Slashdot Mirror
The SwordQuest Saga
Via Kotaku, an interview at AtariHQ with Michael Rideout, the winner of the Fireworld Contest. Fireworld was a portion of the four-part SwordQuest Contest, meant to publicize Atari's sequel to the classic title Adventure. From the article: "Q: Can you describe the Chalice for us? What's its composition, etc? A: It's around seven to eight inches tall. The cup part of it is platinum and is maybe three or four inches across the top. The base is made of gold and has little diamonds on it. It also has three jade rings, two around the middle and one around the base. It has rubies and pearls going around the middle of it. There are five sapphires and some citrines in the middle section, as well as five lapis lazuli stones near the base."
So, where's the torrent?
I thought this meant that Atari was making a sequel to Adventure now. Hey Slashdot editors, if you're not going to mention stuff like the fact that this contest happened in 1982 in the blurb, then why have a blurb?
Rob
Hot damn, those prizes were amazing. I wish that nowadays there were contests with prizes on that order of total awesomeness. It wouldn't matter if said contests were very rare; the fact that they still happened would be good enough for me.
I own itburns.net. What should I put there?
So how old is this article?
Let's see, the winner is "now" 39 and he was 22 when he got his first Atari 2600 in 1981.
If it's been 17 years since he got his first machine then this interview was given in 1998.
Yep, you know it's a slow news day when slashdot is running links to 7 year old interviews about 20+ year old video game contests.
Insert witty comment *here*. I'm fresh out of wit...
There's a neat example of the Prisoner's Dilemma near the bottom:
After a while, I got a letter from Atari stating that they wanted to cancel the contest. They offered Steven and myself $15,000 each to agree and they offered a smaller amount, maybe like $2,000 to each of the finalists for Waterworld. I think the reason Steven and I got more than everyone else was because as winners of the first two contests, we had a definite chance of winning the Sword. Everyone involved had to agree or else the contest would continue. I tried to call Steven and some of the other people from the contest to see what they were going to do but I couldn't get in touch with anyone. I talked it over with my father and decided to accept the offer, figuring that someone else would decline.
BTW, it's amusing to see that he won the contest by brute-forcing it.
Rob
You were supposed to decode clues in comics, and then play the game. I couldn't understand the game, but it had some fun minigames worth playing in them. I just remember thinking these games could be cool if they made sense.
God spoke to me.
That's O.K. and all, but I've been following your work and you seem to be on a bit of a plateau. I want to see if you can take it to the next level. Shock me, baby!
So he asked me if he could borrow mine. "That cup is crunk. Yyyyeayuh!"
There was an early IBM PC game called Arkenstone that I remember seeing in a Computerland around '82. It had a prize for finishing it, I believe it was $10000 or something like that. Haven't been able to find out _anything_ about it when I've looked in the last few years, not even confirmation it exists! Does anyone besides me remember this game?!
From the article:
JH: Mike, can you start with some background info on yourself so our readers can get to know a little more about you?
MR: Sure. I'm 39 years old. I'm not married. I'm a computer programmer for a company that writes software for real-estate companies. I enjoy reading fantasy and science-fiction, and watching videos, TV shows, and movies like Star Trek and Babylon 5.
No doubt, he's browsing Slashdot as we speak.
i played all the games, and remember being really pissed (as pissed as a 6 or 7 year old gets) that the last one never came out... :(
"Champagne for my real friends - and real pain for my sham friends!" http://ericblade.postalboard.com/
Have you seen any of the newer systems (Playstation, Jaguar, Nintendo 64)?
I think someone needs to date this article - is it too much to add content date meta tags?
Bah.
#hostfile 0.0.0.0 primidi.com 0.0.0.0 www.primidi.com 0.0.0.0 radio.weblogs.com
I was just thinking about those games the other day, for the first time in at least 15 years...
The idea behind the SwordQuest games was unique, but the execution was terrible. Having to use a comic book to help solve puzzles was a brilliant as many gamers are also avid comic book fans (this was a bit truer in the 80's than it is now), and the comics themselves were fairly well written (typical 80's fantasy cheese, but entertaining nonetheless). Unfortunately where the SwordQuest series failed was in the games themselves. Each SwordQuest 'game' was really a series of mini games that all shared a common element theme (Earth, Fire, and Water). These mini-games were linked together by a series of rooms that shared a second 'hidden' spiritual theme (Zodiac, Kaballah, Chakara).
l d/earthworld.htm d /fireworld.htm d /waterworld.htm / airworld.htm
If you beat a mini-game you were rewarded with a choice of objects, these object were used to trigger clues that help the player discover the secret phrase which allowed you to enter the contest for the prizes. Clues were triggered by dropping certain combinations of objects in each room. You had to use the comic book to try and figure out which objects needed to be put in each room. However the comic book really only provided high level hints, most people had to figure out the correct combinations through trial and error.
Unfortunately the mini games were really hit and miss. Some were way too easy, while others were obscenely difficult. The only thing they really had in common was that none of them were any fun! Games are supposed to be enjoyable, having to wander from room to room only to be greeted by a tedious and difficult mini game isn't fun. I think the only reason the games sold at all were because of the contest, and once it was over most people never touched these carts again. The fact that the whole contest was eventually cancelled due to lack of interest from frustrated players (even after the third game's difficulty was toned down) and Atari losing oodles of money on it speaks volumes about the quality of the games...
Awhile back I wrote up some reviews of the games in the SwordQuest series (including the unreleased fourth game).
http://www.atariprotos.com/2600/software/earthwor
http://www.atariprotos.com/2600/software/fireworl
http://www.atariprotos.com/2600/software/waterwor
http://www.atariprotos.com/2600/software/airworld
If the guy was 39 when the article was written...and he was 22 in 1981...let's see...17 years after 1981 was...1998...making this article SEVEN YEARS OLD. I believe this represents a new editorial low.
Coleman
Ahh yes, I remember these games! What a frustration it was to figure out the clues, or lack there of. I never had the comics as a kid and had no clue where to put the items, although I stumbled upon a few and had to resort to memorization (kind of like Fathom, remember that one?). Messing up the game was always easier. ;)
:)
Still, the prizes were fantastic! And the games did feel timeless, as if you were in another realm altogether. And the prizes? They're something else! Don't see anything like that these days.
My friends still joke about finding the mythical Swordquest Sword. Definitely a better air than that truck of E.T. cartridges they dumped.
For castles made of sand must eventually return to the sea.
is the game any good?
MORTAR COMBAT!
Not sure if that article mentions it but, the the soon-owner of Atari one Jack Tramiel (ousted founder of commodore, buyer of atari) actually has the final prize, the SWORDQUEST SWORD ITSELF (the one worth the most 50k at the time I believe)...
above his fireplace.