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### Blizzard's Rift [Spectrum 128K]

#### http://members.fortunecity.com/jonathan6/egghead/

#### Reviewed By Neil E.

Blizzard's Rift is the latest in a long line of titles from accomplished Gamesmith Jonathan Cauldwell. A name familiar to readers of RGCD, and indeed anyone with their fingers firmly on the pulse of the Spectrum scene.

Assuming the role of financially-challenged bounty hunter; Digby Blizzard, you've recently recovered the flight recorder of a ship once belonging to fabled space adventurer Henri Latrine. Centuries ago, Latrine was rumoured to have discovered distant alien tombs filled with treasure. His fame was short lived however, as Latrine went on to do a 'Matthew Smith', and suddenly disappeared without a trace. With the black-box detailing the locations of all the planets Latrine visited, your mission is to explore these mythical alien resting places and loot them for all their worth.

After selecting your control method from the comprehensive list the game presents you with a 'galactic' map, reminiscent of Firebird's Elite. Presented on the map are eight star systems, each comprising between three and five planets, that make up the games main levels. The location of a Casino system is also provided, allowing you to gamble your hard earned credits in a mini-game of Poker.

Beginning in the Pollastre system, a Thrust-style level (following one of two basic structures) represents each planet. The first of these structures takes on the form of a claustrophobic maze style layout, offering points for collecting diamonds and destroying enemy turrets. The second structure contains tiles that wouldn't look out of place in a platform game, while the layout presents a much more open and forgiving playing field. There is a catch however, as this type of level yields no points for vanquishing enemies and only half the points for collecting diamonds. As well as the aforementioned turrets and diamonds, each planet contains the all important teleporter object - providing the sole means of exiting the level. All of these objects are depicted via the small onscreen map that the game helpfully provides.

As your fuel and ammunition are finite the game provides a shop (humorously referred to as the 'Outernet') that can be accessed at any point in a level. Amongst other things, an expensive 'Booster' item can also be purchased which, apart from depleting your fuel much quicker, doesn't seem to offer any advantage (Inadequate research here methinks - JM).

Travelling to other systems requires a somewhat tedious hyperspace sequence, presented from a first-person perspective. The occasional unarmed bandit appears during these sequences, posing no challenge and serving as little more than a means of easily increasing your credits. In fact, the only threat they pose is to George Lucas' intellectual property.

The graphics do a good job of portraying the objects they represent and the level backgrounds are a welcome, colourful addition. In addition, the physics engine and pixel-accurate collision detection go a long way towards making the game feel believable. As with Izzy Wizzy (reviewed in RGCD #02), Blizzard's Rift is totally bereft of music and the sparse sound effects only add to the problems of this potentially great game.

While there's a lot to offer in the way of planets to explore, one of the main criticism's I have is of the games steep difficulty curve. Blizzard's Rift is an extremely unforgiving game with a single hit from a turret, or simply touching a wall, meaning instant death. There's a certain amount of satisfaction to be gained from applying the precise amount of thrust needed to save your ship as you navigate through the maze, but as you hover for a split second contemplating your next move, one of the deadly accurate turrets zeroes in and subjects you to an undeserved and premature end. To add to the frustration the turrets frequently perform this feat whilst offscreen - an irritating occurrence that happens all too often.

Blizzard's Rift is a great concept that attempts to tie together well-established facets of several games. I wouldn't consider it a *bad* game but ultimately, it tries to do too much. Essentially, Blizzard's Rift is a jack-of-all-trades yet sadly a master of none.

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Graphics: | 75%
Sound: | n/a
Game Concept: | 90%
Gameplay: | 70%
Lasting Appeal: | 70%

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Q1. Hi Jonathan, thanks for agreeing to do this interview. As way of introduction, please could you give a brief paragraph about yourself?

I started writing Spectrum games in the late 1980s and had my first title, a platformer called Egghead, published on the Crash magazine cover tape before going on write more cover tape games for all the Spectrum magazines. After the final Spectrum magazine closed down in the summer of 1993 I continued to code for the machine simply because it was something I enjoyed doing. I'm still writing Spectrum games today, although these days I prefer to write bizarre and unusual games that aren't quite like anything that's been done before.

It's fun, though some remakes are better than others. I really like Andy Noble's Jetset Willy remake as it emulates the behaviour of the Spectrum version while having the option of playing the Atari 800 version's soundtrack. As for remakes of my games it wouldn't worry me at all, although there may be rights issues with some of them. I believe there is a remake of Egghead out there somewhere.

