Simon the Sorcerer

Simon the Sorcerer is a 1993 point-and-click adventure game developed and published by Adventure Soft, for Amiga and MS-DOS. The game's story focuses on a boy named Simon who is transported into a parallel universe of magic and monsters, where he embarks on a mission to become a wizard and rescue another from an evil sorcerer. The game's setting was inspired by the novels of the Discworld series, and incorporates parodies on fantasy novels and fairy tales, such as The Lord of the Rings and Jack and the Beanstalk. The lead character's design was inspired by that of the fictional British television character Blackadder, with the character voiced by Chris Barrie in the CD re-release.

The game was well received by critics, who praised the humour, graphics and gameplay, with some minor criticism towards the plot. Simon the Sorcerer went on to become a video game series, with a sequel in 1995, Simon the Sorcerer II: The Lion, the Wizard and the Wardrobe. The game was later released for PC, via GOG.com, in 2008, with a 20th Anniversary Edition developed by MojoTouch and released on Google Play in 2013.

Gameplay

File:Simon1Gameplay.png

A screenshot of Simon the Sorcerer. The game employed the same style of verbal commands found in other titles of the period, including The Secret of Monkey Island.

As a point-and-click adventure game, the player controls the protagonist of the story, Simon, by using the mouse;<ref>Manual, p. 3.</ref> with exception to the iOS and Android versions, which feature touchscreen controls.<ref name="TA"/> Gameplay involves players moving Simon around locations in the game, interacting with objects and other characters at each site. The player can make Simon perform actions via verbal commands such as "Look at", "Talk to", and "Give", with objects that are picked up being placed into an inventory - using such items requires the right verbal command and then selecting the target for that object. The game primarily involves talking to people for information, including hints to solving puzzles or acquiring items, and using the correct items to solve puzzles during the course of the game.<ref>Manual, pp. 3-5.</ref> A menu system is provided for loading, saving and quitting the game via a postcard contained in the inventory,<ref>Manual, p. 6.</ref> with a fast-travel system provided in the form of a map in the inventory that can be used up until a certain point in the game's story.<ref>Manual, p. 5.</ref>

Synopsis

Setting

The game's story takes in a parallel universe to the real world, in which magic and monsters exist, though with some modern items and elements being found within. The game's world features elements that are parodies of those from popular fantasy novels and fairy tales, including Rapunzel,<ref name="Scorpia"/> The Lord of the Rings,<ref name="Retrospective"/> Discworld,<ref name="Blueprint"/> The Chronicles of Narnia,<ref name="TA"/> Jack and the Beanstalk,<ref name="Retrospective"/> and the Three Billy Goats Gruff.<ref name="Retrospective"/><ref name="Classic"/>

Plot

On his 12th birthday, a young boy named Simon is surprised when he receives a dog as a present from his parents, which he names Chippy. Unknown to Simon, his parents found the dog at their front door without warning, wrapped in paper, and possessing a book that nobody could read and which was eventually dumped in the loft.<ref>Manual, p. 2.</ref> Sometime after his birthday, Simon hears Chippy playing around in the loft, to which he discovers it holding the book in its mouth. Reading it, he notes it is titled "Ye Olde Spellbooke", and unwittingly reads out a spell on one of the pages. A portal suddenly appears, which Chippy enters. Simon follows after him and winds up in another world, dressed in a wizard's robe. After Simon escapes a group of goblins with Chippy's help, he soon finds his way to a village with the dog's help, and brought to the home of the wizard Calypso.

Inside the house, Simon finds a letter addressed to him from Calypso, who reveals he was responsible for bringing him into his world in hopes he could help defeat the evil sorcerer Sordid.<ref>Template:Cite video game</ref> Simon learns that Calypso has since been kidnapped and that he must rescue the wizard in order to be able to go home.<ref name="Note">Template:Cite video game</ref> Per Calypso's instructions, Simon meets with a group of wizards in the village pub and have them make him a wizard.<ref name="Note"/> Carrying out a task set by them and paying them a small fee, Simon is made a wizard, and works to find the items needed to breach Sordid's mountain lair. After gaining entry to the tower with a potion that shrinks him, Simon overcomes further difficulties before returning to normal height to explore the tower. In Sordid's bedroom, he learns that the sorcerer created a wand that can turn people into stone, which can only be destroyed in the Fiery Pits of Rondor where Sordid had travelled to. Finding the wand in the tower, Simon uses a teleporter to reach Rondor, destroys the wand, and then defeats Sordid by pushing him into the fiery pits.

