| ★ AMSTRAD CPC ★ DAVID JONES ★ |
DAVID JONES/DAVID AUBERY JONES | Under the spell (Popular Computing Weekly) |
This week Tony Kendle presents some vital clues for those struggling with Spellbound - straight from the author, David Jones I know that a lot of people will be pleased to hear that we have received the long awaited tips for Spellbound from the hand of the author David Jones, complemented by some letters on the subject sent in by our readers. David has been kept busy by his latest project Knight Tyme so it was impossible to predict exactly when his tips were going to arrive.but now that they have done I'm sure that nobody will mind If we get straight on with them rather than concentrating on Marsport as promised. By the time you read this both the Commodore version of Spellbound and the Spectrum 128K version of Knight Tyme (quite extraordinary value at the price) should be in the shops. The 48K Spectrum Knight Tyme and 128K Spellbound are expected sometime in May - even more good news is that David says he will let us have some clues that apply to both versions of Knight Tyme when everything is released (but that's no reason not to beat him to it If you get somewhere with the game). David's next game will "probably not involve Magic Knight because I want to test a new way of doing arcade adventures. but there will be future games with the same character." Before we get on with David's tips, can I give thanks to Jason Watkins of Gravesend for his pointers, which I will slip in with the rest in appropriate places. Another interesting letter comes from Eric Ellis of Fishponds In Bristol, who was intrigued by David's comment of a couple of weeks ago that as far he knew no one had finished Spellbound Eric writes. "I'm sure a number of people like myself will write to say that we have done it (I had over 30 hours of time left) " Actually Eric you are the only one so far. so congratulations. "Spellbound is the best game I have played, a bit like an Agatha Christie book full of clues, false trails and red herrings. Just when you think you are getting somewhere you either blow yourself up or fall into a pit. but at least with a touch of humour you are told how to avoid the same fate next time. "Spellbound had me really hooked for about four weeks playing it into the early hours of the morning, making odd notes on every scrap of paper I could find - I had countless sleepless nights thinking about how to get over walls, how to keep Thor alive etc. I came to a complete standstill at 52% for 10 days and was convinced that the game was wrong " This midpoint puzzle seems to be troubling a lot of people and is the hardest bit in the game but David has asked us not to print the solution just yet I will just say that the answer involves Thor and Erland. Eric also writes that "there is one point in the game that may be a bug - on the second floor wall if you summon any three characters you can just walk through the wall - It could be a bug or another trick because if you do this you are unable to finish the game! Strength can be a bit of a problem but if you keep Florin under control and near the Teleportpad it's no trouble to pop back for a top up Thor can be a pain as he seems to have no will to live at all and snuffs it despite many feeds but the game can be completed without even feeding him once which will surprise many people." Cryptic hints Well, after setting the scene with those cryptic hints let's get on with the nitty gritty from David. We'll let you know the secret of Thor next week. First he was surprised at the start address given in the pokes from Paul Miller a couple of weeks ago - the actual start address of the game is obtained by Randomise Usr 26627. One of the frequent comments we get is that readers find it refreshing that a programmer of David's quality doesn't try to stop people from hacking into the game. I suspect this is partly due to Mastertronic's pricing policy and I'm not sure how much say David would have in it if the cover price was £10 or so. Lack of energy Anyway regarding Spellbound, David confesses. In the loader the start address was 26624. If any editing of the loader is performed the binary representation of the loader also gets automatically changed to become address 26624 and the game then jumps to a Hackercatch routine I wrote. I didn't do this to stop hackers, just to have a bit of fun with them Any hacker worth his or her sodium chloride should cope with no problem. “On to the proper clues. Read the Crystal ball every few minutes since there are a lot of clues to be had there and they will change as time passes. When you are not in the lift the ball can also be used to locate characters. It is useful to keep the transporter pad in the lift since you will then be able to get to different floors quickly from almost anywhere “If you are dying fast through lack of energy then you must use the bottle of restorative fluid from the left most room of the roof garden Give this to Florin and then lake it back for full energy. Then give it back to him etc. You could of course avoid this problem by using the pokes published. “Before you can command anybody you must fetch one of the objects shown on the cassette cover from the roof garden. "Once you have dropped the glowing bottle and released the Banshee It is useful to command her to help. Banshee has a series of clues that will change in a similar fashion to the ball. “Lady Rosmar will help you later if you give her something to go with what she is carrying (ie, of the same category of object). She will help you in the room where you find the object. “Samsun is a sporting chap and would like to have something decent to throw before he can help you with the object that he has. “Elrand Halfelen does not want or need the saxophone. There is some other instrument he would like to use." The answer to more puzzles next week Popular Computing Weekly |
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