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Wired
For Sound
'On
the Amiga versions of our games you can opt for spoken
descriptions and enjoy a bit of music. Unfortunately sound
is really heavy on memory. It would be nice to have creeping
footsteps. The Amiga is probably one of the main machines
you could do this on. Certainly with its stereo capabilities
you could have binaural creeping footsteps. It might be
a bit unsubtle though, having to tell the user that he
has to plug in his headphones and wear them because he
may be in for a surprise!.'
On
the subject of icon-driven adventures their opinions are
mixed.
'These
games do narrow down the possibilities a lot which is
easier from the programmer's point of view. You obviously
have to cater for more possibilities if people can type
anything they like. On the whole, I think these sort of
games provide less of a challenge although there are one
or two, like Mindscape's Déjà Vu which are
really good. They cater for a more commercial market,
but while there are still people who read and write books,
there's still room for a more conventional approach like
ours.
'Some
games use a bit of both. In some respects they're OK but
then, is it really easier to click the mouse over an icon
saying N or just type it anyway? On the other hand, we
do incorporate pull-down-and-use menus in some of our
games, which allow you to switch off the graphics, make
the descriptions brief or verbose, and so on.
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They're
useful because unless you've read right through
the manual you won't necessarily know they're
there.'
As
for violence in computer games, Magnetic Scrolls
don't support a particularly pacifist stance.
You can't die in Jinxter but the concept was introduced
primarily as a gimmick. 'You CAN die in Corruption
but the violence isn't excessive.
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In
fact, our games tend to suggest that force doesn't
get you anywhere very fast. Attack the old man in
The Guild of Thieves or the guru in The Pawn and
you're dead. Blood and guts don't usually have that
much to add to a game. It may be justified in a
film setting where you're making an artistic point,
but I don't think you're making that kind of point
in a computer game. More often than not blood and
gore is introduced as a marketing ploy, a form of
teasing. If you really want to shock people then
there are other ways of doing it.'
Something
Fishy
In
fact Magnetic Scrolls are more in the business of
shocking by contrast. The realistic setting of Corruption
is a pretty drastic departure from the fantasy world
of Kerovnia and an even more innovative game is
due to be released later this year. Known simply
as Fish! the adventure begins in the underwater
environment of an ordinary goldfish bowl. The arrival
of a tacky plastic castle turns your uneventful
fishy life into a multi-faceted, action packed experience.
How could you possibly refuse the chance to explore?
That
caters for the rest of this year. So far there aren't
any plans for another Kerovnian tale, but Anita
Sinclair assures me that it's a possibility; though
to recreate the familiar atmosphere, it would have
to be written by the same people who wrote the first
three games. As for what could possibly follow Fish!
- cod knows.
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