Number 28 May 1986 FEATURES The Dark Ages of Computer Game Design 12 Designing Games in the 70's Don Daglow Draft Day 18! The Third Season of the CGW Baseball League View From The Dugout 19 Playing Stat Baseball Games W. E. Peschel MicroLeague Baseball 22 An Interview with the Designer James Trunzo Autoduel 24 A Review Bill Oxner Alter Ego 38 A Review Johnny Wilson Nam 40 A Review Mark Bausman DEPARTMENTS Industry News 4 The Current State of Entertainment Software Bill Oxner Taking A Peek 7 Screen Photos and Brief Comments Letters 10 Atari Playfield 26 Sundog, Halley Project Gregg Williams Commodore Key 29 Walt Disney/Sierra On-Line Games Roy Wagner Scorpion's Tale 32 Amazon Tips Scorpia Amiga Preferences 36 Racter, Arcticfox Roy Wagner Reader Input Device 46 Game Ratings 48 109 Games Rated by Bill Oxner These are down days in the oil fields and in the one buying a new computer immediately buys a computer industry. Sales are sluggish, prices are whole raft of software to use on it, including headed south and the cavalry is nowhere in sight. games. People who have owned their computer for We will look at the general situation and then on to a year or more still buy software, but at a much some specifics in the game software industry. slower pace. Game companies desperately need a The home computer market is in serious trouble. hot new computer to revive their markets. The only new entries during the past year were the Commodore Amiga and the Atari ST. Neither one One other aspect of the home computer situation has proved to be the spark needed to bring the is less obvious. Sales of business computers remain home computer industry out of the doldrums. fairly strong. This means that outlets like Comput- erland, which focuses on business sales, are holding Commodore remains on the edge of bankruptcy on. Computerland carries very little game software. and the Amiga does not appear to be selling well Small, independent computer stores are closing enough to rescue its parent. In early April, Com- right and left. These stores emphasized home com- modore announced a form of price reduction - the puters and game software. Game software compa- Amiga will sell for $795 with a free color monitor. nies are thus faced with fewer and fewer outlets This is fairly clear evidence that the Amiga has not for their products. It is difficult to sell your soft- met Commodore's sales expectations. ware when no one can find it or try it out before Atari is doing a bit better with the ST, but it is purchase. far from being a blockbuster sales winner. Jack Tramiel, president of Atari, has had a rocky rela- What does the future hold? It is unlikely that the tionship with computer dealers in the past and this current trends will change very soon. The primary has led to difficulties in establishing wide distribu- distribution outlets for game software will be the tion channels for the ST. Few software companies mass market stores such as Toys-R-Us and K Mart. are counting on the ST to save the home market. These stores don't have the shelf space to carry wide numbers of titles, they will only sell the "hit" What do these hardware problems have to do items. Companies that have historically opted for with game software? The answer is simple. Some- many new games per year, such as SSI, will be forced to cut back on new titles and concentrate their resources on pushing just a few potential hits. Smaller companies, such as SSG, will not have ac- cess to the mass market retailers and will be forced to distribute their games through companies, such as Electronic Arts, that already have a relationship with the large retailers. Again, this means fewer overall new games will be introduced this year. If any hard evidence is needed to support these theories then Infocom will serve. Infocom had been one of the most successful game companies in ex- istence. Their text adventures set the standard. However, declining sales in the game market forced Infocom to attempt a move into the business soft- ware market. The attempt did not succeed. Infocom laid off half of their 100 employees and in late February announced that they were being acquired by Activision. On to happier news! Strategic Simulations (SSI) remains committed to the game market. They have a couple of firsts to report. The first ST products, Phantasie and Computer Baseball, will ship soon. Also, their first Mac titles, Gemstone Warrior and Computer Baseball, will debut very shortly. The next two new titles will likely be Gettysburg and War In The South Pacific (WISP). Gettysburg will use the Antietam