Hello and Spellbound Dizzy bug

Hi all,

I’ve only recently discovered this ‘eggcellent’ website and it has been a joy to revisit what in my opinion remain the greatest computer game ever created. In an episode of lockdown madness I decided to set myself the challenge of completing the Dizzy series 30 years after originally playing the games as a kid. I was a speccy owner and fan so obviously have been playing through the 48k versions online via your site (I even invested in a Bluetooth keyboard for my iPad to do this!) All has been going well with Dizzy 1,2,3, & 4 ‘clocked‘ within a month. Dizzy 5 (Spellbound), however, has been a serious challenge, but with a sneaky look at the map and a hint or two I felt I was making serious progress. That was until I reached the Reserve Tank screen and realised that I cannot pass the pipe to collect the fishing net (simply get sucked back through every time) and therefore cannot go on to complete the remaining puzzle(s). This appears to be a frustrating bug which I’m hoping someone on here may be able to resolve.

Has anyone else noticed this? Is this fixable?

  {yolkfolk}:guilty:

Welcome. :smile:

I haven't got this far with Spellbound for a long time, but I can remember the reserve tank being a pain in the backside.
I can't remember what became of that run, but I think you need the flippers with you or hold left or right before you pop out of the pipe.

Sorry I can't be any more help, it has been a long time since I played the original version of Spellbound. {yolkfolk}:scratch:

Hi,

Thanks for your reply. I feel like I definitely tried holding left while coming out of the pipe but it spits you out to the right regardless. You should be able to walk past the pipe below the outlet to get the fishing net but the bug just sucks you back in. Obviously, in these strange times there are greater things to worry about so I won’t lose too much sleep over it. I’ve enjoyed playing through the games so much and once again have to praise the existence of this site. {yolkfolk}:clap:

I quickly ran through Prince of the Yolkfolk this afternoon (which incidentally was the only Dizzy game I fully completed back in the day) so that’s 1,2,3,4, and 6 done. I wasn’t aware of Crystal Kingdom so may have a look at that too. I never enjoyed the random spin offs like Kwik Snax and Down the Rapids so probably won’t bother revisiting them.

As an aside, and this isn’t sour grapes (honest), Spellbound is my least favourite. As I understand it Big Red had taken over by then and it’s a bit quantity over quality in my opinion. I like the added facial expressions when eating, falling too hard, but some of the puzzles/links/hidden screens are so random. Tough to get your head around using a single object for multiple tasks after playing through the first 4 titles too. I would never have found the flippers without looking at the map as otherwise it wouldn’t have crossed my mind to have to use the pepper twice.

So what’s my favourite? I hear nobody asking. Treasure Island, due to the sheer relief of getting through the game without losing a life, despite almost falling from the S.S. Dizzy on the penultimate screen. They certainly don’t make ‘em like that anymore! :tup:

I never knew that the Olivers had contemplated adding a save game feature to Treasure Island as all the games around that period were start again if you died ...and you did - lots!!. I do remember some magazines at the time publishing people's attempts to try for the quickest route to finishing, trying to avoid backtracking as much as possible. However, like most of us here, I think just completing the game for the first time was an achievement in itself {yolkfolk}:cheers:

Personally, I found the 'secret room' full of fruit in Spellbound a lovely surprise when I first accidentally wandered into it. Alex put lots of secret rooms in his masterpiece 'The Other Side' and lots of fan games since have tried to mess with the player's head with secret rooms that finding became essential to finishing, rather than just being a bonus. So nowadays (especially in my games) players are constantly jumping into walls or other solid objects ....just in case - and calling me lots of Anglo-Saxon epithets in the process {yolkfolk}:joy:

I don't have a problem with multiple uses for items as long as they stay relevant, use pickaxe to break rocks, now use pickaxe to open a tin of beans is just not on. But do agree that it's preferable for the item to vanish once it's served its purpose. What used to annoy me was when a character mentioned what they wanted and then the next time you actioned them, all you got was the 'inventory box' ...and because you'd wandered around for a couple of hours you'd totally forgotten what it was they wanted :wall:

Anyway, 20goto10, once you've tried Crystal Kingdom, then you have hundreds of fan games here to check out during lockdown. I'd recommend games by Jamie (delta) and Colin as starters as they were inspirational to all of us amateur coders.

