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Ghost Hunters (video game)
Encyclopedia
- For other uses of the name see Ghosthunters (disambiguation)Ghosthunters (disambiguation)Ghosthunters may refer to:*Ghost hunting, the process of investigating reported hauntings in an attempt to document evidence of the paranormal...
.
Ghost Hunters is an platform
Platform game
A platform game is a video game characterized by requiring the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles . It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps...
/action
Action game
Action game is a video game genre that emphasizes physical challenges, including hand–eye coordination and reaction-time. The genre includes diverse subgenres such as fighting games, shooter games, and platform games, which are widely considered the most important action games, though some...
video game written by the Oliver twins
Oliver Twins
The Oliver Twins are two British brothers, Philip and Andrew Oliver, who started to professionally develop computer games while they were still at school. Their first game, Super Robin Hood for the Amstrad CPC, was published in 1985 by Codemasters...
for the Amstrad CPC
Amstrad CPC
The Amstrad CPC is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, where it successfully established itself primarily in the United Kingdom,...
and ZX Spectrum
ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd...
platforms and published by Codemasters
Codemasters
The Codemasters Software Company Limited, or Codemasters is a British video game developer founded by Richard and David Darling in 1986...
in February 1987. The game combined platform-style action with shooting gameplay
Gameplay
Gameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game, and in particular with video games. Gameplay is the pattern defined through the game rules, connection between player and the game, challenges and overcoming them, plot and player's connection with it...
similar to that found in the game Operation Wolf
Operation Wolf
Operation Wolf is a one-player shooter arcade game made by Taito in 1987. It spawned three sequels: Operation Thunderbolt , Operation Wolf 3 and Operation Tiger .-Description:...
. The game is the second release by the Oliver twins, published when they were just seventeen years old and still going to school
School
A school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...
. It was conceived as a sequel to their first commercially-successful game, Super Robin Hood
Super Robin Hood
Super Robin Hood is a platform action video game featuring Robin Hood released in November 1985 by Codemasters. The game was developed by the Oliver twins on the Amstrad CPC at the age of 17 and was their first title published by Codemasters....
, although it has little to do with this game other than using a modified version of its engine
Game engine
A game engine is a system designed for the creation and development of video games. There are many game engines that are designed to work on video game consoles and personal computers...
. The game is arguably an early example of the survival horror genre of computer games. The twins have credited the film Ghostbusters
Ghostbusters
Ghostbusters is a 1984 American science fiction comedy film directed by Ivan Reitman and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. The film stars Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Harold Ramis, and Rick Moranis and follows three eccentric parapsychologists in New York City, who start a...
and the cartoon series
Cartoon series
A cartoon series is a set of regularly presented animated television programs with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes typically share the same characters and a basic theme...
Scooby Doo for influencing the game.
Control Scheme and Gameplay
Like their previous game, Super Robin HoodSuper Robin Hood
Super Robin Hood is a platform action video game featuring Robin Hood released in November 1985 by Codemasters. The game was developed by the Oliver twins on the Amstrad CPC at the age of 17 and was their first title published by Codemasters....
, the player controls a character (named Hunk Studbuckle) around the platform style screen using the keyboard or joystick. Uniquely, to attack the enemy, the player must temporarily use the cursor keys to move targeting cross-hairs to shoot ghosts and demons (in a similar manner to Operation Wolf), causing the character to stand still. This results in the player requiring to shoot the targets quickly and operate their character to move around the screen before more would appear. In addition to being able to walk, the character can also jump and climb ladders. In addition to enemies to be killed, the environment contains items that can be collected, including 'macho energy' top-ups and 'key' items that unlock further areas. The game is one of few available on the CPC and ZX Spectrum platforms to feature low resolution clips of human speech, although playing them was so CPU-intensive that the game was required to freeze for their duration.
Porting to the Spectrum
Codemasters paid the Oliver brother's £10,000 for the Amstrad CPC release and were offered another £10,000 for a ZX Spectrum release. However, the twins did not wish to produce a port by actually coding on the Spectrum, so to save time, they hired their friend Ivan Link to build a cable that links the Spectrum and the Amstrad. After which the twins produced the only software for the Spectrum they ever wrote called SPLINK (SPectrum and LINK) that enabled the code to be altered for the Amstrad and ported to the Spectrum.- Philip and Andrew Oliver http://www.blitzgames.com/olivertwins/