Sent back to his world, Simon awakens in his bedroom, assuming it was a dream. However, another portal opens in his room, whereupon a large gloved hand appears to take him back through.<ref name="Scorpia"/>

Development and release

Mike Woodroffe, Simon the SorcererTemplate:'s director and producer, wanted to create the game to exploit a market for comic adventure games, which he realised existed due to the success of Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge. His son, Simon, penned the script. He was inspired by Terry Pratchett (Adventure Soft originally intended to make a Discworld game, but were unable to obtain a licence<ref name="BTS">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name="ArtInterview"/>), and he and his father hoped that he would become involved with the game. Although he chose not to become involved, the script still contained much original humour. Many scenes are based on fairy tales, and the Wise Owl was modelled on Patrick Moore.<ref name="Blueprint">Template:Cite magazine</ref> Woodroffe said that Adventure Soft (then known as HorrorSoft) had done enough horror games and wanted to try a comedy game. The change in genre prompted the name change.<ref name="BTS"/>

Simon Woodroffe explained that the character of Simon was a mixture of Blackadder, Rincewind, and Guybrush, and that he was originally intended to be a trainee wizard, similar to Harry Potter.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He also explained that he was invented because they needed a character to compete with characters such as Rincewind,<ref name="Treff">Template:Cite web</ref> and that the game was inspired by the Discworld books and Monkey Island.<ref name="Bluffer">Template:Cite magazine</ref> Mike Woodroffe said that the game was inspired by Dungeons & DragonsTemplate:' magic stories.<ref name="Archives">Template:Cite magazine</ref> Other influences, according to Simon Woodroffe, included Red Dwarf, Fawlty Towers, and Monty Python.<ref name="ArtInterview"/> The character was invented during a journey on the M5 motorway, and was not named after Woodroffe. The name "Simon the Sorcerer" had that format because of the magical nature of the character, and because other names, such as "Willy The Wizard", were rejected because they were disliked.<ref name="Treff"/> Simon the Sorcerer was developed by a team of 15 people.<ref name="Archives"/> There was an effort to be British so as to distinguish themselves from the humour of Monkey Island.<ref name="BTS"/> Simon Woodroffe stated that his greatest challenges were the script creation and puzzle design, and he tuned the scripts (which were written in an in-house scripting language<ref name="ArtInterview">Template:Cite interview</ref>) continuously. The world was created for the characters rather than the puzzles, and the story was wrapped around characters the team liked. Woodroffe believed that Adventure Soft were able to rival more experienced studios due to their small team, all of whom had the same goals and passion for the game.<ref name="BTS"/> On deciding which fairy tales to include in the game, Simon Woodroffe said that he "read a whole bunch of that kind of stuff", including the Grimms' Fairy Tales, and that he also owned Ladybird Books when he was growing up. He said that there were some he "really wanted" to include, such as The Magic Porridge Pot, but could not.<ref name="ArtInterview"/>

Alan Brigman was the technical director and co-producer. He and Mike Woodroffe developed a game creation system, Adventure Graphic Operating System (AGOS) II, which facilitated the development of Simon the Sorcerer and enabled the team to focus on the gameplay and story without worrying about the technical aspects. The system allowed the developers to input text commands on a separate monitor, and the engine could be ported to other platforms. Other features of the engine included translating actions performed by the mouse into text commands (a sentence parser carries them out), the loading of data as needed, and functions could be implemented by the simple addition of commands. The game was built as a database, which contained tables for rooms and objects. These tables contained animation code and information about what is supposed to happen.<ref name="Blueprint"/><ref name="Archives"/> Alan Cox was also involved in the development of the AGOS engine, which is based on AberMUD.<ref name="Archives"/>