[quote data-userid="3" data-postid="88328"]

Actually, Magicland was the first game Big Red Software did.

I know what you mean about Spellbound, there are some good bits, but the deceptively hidden rooms and losing energy when you hit the ground too hard are most commonly complained about.

Treasure Island ended up being a one life because of a bug the Olivers noticed involving the Snorkel and the inventory system they used for the game.

[/quote]

Big Red Software coded Magicland but they didn't design it. It was designed in-house (or, more accurately, in-Portakabin) by me - hi - and Big Red performed coding duties as external contractors. When I declined Codemasters' offer to design Dizzy 5, that's when Big Red took over fully. They did the design and coding on the next game along (Spellbound) having cut their teeth on Dizzy 4. So 20goto10 was right, basically.

I mostly joined this site to try to clear up that misconception, as it happens :)

Ah, that's really neat!  Where did Prince of the Yolkfolk fit into the development timeline?

[quote data-userid="30592" data-postid="89902"]

Big Red Software coded Magicland but they didn’t design it. It was designed in-house (or, more accurately, in-Portakabin) by me – hi – and Big Red performed coding duties as external contractors. When I declined Codemasters’ offer to design Dizzy 5, that’s when Big Red took over fully. They did the design and coding on the next game along (Spellbound) having cut their teeth on Dizzy 4. So 20goto10 was right, basically.

I mostly joined this site to try to clear up that misconception, as it happens

[/quote]

Hi and welcome. :smile:

I stand corrected!
I knew Big Red had some form of involvement with Magicland but wasn't fully aware of the full story behind it. :yes:  

Are you by any chance Neal Vincent?

@khaosadz Hi! Yes, that's me :) Neal with an A. Codemasters mis-spelled it on the credits, which was annoying, but you get used to such things when your name has a non-standard spelling...

I've seen the game's design credited to Big Red and/or the Olivers in various places so thought it was maybe time to clear up the confusion and get the story straight. I put the confusion down to the fact that, at the time, Codemasters preferred to let people think the Olivers had more to do with the game than was actually the case, so the authorship was maybe a bit obfuscated.

There was even a book about the Dizzy series a few years ago, iirc, and when I first heard that it was happening I half-expected someone to track me down in connection with it, but no-one ever did. Assuming you've read it, dare I ask what the book says about who was responsible for Magicland?

You mean the book listed on here? Here's an excerpt from an online copy:

As the pressure to invent new games –
and to speed up release schedules at the
same time as development schedules
were extended due to ever greater game
complexity – the Oliver Twins, or Dizzy
Enterprises, turned to sub-contracting.
For the next big Dizzy game the first
people they turned to was Big Red
Software, set up by Paul Ranson in 1988.
‘Magicland Dizzy was the first game
that we had ever contracted to an outside
developer,’ Philip says. “Like all new
experiences it was very interesting. We
learnt many good lessons for the future.
We worked with Neal Vincent at Big
Red to devise the story and design, and
between June and December the guys at
Big Red did an excellent job of creating
a great game.’

It also mentions that the game was originally titled Zak's Revenge!

@bag-of-magic-food Thanks very much for that, and that's a blessed relief. I actually worked for Codemasters, not Big Red - my normal day-job was Stock Control Assistant, ordering stock from the tape-duplicators - but there's no reason why the Oliver Twins would've known that.

I had one brief and pleasant meeting with them in the Codemasters offices, very smooth as I recall, and that was the sum total of our interaction. They signed-off on the design that I'd done, requesting one minor change - which I duly made - and then it was over to Big Red to do the actual coding. I liased with Big Red over a few things - over the phone in those days - but again it was all very smooth with minimal to and fro.