Software:Jinxter

From HandWiki
Jinxter
MS-DOS cover art
Developer(s)Magnetic Scrolls
Publisher(s)Rainbird Software
Programmer(s)Paul Findley
Artist(s)
  • Geoff Quilley
  • Duncan McLean
Writer(s)
  • Georgina Sinclair
  • Michael Bywater [1]
Composer(s)John Molloy
Platform(s)
Release1987
Genre(s)Interactive fiction
Mode(s)Single-player

Jinxter is an interactive fiction video game developed by Magnetic Scrolls and published by Rainbird in 1987 for 8-bit and 16-bit home computers of the time. Jinxter tells the story of a man on a mission to save the fictional land of Aquitania from the looming threat of evil witches. The game was well received by critics upon its release.

Gameplay

thumb|upright=4|Atari ST gameplay screenshot, showing one of the game's "more eye-catching scenes"[3]

Jinxter is a text-based adventure, where the player controls the protagonist character by typing in command sentences. Most versions use graphics for illustrations, with the exception of the text-only Spectrum +3 and Apple II versions.[4] It was famous for its quirky, eccentric humour, as many of the textual descriptions are very long and have a humorous aspect. Each of the five charms provides a magic spell, and the words to trigger these spells are common placeholder names. Unlike many other text adventures, in Jinxter the player character almost never dies during the course of gameplay (the only exception to this rule is at the game's final confrontation[5]). However, the player can lose some luck and be unable to complete the game later on.

Plot

The game is a science fantasy comedy set in the fictional country of Aquitania, which bears a strong resemblance to early-to-middle 20th century Britain. The central characters in the story are the Guardians, immortal guardian angel-like beings who look after and help people. The Guardians - members of ARSE, the Association of Registered Stochastic Executives - are described as liking to wear herringbone overcoats and eat cheese sandwiches. Centuries ago the country was threatened by the rising dark power of the wicked Green Witches until the good magician Turani created a magical object, called the Bracelet, which holds luck and distributes it throughout Aquitania to limit and keep in check the witches' magic, banning the dangerous parts of the witchcraft and rendering them relatively harmless. However, the new high witch Jannedor has enough of the restraints. She has obtained and disassembled the Bracelet, stripped it of its five magical charms and hid them in various places (the bracelet itself is worn by Jannedor), waiting for its powers to be weakened enough it could be destroyed so she would fulfill her schemes of jinx and conquest. If the charms of Turani are not reunited soon with the legendary Bracelet of Turani then luck could completely run out and the witches will regain all of their old magic and the country will again fall under their influence.

The player character is, pretty much accidentally, recruited by the Guardians to rescue his friend Xam, who was kidnapped by the witches, retrieve the charms, fix the Bracelet, and then use its powers against Jannedor to kill her and destroy her castle, thus defeating the witches and restoring luck to Aquitania.[5][6][7][8] Once Jannedor's evil ambitions are put to an end, however, the player's character is put back just where he was before he began his adventure—in front of a speeding bus—and killed.[9]

Development

Jinxter was originally conceived as an answer to Infocom's Enchanter and was created by a relatively large development team. The game was originally written by the sister of Magnetic Scrolls' founder Anita Sinclair, Georgina, who had previously written the novella A Tale of Kerovnia for The Pawn. However, due to a falling out between them, the whole text had to be rewritten in three weeks by Michael Bywater, who had previously written the What Burglar magazine for The Guild of Thieves and then helped with Corruption.[10] The game's package contents included The Independent Guardian newspaper written by Bywater.[11]

Reception

Jinxter received positive reviews, including the rating scores of 70% from Amiga Computing,[5] 7/10 from Amiga User International,[12] 88% from Amstrad Action,[7] 8/10 from Power Play,[13] 9/10 from Commodore User,[14] 37/40 from Computer & Video Games,[15] 89% from Computing with the Amstrad,[16] 92% from Crash,[8] 92% from The Games Machine[17] 9/10 in Your Sinclair,[18] and 83% from Zzap64.[19] The game was also a commercial success. In 1998, ACE featured it on the list of 100 Top Games as "an odd adventure decorated with beautiful graphics."[20] However, in 1996, Computer Gaming World ranked its ending as the 14th least rewarding of all time, as "even when the player won, the protagonist died."[21]

