"The treasure in Silver Lake” is an adaptation of a Karl May Western. A PC version of the adventure in German was developed first and released in 1993. An Amiga version was developed, but never released. However, there exists a demo version from 1994 and at least one review by German gaming magazine Amiga Joker (74%) that received this demo version from LINEL and reviewed it.

Der Schatz im Silbersee (1993) was only released in German, not in English. The reason for this, according to Markus Grimmer, producer and head of LINEL, was the rapid development of visual techniques that year. “The first version of our art was good enough to sell. But the graphics had developed so quickly that the same graphics would not have been sufficient for an English version a year later.” All the artworks would have had to be redone.

At a book fair, Markus Grimmer got to talk with the Karl May Verlag. He says in an interview: “The publisher told us at the time that Der Schatz im Silbersee (The Treasure of Silver Lake) was the most successful book that had not been licensed. They then offered it to us. The contract was made on short notice at the book fair, and one year later we could already present our game with the title Der Schatz im Silbersee” (Suter 2024). The Karl May Verlag secured a right of co-determination on the script and the presentation and was advising LINEL during the entire development and “took care of an optimal and faithful adaptation” (Quote from the booklet for the game Der Schatz im Silbersee: Grimmer (1993), p.5).

The booklet contains a prequel to the story of Old Firehand and Winnetou on 22 pages. A faithful start for the game adventure that leads the player, like the reader of the book, from Arkansas to the Rocky Mountains. For the release, LINEL also brought in the German publisher Software 2000, which then took over the distribution of this product. The game (for PC) was quite successful in Germany.

After that, LINEL tried to produce an Amiga version and planned an English version as well as a second game with the Karl May title Durch die Wüste (Through the Desert). LINEL’s Karl May game adventures were about to become a series. In the booklet, it says on page 5: “[…] it will be the start of several games. The next adventure is already in the works and should allow everyone to experience the many adventures Karl May left us and which we know from his books.” (Booklet, Grimmer (1993), p.5)

The game Der Schatz im Silbersee was made with the adventure game engine MACS (Modular Adventure Control System). Programmer Arndt Hasch had previously developed this game engine for LINEL in order to use it for the unfinished adventure game The Neverending Story II. It was thought to compete with LucasArts’ SCUMM engine. But the entire MACS had to be rewritten for the Amiga, although it was already completely finished as a PC version. Hasch was a PC programmer, the adventure was first released on PC in 1993.

Unfortunately, it didn’t go any further. “Then we had a financial bottleneck,” Grimmer explains. “Software 2000 had not made the agreed-upon advance payments. They were running out of money themselves, and we had no money to pay the programmers now.” (Suter 2024) As a result, the Amiga version was not finished, and the next adventure, Durch die Wüste, which was planned for 1994, could not be developed any further. “Arndt Hasch himself left us; he got an offer from a German competitor.” (Suter 2024)

The reviews were rather mixed. The German magazine ASM 1994.01 pointed out, that, “visually, it all looks great. The scanned backgrounds and animations are a pleasure to look at and really capture the atmosphere of the books. The logic puzzles have the occasional glitch, and the character portraits also look a bit generic. Fans will enjoy this game regardless, and even Karl May newcomers (greenhorns) will find plenty to keep them busy. The difficulty level isn’t set too high, and of course, all text is in German. The Treasure of Silver Lake isn’t exactly a groundbreaking masterpiece, but it’s solid gold for adventure game fans.” Some years later, the retro game magazine The Good Old Days saw it not as rosy: „Der Schatz im Silbersee isn't particularly bad, but what's fatal is that there isn't anything particularly good about it. Unimpressive story bundled with unimaginative puzzles – not exactly what people would be rushing to buy.“ (The Good old days (2009-03-13)

And finally, The PC Games (Germany) says in its 1994.01 issue: “The Treasure of Silver Lake must be viewed with somewhat mixed feelings overall. On the one hand, both the story and the excellent background graphics are top-notch; on the other hand, the game’s overall impression doesn’t quite measure up to the high-caliber competition mentioned earlier in the text. Nevertheless, Silver Lake is a worthwhile purchase for both newcomers and true Karl May fans.”

See also: Suter, Beat, LINEL – a Swiss Game Publisher 4: The Publishing Business. https://chludens.hypotheses.org/2743