A downloadable game for Windows

Download NowName your own price

Can you save Anroburg from the evil mage Thargorim?
Create your party, level up, crawl through mad dungeons and avoid death traps - like you did in the late 80s.

Gates Of Integrity is a humble tribute to the original Bard's Tale 1, released in 1985 for all then-popular homecomputers. I played the Amstrad CPC version and I was instantly sold to the world of computer role playing games. So I decided to give it a try and recreate the Bard's Tale-ish atmosphere in an own game. This was  in 1989. Well, it have been over 30 years but here we are... If you are interested in the different versions I did (but never completed), you might want to take a look here:
https://tarjan.itch.io/gates-of-integrity/devlog/138008/5-versions-in-30-years

The levelling is easier than with the original Bard's Tale, but beware: It is really, really oldschool. You can save your game, but only in the guild. The interface is keyboard-driven as it was back in the 80s. And you might loose quite a few heroes on your first steps into the unknown.
The story is my own, as are all maps and dungeons. You will hear some atmospheric sound tracks from Derek Fiechter while you are playing. Most of the monsters, spells and classes are very AD&D / Bard's Tale-ish to capture the spirit of the original Bard's Tale.

I hope you like it! If you played Bard's Tale (or the Devil Whiskey), you will feel at home instantly.



Requirements:
- Windows version: Windows 7 or later, 2 GB RAM, 1.5 GB hard disk space
- DOS version: MS DOS 6.0 or higher, 6 MB RAM, 486 DX, 33 MHz, 6 MB hard disk space

StatusReleased
PlatformsWindows
Rating
Rated 4.6 out of 5 stars
(11 total ratings)
AuthorTarjan
GenreRole Playing
Tagsbards-tale, DOS, dungeon, Dungeon Crawler, Fantasy, maze, Medieval, MS-DOS, Retro, Turn-based
Average sessionAbout a half-hour
InputsKeyboard
LinksHomepage

Download

Download NowName your own price

Click download now to get access to the following files:

Gates Of Integrity Installer 1.22 405 MB
GatesOfIntegrity.zip 1.22 436 MB
Monster and item list.pdf 32 kB
Hintbook 2 MB
Gates Of Integrity - MSDOS version 2 MB

Development log

View all posts

Comments

Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.

the CHM file doesn't seem to work?  It loads but no content is displayed.
Does the documentation exist in another form?

(+1)

Here's the help file as HTML:
http://arnimedes.de/GatesOfIntegrity/help.html
Thank you for playing!

(1 edit)

In the meantime I did some more digging and found this  weird fact:   https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/1961503-solved-windows-10-chm-help-files-...

I didn't have this checkbox so i moved it off the NAS drive to my SSD and .. boom the content appeared.  What a travesty windows tooling is.  Don't tell the user anything, just show a blank page "for security". 

Great game very true to the old school dungeon crawlers. Controls are very intuitive. I look forward to playing it more. The fact that there is a DOS version is even better.

Anyone tried this on Steam deck with Proton?  I would LOVE to play it on there.

Nice callback to a classic.  Thank you for putting this out! 

If anyone else is having the eternal "*.dll file is missing" issue running it under Windows and fiddling with C+ Runtime versions doesn't resolve it for you, the DOS version spins up in the current version of DosBox (0.74-3)

Posted here! https://dosgames.com/game/gates-of-integrity/ Thanks for creating the game and releasing a DOS port! :D

Thank you for posting it on your site. Bookmarked it - there are a lot of gems I don't know yet. :-) 

An original MS DOS release in 2022, this is really cool!

About halfway through (I think?) and Really enjoying your game! Brings back great memories of playing BT 1&2, Wizardry I, Ultima II & III, Devil Whiskey and a few other small ones.

You've done a fantastic job all around! Gameplay, graphics, overall theme & dungeon layouts, spells/magic system, monsters, music..all of it. I've tried making a similar game and even with others helping with coding, it was too difficult. So I appreciate all the talented work you've put into this! And haven't had any crashes! (playing latest v1.22)

If okay, I'd like to email you to discuss a few things? Looks like you've provided contact info below in the comments.

