I'm excited about the potential of Digital Eclipse's "Gold Master Series". These are interactive documentaries, following the production of notable games. We got a preview of this format in last year's Atari 50: The Anniversary Collection, but its utility as a resource was hindered by the breadth of the topic, and the limitations regarding what they could cover in a piece of retail software. With the involvement of the small development crews of early games, and all the rights in place, there's potential for some really interesting coverage here. Not every game developer is a Jordan Mechner, though.
Mechner is most widely known as the creator of Prince of Persia, but a lot of what that game pioneered was introduced in his first retail release, Karateka. Rotoscoped sprite animation, cutscenes, a theatrical-style soundtrack. It's all pretty cutting-edge for a game that came out two years after Pitfall, but it's pretty rudimentary too. I hadn't played it before buying this, and was expecting something more along the lines of the cinematic action adventure games that it lead to, but I think you're better off thinking of 80s proto-beat em ups like Kung Fu/Spartan X and Splatterhouse. You have high, medium and low kicks and punches, but there's no strategy to fights. Sometimes an attack connects, but there's little predicting it, and nothing preventing you from spamming the same attack over and over.
Seemingly, what's brought Digital Eclipse to Karateka is Mechner's extensive archival material and enthusiastic support. We get to explore original Super 8 rotoscoping footage, journal entries, early prototypes, design sketches, and correspondence from prospective publisher, Broderbund. There's also a bunch of interviews with Mechner and his father, who composed the soundtrack and contributed significant ideas (such as the distinctive rotoscoping technique), and industry figures who were once young fans of the game. I found the most endearing part to be an archived piece of fanmail from a young John Romero, excitedly speculating on how visual effects were programmed and asking Mechner if he'd like to try the games he'd made. Much of videogame history has been told from the perspective of the arcades and console market, and it's always nice when we're shown how significant something like the 80s home computer scene was in America.
Mechner is not shy to discuss his glory days in the 80s. To this date, he has created four games and worked as a consultant for two reboots, but he's written three books covering the development of his games, and has a graphic novel awaiting release. It's easy to see why he'd say yes to this project, and by the point you get to the end of timeline, you can tell Digital Eclipse almost certainly have a "The Making of Prince of Persia" lined up. I'm not sure who else they can really expect this level of contribution from, in future Gold Master Series releases. As much as I'd love a Making of Super Mario Bros, or Duke Nukem Forever, I'm not holding my breath for them. Molyneux's probably jumping at the chance to tell us all about Populous again, though.
I don't think the package is bad. There's insight to be dug from the timeline, and Broderbund's responses to Mechner's revisions are particularly illuminating. This was a kid who was mainly playing arcade games from the 70s, but the home computer market had already shifted towards more narrative games than score-chasers at that point. I actually think his original submission, "Deathbounce" is a little more fun than Karateka, but it's definitely more derivative, starting out as an Apple II port of Asteroids. In quite a cute twist, Digital Eclipse have worked with Mechner to present "definitive" versions of both Karateka and Deathbounce here, incorporating ideas that he didn't have time to include in the original versions. They're far more enjoyable than the low-budget reimaginings included in Atari 50, though I doubt they'd be of much interest to anyone who hadn't been following each game's development history.
I want to support this series, and I think that means buying every release, but despite the direct influence it's had on a lot of my favourite games, I'm already a little too sick of this guy to get excited about the Prince of Persia version. I'd love for this to be such a big format that key industry figures were bending over backwards to tell us all about the histories of our favourite games, or particularly secretive stories of development hell, but I don't think it's a realistic expectation. There's too much money tied to the wider perception of the big name titles, and too many legal issues with publishing it all as an eShop download. What's here is a documentary that will only really excite diehard fans, and they've already bought the book twice.
Mechner is most widely known as the creator of Prince of Persia, but a lot of what that game pioneered was introduced in his first retail release, Karateka. Rotoscoped sprite animation, cutscenes, a theatrical-style soundtrack. It's all pretty cutting-edge for a game that came out two years after Pitfall, but it's pretty rudimentary too. I hadn't played it before buying this, and was expecting something more along the lines of the cinematic action adventure games that it lead to, but I think you're better off thinking of 80s proto-beat em ups like Kung Fu/Spartan X and Splatterhouse. You have high, medium and low kicks and punches, but there's no strategy to fights. Sometimes an attack connects, but there's little predicting it, and nothing preventing you from spamming the same attack over and over.
Seemingly, what's brought Digital Eclipse to Karateka is Mechner's extensive archival material and enthusiastic support. We get to explore original Super 8 rotoscoping footage, journal entries, early prototypes, design sketches, and correspondence from prospective publisher, Broderbund. There's also a bunch of interviews with Mechner and his father, who composed the soundtrack and contributed significant ideas (such as the distinctive rotoscoping technique), and industry figures who were once young fans of the game. I found the most endearing part to be an archived piece of fanmail from a young John Romero, excitedly speculating on how visual effects were programmed and asking Mechner if he'd like to try the games he'd made. Much of videogame history has been told from the perspective of the arcades and console market, and it's always nice when we're shown how significant something like the 80s home computer scene was in America.
Mechner is not shy to discuss his glory days in the 80s. To this date, he has created four games and worked as a consultant for two reboots, but he's written three books covering the development of his games, and has a graphic novel awaiting release. It's easy to see why he'd say yes to this project, and by the point you get to the end of timeline, you can tell Digital Eclipse almost certainly have a "The Making of Prince of Persia" lined up. I'm not sure who else they can really expect this level of contribution from, in future Gold Master Series releases. As much as I'd love a Making of Super Mario Bros, or Duke Nukem Forever, I'm not holding my breath for them. Molyneux's probably jumping at the chance to tell us all about Populous again, though.
I don't think the package is bad. There's insight to be dug from the timeline, and Broderbund's responses to Mechner's revisions are particularly illuminating. This was a kid who was mainly playing arcade games from the 70s, but the home computer market had already shifted towards more narrative games than score-chasers at that point. I actually think his original submission, "Deathbounce" is a little more fun than Karateka, but it's definitely more derivative, starting out as an Apple II port of Asteroids. In quite a cute twist, Digital Eclipse have worked with Mechner to present "definitive" versions of both Karateka and Deathbounce here, incorporating ideas that he didn't have time to include in the original versions. They're far more enjoyable than the low-budget reimaginings included in Atari 50, though I doubt they'd be of much interest to anyone who hadn't been following each game's development history.
I want to support this series, and I think that means buying every release, but despite the direct influence it's had on a lot of my favourite games, I'm already a little too sick of this guy to get excited about the Prince of Persia version. I'd love for this to be such a big format that key industry figures were bending over backwards to tell us all about the histories of our favourite games, or particularly secretive stories of development hell, but I don't think it's a realistic expectation. There's too much money tied to the wider perception of the big name titles, and too many legal issues with publishing it all as an eShop download. What's here is a documentary that will only really excite diehard fans, and they've already bought the book twice.