Software:Sentinel Worlds I: Future Magic

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Sentinel Worlds I: Future Magic
Developer(s)Karl Buiter
Publisher(s)Electronic Arts
Producer(s)David Albert
Artist(s)Michael Kosaka
Composer(s)David Warhol
Platform(s)MS-DOS, Commodore 64
Release1988
Genre(s)Role-playing/Strategy
Mode(s)Single-player

Sentinel Worlds I: Future Magic is a 1988 role-playing video game developed by Karl Buiter and published by Electronic Arts for the MS-DOS and Commodore 64 computer systems.[1]

Set in the year 2995, Sentinel Worlds I: Future Magic is an innovative game that allowed a player to command a crew of five Federation officers and embark on an epic quest to save the Caldorre System from space raiders. The player's mission is to develop a crew and a starship and find the raiders' base and rid the system of them. The game was particularly notable for a musical score that simulated multiple instruments by swapping between them faster than the human ear could differentiate.

Gameplay

Sentinel Worlds I: Future Magic combines both the elements of Starflight and The Bard's Tale, and featured some innovations which set it apart from other games at the time. It was one of the pioneers in the budding sci-fi RPG genre.[2]

The game is non-linear and allows players to ignore the entire plot and explore space for as long as they wanted. It mixes elements of an RPG with a space-shooter, requiring both strategy and tactics as the player would have to dog fight enemy vessels. Players can also choose to venture into trading by mining and harvesting resources on other planets. Much of the game also takes the players onto the ground, where they can fight ground battles using a wire-frame 3D display of their environment and engage in conversation, combat, or trade.

The main component of the game starts out in the dog fighting space combat scenario, fighting to protect merchant shipping. As the story progresses, other elements of the game, including exploration, trade, conversation, ship boarding, ground combat and investigation are brought into the mix. Players must balance their resources and cash with repairs from battle, buying new weapons and armor, and upgrading their vessel.

Plot

Setting

At the start of the game, the players are sent as part of a task force to combat a group of mysterious space raiders in the Caldorre system, who appear from nowhere to ravage merchant shipping in the area. Earlier efforts with battleships were ineffective against the light, agile raiders, so smaller Interceptor-class vessels with specially trained crews were dispatched to counter the threat and eventually end it. The Caldorre system has only three worlds—Caldorre itself, inhabited by a technologically advanced culture that dwells in huge towers on the planet's surface and service passing ships; Norjaenn, a frontier like world embroiled in a bitter war between rancher types and settler farmers over limited land space, and Ceyjavik, an icy world that is home to many exotic arctic animals and a small research station.

Story

In the year 2995, the Federation dispatches a squadron of Interceptor fighters to the Caldorre system with orders to investigate reports of mysterious pirate attacks on merchant shipping. The player controls the crew of one such vessel, a team of five. The investigation proves quite difficult as the enemy, known as the "Raiders", self-destruct their ships when boarded and their personnel suicide upon capture. Solving the mystery requires thoroughly exploring all three of the inhabited planets in the system, resolving diplomatic disputes, and unlocking secret power and knowledge which grants the player characters paranormal abilities. These abilities, which are critical to plot advancement, are the reason for the phrase "Future Magic" in the game's title.

Unlocking these abilities allows the player to uncover the true, terrible secret of the Caldorre system. When the true enemy is at last revealed, the characters embark on a final, daring mission to board an enemy space installation while the remainder of the Federation fleet engages the Raiders in a climatic final space battle.

Reception

Scorpia in Computer Gaming World had mixed feelings about Sentinel Worlds. In 1988 she described the graphics, especially during takeoff and landing, as "the most exceptional use of EGA graphics I've seen yet in an adventure game", but criticized the slow movement speed both indoors and out, as well as the fact that only the team leader could be directly controlled, with the computer controlling the remainder of the team, sometimes poorly.[3] Scorpia wrote in 1989: "Several have written to me, asking if there is more to the game than shooting down raider ships. There certainly is, but it will take awhile before the "real" action starts".[4] In 1993 she called Sentinel Worlds "an interesting science-fiction CRPG" with a "good plot" but "terrible ending ... if you can live with that, this is a good game to play".[5] Orson Scott Card was more positive, writing in Compute! that "no other game ... matches Sentinel Worlds for sheer depth". He praised the graphics and writing, which he compared to the "embarrassingly bad writing in the Ultima series".[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Barton, Matt (2007-02-23). "Part 2: The Golden Age (1985-1993)". The History of Computer Role-Playing Games. Gamasutra. Archived from the original on 2009-03-30. https://web.archive.org/web/20090330222049/http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20070223b/barton_05.shtml. Retrieved 2009-03-26. 
  2. ↑ "Remarkable New Computer Games Are Here Just in Time for Christmas". Atlanta News. 1989. http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=AT&p_theme=at&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB7C395C671EAF2&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM. Retrieved 2009-02-24. 
  3. ↑ Scorpia (Dec 1988). "Magical, Mystery Future". Computer Gaming World: 36–37, 53. http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1988&pub=2&id=54. 
  4. ↑ Scorpia (Feb 1989). "Scorpion's Mail". Computer Gaming World: 21, 24. http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1989&pub=2&id=56. 
  5. ↑ Scorpia (October 1993). "Scorpia's Magic Scroll Of Games". Computer Gaming World: 34–50. http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1993&pub=2&id=111. Retrieved 25 March 2016. 
  6. ↑ Card, Orson Scott (June 1989). "Light-years and Lasers / Science Fiction Inside Your Computer". Compute!: pp. 29. https://archive.org/stream/1989-06-compute-magazine/Compute_Issue_109_1989_Jun#page/n29/mode/2up. Retrieved 11 November 2013. 
  • 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. 
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