Que vous arrive t-il ?... Et comment se fait-il que vous deveniez tout bleu ? Est-ce votre imagination qui vous joue des tours ou bien êtes-vous soudainement naturalisé "Schtroumpf à part entière" ? Je crois qu'aucune de ces deux propositions n'est à retenir car, en effet, ce n'est pas sérieux... Autant que vous sachiez la vérité, tout simplement : vous êtes tout bonnement "victime" d'un appel à travers le temps et vous êtes devenu ainsi le Chevalier Magique.
Dès lors, une mission vous est assignée et vous ne serez libéré de votre sortilège que lorsque vous serez parvenu à vos fins. Pour y arriver, vous devez porter secours à votre Maître Gimbal ainsi qu'à sept autres personnes qui ont été entraînées dans l'aventure...
Et c'est ainsi que vous vous retrouvez propulsé dans le château mystique de Karn, avec une armure toute bleue et rien que sept étages à explorer (un vrai travail de Titan pour un petit Schtroumpf !...). Il va falloir retrouver tous vos compagnons et de plus accéder à leurs désirs comme, par exemple, donner un marteau à Thor (et non à tort)... Mais ce n'est pas tout car il faut également vous surveiller car avouez qu'il serait quand même fort dommage que vous périssiez épuisé !...
Ce jeu qui a pratiquement deux années d'existence (déjà !) a l'avantage d'être une aventure avec une sélection d'action qui se pratique par superposition de menus à fenêtres. Le graphisme est pure arcade et je ne recommande pas ce produit anglais aux francophones exclusifs... pour cause d'incompatibilité de langue...
AMSTAR n°8
SPELLBOUND: A TRUE GRAPHIC ADVENTURE (c) MASTERTRONIC
IJK Software denies piracy claim – IJK Software at the centre of piracy storms, has laid the blame at the door of the programmer. Ian Sinclair of IJK accepts that its Crimebusters Inc is similar to Mastertronic's Spellbound, but says that he released the game without being aware of this. « We hadn't seen Spellbound until Mastertronic contacted us, but within half an hour we'd withdrawn it from sale. » Copies of the game are now being destroyed as they come back to IJK. « Any software house in the country is open to things like this » , says Sinclair. « I just worry about how much of it can go on. » Mastertronic itself is now pursuing the matter with the programmer, who has been given the option of admitting guilt or being sued. « I'd like it to be known to any software house not to go near the guy, » says Alison Beasley of Mastertronic.
David Jones' foray into writing games came by chance after meeting with video rental shop owner, Albert Owen, who was looking to set up a games company.
David Jones (1987)
David followed up with his breakthrough hit Finders Keepers; his first game to feature Magic Knight. The character would go on to feature in three more games, Spellbound , Knight Tyme and Stormbringer, and became a cult figure, tying together the platform and adventure genres to give the player a unique experience.
But without Albert Owen, the father of Ray Owen who created the graphics in all the Magic Knight games, I probably wouldn't have written anything publishable. He was enthusiastic and supportive and obtained the device I used to download from the TRS-80 model III (my second computer) to the Spectrum.
Spellbound came about after I'd seen an early Apple machine for a few minutes and realised how a windows system could be easly adapted to a text adventure format. It was a new idea that didn't start until a few months after Finders Keepers was released.
While Finders Keepers took me a total of three months. I think Spellbound was nearer to six months. If I'd known at the start what I was writing it woufci have been a lot quicker, but I was experimenting as I went. Since then I've seen people design games before starting to write them, and for a while. I was persuaded that doing it that way makes more sense. Though after gaming experience from developing other projects. I am now pretty convinced that making it up as you go atong is at least equally as valid as a start with a design document.
Are there any tips you can share now? Because after three decades, we are still struggling to finish it! I can't really offer any lips this long after the release of Spellbound, but there are YouTube videos of the solution. If I was going to play it again myself I'd find a good one of those and keep it handy. I think I'd be more likely to replay Knight Tyme though. I think it's the best of the trilogy.
Just after Spellbound was released I was browsing the computer and gadget shops in Tottenham Court Road in London, when I spotted somebody buying the game. I couldn't help myself; I said to the buyer, 'I wrote that!' - imagine my shock when he repfced, "No, you wish you wrote it!' Anyway, when Spellbound was released I had the confidence to nsist that Mastertronic put my name on the tape cover, so after I recovered from the shock of that statement. I showed him my name on my credit card and he believed me. He was buying it for his son so he asked for some tips and I think he asked me to sign it - but it was three decades ago so I'm not 100 per cent certain about the signing.
Another project I'm working is The Magic Knight Game Book -1 wrote the first version of the around 1988. It's a fighting fantasy-styte adventure book that now only exists on faded print out. I am reading this to my computer and I will be editing it as a collaboration between a young me and current me. Also there's my board game, currently called Path of the Mage, which is a hex the-based game that l'm prototyping at the moment.
CPCrulez[Content Management System] v8.732-desktop Page créée en 640 millisecondes et consultée 7654 fois
L'Amstrad CPC est une machine 8 bits à base d'un Z80 à 4MHz. Le premier de la gamme fut le CPC 464 en 1984, équipé d'un lecteur de cassettes intégré il se plaçait en concurrent du Commodore C64 beaucoup plus compliqué à utiliser et plus cher. Ce fut un réel succès et sorti cette même années le CPC 664 équipé d'un lecteur de disquettes trois pouces intégré. Sa vie fut de courte durée puisqu'en 1985 il fut remplacé par le CPC 6128 qui était plus compact, plus soigné et surtout qui avait 128Ko de RAM au lieu de 64Ko.
+
