Software:Shadow of the Beast III

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Shadow of the Beast III
Cover art by David John Rowe[1]
Developer(s)Reflections
Publisher(s)Psygnosis
Programmer(s)Paul Howarth
Cormac Batstone
Artist(s)Martin Edmondson
Jeff Bramfitt
Composer(s)Tim Wright
Lee Wright
Platform(s)Amiga
Release
Genre(s)Platform
Mode(s)Single-player

Shadow of the Beast III is a platform game developed by Reflections and published by Psygnosis in 1992, exclusively for the Amiga.

It is the sequel to Shadow of the Beast and Shadow of the Beast II.

Plot and gameplay

In this game, Aarbron has regained his human shape but must defeat Maletoth once and for all to become fully human. Shadow of the Beast III has four distinct stages instead of one big area. The game places less of an emphasis on the action elements so prominent in the first two games, instead preferring a more cerebral approach.

Development

Shadow of the Beast III began development in October 1990, and was developed in two years.[2] The graphics for Shadow of the Beast III were developed by Martin Edmondson on an Amiga A3000 using DPaint IV.[2] Beast III was coded on a 25Mhz PC running PDS 2.[2] The One interviewed Mark Jones, Shadow of the Beast III's graphic artist, for information regarding its development in a pre-release interview.[2] Edmondson notes that the original selling point of Shadow of the Beast was its graphics, stating that "Apart from how many colours and layers of parallax and monsters we could squeeze on screen, no thought went into it whatsoever", and expresses that Beast III will 'retain the characteristic look and feel of the original' alongside significant changes.[2] Edmondson states that "Beast I was a graphics showcase and some people found Beast II too difficult ... In Beast III our aims are to keep it looking good, retain the puzzles of Beast II and make it easier. It's going to be much more accessible."[2] The non-linear game structure eased graphic design, and Edmondson expresses that "For me it's [much easier] to start off drawing a forest than to gradually create a forest environment you can walk into."[2] Edmondson and Beast III's programmer Paul Howarth outline their ideals of a 'good action game', stating that "The most important thing is the feel. If the game is very bulky to control, things stick when they hit walls and the collision detection is a bit naff, it's very annoying to play, no matter how addictive the gameplay might be. The whole thing should run very smoothly and be easy to pick up and move around.", and furthermore emphasises the importance of overall appearance, saying that "You can have an excellent game but if it looks really, really bad it's not going to sell because you've got a problem with screenshots. They're not going to attract anybody so no-one's going to buy the game."[2]

In Beast III's development, graphics were prioritized, with Edmondson stating that planning began with "we say what we want the background to look like - whether we need a hazy skyscape, mountains [etc.] ... then we concentrate on the lighting effect."[2] Background objects were drawn as free-hand drawings, and then digitized.[2] After planning graphics, the game speed, scrolling, how the main character functions, and the controls are discussed.[2] Edmondson expresses that after this planning, "Then we try and wind a game around these ideas if we can." Edmondson states that "We must be the only people left who don't use SNASM - we just find it too slow" and expresses that he personally considers specially designed editors and utilities 'a waste of time.'[2] Edmondson goes on to state that "a lot of people write very complicated map designers and editors, but I can't see the point in justifying spending three months writing something like that ... We use the most basic tools we possibly can, so we just get stuck into the game and work exclusively on that."[2] None of the data from the first two games is reused, and Edmondson explains that "It's probably slower to mess around with original code than to write it again. On top of that there's the problem that the original code for Beast I was so bad. It was the first thing we really did seriously and when you look back on it, it's very slow and inefficient and could have been done 10 times better. We always like to start from scratch."[2]

One of the most difficult aspects of Beast III's development was parallax scrolling; Edmondson compares Beast I and II's methods of scrolling, saying that "In Beast I, we chose the most obvious and the easiest way of doing it, but the problem with that was that you couldn't have monsters running over the foreground at the same time. They had to be very spaced out and nowhere near interesting parts of the map ... [For Beast II] we fixed it so that we could have monsters around ladders and bits of buildings, but the background suffered and basically just a silhouette."[2] The parallax scrolling technique developed for Beast III allows monsters to be in points of interest without sacrificing looks, but Edmondson remarks that it's "very processor intensive" and as result took "months and months just to get it going."[2] Another complication in the development of Beast III's parallax scrolling is that North American Amigas run at 60 Hz while European Amigas run at 50 Hz, which resulted in graphical glitches on the NA Amiga during testing.[2] Beast III's graphics make use of horizontal and vertical sprite multiplexing and horizontal and vertical colour interrupts.[2]

Production

The package did not contain a T-shirt; instead, a badge with a game logo was included.[citation needed] A Sega Genesis version was considered and even developed at some point,[3] with Matt Furniss tasked as the composer.[4]

The music for Shadow of the Beast II and III was composed and produced by Tim Wright. These titles featured a more extensive soundtrack and utilised ethnic samples taken from among other sources the same Korg M1 synthesizer that was sampled by David Whittaker for the original game (although in this case, it was the rack-mounted version the Korg M1/R). Beast 3 contained a total of 24 tracks again featuring ethnic instrumentation, but this time dabbling with the addition of some more synthetic sounds.

Reception

Computer Gaming World gave Shadow of the Beast III a mixed review. The magazine called the graphics "very good" and music "excellent" but criticized the difficult puzzles, lack of a save game feature, and slow load times (and copy protection that prevented the use of a hard drive), stating "I have grown tired of arcade games that punish the player rather than reward them for their efforts".[5]

References

  1. ↑ Box Equals Art – Psygnosis
  2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 "Shadow of the Beast III Pre-Release Interview". The One (emap Images) (41): 32–34. February 1992. https://archive.org/details/theone-magazine-41/page/n31. 
  3. ↑ "Up 'n' Coming Games". Mega (Future Publishing) (20): 81. May 1994. https://archive.org/stream/mega-20#page/81/mode/1up. 
  4. ↑ Furniss, Matt (February 8, 2010). "Shadow of the Beast". Sega-16. vBulletin. p. 2. https://www.sega-16.com/forum/showthread.php?8418-Shadow-of-the-Beast&p=220028&viewfull=1#post220028. 
  5. ↑ Miller, Chuck (March 1993). "Psygnosis' Shadow of the Beast III". Computer Gaming World: 66. http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1993&pub=2&id=104. Retrieved 6 July 2014. 
  • 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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