Software:Shadowfire (video game)

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Shadowfire
Developer(s)Denton Designs
Publisher(s)Beyond Software
Platform(s)ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC
Release1985
Genre(s)Adventure / RPG
Mode(s)Single-player

Shadowfire is a video game for the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 and later the Amstrad CPC. It was developed by British developer Denton Designs and published by Beyond Software in 1985. The player must direct the Enigma Force to rescue Ambassador Kryxix from the traitor Zoff's flagship before the timer runs out and secret plans for a new type of starship are discovered. Shadowfire was one of the first games to use a menu-and-icon-driven interface. It was well received by reviewers of the time, and followed by a sequel, Enigma Force.

Plot

General Zoff, a traitor to the Empire, is holding Ambassador Kryxix captive in his spaceship. Plans for a new type of spaceship (the Shadowfire of the game's title) are contained in a micro-disc hidden in the Ambassador's spine. If Zoff gets the plans, the empire will be in great danger and it is only a matter of time until his inquisitors will discover them. The Emperor has assembled the Enigma Force, a group of six operatives who are "the cream of the Empire's legions, the worst of its criminal scum or the latest development in cybernetics". The player's task is to rescue Kryxix, capture Zoff, and destroy or capture his starship, the Zoff V.

Gameplay

The Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum versions at the same location. "Personnel" is misspelled on the C64.

Players control all six characters and have one hour and forty minutes of realtime to rescue Ambassador Kryxix and capture General Zoff. All six characters have different abilities. Syylk is an insectoid and a strong fighter; Zark Montor, the team leader, is an expert in unarmed combat and the translator of the group - meaning that Kryxix will only follow Montor; Sevrina Maris is the only character who can pick locks; Torik is an avian with thorough knowledge of explosives - and the fastest moving character; Maul is a slow powerful combat droid; and Manto is a weak droid, but the only team member that can operate the transporter that is vital for the mission's success.

Controls are completely icon based and the screen is divided into several sections. The upper screen section is called the mission command screen and displays which character is active, the active character's location and the status of all characters: whether they are moving, engaged in combat, weak or dying or performing certain action such as picking locks. The lower half of the screen changes depending on the situation and shows additional information and all selectable actions.

From the main game screen (Enigma Force screen) players can choose one of the six characters and access four sub-screens:

  • Character status screen: Shows a character's speed, strength, stamina (health) and carried weight.
  • Object screen: Shows all objects present at a location as well as all objects carried by the selected character. It can be used to drop or pick up items, equip weapons and items, or use special items.
  • Movement screen: Here, the active character can be moved by clicking on arrows that show possible directions for a character to move.
  • Battle screen: During battles, characters can scan the location to count and identify their enemies, move, attack with or without a weapon, defend, or retreat.

Development

Denton Designs consisted of former employees of Imagine Software who had been working on the infamous Bandersnatch game when the company went into administration.[1] The initial idea for Shadowfire came from Ian Weatherburn who then moved to Ocean Software after being sacked for wanting the company to be more like Imagine.[1] The Enigma Force team were based on characters in American comics, in particular the X-Men and Teen Titans, with artist Simon Butler directly copying the poses from the comics for use in the game manual.[2] The use of icons to control the characters was inspired by the interface of the Apple Lisa computers that had been used at Imagine, and publisher Beyond promoted the game as "the first adventure without text".[2]

Shadowfire was unusual at the time in that it was released with the ZX Spectrum version coded by John Heap on one side of the cassette, and the Commodore 64 version by Dave Colclough on the other. It was later ported to the Amstrad CPC.[2]

According to the manual supplied with the game, an invisible monster (Zoff's pet) roams the ship which will randomly attack the player. This was a bug in the Commodore 64 version which was subsequently fixed, but by then the manual had already been printed.[1]

Reception

Shadowfire was well-received on both released platforms, gaining a 96% Crash "Smash" for the ZX Spectrum version,[3] and a 91% "Sizzler" award from ZZap!64 for the Commodore 64 version.[4]

Info gave it four stars out of five, describing it as "a very stylish import". While disliking the "tiresome" icon-based controls, the magazine concluded that it was "an unusual and entertaining space-opera offering".[5] The innovative interface, multi-character gameplay and atmospheric music by Fred Gray were also favourably commented upon.

The game reached number 4 in the Commodore 64 charts, and number 3 in both the ZX Spectrum and All Formats charts in June 1985.[6]

Sequels

The game was followed up by Enigma Force later in the year, which featured a more arcade orientated style of gameplay. Whereas Shadowfire was entirely icon based, Enigma Force allowed the player to directly control the reduced list of characters, and play as an action game.[7]

A second sequel, Shadowfire III was in the planning stage when Denton Designs was closed down in the mid 1990's. The game was to be set thirty years after Enigma Force and involved the original six characters being revived from stasis and sent on a mission to assassinate General Zoff, who had managed to escape after being captured at the end of the previous game.[2]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Spirit of Imagine". Sinclair User (EMAP) (40): 58-59. July 1985. https://archive.org/details/sinclair-user-magazine-040/page/n57. Retrieved 8 March 2023. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "Out Of The Shadows, Into The Fire". Retro Gamer (Imagine) (113): 82-87. 28 February 2013. 
  3. ↑ "Shadowfire". Crash (17): 16. June 1985. http://www.crashonline.org.uk/17/shadfire.htm. Retrieved 27 October 2022. 
  4. ↑ "Shadowfire". Zzap! 64 (1): 66. May 1985. http://www.zzap64.co.uk/cgi-bin/displaypage.pl?issue=001&page=066&thumbstart=0&magazine=zzap&check=0. Retrieved 27 October 2022. 
  5. ↑ Dunnington, Benn; Brown, Mark R.; Malcolm, Tom (January–February 1987). "64/128 Gallery". Info: 14–21. https://archive.org/stream/info-magazine-13/Info_Issue_13_1987_Jan-Feb#page/n13/mode/2up. 
  6. ↑ "Top 20 Software Compiled By Gallup". Home Computing Weekly (Argus Specialist Publications) (120): 41. 9 July 1985. https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.php?issue_id=2686&page=41. Retrieved 27 October 2022. 
  7. ↑ "Enigma Force". Crash (Newsfield) (26): 128. March 1986. https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.php?issue_id=993&page=128. Retrieved 8 March 2023. 
  • 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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