Skool Daze

Last updated
Skool Daze
Skool Daze ZX Spectrum Cover Art.jpg
Publisher(s) Microsphere
Designer(s) David Reidy
Helen Reidy
Keith Warrington
Platform(s) ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64
Release1984 (Spectrum)
1985 (C64)
Genre(s) Action-adventure
Mode(s) Single-player

Skool Daze is an open world [1] action-adventure game released by Microsphere in 1984 for the ZX Spectrum and ported to the Commodore 64 the following year. It was written by David Reidy, with graphics designed by Keith Warrington. The game was commercially and critically successful, and praised for its original concept. It has since been regarded as one of the pioneers of the sandbox game genre.

Contents

Gameplay

The game features the player as a schoolboy named Eric whose objective is to steal his report card out of the staff room safe by accomplishing various tasks around the school. The computer controls all the other characters in the game, including the headmaster, other teachers and other pupils. [2]

The four teachers are Mr Wacker (the headmaster), Mr Rockitt (the science teacher), Mr Withit (the geography teacher) and Mr Creak (the history master). Other than Eric, three of the pupils are named: Boy Wander (the tearaway), Angelface (the bully) and Einstein (the swot). The player has the option of renaming the characters before the game begins. [3] There are also many unnamed, undistinguished pupils at the school.

If Eric is caught out of class or otherwise misbehaving, teacher characters pursue him and issue lines. [4] When 10,000 lines or more are accumulated, the game ends with Eric's expulsion. [5] However, Eric can also receive lines for things that are not his fault, such as lying or sitting on the floor when in fact he has been knocked down, or being nearest a teacher who has just been hit by a projectile fired by one of the other pupils. Part of the challenge in this game is to prevent other pupils from getting Eric into trouble.

Background

Helen Reidy had a background in teaching, [6] while David had fonder memories of activities between lessons and designed the game around this. The pupils were based on schoolboy characters he read about as a child, including Just William and The Beano's The Bash Street Kids . He later clarified that "each of the rooms would look like a frame in a comic". [7]

David Reidy considered himself to be more proficient as a programmer and engineer, and decided the game's graphics would benefit from a separate designer. He recruited a family friend, Keith Warrington, [6] who was studying graphic design. Warrington learned the rudiments of computer graphics from David, and drew the characters as line drawings on squared paper. From this, he blocked in the individual pixels to create an appropriate sprite, with tracing paper to design the individual animation frames for each character. He later obtained a Spectrum to assist with the design, but found using graph paper easier. Warrington based the teachers on ones that had taught him at school, and later said the geography teacher, Mr Withit, was based on "my all time favourite teacher". [7] He found the screen resolution limitations helpful, as it forced him to design cartoon-like characters, saying "you couldn't do a normal person because they would have all looked the same". [7] As with other Microsphere games, David designed the program on paper, which Helen typed into the computer. [6]

Self promotion

The character of Boy Wander would write on blackboards about Microsphere games like Wheelie and Sky Ranger. In Back to Skool, Boy Wander writes about Contact Sam Cruise .

Reception

Skool Daze was a commercial success when first released, selling 50,000 copies despite very little marketing or promotion. Reidy later realised he could have made more money with an appropriate campaign, and regretted the loss of income due to software piracy, but was still happy that the game was profitable and covered costs. [7]

The ZX Spectrum version was one of the Spectrum games listed in 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die . [13]

In 1985, Zzap!64 reviewed the Commodore 64 version which they found to be graphically and sonically weak, but enjoyable to play due to the innovative gameplay. It was given an overall rating of 78%. [14]

The game has been recognised as being a pioneer of the sandbox game format, later used by Little Computer People and The Sims . [2]

Legacy

The game was followed by Back to Skool , which expanded the gameplay to include a neighbouring girls' school and a love interest (with the benefit of being able to reduce one's lines), along with stink bombs, mice, water pistols, frogs, sherry and a long-suffering caretaker.

An unofficial remake is Klass of '99, an IBM PC compatible edition of Skool Daze with updated graphics and various changes to the gameplay. Unofficial conversions of Skool Daze have been made on the Atari 8-bit computers, [15] Oric, and Amstrad CPC computers.