The art was developed by Paul Drummond (lead artist), Kevin Preston (who hand-drew the character art and animation<ref name="ArtInterview"/>), Maria Drummond, Jeff Wall, and Karen Pinchin. This team were based at a studio in Newcastle, rather than Birmingham, the central studio. Their work included character animations, developed in Autodesk Animator using its language POCO, which the graphics tools were built in. The artwork (including the sprites) was made as a selection of clips, and a final image was formed by pasting them together. The ability to use clips in multiple locations, and the colour information being stored separately and used on an as—needed basis meant that the art took much less space than was usual. The background artwork was sketched in black-and-white, and then scanned into a computer and colourised.<ref name="Blueprint "/> The music is credited to Media Sorcery (Adam Gilmore and Mark McLeod).<ref name="auto">Manual, p. 7.</ref>

Simon the Sorcerer was released on floppy disk in 1993 for the Amiga and IBM PC compatibles.<ref name="Classic">Template:Cite magazine</ref> It was re-released in 1994 for the Amiga CD32 and PC CD-ROM, with an enhanced soundtrack featuring Chris Barrie as the voice of Simon.<ref name="auto"/><ref name="Classic"/><ref name="Retrospective">Template:Cite web</ref> Simon Woodroffe stated that he had Barrie in mind when writing the scripts (Woodroffe said he is a fan of Red Dwarf and Arnold Rimmer<ref name="ArtInterview"/>), and that it was easier for him to do so when thinking of an actor he knew speaking the lines. It cost around £3000 per day to hire Barrie.<ref name="Bluffer"/> Woodroffe said that there was "no hesitation" in doing a talkie version, and that it was "the next big thing".<ref name="BTS"/> He also said that Barrie was "very patient and professional".<ref name="ArtInterview"/> Simon the Sorcerer used the visual and interface designs from LucasArts' games, and Woodroffe stated that this was because they had set a standard, and that Adventure Soft's focus was humour and story-telling.<ref name="Bluffer"/>

The PC version was later ported to Microsoft Windows.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The game was published in the United States by Activision.<ref name="Scorpia">Template:Cite magazine</ref> A patch was released, fixing compatibility issues with Windows ME, 2000, and XP.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Simon the Sorcerer was released on GOG.com in December 2008.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2009, the game was re-released for the iPhone by iPhSoft.<ref name="TA">Template:Cite web</ref> A new version titled '20th Anniversary Edition was developed by MojoTouch and released for Android in August 2013. This version featured new animations and icons, remastered music, high-definition graphics, and new game menus.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A 25th Anniversary Edition was released on the iOS App Store,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Steam<ref name="Steam25">Template:Cite web</ref> and GOG.com<ref name="gog.com">Template:Cite web</ref> on 3 April 2018.<ref name="Steam25"/> A sequel, Simon the Sorcerer II: The Lion, the Wizard and the Wardrobe, was released in 1995.<ref name="Classic"/>

Reception

Simon the Sorcerer received critical acclaim: across all platforms, the humour and visuals in particular were commended, although criticisms included the controls and the game's linear nature. The game's global sales surpassed 600,000 units by September 1999.<ref name="ACGRev"/>

The Amiga version received generally high ratings. CU Amiga praised the high quality graphics and how much fun the game was to play.<ref name="Simon1CU"/> Amiga ComputingTemplate:'s Simon Clays also praised the graphics and the locations, saying the locations' stylisation made the game resemble a fairy tale. He also enjoyed the puzzles and detail in the game.<ref name="Simon1AmigaComp"/> The OneTemplate:'s reviewer said the graphics are "excellent", but believed the music did not take full advantage of the Amiga's sound hardware.<ref name="TORev"/> A reviewer of Template:Ill thought the Amiga version's graphics are "magnificent".<ref name="G4AMRev">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