Quick question: it seems my 2 warriors (Fighter & Paladin) are still doing the same damage even tho they both now have multiple swings per turn.. even 4 'hits' produces same general damage as back when they each could only swing once..? They've both max'd out on STR (i.e, 20).

Thank you very much! It was a blast programming this game. It required a lot of planning, especially the intertwine of spells, items, stats and monsters.
I just quick-checked the multiple swings issue, it seems to be fines for my savegames. Number of hits as well as damage per hit is going up for Paladins and Warriors. It depends a bit on the weapon though. If you want, you can send me your savegame(s) and I'll have a look into it.
Be free to email me at info@gatesofintegrity.com :-)

Great game!  Beautifully done niche game!

Question: is there anything after defeating Thargorim?

Thank you! :-)
No, there is no more to do after defeating Thargorim.

Well....play the NEXT game?!?!   :-)

Just played and enjoyed this and donated!  It really brought me back to my BT playing days in the 80's! I have some feedback if you are still interested.  Let me know.  E-mail may be better because it may be a bit long for a comment.

Thank you for playing and donating! I am still interested in any feedback. You may send it to info@gatesofintegrity.com

(1 edit)

Hey mate. I really like this game, but there is one issue. The Help document only shows categories, and no actual text. I was hoping to do some research before really starting, but nothing is showing up for me.

(+1)

What version of Windows are you using?
I uploaded the documentation here, this should be working:
http://arnimedes.de/GatesOfIntegrity/help.html

Spells are listed here:
http://www.arnimedes.de/GatesOfIntegrity/spells.html

Thank you mate! This is perfect!  I use windows 10.

You're welcome! I hope you have some fun with Gates Of Integrity. :-)

Klasse Spiel, gerne mehr davon! Ich betreibe übrigens einen eigenen deutschsprachigen Discord-Kanal für Adventures, Rollenspiele und weitere Retrospiele und -Computer/Konsolen sowie Elektronikbasteleien. Hier mal der Invite-Link:

https://discord.com/invite/SKx3c3c8TN

Wer schon bei Discord ist, kann diesen Link benutzen:

https://discord.com/invite/SKx3c3c8TN/login


Man liest sich hoffentlich! :-)

Excellent old school turn based rpg!
Thank you!

(1 edit)

Tried this out after Fishdog Games shared it on FB. Having a blast! I got pretty lost on the 2nd floor the dungeon last night, and almost just reloaded before I set out.  Came back in the morning, and found my way again. So glad I didn't rage!


Of course, some ease of use improvements would be great, like being able to swap which characters inventory you are looking at without having to exit all the way out.  But fun none the less!

The set pixel size is a little challenging on my Surface Go. I have to hide my taskbar, or I don't see the full height of the screen.

Thank you, Bhelogan!
I looked into the code and implemented your suggestion. You may now switch characters in the char info and inventory screens.
Version 1.01 is released just now. :-)

Enjoying this a lot, and appreciate the update. I noticed in the help file it indicates that Rogues can hide in combat. But, in practice, Monks seem to be the ones who get that ability. Is that intentional?

Thank you, once again. It was a single letter typo in the source code. To prevent spoiling saved games in progress I decided to release v1.03 with both Monks and Rogues being able to hide in shadows.

Any hints on figuring out the number for the 3rd floor in the Gate of Diligence?

Nice progress, Bhelogan! :-)
The numbers to add are hidden in levels 1 to 3. Some are hidden in a very physical sense. Study the spell list. ;-)
Some are so obvious that automap will help you.

Thank you! this is a nice game. Is possible play in fullscreen? I don't like play in a window. 

Thank you, frikiloko!
Unfortunately, this game only runs in windowed mode.

If you want to try it - v1.2 now supports fullscreen mode. :-)

Thank you for sharing! I just joined the rpg group! :-)

(1 edit)

Thanks for the hard work in making this gem, hope you dont mind but i shared this game with our rpg facebook group. heres the link to our group if you want to see what people think about your game. https://www.facebook.com/groups/155558658449532/?ref=group_header