Pyracurse
Encyclopedia
Pyracurse is an isometric
3D
arcade adventure game released by Hewson
in for the Sinclair Spectrum
.
. The player must lead the rescue party to the missing scientist and then escape the haunted city and its sinister guardians.
The characters are controlled via the keyboard or joystick in Mobile Mode. Pressing "fire" activates Selection Mode: a menu system which is navigated by the "right" and "left" commands. The "up" and "down" commands return the player to Mobile Mode. Selection Mode allows the player to choose another character to control, use objects, or toggle the character mode between "SOLO" and "LEAD", the latter option causing the computer controlled characters to follow the player's character.
Useful objects are scattered about the city, and can be picked up by simply walking over them. Certain objects can be thrown as weapons by selecting them in the inventory window, and then pressing "fire" while moving in Mobile Mode. This procedure is also used to drop unwanted items. Different characters use objects in different ways (e.g. Patrick and the Professor can throw further than Daphne.)
Many different monsters can be found guarding the city. Some will ignore the party unless approached. Others will actively pursue interlopers on sight.
Isometric projection
Isometric projection is a method for visually representing three-dimensional objects in two dimensions in technical and engineering drawings...
3D
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
arcade adventure game released by Hewson
Hewson Consultants
Hewson Consultants were one of the smaller software companies which produced games for home computers in the mid 1980s. They had a reputation for high quality games which continually pushed the boundaries of what the computers were capable of and can be compared favourably with other...
in for the Sinclair Spectrum
ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd...
.
Plot
The archeologist Sir Pericles Pemberton-Smythe has disappeared while exploring the mysterious ruins of an ancient city in the forests of South AmericaSouth America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
. The player must lead the rescue party to the missing scientist and then escape the haunted city and its sinister guardians.
Gameplay
The player controls the four members of the party, each of whom have different abilities- Daphne Pemberton-Smythe, daughter of the missing archeologist (good at finding things)
- Professor Roger Kite (clever but naive and prone to getting lost)
- Patrick "Legless" O'Donnell, a journalist with a drink problem (strong but clumsy)
- Frozbie the dog (can find buried objects)
The characters are controlled via the keyboard or joystick in Mobile Mode. Pressing "fire" activates Selection Mode: a menu system which is navigated by the "right" and "left" commands. The "up" and "down" commands return the player to Mobile Mode. Selection Mode allows the player to choose another character to control, use objects, or toggle the character mode between "SOLO" and "LEAD", the latter option causing the computer controlled characters to follow the player's character.
Useful objects are scattered about the city, and can be picked up by simply walking over them. Certain objects can be thrown as weapons by selecting them in the inventory window, and then pressing "fire" while moving in Mobile Mode. This procedure is also used to drop unwanted items. Different characters use objects in different ways (e.g. Patrick and the Professor can throw further than Daphne.)
Many different monsters can be found guarding the city. Some will ignore the party unless approached. Others will actively pursue interlopers on sight.
Development
Mark Goodall, one of the game developers:"The game was an idea of Andrew Hewson's. All we kicked off with was that we wanted a game with four characters and that the working title was to be "Sphinx" ... we wanted it set in the classic adventuring period between the wars like Raiders of the Lost Arc ... We moved the setting to South AmericaSouth AmericaSouth America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
from EgyptEgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
because it seemed more mysterious and we could tie in a sort of Von Daniken mysterious-alien-visitors idea ...
"I got a lot of ideas - specific designs even - for how the game would look from an old catalogue I had from an exhibition of Inca treasure that had been held at the Royal AcademyRoyal AcademyThe Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...
... the animation was the real problem. I spent a good few days crawling around the carpet on all fours trying to work out how a dog walks! ...
"The actual plot of the game developed with the hard programming. We actually wrote a lengthy story featuring the characters which 'explained' how they came to be on the PYRACURSE quest. It also developed the individual characters and their motives. I actually did some work on coding 'personalities' for the characters in the game, but in the end this aspect of the program was dropped making it into something genuinely significant would have taken too much time."
Reviews
- ZX Computing: "It does lack that certain something to make it a classic but it's only a near miss."
- Sinclair UserSinclair UserSinclair User, often abbreviated SU, was a magazine dedicated to the Sinclair Research range of home computers, most specifically the ZX Spectrum...
: "... a disembodied head and shoulders above most other recent releases." - CrashCRASH (magazine)Crash was a magazine dedicated to the ZX Spectrum home computer. It was published from 1984 to 1991 by Newsfield Publications Ltd until their liquidation, and then until 1992 by Europress.-Development:...
: "A rewarding arcade adventure ... 90%."