''Kingdom O' Magic'' is a

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

released by Sales Curve Interactive in 1996. It is a comedic

point and click Point and click are one of the actions of a computer user moving a pointer to a certain location on a screen (''pointing'') and then pressing a button on a mouse or other pointing device (''click''). An example of point and click is in hypermed ...

adventure game An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story, driven by exploration and/or puzzle-solving. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based m ...

parodying

fantasy fiction Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

. It can be played with either of two available protagonists, Thidney or Sha-ron. ''Kingdom O' Magic'' was planned for release on four different systems:

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few op ...

PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...

Macintosh Mac is a brand of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 1984. The name is short for Macintosh (its official name until 1999), a reference to the McIntosh (apple), McIntosh apple. The current product lineup inclu ...

, and

Sega Saturn The is a home video game console developed by Sega and released on November 22, 1994, in Japan, May 11, 1995, in North America, and July 8, 1995, in Europe. Part of the fifth generation of video game consoles, it is the successor to the succes ...

. However, only the MS-DOS version was ever released.

Themes

The game, penned by television writer Alan Silberberg, is filled with surreal humor. For instance, the instruction manual claims that the game was "First published in 1876 under the title '101 fun things To Do with Trolls'. However, the version on

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains computer data storage, data computers can read, but not write or erase. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold b ...

is specially calibrated for short people with red hair." It was designed by

Fergus McNeill Fergus McNeill (born in 1969) is a Scottish author and interactive entertainment developer. He has designed and created games since the early 1980s, working with companies such as CRL Group, CRL, Silversoft, Macmillan Group, Activision, SCi Gam ...

. As in his previous games, '' Bored of the Rings'' and '' The Boggit'', the game parodies

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlinson ...

Middle-earth Middle-earth is the Setting (narrative), setting of much of the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy. The term is equivalent to the ''Midgard, Miðgarðr'' of Norse mythology and ''Middangeard'' in Old English works, including ''Beowulf'' ...

. Various elements in the games are parodies of Middle-earth characters and locations, such as " The High Steward of Minar Tragedy, Don Elrondo of Rivendull and Queen Galadrag of De-Lorean. The closing credits sequence plays the theme to the 1970s British cartoon '' Roobarb'', but there appears to be no other relationship between the works.

Plot

In the beginning, the player can choose between two protagonists: Thidney the Lizard Bloke (voiced by John Sessions) or Shah-Ron the Girlie (voiced by Lani Minella) from planet Comely. According to the on-screen descriptions, Thidney is skilled in combat and Shah-Ron is skilled in magic. There are three

quests A quest is a journey toward a specific mission or a goal. It serves as a Plot (narrative), plot device in mythology and fiction: a difficult Travel, journey towards a goal, often symbolic or Allegory, allegorical. Tales of quests figure promine ...

: *The Good, Old Fashioned, Traditional Quest: The player wanders around the Kingdom fighting and completing various side-quests, until finally "rescue the dragon, steal the princess and kill the treasure". *The Magnificent 7-11 Quest: The player has to find and recruit 7 to 11 characters from the Kingdom in order to protect Flake town from an upcoming invasion. *The Bizarre & Slightly Twisted Quest: The player must find the Lost Lava Lamp Of The Ancient and defeat the Dark Lord, in order to save civilization.

Gameplay

The player is surrounded by many

NPCs A non-player character (NPC) is a character in a game that is not controlled by a player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaster (or referee) rather than by a ...

moving around, such as karate elves fighting against and ringwraiths. The player can interact with non-hostile characters, triggering a

dialogue tree A dialogue tree, or conversation tree, is a gameplay mechanic that is used throughout many adventure games (including action-adventure games) and role-playing video games. When interacting with a non-player character, the player is given a choice ...

. Talking is handled by choosing from multiple responses, leading to different directions of conversation. Combat occurs when approaching a NPC with a weapon selected. All violence is covered by a cloud as seen in many

cartoons A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently Animation, animated, in an realism (arts), unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or s ...

, and then the two combatants walk away as if nothing had happened. There are also magic spells to supplement the combat system, but their effects, while humorous, are largely unhelpful.

Remake

A team had begun making an unofficial remake of ''Kingdom O' Magic'' using the

Adventure Game Studio Adventure Game Studio (AGS) is an open source development tool primarily used to create graphic adventure games. It is aimed at intermediate-level game designers, and combines an integrated development environment (IDE) with a scripting language ...

engine.

References

External links

* *{{Metacritic video game
''A cache of SCi's Kingdom O' Magic website''
1996 video games Adventure games Cancelled classic Mac OS games Cancelled PlayStation (console) games Cancelled Sega Saturn games DOS games DOS-only games Middle-earth parodies Parody video games SCi Games games Video games about magic Video games about reptiles Video games developed in the United Kingdom Video games featuring female protagonists