Q3. Your recent releases (in particular Blizzard's Rift) have been somewhat lacking in the audio area. Do you compensate for the lack of music by filling the Spectrum's limited memory space with other content?

Music and sound effects are usually the last thing on my mind when I'm writing games, I'm obsessed with gameplay mechanics and getting plenty of depth in there. I spend days agonising over whether or not certain mechanics will work together, and turning ideas over in my head. By the time I'm happy with a game there's usually not much time or space for music.

Naturally, I'd like to add music to all my games, but feel a bit guilty about approaching musicians to do things for me all the time.

Q4. Previous games have included collaborations with composer Matthew Westcott, but have you ever collaborated as part of a larger team? If so, was is a good experience or do you prefer to work alone?

Yes, Matthew did the music for Lunaris and Mister Fruity and he did an excellent job on both of them. Yermyey did the music for Rough Justice and Egghead 4, and again both were excellent tracks. I have worked with artists too, but prefer to work alone as the flexibility it affords is priceless.

Explaining to a co-developer how I want to put a fruit machine into a Bomberman-style game or mix bingo with platform action and exploding locomotives could be a bit of a nightmare.

Q5. A core part of the 'Retro Gaming Scene' is the feeling that older (style) games generally play better. Do you agree with this statement? If so, is there a point in time that, for you, defines themoment when games traded playability for graphics?

That's something I would have to agree with. Gaming seemed to change around 1992-3 after Virtua Racing appeared in the arcades. Unfortunately the industry became obsessed with 3 dimensional graphics after that, to the detriment of playability. As a gamer I couldn't care less about realistic 3D graphics, I have boring old reality for that. Anything should be possible in gaming, so I want to have my cake and eat it. I want simple 2D images my brain can quickly make sense of, I want to be able to see people sneaking up behind me, and I want total control of my sprite. Above all, I want a real game with oodles of playability, not an interactive movie.

Q6. Many people of the Spectrum generation 'progressed' onto the Atari/Amiga/NES/MD. Is this a route you also took or did you remain true to the 8-Bit?

I bought an Amiga A500 in 1989 so I could play games like Kick Off and Menace. I still kept my Spectrum though, and I'm glad I did. The Amiga's sound and graphics were amazing of course, but the Spectrum still had the better games. Gameplay is what really counts, and Spectrum programmers had the advantage of more experience on the machine. Still, the Amiga could do some things really well and had some amazing games.

Q7. George Lucas once said that "Films are never completed, merely abandoned." Is this a concept that you would apply to your own work?

That's an interesting question. Sometimes I get new ideas that I could have used in past projects, and kick myself for not thinking of them at the time.

There are tweaks I'd like to make to several games, but it's too late for most of them. With a free game like Blizzard's Rift I could always go back and remix it, perhaps adding music and some new solar systems. I have actually considered a few other extras, like an auction where the player can buy spare parts for his craft, or a bar where he can meet other characters and swap details of planets with tombs. Of course what I'd really like to do is allow players to compete against each other over the internet, but until emulators can emulate the Interface 1 properly that will have to remain a dream.

Q8. A section of your site serves as a tutorial for people wanting to write Spectrum games. For anyone starting a hobby in games programming, would you recommend developing for the Spectrum as a starting point or would you point them towards modern, commercial BASIC languages such as DARK and Blitz?

For PC development I'd recommend a C or C++ compiler if you're really serious about games development. Eight bit computers are difficult to write games for, so unless you're the sort of person who enjoys a challenge I'd stick with the PC. That said, the 8-bits tend to force the programmer to concentrate on gameplay because there's not much point in concentrating on fancy sound or graphics. If you can write a good Spectrum game there's probably not much you couldn't write.

Q9. You mention in the 'Programmer's Log' section of your site that a new game is in development with a rough completion date of November 29th. Can you give us any more info on this title?

Yes, the 29th of November is Egghead's 18th birthday, and the dairydevil hero is planning to host a party on his yacht for some of his friends. I have the feeling he might overdo the sangria and will need a little help coping with the aftermath. The basic idea is that Egghead awakes the next morning with no recollection of the previous night's events. What's more, his friends are all missing so he needs to travel to various locations in his yacht collecting items to help him establish the whereabouts of his friends. I want to make this game bigger than any of the previous Egghead games, so it will be 128K only.

Q10. Thank you for your time Jonathan. Is there anything else you'd like to add before signing off?

Er, yes. Never be afraid to experiment with gameplay mechanics, because by contemplating the implausible you will make the most wonderful and fascinating discoveries.