It didnвЂ™t matter that the game was basic as they come вЂ“ it got me by the cerebral short nвЂ™ curlies and stoked the fire of creativity. I designed sequel after sequel to the game, drawn with a Paper Mate biro on A4 printing paper, taking inspiration from the other formative games of my youth later Scarab of Ra sequels I contrived borrowed elements of KemcoвЂ™s Garfield Game Boy game*, OceanвЂ™s Addams Family SNES game and eventually Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow. Scarab of Ra inflamed my burgeoning imagination. ThereвЂ™s next-to-nothing to it, but I didnвЂ™t care. The aim of the game is to locate the titular Scarab, as well as RaвЂ™s Staff and Crown, before reaching the exit and making your escape. In any case, it isnвЂ™t really anything to write home about itвЂ™s a fundamentally basic maze game with some rudimentary encounters - use bullwhips and nets to non-violently restrain hostile creatures! - and resource management - moving slowly consumes more of your rations and lantern oil, but moving too fast puts you at risk of waking sleeping animals and blundering into traps! Dangerous Mummies also stalk the pyramid, causing death and decay on touch.

What really stuck with me, though, was Semicolon SoftwareвЂ™s Scarab of Ra, an extremely simplistic roguelike that sees the player, as an archaeology student, venture into the Great Pyramid of Ra armed only with a lantern and some scran. I only recall the beautiful, intricate and clean monochrome art of games like the brilliant Glider and Dark Castle. ItвЂ™s a game I first encountered on a childhood friendвЂ™s old black-and-white Macintosh. I havenвЂ™t played it for, ooh, at least fifteen years. Truth is, I scarcely remember Scarab of Ra in any great detail.

World builder mac emulator