Ring Cycle

[DuendeInexistente]

https://www.myabandonware.com/game/ring-cycle-dfi

So funny thing about this game: I come back to it every year or so trying to divine anything in there , yet have nearly nothing to say about it. This is because it's highly broken in dosbox (Even at fairly low cycles some stuff is way too fast, and you spin out of control at the slightest move of the mouse, which is apparently the only way to turn at all, which is a pity because the mouse control is broken and I can only turn right) and the controls are as much of an oddity as you'd expect from a 3D MS-DOS game with surprisingly good graphics.

 

Namely, you control like a ship, in a very literal sense. Pressing a direction *begins* movement/turning, and holding or repeating it increases your speed. You have to press the opposite direction to reduce the speed. Not just that! I'm throwing random numbers here for example purposes, but it seems like while keyboard pressed affect motion in a staggered fashion (Say adding speed in fives, so you're, witheach press, moving at 5 then 10 then 15 meters per second) the mouse control seems to affect it linearly (1 then 2 then 3 then 4 then 5 m/s). An unintended side ffect is if you land at a speed that's not a multiple of five, it's impossible to stop moving at all using the keyboard. Instead of reaching 0m/s after a few keyboard presses, you can only, say, alternate between moving at 3m/s and -2m/s.

 

The controls I do know are H for a very incomplete list of keys, P/O/I and W/E for a couple menus (I believe, the keys are in that ballpark) which I can't guess the purpose of. M for a minimap.

 

What else? THere's obviously something about runes going on. THere's also a dialogue system according to the available information and my own memory, but fuck if I can talk at one of the (Voxel?)  people dashing around like sonic the hedgehog. The buildings are 3D objects... or are they? I really don't know. THey face you like billboards, or at least their parts do, but they seem 3D. Surprisingly high resolution if they're billboards.  The screenshots show a dungeon. This is, overall, one of those games you'll never even know where to start at without a manual.

 

So does anyone know anything about this game? Personal experiences? Any clue as to how to get dosbox to run the game right?

Edited September 4, 2022 by DuendeInexistente (see edit history)