References

  1. ↑ Meier, Stefan. "Magnetic Scrolls Fact Sheet". http://www.ifarchive.org/if-archive/magnetic-scrolls/info/msfact.txt. Retrieved 17 June 2015. 
  2. ↑ "Jinxter - data". http://www.birdsanctuary.co.uk/jinxter/d.php. 
  3. ↑ Gerrard, Mike (March 1988). "The Arts That Spell Adventure - Page Three". Atari ST User. http://www.mschronicles.com/articles/art002b.htm. 
  4. ↑ "Jinxter - information". http://www.birdsanctuary.co.uk/jinxter/i.php. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Verdi, Peter (October 1988). "Review (CommodoreAmiga) taken from "Amiga Computing" magazine 10/1988". Mschronicles.com. http://www.mschronicles.com/games/jinxter/jtext/jtext05.htm. 
  6. ↑ "Plot Summary". http://www.mschronicles.com/games/jinxter/jfiles/jfiles01.htm. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "CPC version, Amstrad Action, issue 30 (March 1988), p.60-61 - reviewed by The Pilgrim". Msmemorial.if-legends.org. http://msmemorial.if-legends.org/articles.htm/aa3088.htm. Retrieved 2011-06-13. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Adventure Trail". CRASH (Newsfield Publications) (51): 43. April 1988. https://archive.org/stream/Crash_No._51_1988-04_Newsfield_GB#page/n41/mode/2up.  Alt URL
  9. ↑ "Memories". The Bird Sanctuary. http://www.birdsanctuary.co.uk/jinxter/m.php. Retrieved 2011-06-13. 
  10. ↑ Verdi, Peter. "Trivia". Mschronicles.com. http://www.mschronicles.com/games/jinxter/jfiles/jfiles02.htm. Retrieved 2011-06-13. 
  11. ↑ "Jinxter - Packaging". http://www.birdsanctuary.co.uk/jinxter/p.php. 
  12. ↑ Verdi, Peter. "Review (Commodore Amiga) from "Amiga User International" magazine". Mschronicles.com. http://www.mschronicles.com/games/jinxter/jtext/jtext03.htm. 
  13. ↑ Verdi, Peter. "Review (Commodore 64/128) taken from Power Play magazine". Mschronicles.com. Archived from the original. Error: If you specify |archiveurl=, you must also specify |archivedate=. https://web.archive.org/web/20110714123514/http://www.mschronicles.com/games/jinxter/jtext/jtext02.htm. Retrieved 2011-06-13. 
  14. ↑ Campbell, Keith (January 1988). "Into The Valley: Jinxter". Commodore User (52): 76–77. http://msmemorial.if-legends.org/games.htm/download.php?CU52_6667.pdf. 
  15. ↑ Keith (February 1988). "Exclusive review: Jinxter". Computer & Video Games (76): 104–105. http://msmemorial.if-legends.org/games.htm/download.php?cvg76_0288_104105.pdf. 
  16. ↑ Gandalf (September 1988). "Glossy Line in Classics". Computing with the Amstrad 4 (5): 43. http://msmemorial.if-legends.org/games.htm/download.php?cwa4-5_0988_43.pdf. 
  17. ↑ Peter Verdi. "Review (Commodore Amiga/Atari ST) from "The Games Machine" magazine 02/1988". Mschronicles.com. http://www.mschronicles.com/games/jinxter/jtext/jtext04.htm. 
  18. ↑ "Jinxter". Your Sinclair (30): 82. June 1988. http://www.worldofspectrum.org/showmag.cgi?mag=YourSinclair/Issue30/Pages/YourSinclair3000082.jpg. 
  19. ↑ "Jinxter". Zzap64 (35): 48. March 1988. http://msmemorial.if-legends.org/games.htm/download.php?zzap35_0388_48.pdf. 
  20. ↑ "Adventures 87/88". ACE (13): 68–71. October 1988. http://www.worldofspectrum.org/showmag.cgi?mag=ACE/Issue13/Pages/ACE1300069.jpg. 
  21. ↑ "The 15 Least Rewarding Endings of All Time". Computer Gaming World (148): 128. November 1996. https://archive.org/details/Computer_Gaming_World_Issue_148/page/n131/mode/1up. 
  • MobyGames is a commercial database website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes over 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms.[1] Founded in 1999, ownership of the site has changed hands several times. It has been owned by Atari SA since 2022.

Features

Edits and submissions to the site (including screenshots, box art, developer information, game summaries, and more) go through a verification process of fact-checking by volunteer "approvers".[2] This lengthy approval process after submission can range from minutes to days or months.[3] The most commonly used sources are the video game's website, packaging, and credit screens. There is a published standard for game information and copy-editing.[4] A ranking system allows users to earn points for contributing accurate information.[5]

Registered users can rate and review games. Users can create private or public "have" and "want" lists, which can generate a list of games available for trade with other registered users. The site contains an integrated forum. Each listed game can have its own sub-forum.

