1 - Commodore Is Awesome

WORK I N P R O G R E S S
he can be killed for good.
For the purposes of the sequel.
graphic artist Teoman Irmak has
redesigned the main Samurai character
- he now stands a good 253/4
taller and comes kitted Out in a
snazz
y control and the abilities of the char-
nacter e remain much the same, con-
w sisting of the familiar array of speed-
gblur r sword slashes, but now he's got
e
more
e
freedom to use his weapon in
the air.
n
As part of VID's attempts to make
a
The Second Samurai more console-
n
esque. the style of the actual play
d
area has been radically rethought.
r
Whereas the first game put heavy
e
emphasis on exploration (to the point
d where players could get lost in the
olandscape),
here the environment has
ubeen
put together in a much friendli-
ter
manner There's less vertical
fscrolling
and the general way for-
iward,
that leads the player to the bad
tguy
at the end of each stage, is much
. more rigidly defined, so even if you
Tdo
stray off the beaten track, it won't
h
be too hard to get your bearings
e
again. Those who like to explore will
still be able to but as Mev puts it: "If
people go exploring it will be
because they want to, not because
they have to." To encourage the
more intrepid player, the levels have
been designed to hold a multitude of
secret rooms, chambers and pick-ups.
The game's cerebral aspect is now
a lot simpler, too. Puzzles are more
localised, so while there's still some
object manipulation to be done,
things don't have to be carried
halfway across a level; if something's
blocking your way, vvhatever's needed
to get you past it is sure to be
nearby. Indeed, the concept of interacting
with background items has
been very much played up so as well
us lugging objects around, the player
can now ride on the backs of some
enemies and even use them to help
him solve puzzles.
It's not clear how many different
levels and stages there will be in the
final game, or where they will be set,
but t se first level - the only one that's
actually working at the moment -
takes place in a surreal 'twilight zone',
including such oddities as giant pencil
stabs, flying fish and bouncing
statues. The levels are created initially
by programmer Raf Cecco, who lays
Out t le whole thing like a blueprint
In the bees
domain on the
first level, the
backdrops take on
a honeycomb texture,
complete
with the golden
sludge dripping
from some of the
orifices.
Mmm,mmm. So
far, only the level
one graphics have
been drawn, so
what the rest of
the game will look
like is a mystery to
all but Teoman
Irmak at the
moment, You'll
just have to wait
and see_
using VID's powerful level-map editor,
and then it's down to Teoman to
provide the graphic atmosphere.
building smart backgrounds around
the bare bones that Raf has created
It's this aspect that accounts for most
of the work still to be done. The
game mechanics are up and running.
and the first few stages are fully
playable. The task now is to design
the rest, which includes not just the
level layouts but also the graphical
concepts for the rest of the levels.
So there's still plenty of work to
be done but given that the game has
come this far it seems surprising that
this is the first time it's been seen
publicly since it was started late last
year. Mev explains why: "We've
always taken our time with our products.
We don't show them to the
press until we're happy with what
we are doing. That's always been our
policy, but especially so with The Second
Samurai. We obviously want to
make sure the game is going in the
right direction, but we're also taking
our time with the placement of the
product with a publisher. After what
happened with Mirrorsoft, we have
to make sure that doesn't happen
again." That's why, even with the
game nine months into development
and Vivid Image Design hoping for
a release at Christmas. no publisher
has yet been approached with the
game so where it'll eventually end up
is still anybody's guess. But one
thing's for sure it will definitely not
be a company run by a tubby Czech
with his own private yacht...
(Lett and right)
Two of the
games secret
rooms. On the
left a treasure
chamber packed
with coins and,
on the right, an
Asteroidsinspiredsubgam.
where the
player smashed
statues with his
sword.
DOUBLE IMPACT!
As it turns out, The Second
Samurai is a bit of an apt
title because the game has
actually got one - a second
samurai, that is. AHD are planning
a simultaneous twoplayer
mode that, if all goes
well, will work both as a cooperative
and competitive
game element. "Hopefully it
will create a lot of competition,"
says Mee. "The two
players can work together as
well as against one another -
its going to be very funny.
The samurais will work to
destroy a big boss together,
but at the same time will
always be rushing
forward to get the bonuses
before their partner."
Mev is keen, however,
to limit the competitive
side of things so that it
doesn't actually escalate
to the point of the two
samurais trying to kill
each other. "The samurai
is so powerful, it would
take very little for them to
kill one another, so what
we're probably going to
do is-allow the players to
stun each other for just a
second or two, so they
can rush and get the icon
or whatever first."