Related Research Articles

<i>Pssst</i> 1983 video game

Pssst is an action video game developed and published by Ultimate Play the Game that was released for the ZX Spectrum in June 1983. In the game, Robbie the Robot has to protect his plant as it is attacked by various insects, each of which needs a different repellent to neutralise it. Pssst was the second game to be released by Ultimate, after Jetpac.

<i>Nebulus</i> (video game) 1987 video game

Nebulus is a platform game created by John M. Phillips and published by Hewson Consultants in the late 1980s for home computer systems. International releases and ports were known by various other names: Castelian, Kyorochan Land, Subline, and Tower Toppler.

<i>Aaargh!</i> 1987 video game

Aaargh! is a single-player action video game in which the player controls a giant monster with the goal of obtaining eggs by destroying buildings in different cities across a lost island. It was designed for Mastertronic's Arcadia Systems, an arcade machine based on the custom hardware of the Amiga, and was released in 1987. It was ported to a range of other platforms and released on these across 1988 and 1989. Electronic Arts distributed the Amiga version of the game.

<i>Pentagram</i> (video game) 1986 video game

Pentagram is a ZX Spectrum and MSX video game released by Ultimate Play the Game in 1986. It is the fourth in the Sabreman series, following on from his adventures in Sabre Wulf, Underwurlde and Knight Lore. Similarly to Knight Lore it uses the isometric Filmation engine. The game was written by either Tim and Chris Stamper or a U.S. Gold programming team.

<i>Gunfright</i> 1985 action-adventure game video game

Gunfright is an action-adventure game developed by Ultimate Play the Game and published by U.S. Gold. It was first released for the ZX Spectrum in December 1985, then released for Amstrad CPC and the MSX the following year. The player takes the role of a sheriff in the town of Black Rock and is tasked with eliminating outlaws who are scattered throughout the settlement.

<i>Wanted: Monty Mole</i> 1984 video game

Wanted: Monty Mole is a platform video game published in July 1984 for the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 home computers. It is the first game released by Gremlin Graphics and the first game in the Monty Mole series. Monty Mole is a fictional mole created by Ian Stewart, the director of the company.

<i>Cauldron</i> (video game) 1985 video game

Cauldron is a video game developed and published by British developer Palace Software in 1985 for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, and Amstrad CPC home computers. It contains both platform game and horizontally scrolling shooter sections. Players control a witch who aims to become the "Witch Queen" by defeating an enemy called the "Pumpking".

<i>Spindizzy</i> 1986 video game

Spindizzy is an isometric video game released for several 8-bit home computers in 1986 by Electric Dreams Software. It combines action and puzzle video game elements. Players must navigate a series of screens to explore a landscape suspended in a three-dimensional space. Development was headed by Paul Shirley, who drew inspiration from Ultimate Play the Game games that feature an isometric projection.

<i>Cauldron II: The Pumpkin Strikes Back</i> 1986 video game

Cauldron II: The Pumpkin Strikes Back is a video game developed and published by British developer Palace Software as a sequel to their 1985 game Cauldron. The 2D platform game was released in 1986 for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, and Amstrad CPC home computers. Players control a bouncing pumpkin that is on a quest of vengeance against the "Witch Queen". The roles of the two were reversed from the first game, in which the witch defeated a monstrous pumpkin.

<i>Arcticfox</i> 1986 video game

Arcticfox is a science fiction tank simulation video game developed by Dynamix and published by Electronic Arts in 1986. It was published in Europe by Ariolasoft. A sequel to Dynamix's Stellar 7, it was released on Atari ST, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, MS-DOS, and Apple II. A third game was released in the series in 1991 titled Nova 9: The Return of Gir Draxon.

The ZX Spectrum's software library was very diverse. While the majority of the software produced for the system was video games, others included programming language implementations, Sinclair BASIC extensions, databases, word processors, spread sheets, drawing and painting tools, and 3D modelling tools.

<i>Back to Skool</i> 1985 video game

Back to Skool is an open world video game, sequel to the Skool Daze, created by David Reidy with graphics by Keith Warrington for the ZX Spectrum and released by Microsphere in 1985. The gameplay is very similar to - if more advanced than - Skool Daze, incorporating most of the same characters, gameplay elements and graphics.

