Memories of Adventure Game Writing - Part 4

For part 1 click here
For part 2 click here
For part 3 click here

Part 4

"I think I must be Jinxed"
Murder Hunt 2 underwent a similar process to its predecessor with Craig revising the game in September of 1986. With the help of The Patch, he added further text and split-screen graphics for some locations, but remained dissatisfied with the end result. "I may have just intended it as a flip-side release for Murder Hunt 86," he ponders, "but it never got that far. So in the summer of 1989 I wrote a brand new version of Murder Hunt 2, and this was much better in my opinion as it had a creepy atmosphere and a genuine feeling of suspense." Craig sent the sequel off to Zenobi and again this adventure saw publication by them in 1993 yet he still had time in the interim to be disappointed once more. In 1992 Craig exchanged contracts with a publisher in Carlisle for the rights to release both of the original Murder Hunt games. Again, nothing came of it. "I think I must be jinxed," he mutters.

Slack Bladder
Aside from the earlier abandoned projects (Robert the Bogart and Eric & the Magic Torch), there was another game finished by Craig that sadly never saw release - even by the erstwhile Zenobi. "I was contacted by a guy called Richard Robinson who was the playtester for submissions at Interceptor Software," explains Craig, "and he'd just written his report for Murder Hunt. A friend of his had asked him to "produce" a game which essentially meant proof-read the text, add a new font, graphics and generally polish the adventure up." The game was called Slack Bladder and was unsurprisingly (loosely) based around the popular BBC comedy Black Adder. "Richard asked me if I was interested in the project, and as this was the point where I had put Quest for the Holy Something on hold and was waiting for the release of Gilsoft's the PAW, I had time on my hands, so accepted."

So what was Slack Bladder like? "To be honest it was pretty awful, but I like a challenge so got stuck in," says Craig, "and I ended up junking all but about 20% of the game." Craig wrote the remainder of the game himself from scratch and by June 1987 Slack Bladder was complete once more. As far as Craig is aware, the game never secured a release, despite his efforts, although interestingly a version is available on World of Spectrum. "I was never completely happy with Slack Bladder, so perhaps its status is not surprising, although I remain proud of an amusing "Alice in Wonderland" skit that I included." Craig concludes. "I tried working on another spoof (Black Viper) using some of the material from Slack," says Craig, "but I ran out of steam and took it no further." It's not all bad news however: in the process of this interview Craig has been alerted to the current interest in Spectrum games. "Going through my archives recently I came across some pages of notes and ideas that I'd made in 1989 on Black Viper," he says, "so you never know, these could form the basis of a new work."

Post-Adventuring
The last Spectrum adventuring work undertaken by Craig was in the autumn of 1992 when he polished up the three adventures for Zenobi. The next year he took the dip and bought a second-hand Atari ST, but used the machine almost exclusively for word-processing. "The Spectrum got packed away in a box in the wardrobe and it's not been seen since." says Craig. Did he never even consider converting his existing games I ask? "I did look into the possibility, or maybe even writing a new adventure, but nothing came of it," states Craig, although I don't sense a great deal of remorse over this. There's a simple explanation.

"At the same time that I was putting to bed the Zenobi games I was also getting involved with music and had started learning bass guitar, ostensibly so I could join a mate's band who needed a bassist." This proved to be a more long-term avenue with Craig as he has stayed in music ever since and his latest band, The Container Drivers, are in the process of hopefully putting together an album sometime in 2012. "Without wanting to sound too pretentious, I always regarded the writing of adventure games as an outlet for my creativity," says Craig, with just a hint of pretension, "and I could have tried my hand at writing short stories or poetry but settled instead for The Quill - and nowadays, music."

So what happened to videogames, Craig? "I think I just grew out of them. As I said earlier I played loads of Spectrum games back in the mid 80's, but once the new decade dawned and I eventually got the next generation of computer, the desire just faded. Apart from a spell playing Tetris on a friend's Gameboy in the early nineties, I've never even played on a console bar a few turns on Wii Sports."

Craig's story is a poignant one. Despite the huge range of publishers around at the time, it shows how difficult it could be to get a game published, even when the process of getting it accepted had been bridged. Admittedly Craig was creating games in a genre that had become saturated over the years thanks to the various adventure game creator utilities around, yet the Crash Smash garnered by Custerds Quest demonstrates a sense of humour and penchant for dry wit that could have rivalled the great Delta 4 comedy adventures had it been given the chance to shine in 1987 and 1988.

If you want to play any of Craig's games (even Slack Bladder) they are all available for download at World of Spectrum

You can find out more about his band at www.myspace.com/containerdrivers.
Craig also runs an unofficial website on the band cult punk band Television Personalities (www.televisionpersonalities.co.uk) and has also asked me to mention his nostalgia site for early 90's indie bands: www.birdpoo.co.uk (don't ask!)

Many thanks to Craig Davies for his generous time in making this feature possible and John Wilson of Zenobi for helping me get in contact with him.

Wait a sec...before you go, an excerpt from Custerd...

You can also see here:-
*An inconsequential stone panel*
Examine panel.
It's inconsequential! Can't you read? It's a floor panel and I suggest that you kick it!
(having done this before and trying to be clever) Tap panel.
Rule 6b. The player must first kick the panel before tapping it.
Kick panel.
You kick the stone panel and break a few toes. You dance around the room with your foot held high saying things that would shock your granny. You really are too gullible! Alright, try tapping it.