system, with modifications. Artillery will be less powerful with consequently lower, and more realistic, casualties. WISP will be a strategic WWII Pacific game, with sea, air and land Continued on pg. 41 Access at a variety of famous and The player must choose the 2561 South 1560 W, Ste A user-designed golf courses. power of the swing, club, Woods Cross, UT 84087 The mechanics of play are stance and club alignment. Six 801-298-9077 similar to Leader Board but, distinct views of each hole are due to he larger RAM avail- available, ranging from bird's LEADER BOARD: A golf able to the designer, this en- simulator which provides the eye to ground level. Excellent try is more detailed. You ac- player(s) with a true perspec- graphics. IBM-PC. tually play Pebble Beach with Circle Reader Service #7 tive view of the game. Four all its many hazards. If the 18 hole courses, 3-D anima- provided challenges get boring tion, three levels of play. The you can design an entire Borland International graphics are excellent. This course with the Course Ar- 4585 Scotts Valley Drive game has received a great deal chitect. Also recommended. Scotts Valley, CA 95066 of playing time in the CGW IBM-PC with 256K memory 800-255-8008 offices and is recommended and color graphics adapter. for golf enthusiasts. C-64. TURBO GAME WORKS: In- Circle Reader Service #6 Joystick. $39.95. cludes Chess, Bridge and Go- Circle Reader Service #5 Activision Moku. This is actually a de- 2350 Bayshore Frontage Rd velopment tool that allows you Accolade Mountain View, CA 94043 to explore the Pascal source 20863 Stevens Creek Blvd 800-227-9759 code and learn game design Cupertino, CA 95014 techniques. On the other had 408-446-5757 CHAMPIONSHIP GOLF, it is a collection of three VOLUME 1: A complex golf classic games that can simply MEAN 18: Allows up to four simulator, volume one con- be played and enjoyed on people to play a round of golf tains the Pebble Beach course. their own merits. To edit and compile you must have Turbo shown in color and drawn Mindscape, Inc. Pascal 3.0. IBM-PC with exactly to scale with the ac- 3444 Dundee Rd 192K memory. tual sand traps, hazards, etc in Northbrook, IL 60062 Circle Reader Service #8 their proper locations. Player 800-221-9884 must choose the club, force of DoWhile Software stroke, style and direction. BRIAN BLOOD- 5227 Shady Oaks Lane Apple. Circle Reader Service #11 AXE/REVELATION/QUOV Friendswood, TX 77546 ADIS: Three games on one 713-482-6849 disk. Each is a hi-res arcade Electronic Arts game. These games are im- TRODART: Is a real-time, 1820 Gateway Drive ports from Britain, distributed two player war game. It is San Mateo, CA 94404 by Mindscape. A nice value played on two separate com- 415-571-7171 for the price. Joystick re- puters over a 300 baud mo- quired. C64/128. $14.95. dem. Moves are made simul- SUPER BOULDERDASH: Circle #14 taneously, which makes for a The sequel to Boulder Dash, very fast paced game. The an action-strategy arcade SPELL OF DESTRUCTION: object of the game is to cap- game. 16 new levels, each Hi-res adventure/arcade ture the enemy base while with 5 levels of difficulty. game. Scrolling 3-D graphics, defending the home base. The original game was Arcade 70 locations, real-time action IBM-PC with 128K, 300 baud Game of the Year (Family and music that reflects the modem. C ircle Reader Service #9 Computing 1984) and is in- action. C-64/128. $29.95. cluded on this disk. Atari, Circle #15 C64/128, Apple, IBM-PC. I Step Software $22.95 & $29.95. Circle #12 Charlotte Plaza, #1300 THE LORDS OF MIDNIGHT: Charlotte, NC 28244 ARCTICFOX: Tank arcade Illustrated text adventure. The 704-554-7255 game. Three dimensional bat- game is menu-driven, so play tlefield with stereo sound ef- is faster. Can be played as a GOLF'S BEST, VOLUME 2: fects. This is the first game quest, a war or both. 32,000 Contains the famous Pinehurst from EA that is original to different landscapes. C64/128. golf course. Each hole is the Amiga. Circle #13 $29.95. Circle #16 THE LUSCHER PROFILE: This is NOT a game, it is a personality analyzer. The user takes a series of seven tests involving choices between various shapes and colors. The computer interprets the re- sponses and develops a profile which defines your current approach to work, relation- ships and to life in general. Apple. $39.95. Circle Reader Service #17 Overt Strategic-Simulations P.O. Box 66424 Dept Q-11 Los Angeles, CA 90066 213-479-3865 NAKEDNESS IS FROWNED ON IN PUBLIC, OPERATION KEYSTONE: A very sophisticated WWII sub- BUY A COMPUTER GAMING WORLD T-SHIRT marine simulation.