The CD32 version was noted for its speech. CU AmigaTemplate:'s Dean Evans was impressed with "sumptuous" backgrounds and the animation, and believed the main selling point was the digitised speech, especially Chris Barrie as Simon.<ref name="CUCDRev"/> Jonathan Nash of Amiga Power liked the "gorgeous" graphics, but thought the dialogue was annoying, and he also criticised the puzzles as "spread thinly over the pointlessly large playing area".<ref name="APRev"/> The reviewer of Amiga CD32 Gamer was impressed with the soundtrack, describing it as "top notch", and thought the story had plenty of wit. The main criticism was the scenes downplaying interaction, making the comedy linear.<ref name="ACDGRev">Template:Cite magazine</ref> The OneTemplate:'s reviewer corroborated others' views on the graphics, believing them to be "stunning", and also believed the atmosphere was augmented by the speech.<ref name="TOCDRev"/> Chris Barrie as Simon was believed by Amiga Computing to "greatly enhance" the game by giving the speech a new appeal.<ref name="ACCDRev"/> Amiga FormatTemplate:'s reviewer criticised the controls, believing the controller's limitations would make players "an insane hysterical gibbering wreck", but complimented the addition of speech, and echoed others' opinions on the graphics by calling them "beautiful".<ref name="AFCDRev"/> In a later review, Andy Smith believed that Barrie's voice acting livened the humour, and concurred with Evans' evaluation of the graphics as "sumptuous", but said that it was difficult to get the game working on an Amiga 1200.<ref name="AFCDRev2"/>

Reviewers of the DOS and Windows versions praised the humour and dialogue. The reviewers of Génération 4 described the adventure as "excellent", and believed Simon the Sorcerer might be the most amusing and idiosyncratic adventure game.<ref name="G4Rev">Template:Cite magazine</ref> Computer Gaming World stated that the "wacky, tongue-in-cheek interactive fantasy [...] features a rich world of tasty puzzles designed to test the wits of the most astute adventurer while keeping the humor dial turned up to the max".<ref name="cgw199402">Template:Cite magazine</ref> Jeuxvideo.com described the characters' dialogue as "crazy" and praised the abundance of humour, but they believed the adventure is over too quickly.<ref name="JVDOS"/> Their review of the Amiga version was identical.<ref name="JVAM"/> Tawny Ditmer of Gamezebo lauded the story as "hilarious" and the scenery and music as "wonderfully colorful and cheery", criticised the lack of side-quests and pointed out that the original graphics looks outdated in 2009.<ref name="GZRev"/> The script and dialogue were praised as "fantastic" by Rob Franklin of Adventure Gamers, and complimented Chris Barrie's "brilliant" voice acting, but criticised the plot for being vague. He recommended the game for fans of adventure games and British humour.<ref name="AGRev"/> Zoltán Ormándi of Adventure Classic Gaming thought highly or the puzzles' originality and Simon's humour. He claimed that the game's popularity caused a term, "Simonology" to be coined describing the humour of an adventure's protagonist.<ref name="ACGRev">Template:Cite web</ref> GameRankings wrote the PC version has a rating of 86 per cent.<ref name="Simon1GR"/> The reviewer of Joystick liked the decoration, animation, and characters.<ref name="JSRev"/>

Paul Marchant of Pocket Gamer reviewed the iOS version, and said that it was the game he liked, rather than the iPhone implementation, but thought the game a "classic" and described the dialogue as "original".<ref name="PGIPRev"/> Damian Chiappara of AppSpy believed the iOS version's graphics are improved over the original, and liked the "quirky" humour, but thought that it can take time for players to familiarise themselves with its controls.<ref name="AppSpyRev">Template:Cite web</ref> The iPad and Android versions appeared on Pocket Gamer's Top 10 point-and-click adventure games for their respective platforms.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2011, Adventure Gamers named Simon the Sorcerer the 44th-best adventure game ever released.<ref name="top100">Template:Cite web</ref> Template:Clear

References

Sources

• Template:Cite book

External links

• Official website
• Template:MobyGames
• Simon the Sorcerer Art gallery