Rockford
The player-controlled cave explorer who digs through dirt, collects gems, avoids hazards, and reaches the exit.
How it plays
The game uses a top-down, single-screen cave perspective. Players guide Rockford through dirt, boulders, gems, enemies, walls, and hazards while collecting the required gems and reaching the exit before time runs out.
The construction kit provides an editor for placing cave elements and setting challenge parameters. A created cave can then be tested as a playable level, so progression depends on solving both the supplied challenges and the player's own designs.
Plan your run
Plan routes before digging. Removing dirt or moving a boulder can change the entire cave, so avoid opening a path that lets rocks fall onto Rockford or blocks the return route.
In the editor, test every section repeatedly. Check gem accessibility, enemy timing, falling-rock behavior, and whether the exit can actually be reached within the time limit.
Meet the cast
The player-controlled cave explorer who digs through dirt, collects gems, avoids hazards, and reaches the exit.
Before you begin
Watch the falling path of every boulder before entering a narrow area.
Keep an escape route open when collecting gems near rocks or enemies.
Test custom caves from a fresh start, not only from the editor position.
Boulder Dash Construction Kit is an action-puzzle game and level editor developed by First Star Software for DOS. It combines the familiar Boulder Dash cave format with tools for designing custom caves, allowing players to arrange dirt, rocks, gems, enemies, walls, and exits before testing the result as Rockford. The core play style remains a race against gravity, timing, and limited space rather than a conventional editor detached from gameplay. Its historical importance comes from giving home-computer players a practical way to create and share Boulder Dash-style challenges. Reception focused on the added flexibility and replay value, although the interface and construction process were shaped by the technical limits of its era.
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