will act accordingly when you visit. If you're nice to the natives, they'll help you find gold and maybe even let you have a few native bearers.

As you explore the Americas, the computer constructs maps of where you've been. (Hint: find Florida first to get your bearings.) Watching the map take shape is a kick. Once you explore both continents, you can be a real pioneer and use the random continent generator. The entire game is controlled by the joystick. Seven Cities does demand some patience, but it is engrossing and even educational once you get into it. Warning: the documentation is very slick and professional, but doesn't say much about how to play, or even load the game. And in the Atari and C-64 versions, it takes nearly a half an hour to prepare the "map disk" used to play the game.

Comments (15)

dtm-artist — 16 Mar 2024
Another masterpiece from Ozark Softscape that perfectly follows MULE with a richly rewarding and endlessly enjoyable experience. I am so happy that Seven Cities of Gold is included on the 400 Mini and that a new generation can experience this great game, where hopefully it will spark their imaginations and inspire them to dream and explore.
Punkydudester — 21 Dec 2014
It looks awesome and I can't wait to try it.
Flyerdommo — 5 Oct 2013
One of the first home computer games that totally captivated me. The element of surprise combined with a huge unknown playing field, an unheard of number of possible moves and the outstanding New World Editor made this into a singular gaming experience in the early 80s. Plus, it even has an air of historical accuracy about it. One of the few lasting masterpieces. I still play it for fun on my old Atari 8 bitter on occasions. Absolutely brilliant!
Shatter — 9 Aug 2013
I played this games for months if not years it was always one of my favs - I would def buy it again if they gave it an update to current systems. I remember trying to keep natives happy but that never really seemed to go well for me... much easier to kill them off... Though as others have said it never made the king happy.
Keith — 19 Feb 2012
After I download the images, how do i play this on my Win XP or Win 7 system. I Found my parents old Atari 400/800 systems, but they no longer have the game?
Keith — 19 Feb 2012
After I download the images, how do i play this on my Win XP or Win 7 system. I Found my parents old Atari 400/800 systems, but they no longer have the game?
Gwobby — 11 Apr 2011
Excellent game, my friend used to take great delight in killing off all the natives and the King was never best pleased with us on our return to port! p.s. pul - why not play it on an atari emulator?! www.gwobby.webs.com
Pul — 11 Apr 2011
I loved the game: if it was available for later systems I would certainly play it.
glf — 30 Aug 2010
my first flopy disc game its a classic, still have manual and some disc of maps
eppy2000 — 6 Oct 2007
A terrific game, disguised by the fact you might be learning history while you're at it. The opening title sequence is great, too. I was always only average at the game. I would discover a lot of the Americas, bring home the gold, and all I got was fair/poor rating. And the kingdom commended me for being good to the natives. It also didn't help much if the crew died off at established forts and missions!
Enrique Gánem — 1 Jun 2007
It was very simple (a little too simple for my comfort). If you use the atari800 emulator from sourceforge (linux and windows versions freely available), all you have to do is press F1, go to the Disk Management menu and select the creation of a blank atr file. The load the game, and when you are asked to create a new world, just press F1 again, go to the same menu, and select the empty disk as D2, then switch the disks, press ESC to return to the emulator, and press START (F4 in this emulator, I believe). I am travelling again. Thanks!
Jim Kuchera — 31 Dec 2006
This was the most beautiful game ever written for the Atari 8-Bit. Bunten presented to the user a wonderful real time challenge in discovering the new world. You knew this was going to be a fine game from the opening screen with fine music. It is nothing like M.U.L.E., the author's other great title, but for a single player game, this one fascinated both me, and my children, back in the early 80's. Again, like M.U.L.E., this game had the most elaborate packaging of any game I've ever seen. It is much more rare than the 'rarity scale' suggests. Like all of these Atari games, yes, they play with an emulator, but it just isn't the same as playing through the original game console. I love this one!!!
Enrique Gánem — 14 Dec 2006
This is one of my favorite games. However, I have problems with my emulator. I start the first image, then load the second image. but I cannot make the system go beyond the start of the map generation stage (by the way, I am using the emulator on SOURCEFORGE.NET - I am a Linux user). I would appreciate your help.
Rod Lauder — 15 Aug 2005
I "rediscovered" this game after 20 years - I still love it.It was great to read Dan Bunten's comments! I couldn't find my manual, so having it here helped to remind me how to make the historical world (vs only random worlds). Thanks!
Pratik Patel — 8 Aug 2004
Ha! I'll show this to Jim Rushing (he's one of the managers at EA HQ now). I'm sure he'll be proud that people still remember one of his early efforts!