magazine

“we were trYing
to enCoUrage
plaYers to
eXplore and not
JUst take tHings
at faCe valUe”
John Rowlands
» [C64] Mayhem’s high-speed charge attack is considerably slower when performed in underwater sections.
One downside of Mayhem’s charge, however,
was that it let him take out any opponents in his path,
which made it pointless to give the game’s big foes
huge hit-counts, as Steve acknowledges. “In charge
mode, Mayhem was pretty much invincible, apart
from falling into gaps. So if you could stay up on the
platforms you could just kill everything. It’s just that you
had to know the level layout before you got to the big
monsters so you could charge them.”
But in order to make their game more than a
high-speed monster mash, the Rowlands brothers
hid bonuses, such as extra lives and time, around
Monsterland. “We were trying to encourage players
to explore a bit and not just take things at face value,”
John reasons. “It wasn’t just charging around at 100
miles per hour, it had elements of exploring and being
rewarded for that. And also at that speed you would be
missing out things in the landscape that went past in a
blur if you were charging.”
Another consideration for the brothers was their
game’s soundtrack, which Steve remembers using
to give audio cues to reflect the nature of Mayhem’s
upcoming challenges. “We just wanted to make it
reflect the area you were in. So if you were going
towards something it would impact what was coming
up. A whole section would have slow stuff, say, and
when you came up to it, it would change into slow
music. So you knew you should be taking it a bit easy
and not be charging around.”
An equally innovative system came in the form
of optional, rather than obligatory, restart points,
although John views these more as an evolution.
“With Creatures, we had the restart points fixed; with
Mayhem, it was taken to the next level. And playing
Mario, at the time, sometimes could feel frustrating.
You would die and then you were all the way over
there. So we wanted to avoid that.”
the brothers also devised a novel
ending for the colourful versions of
their game’s levels, where Mayhem
was required to run – or skilfully skid
– over a chequered section in order
to complete them. “A lot of people would just run
across the line,” Steve notes. “It was hard to time
the skid to get across them, but it was something to
do right at the end. Another little bonus.” John adds:
“And the chequered line – the look of that – was easy
to identify. Whatever the world looked like, as soon as
you saw the black and white checks you knew that
was where you had to go to. And obviously you
saw it in sad versions of the levels, so you thought:
‘Right, I know when I complete the happy version
where I’m going to.’”
Final touches to the Rowlands’ seemingly everevolving
game, by this stage known as Mayhem
In Monsterland, included atmospheric pre-level
animations depicting forthcoming terrains. “The ‘Get
» [C64] Mayhem bounces on the back of a passing owl in order
to reach a high platform.
32 | RETRO GAMER