Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2005 9:40 pm Post subject: Paging Chris Shrigley, Re: Magician
Mr. Shrigley, Frank said that you wanted to have a look at the Magician prototype we recently got. I have some photos so you can get an idea of how far along this particular prototype is until we're able to have it dumped.
For those of you who don't know, we just recently bought a prototype version of Magician. This particular copy is from even earlier along than dumped prototype, and what really makes this interesting is that the alcohol references and religious imagery are still in place. Some comparisons between this proto and the final:
One other unusual difference is that the Sound Test spell is called Muzak in this prototype. Mr. Shrigley, was there any special reason that was changed? Also, seeing the differences in this version makes me curious: What sorts of changes did Magician go through from the concept to the final game?
Joined: 28 Aug 2003 Posts: 743 Location: Henderson, NV
Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2005 7:08 am Post subject: Re: Paging Chris Shrigley, Re: Magician
Skrybe wrote:
One other unusual difference is that the Sound Test spell is called Muzak in this prototype.
I'm obviously not Mr. Shrigley, but as far as I know, Muzak is the name of a company that manufactures in-store intercom/music systems, and thus is a trademark. A lawyer probably caught that one.
Joined: 09 Aug 2005 Posts: 4 Location: Lost Angles
Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2005 9:58 pm Post subject:
First of all, thanks very much for taking the time to post some pictures. Brings back some memories, I'll tell you! BMF54123 is correct about the Muzak reference. We realized it was a trademark, and thought it best to err on the side of caution.
The alcohol and religious references and imagary were cut as a result of Nintendo's content policy at the time. I remember we grumbled in fine English style, but ultimately, we compromised
I still have the original pitch and storyboards for Magician someplace, that we took to Japan to try and get funding. We pitched the design to Taxan Kaga, who agreed to publish the finished game through Naxat Software, I believe.
After we sold the idea, I got busy rounding out the design, so we could start coding it. I think I was still working off a cardboard box in Zycomms conference room, figuring out the NES hardware at the time, so I was pulling double duty.
The original concept and final design was fairly close to what we ended up with. All the original puzzels, and storyline play elements I created, remained intact, with just a bit of tweaking. I did have to come up with additional Bosses, puzzles and story bits, as we fleshed out the game and added stuff, but overall, it turned ut pretty much how I wanted it.
Ahh, good times!
One thing I would have changed, is the characters strange inability to jump, unless he uses a spell. Pah! I really hated that, and heavens knows why we didn't change it
I look forward to getting some binaries at some point
Joined: 28 Aug 2003 Posts: 616 Location: In the VIP
Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2005 12:10 am Post subject:
On a side note, I once made a spell list while playing through the game Magician. I remember finding just about all of them but one eluded me. I don't remember how I knew I was missing this particular spell (Exorcise)...perhaps I saw a list of spell names or something, but from every list of spells for this game mine seems to be the most complete. In fact, I made a couple corrections from the Spell List on gamefaqs. Does anyone know the missing spell?
Joined: 28 Aug 2003 Posts: 616 Location: In the VIP
Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2005 3:39 am Post subject:
Skrybe, I never did reply to this. Thanks for that missing spell. That drove me nuts for days. It was probably the only combination I didn't try. Gotta love loose ends being tied up.
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