Archeogaming: Sword and Sorcery

Wednesday, 18 July 2012

Swords and Sorcery, Advertising (Commodore and Spectrum version,1984)

The Swords and Sorcery version for C64 was the classic example of retro vaporware. The game was advertised and announced many times and never released and as far I can read from the good GTW coverage on the case, they never worked on it. So a C64 version on Swords and Sorcery never existed.

In the end, only the Spectrum only version was actually released and there was a good advertising coverage which comprehended some mentions about the c64 version as well. The advertising was highlighting the use of the MIDAS Adventure Concept (Multi Dimensional Animation System) which at that time sounded really promising and revolutionary.

Stunning 3D Graphic Animation simulating video disk games.

A unique fully interactive adventure language using the latest ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE techniques.

State of the art data compression techniques enabling enormous scenarious and vocabularies to be incorporated.

Real Time Interactive Conflict Sequences. Talk to your opponent, attack them, flee them and even confuse them.

Joystick capability for movement, combat and actions through unique menu feature. Keyboard operation for more complex interaction with the adventure when time permits.

Develop your own unique characters. For example - specialize in magic, swordplay etc.

Total expandability - your own characters can be transferred to future adventures and new opponents, scenarious and objects can be added to all the games. A series of expansion modules to increase indefinitely the playing life of each game written with MIDAS.

Source: Swords and Sorcery Official Full page advertising.

I've managed to collect almost all the ads appeared back in the day on various 8bit magazines. The only thing which is still not clear for me is if an Amstrad conversion has been released either. Apparently there are some available roms around but I haven't got time to test them and I couldn't find any official mention to an Amstrad release of S&S. I will have a closer look this evening for further updates.