Spellbound, David Jones and *that* prism

edited January 2007 in Games
Hello,

As part of my ongoing quest to make "Spellbound"'s Wikipedia entry great I'm trying to track down the full story behind the infamous prism in the game. I seem to recall reading somewhere that this completely-useless item is an unflattering reference to Prism Leisure who had pissed off David Jones. The thing is

1) I need a reference for the article (it's currently mentioned but glaringly unsourced)

and

2) I need to get the full story of why David was so annoyed so I can, hopefully, move it from the "Trivia" section and give it a little section of its own as the Harry S Price incident does.

Ta.

Oh, and if you want a nosy (or to help) the article is here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spellbound_%28computer_game%29
Post edited by Zagreb on

Comments

  • edited January 2007
    Did you know that there was a feature on the Magic Knight games in a recent issue of Retro Gamer (issue 27)? This features lots of information about Spellbound and the other games, with lots of quotes from David Jones.
  • edited January 2007
    From what I remember, the prism shows you how much energy or something you have left until you need to renew it with a drink from the bottle.
    I made up a small Magic Knight website years ago, its still online at www.mevagissey.net/magic
  • edited January 2007
    The prism story is given in the January 1986 issue of Sinclair User (the 'Hit Squad' article).
    It turns out that David nearly got involved with the ill-fated Prism. He was asked to write the software to control Topo, the infamous robot that didn't work. "I sent them a quote for the work but they never replied."

    Never insult programmers. David got his revenge in Spellbound - out of the 50 objects, only one is utterly useless. The Prism.

    In Spellbound 48k the Prism doesn't do anything. In Spellbound 128k it's used to load and save the game, like Gadget X in Knight-Tyme.
  • edited January 2007
    Mevweb wrote:
    From what I remember, the prism shows you how much energy or something you have left until you need to renew it with a drink from the bottle.

    No; that's what the mirror does (it also shows you what items you're carrying).
    I never make misteaks mistrakes misyales errurs — oh, sod it.
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