History

Logo used until March 2014

MobyGames was founded on March 1, 1999, by Jim Leonard and Brian Hirt, and joined by David Berk 18 months later, the three of which had been friends since high school.[6][7] Leonard had the idea of sharing information about computer games with a larger audience. The database began with information about games for IBM PC compatibles, relying on the founders' personal collections. Eventually, the site was opened up to allow general users to contribute information.[5] In a 2003 interview, Berk emphasized MobyGames' dedication to taking video games more seriously than broader society and to preserving games for their important cultural influence.[5]

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount.[8] This was announced to the community post factum , and the site's interface was given an unpopular redesign.[7] A few major contributors left, refusing to do volunteer work for a commercial website.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025} On December 18, 2013, MobyGames was acquired by Jeremiah Freyholtz, owner of Blue Flame Labs (a San Francisco-based game and web development company) and VGBoxArt (a site for fan-made video game box art).[9] Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel,[10] and for the next eight years, the site was run by Freyholtz and Independent Games Festival organizer Simon Carless.[7]

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million.[11] The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager.[12][13][14] Over the next year, the financial boost given by Atari led to a rework of the site being built from scratch with a new backend codebase, as well as updates improving the mobile and desktop user interface.[1] This was accomplished by investing in full-time development of the site instead of its previously part-time development.[15]

In 2024, MobyGames began offering a paid "Pro" membership option for the site to generate additional revenue.[16] Previously, the site had generated income exclusively through banner ads and (from March 2014 onward) a small number of patrons via the Patreon website.[17]

See also

  • IGDB – game database used by Twitch for its search and discovery functions

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sheehan, Gavin (2023-02-22). "Atari Relaunches The Fully Rebuilt & Optimized MobyGames Website". https://bleedingcool.com/games/atari-relaunches-the-fully-rebuilt-optimized-mobygames-website/. 
  2. ↑ Litchfield, Ted (2021-11-26). "Zombie company Atari to devour MobyGames". https://www.pcgamer.com/zombie-company-atari-to-devour-mobygames/. 
  3. ↑ "MobyGames FAQ: Emails Answered § When will my submission be approved?". Blue Flame Labs. 30 March 2014. http://www.mobygames.com/info/faq7#g1. 
  4. ↑ "The MobyGames Standards and Practices". Blue Flame Labs. 6 January 2016. http://www.mobygames.com/info/standards. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Miller, Stanley A. (2003-04-22). "People's choice awards honor favorite Web sites". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 
  6. ↑ "20 Years of MobyGames" (in en). 2019-02-28. https://trixter.oldskool.org/2019/02/28/20-years-of-mobygames/. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Plunkett, Luke (2022-03-10). "Atari Buys MobyGames For $1.5 Million". https://kotaku.com/mobygames-retro-credits-database-imdb-atari-freyholtz-b-1848638521. 
  8. ↑ "Report: MobyGames Acquired By GameFly Media". Gamasutra. 2011-02-07. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/report-mobygames-acquired-by-gamefly-media. 
  9. ↑ Corriea, Alexa Ray (December 31, 2013). "MobyGames purchased from GameFly, improvements planned". http://www.polygon.com/2013/12/31/5261414/mobygames-purchased-from-gamefly-improvements-planned. 
  10. ↑ Wawro, Alex (31 December 2013). "Game dev database MobyGames getting some TLC under new owner". Gamasutra. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/game-dev-database-mobygames-getting-some-tlc-under-new-owner. 
  11. ↑ "Atari invests in Anstream, may buy MobyGames". November 24, 2021. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-11-24-atari-invests-in-anstream-may-buy-mobygames. 
  12. ↑ Rousseau, Jeffrey (2022-03-09). "Atari purchases Moby Games". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/atari-purchases-moby-games. 
  13. ↑ "Atari Completes MobyGames Acquisition, Details Plans for the Site's Continued Support". March 8, 2022. https://www.atari.com/atari-completes-mobygames-acquisition-details-plans-for-the-sites-continued-support/. 
  14. ↑ "Atari has acquired game database MobyGames for $1.5 million" (in en-GB). 2022-03-09. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/atari-has-acquired-game-database-mobygames-for-1-5-million/. 
  15. ↑ Stanton, Rich (2022-03-10). "Atari buys videogame database MobyGames for $1.5 million". https://www.pcgamer.com/atari-buys-videogame-database-mobygames-for-dollar15-million/. 
  16. ↑ Harris, John (2024-03-09). "MobyGames Offering “Pro” Membership". https://setsideb.com/mobygames-offering-pro-membership/. 
  17. ↑ "MobyGames on Patreon". http://www.patreon.com/mobygames. 
  • No URL found. Please specify a URL here or add one to Wikidata.

Template:Atari





Retrieved from "https://handwiki.org/wiki/index.php?title=Software:Jinxter&oldid=694044"