It was developed and published by FTL Games for the Atari ST in 1987,[5] almost identical Amiga and PC (DOS) ports following in 1988 and 1992.

[7] In contrast to the traditional turn-based approach that was, in 1987, most common, Dungeon Master added real-time combat elements (akin to Active Time Battle).

Abstract Dungeons and Dragons style experience points and levels were eschewed in favor of a system where the characters' skills were improved directly via using them.

Other features of Dungeon Master included allowing players to directly manipulate objects and the environment by clicking the mouse in the enlarged first-person view.

Originally, Dungeon Master was started with the name Crystal Dragon coded in Pascal, and targeted the Apple II platform.

A slightly updated Amiga version ported by Phil Mercurio was released the following year, which was the first video game to use 3D sound effects.

[14][15] The packaging cover art was designed and illustrated by David R. Darrow,[16] for which Andy Jaros posed as the leftmost character pulling on the torch.

It shows the three (or four) main characters' last few minutes alive, and is a portrayal of the player’s challenge to defeat the antagonist, Lord Chaos.

The heroes in the painting are Halk the Barbarian, Syra Child of Nature, Alex Ander – and Nabi the Prophet who’s been reduced to a bunch of skulls.

Because of FTL's sophisticated copy protection, many who otherwise pirated their software had to purchase Dungeon Master to play the game.

As with Wizardry, many others offered for sale strategy guides, game trainers, and map editors, competing with FTL's own hint book.

He complained that the manual does not describe monsters or their attributes, of a "frustrating" shortage of food and water replenishments and that the lack of a map makes the game "extremely difficult".

"[20] Scorpia stated in the magazine in 1992 that the newly released IBM PC version's graphics "are surprisingly good, all things considered" despite the game's age, but wrote that "No endgame has ever given me so much trouble or frustration".

Although she believed that the game "is still eminently worth playing, even years later[, and] still has something to offer the seasoned adventurer", because of the endgame Scorpia "can't give it a blanket recommendation".

[24] Advanced Computing Entertainment said the graphics are "largely repetitive" but "wonderfully drawn" and wrote the "Sound is sparse but the effects are great."

It called the story and setting a "wholly engrossing scenario [which] creates a complete world which can be manipulated at will: its depth fully reflects the two years it took to program it.

The reviewer summarised: "Dungeon Master is a role-player's dream, but capable of providing a good deal of enjoyment for any ST owner.

Noting the strong sales, the reviewer called it "a true video game phenomenon" and reported that "not talking to my boyfriend for a week because he lost our master spell list was certainly not an overreaction".

[27] Jim Trunzo reviewed Dungeon Master in White Wolf #15 (April/May 1989), rating it a 4 out of 5 and stated that "This product is highly recommended to anyone interested in fantasy gaming.

"[28] Kati Hamza of Zzap!64 said of the Amiga version: "The first-person perspective ensures an incredibly realistic atmosphere - you just can't help really getting into the feeling of walking through damp echoing caverns looking for ghosts."

To date, Dungeon Master retains a small but faithful following online, with several fan-made ports and remakes available or in development.

Reverse engineered in six months work from the original by Paul R. Stevens, the available source code of CSBwin led to many ports for modern platforms like Windows and Linux.