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ciathyzareposts · 5 years

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Game 101: Waxworks – Introduction

Written by Deimar

I am starting to think I am the place adventure game sagas go to die. This is the fourth saga I am closing and this time we can even add the company behind it to the list of casualties. Well, it was more like a rebranding. But the fact that this is the last game of Horror Soft as we know it is still relevant. So, without further ado, I give you Waxworks.

I am already missing Elvira’s… erm… personality. This one can’t hold a candle to her

As I said, Waxworks is the last game created by Horror Soft using a modified version of the Abermud engine. Abermud was the first popular open source MUD and the people from Horror Soft took it and used it for their games, starting with Personal Nightmare, the two Elvira’ and finally Waxworks. Both Elvira 2 and Waxworks use the latest version of the engine, AberMUD V, that the company later gave back to the open source community. So don’t expect too many differences between Elvira 2 and this game.

In fact, we get the very same leading trio of Mike and Simon Woodroffe, don’t miss the interview Joe did with Mike, and Alan Bridgman. Apart from that, we also get most of the other people back from the Elviras, the music of Jezz Woodroffe and the graphics of Paul Drummond. All of them usual suspects in Horror Soft’s games. The only thing is that they went and hired a writer called Richard Moran instead of them taking charge as usual. Let’s see if that paid off.

The story so far is one of curses through history. We play the role of “unnamed player character”, a tormented soul since the day his twin brother, Alex, got lost in the tunnels under Vista Forge, our hometown and an old mining village. The remaining family of three left shortly after the incident, to try and avoid the constant remainder of Alex’s demise. However, our eccentric uncle Boris remained there in his stone mansion, more a gallery than a home. A gallery to the macabre, to the horrors of history preserved in wax. The waxworks. From the strange rituals of ancient Egypt to the murderers of Jack the Ripper, mostly chosen, because I think Horror Soft didn’t trust its audience recognizing any more historical events than that.

Today, after so many years, we come back to our hometown to pay respect to our uncle. The return brings back so many memories. For example, like that one time our uncle came visiting to our new home and told the family about the curse pending over them, like the sword of Damocles. In the middle ages, one of our ancestors caught a witch stealing a chicken. The farmer cut the witch’s hand as a punishment, and was about to finish the deal when his wife intervened and stopped it. That gave the witch time to cast a curse on the family. It seems like in the ancient Egypt, their ancestors gave birth to twins, one good and one cursed by an evil pharaoh. And so, the witch decided that every generation bearing twins in the family from that day on would have one twin being good and the other being at the service of Beelzebub. The curse of Ixona. So, usual stuff with twins as the Simpsons have already stated.

The farmer’s wife gave birth to twins, with the evil one having deformed hoofed feet and becoming Vlad the Impaler. The guy got hold of the witch and tried to lift the curse, not so bad so far, but when he couldn’t make her do it, he decided to impale her. And more than half of the population of Romania and Turkey with her. For good measure.

But that gave the opportunity to uncle Boris for finding her remains, whose location was revealed to him in a dream. Those included a crystal ball that might give the family the key to fight the curse. However, with Boris now lying at the bottom of the earth, that seems lost forever. That is, until he conveniently wrote a letter to us before dying, telling us that Alex is alive and well, is the evil twin in this generation and has the power to create an army of zombies from the horrors of the past.

Boris got too carried away with his findings…

And once again, we must try and avoid the end of the world due to supernatural threats. Our only help? The waxworks that Boris gathered in his mansion are doors into the distant past of our family’s twins, which we can influence and make the good triumph over evil. Or something like that, because the manual says we have to stop Alex but the intro says we can save him by defeating the waxworks. Anyway, we have the help of our uncle Boris, whom we can contact through the crystal ball for help and… that’s about it.

So get into a waxwork, defeat the evil twin and get back. Got it? Good, because although the history so far is quite well detailed, I recommend reading the manual (the version sold in GOG doesn’t contain this), that’s everything we are going to get. The game contains four waxworks that we must defeat. There is no order to them and items do not carry over. Basically, the idea of the three sets from Elvira 2, only even more independent. Let’s see what they are all about.

The ancient Egypt shows the original twins. One being the ranking member of the local sect of Anubis with the habit of sacrificing virgins to the god of death. The other being a prince whose fiancee has been kidnapped by his evil twin and had decided to go rescue her from the sect’s pyramid by himself. Instead of sending his army. Because reasons.

The mine is home to an abomination. The seventh pair of twins gave birth to the dark priest of a chaotic cult that practiced satanism and black magic. He was given a formula to make better humans. Extreme vegans if you like. So extreme they started to become plants. The evil twin in fact became so deformed he could no longer move and was placed deep inside a mine with his worshippers feeding him human flesh. He was defeated by a safety inspector that went to the mine to file a report. He turned out to be the good twin.