<i>Contact Sam Cruise</i> 1986 video game

Contact Sam Cruise is a computer game created by David Reidy with graphics by Keith Warrington for the ZX Spectrum and released by Microsphere in 1986. Using a similar engine to Skool Daze, this game charted the exploits of a player-controlled private detective called Sam Cruise.

<i>Beach Head II: The Dictator Strikes Back</i> 1985 video game

Beach Head II: The Dictator Strikes Back is 1985 shoot 'em up video game for the Commodore 64, a sequel to Beach Head, developed and published by Access Software. It was designed by Bruce Carver and his brother, Roger, and was released for the Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Atari 8-bit computers, Commodore 64, and ZX Spectrum.

<i>Kong Strikes Back!</i> 1984 video game

Kong Strikes Back! is a 1984 platform video game published by Ocean Software in 1984 for the Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum. While its predecessor, Kong, is a Donkey Kong clone, Kong Strikes Back! is a clone of Mr. Do's Wild Ride with Donkey Kong-inspired graphics.

<i>Highlander</i> (video game) 1986 video game

Highlander is a video game tie-in to the Highlander franchise released in 1986, the same year as the film, published by Ocean Software for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and Amstrad CPC home computers. Highlander was panned by reviewers.

<i>Scooby-Doo</i> (video game) 1986 video game

Scooby-Doo is a video game based on the television franchise of the same name. The game was developed in 1986 by Gargoyle Games for the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, and Commodore Plus/4.

<i>Captain America in: The Doom Tube of Dr. Megalomann</i> 1987 video game

Captain America in: The Doom Tube of Dr. Megalomann, also known as Captain America Defies The Doom Tube, is a video game based on a comic book series of the same name. It was published in 1987 by U.S. Gold on their Go! label for computers including the Amstrad CPC and the Commodore 64 and was published a year later on the ZX Spectrum. Reviews were mixed, with the graphics and audio generally seen as poor. It is the first video game to feature Captain America.

<i>Renegade III: The Final Chapter</i> 1989 video game

Renegade III: The Final Chapter is a scrolling beat'em up video game released on the Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, MSX, and ZX Spectrum in 1989 by Ocean Software under their "Imagine" label. The game is a sequel to Target: Renegade which itself is a sequel to the arcade game Renegade. Unlike the first two games, Renegade III follows the character known only as "Renegade" as he travels through time to rescue his captured girlfriend. It also dropped the two-player mode found in the previous title.

Microsphere was a British software company formed in Muswell Hill, north London in 1982 by husband and wife team David and Helen Reidy, best known for several popular computer games in the mid 1980s.

References

  1. ↑ "Page 2 | Retrospective: Skool Daze and Back to Skool". Eurogamer . 31 October 2010.
  2. 1 2 Fox, Matt (2013). The Video Games Guide: 1,000+ Arcade, Console and Computer Games, 1962-2012, 2d ed. McFarland. pp. 262–263. ISBN   978-1-476-60067-3.
  3. 1 2 "Skool Daze". Crash . No. 10. November 1984. pp. 10–11. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  4. 1 2 "Skool Daze". Sinclair User. No. 36. EMAP. March 1985. p. 35. Retrieved 2024-03-08.
  5. ↑ "Skool Daze (review)". Crash. No. 11. Newsfield. December 1984. Retrieved 8 March 2024.
  6. 1 2 3 "Little and Round, With No Sharp Edges". Crash. No. 25. Newsfield. February 1986. pp. 73–74. Retrieved 8 March 2024.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "Skool Daze feature". Retrogamer magazine. August 6, 2010. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  8. ↑ "Archive - Magazine viewer". World of Spectrum. Retrieved 2012-04-23.
  9. ↑ "Skool Daze". Ysrnry.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-04-23.
  10. ↑ "Archive - Magazine viewer". World of Spectrum. Retrieved 2012-04-23.
  11. ↑ "Archive - Magazine viewer". World of Spectrum. Retrieved 2012-04-23.
  12. ↑ "Archive - Magazine viewer". World of Spectrum. Retrieved 2012-04-23.
  13. ↑ Tony Mott, ed. (2010). 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die. Universe Publishing. pp. 1–990. ISBN   978-0-7893-2090-2.
  14. ↑ "Skool Daze". Zzap64. Newsfield. p. 37.
  15. ↑ , Atari 8-Bit Port, Official release announcement
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.