Ziggurat

Occasional ramblings on games, generally retro related

​When my parents brought home a ZX81 one day (complete with wobbly 16K RAM pack, of course) I discovered the joy of programming. But it wasn't until I got my hands on a ZX Spectrum that my obsession with games really began, which continued with the C64, Amiga, right through to this day. The 80s and early 90s were an amazing time for games, not just for the games themselves but for the fascinating people behind them - it was truly a time of pioneers and creativity.

I myself have spent the last (almost) 20 years working in the games industry on all manner of platforms, most recently iOS. Ziggurat Development Ltd is my company here in NZ that provides contract programming services.

Confidential Magazine #10 April/May 1990

October 24, 2018  /  Mike Keith

In this month's issue...

The subject on the editor's mind was, perhaps unexpectedly for an adventure gaming mag, taxation as he had a good rant about how much money from each game the club sold went to the HMRC.

  • Games making the news this month included several horror games ("Elvira", "Demon's Tomb - The Awakening", "Mystery of the Mummy"), the next title from The Bitmaps in the form of "Cadaver", and some new games from Origin.
  • Official Secrets had managed to snaffle a load of copies of Infocom's back catalogue which was a good excuse to take an indepth look at the legendary developer.
  • A round up of recent war/strategy games.
  • The second installment in a beginner's guide to adventure gaming.
  • "Ultima VI" was about to be released and there was a look back at the previous games in the series.
  • In addition to that, an interview with Lord British.
  • With doubts being cast on the continuing commercial viability of the adventure game market, there was a round up of active adventure focussed software houses.
  • This month's featured Play By Mail was "Arcania" from Marlin Games.
categories / Confidential Magazine
tags / Confidential, Adventure, Infocom, Ultima, Origin