Jack the Ripper. Do I need to say anything else? He kills women of the night in Victorian London and we decide to stop him because… erm… we were there? Dreamt of it while smoking opium?

The graveyard is home to the fifth pair of twins. The evil one turned to be a natural necromancer that set shop in a graveyard while dedicating himself to make acquaintance with his ancestors. The good ones were now turned into zombies. The evil twin was defeated by a gravedigger that went to the graveyard to search for his lost shovel.

And those are the scenarios I will be spending my next thirty/forty something hours for your pleasure. Since we can tackle the game anyway we want, let’s start a vote that will decide in which order I will play it. There are scenarios that are a bit more dungeon crawly than others. For example, from what I have read, Jack the Ripper is the most puzzle filled waxwork, while the pyramid is perhaps the most RPG-like. Everyone seems to agree that the easiest one is the graveyard. We will close the poll by Friday, ninth of November.

Create your own user feedback survey

Also, don’t forget to bet both on the score of the game and the number of unique death gifs. After all, this is a Horror Soft game, and the most gruesome to date. By the way, I am having some problems recording the game using Dosbox internal record mechanism, colors go haywire. I have managed to make a clean recording with Open Broadcasting Software (OBS) but the images get scaled up and I would prefer to keep the original 320×200 resolution. Any help in this regard is welcomed. See you at the waxworks!!

Note Regarding Spoilers and Companion Assist Points: There’s a set of rules regarding spoilers and companion assist points. Please read it here before making any comments that could be considered a spoiler in any way. The short of it is that no CAPs will be given for hints or spoilers given in advance of me requiring one. As this is an introduction post, it’s an opportunity for readers to bet 10 CAPs (only if they already have them) that I won’t be able to solve a puzzle without putting in an official Request for Assistance: remember to use ROT13 for betting. If you get it right, you will be rewarded with 50 CAPs in return. It’s also your chance to predict what the final rating will be for the game. Voters can predict whatever score they want, regardless of whether someone else has already chosen it. All correct (or nearest) votes will go into a draw.

source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/game-101-waxworks-introduction/

#retro games #dos games #retro #crpg #adventure #amiga #oldcomputers #8bit #16bit #blog #repost

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classicrocka-z-blog · 6 years

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Happy Birthday Robert Plant🎂

In 1968, a naïve young singer from the Black Country hills in England named Robert Plant was discovered wailing the blues by veteran session guitarist Jimmy Page and bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones. When Plant recommended his friend John Bonham as the drummer, one of the most successful bands in rock history was born: Led Zeppelin. But the group that started with such force also ended in flames after 12 years, as Bonham's death from alcohol poisoning in 1980 split the band after nine albums. The remaining members went their separate ways, but Bonham's death hit Plant particularly hard. Starting his solo career in 1982 with his Zeppelin-like Pictures at Eleven album, Plant would use a slew of great drummers over the next few years, including Phil Collins, Cozy Powell, Barriemore Barlow, and Richie Hayward. Collins appeared on the 1983 follow-up, The Principle of Moments, and Plant achieved a lighter touch somewhere between Genesis and Zeppelin's quieter side with tracks like "In the Mood" and "Big Log." But the singer would feed his Elvis Presley infatuation on 1984's The Honeydrippers, Vol. 1, teaming with Page and other guests on influential roots rock material.

Refusing to be typecast, Plant then threw a major curve with Shaken 'n' Stirred, the 1985 album that approximated new wave through the synthesizer embellishments of keyboardist Jezz Woodroffe and guitarist Robbie Blunt, plus Hayward's use of electronic drums. It was a creative highlight of his career, but despite a hit in "Little by Little," the album sold poorly, and the rumblings about a Zeppelin reunion mounted. Plant took the next few years off, then answered the call for Zeppelin material with 1988's Now & Zen, which featured samples from his old group (plus selections from its vault on the subsequent tour). Manic Nirvana furthered the post-Zeppelin theme in 1990, and Plant's 1993 CD, Fate of Nations, proved another artistic high point and found Plant singing Page's name on the hit "Calling to You." The old songwriting partners had gotten together again for special occasions with Jones and drummers like Collins and Bonham's son Jason, but organized a different reunion in 1994. Plant brought in his bassist, Charlie Jones, and touring drummer, Michael Lee, to back the singer and Page -- who added a British symphony orchestra and Middle Eastern musicians for their televised No Quarter concert and CD. Despite Plant blocking John Paul Jones from participating (the two had disagreed throughout their careers), the show proved a fascinating blend of different cultures tackling Zeppelin classics like "Since I've Been Loving You" and "Gallows Pole."

As the versatile John Paul Jones made a name for himself as a producer (of groups as disparate as Heart and the Butthole Surfers) as well as solo artist, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page further stirred the ashes with their 1998 studio CD, Walking into Clarksdale. But the quartet format (with Charlie Jonesand Michael Lee) paled in comparison to Zeppelin's similar blend of bombast and subtlety, and poor sales put Plant back at the crossroads of his 35-year career. He stayed away from recording until late 2001, when he stepped into the studio with a batch of original material and a few well-chosen covers and recorded Dreamland. Taking his penchant for experimenting with ethnic musics and blending it with a softer approach to his bluesy pop, he steered in another interesting direction almost 40 years into his recording career. In November 2003, Atlantic issued Sixty Six to Timbuktu, a two-disc compilation dedicated exclusively to Plant's solo work. The set ranged from hits like 1988's "Tall Cool One" and the Honeydrippers favorite "Sea of Love" to the previously unissued "Upside Down" and a pre-Zeppelin single dating from 1966. Mighty Rearranger followed two years later, and Plant teamed up with bluegrass icon Alison Krauss to release the Grammy-winning collaborative album Raising Sand in 2007. Plant next revived the name of his first band, Band of Joy, in 2010 for the self-titled Band of Joy release, which was co-produced by Buddy Miller.

Two years later, Plant formed a new band called the Sensational Space Shifters (featuring former Cast guitarist Liam Tyson), who made their debut at that year's WOMAD. They released a digital live album and went on to play a number of festivals, including 2014's Glastonbury. Plant's next solo album, Lullaby and... The Ceaseless Roar, featured the band. Released by Atlantic in September 2014, it incorporated blues, rock, folk, world, funk, and electronic influences, and was a deeply personal effort that saw Plant reconnecting with his English roots. It was greeted by good reviews and healthy sales, debuting at two on the U.K. charts and ten on Billboard in the U.S. Plant retained the Sensational Space Shifters for Carry Fire, an album released in October 2017. ~ Biography by Bill Meredith

Tags: Robert Plant Led Zeppelin Birthdays

#robert plant #led zeppelin #birthdays

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jonny-white · 8 years

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Listen to excerpts from Jezz Woodroffe’s soundtrack album ‘Wonders Of The Underwater World’ (Nelson Records, NELSLP1, 1981, UK).

Music is forever being re-categorised, pigeon holed and re-defined into sub genres of ever decreasing size. I, who know little about dance music and even less about how to dance, am always startled by the number of divisions and sub categories that make up the dance section of any well stocked record shop.

The world of soundtracks and library music is also subject to the same treatment, albeit in nerdy online forums and pricey sales lists rather than physical shops, and perhaps the most exclusive and desirable club to be a member of is the Underwater Music Collectors’ Society. They of course do not exist, but if they did, to join them one would need to fork out huge sums of money on records by the likes of Sven Libaek, Walt Rockman, Stefano Liberati, Daniele Patucchi (and a host of other Italian men) with exciting and colourful sleeves adorned by images of coral reefs, tropical fish, frogmen, deep sea divers and, most importantly of all, sharks. Groovy, fashionable, exclusive, expensive.

Onto this exclusive scene strolls the frumpily named Gerald Woodroffe from Birmingham. His attempt to jazz up his name by changing it to Jezz (see what he did there? almost changed his name to ‘Jazz’!) does little to add to his cool credentials. In fact, despite being the fifth member of Black Sabbath, playing on two of their albums and touring with them for a couple of years, he was never allowed to actually be seen on stage, performing instead from behind a curtain. Imagine that. Not cool enough to be seen in public with Black Sabbath.

Much like Miles Davis did with his soundtrack for ‘Ascenseur Pour L’Échafaud’ in 1958 and Bud Shank did a couple of years later for the surf movie ‘Barefoot Adventure’, Jezz Woodroffe set up his battery of assorted Yamahas, Rolands and Moogs in front of a large screen and played along to the finished film until he’d created something that everyone liked. This seems to be a supremely practical method of getting film music written and the complete opposite of what Morricone was known to do from time to time, which was to write music for which no film had even been made and then just wait for someone to buy it from him.

The film ‘Wonders Of The Underwater World’ seems to have sunk without a trace. There is this reference to something on the BFI website that may be the same work, but then again, maybe not. The film also seems to go by the name of one of the album’s four tracks, ‘The Sunken Tombs of Truk Lagoon’.

You can now hear the entire LP here on YouTube.

#underwater #underwater soundtrack #black sabbath #jezz woodroffe #sunken tombs of truk lagoon #film soundtrack

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