Perihelion: The Prophecy
Perihelion is an Amiga RPG noticeable first and foremost by its
unconventional graphics. Yes I mean noticeable, not notable. In any
screenshot collection, they'll stick out like a sore thumb, or like
those of Bob Winner. You'll say, what's
that?
and click on the thumb.
Perihelion runs on OCS/ECS. The graphics don't even use the Extra HalfBrite mode, as Black Crypt does, for example, they are just 32 colors. Yet, when you look at the screenshots, wouldn't you think that Perihelion uses more colors than Black Crypt does?
Edvard Tóth used a very successful trick here. The graphics are essentially grayscale, but in two tones: gray, and a brownish orange. The darker shades are neutral, so there are about twenty shades available for both tones. The total effect is a bit like the old trois crayons technique, using sanguine, coal, and chalk on a mid-tone paper.
Reducing the number of colors to obtain more shades, when well done, is always a good technique. A less professional, but nevertheless impressive example is Wrath of the Sea King.
In its game mechanics, Perihelion is a bit like Betrayal at Krondor. Usually in first-person view, it changes to a tactical sideview for the battles.
Unfortunately, Edvard Tóth, Gyula Szentirmay, and Zoltán Vegh never joined again to create a sequel or similar game, though the first two pursued carreers in the gaming industry. I've collected as much info as I could about them.
The designer and graphic artist of Perihelion is the easiest to trace. He has a website that documents his professional activities past and present, including, of course Perihelion (you can download the full game from his website, complete with a preconfigured copy of WinUAE):
Perihelion – a world where advanced science and malevolent Gods exist side by side; where genetic engineering and occultism evolved together; where mutation is a way of life. Oh well. The game was created by only 3 people under pretty challenging conditions (don't even ask). Taking this project to completion while going to school still remains to be the most difficult but most rewarding thing I have ever done.
As far as my role in the project goes: I did all the artwork, I was responsible for the concept, the rule-set and virtually the entire design of the game, provided the story narrative (in form of about 80 pages worth of in-game script and dialogue) and handled project-management duties. In retrospect I would do a LOT of things differently with Perihelion but nevertheless, in its day it had very high production values, some pioneering technical achievements and a highly sophisticated core rule-set and combat system which we never did quite manage to polish and push to its limits.
Probably not long after Perihelion was finished, he moved to California, the first game he worked on there was published 1998. Besides working in the game industry he creates flash animations.
Born probably 1974. The coder and co-designer of Perihelion continued a carreer as a programmer in the game that can be traced through his LinkedIn profile and seems to have taken him to Denmark for a while. He was one of the lead programmers for Theocracy. He also has a Yahoo! profile as luppy_birka and is active in the Linux scene.
Born 1968-06-08. In Perihelion, he made the music and sound effects. In 1994, he became a founding member of the independent film company Cruel World Team as composer and editor.
The company was founded in 1994 by young writers, musicians and amateur filmmakers aiming to produce low-budget horror movies and thrillers (based on Italian traditions) for the Hungarian film market. In the past years they have made many films and music videos including five feature films. They prefer special genres like horror, thriller or Tarantino-like comedies that are popular in Hungary but theofficialfilm industry has not so far embraced this kind of movies. The members of the team are not filmschool-educated filmmakers but they focus more on the audience's taste and so they are able to create movies that appease the cinemagoers.
The company existed until 2004 and produced five feature movies and at least two shorts. Except for some voice editing in Theocracy, it seems that he was never involved with games after Perihelion.
Perihelion has a wonderful post-apocalyptic atmosphere. Imagine Ishar with the combat sections swiped from Laser Squad and you're close to the game system of Perihelion. The adventure side is rather linear, you need to solve each mission in turn. When you get stuck that's it, you have to wander around until you find the elusive door or object. The network and combat system are refreshing additions to a tired format. Is it fun? Yes. Is it the sort of fun that makes you totally ignore the sound, sensible advice you give yourself, likeIf I stay up really really late it will totally bugger up all my plans for tomorrow? Not quite. I was initially hooked by the moodiness of it all, but after a couple of fights I found myself wandering around a maze of tunnels collecting objects like every other adventure game before it. Damn fine try at something a bit different though.—Chris Lloyd
I love it. It's magnificently moody and this really helps to keep you gripped. There are a couple of minor irritations, it's true, but the overall impression is really fascinating. What does Chris want anyway? If they tried to have thousands of people on screen azt once you wouldn't be able to play the thing. Look for yourself—the graphics are just gorgeous.—Steve Faragher
I got quite exited when I got a whiff of this in last month's preview, but in honesty I don't think the finished game has lived up to those expectations. It has an excellent style of presentation and works by an incredibly user-friendly interface, but as atmospheric as Perihelion's setting, sound and graphics are, the game leaves a bit to be desired in a few areas. I think it was a real mistake (and shame) that the programmers decided to cop out and employ a tacky American cartoon technique and repeat backgrounds in the cities, leaving you with no real landmarks or helpful clues as to whether you've been there before. The network is an effective idea and it makes you feel as if you're sat at a proper terminal, but using it to communicate with characters who you've just passed in the street seems a bit unnatural, not to mention limiting. Obviously, as with any RPG, you need to invest a fair amount of time setting up your party and checking that you have a wide range of skills, but once you've done this things tend not to hot up for at least an hour or so, and may well put a few people off. Right, now I've publicly aired my moans, let's give the game a bit of credit. Perihelion does look and feel superb and there are enough statistics and character details zo satisfy the hardened RPG-er while not being too much to cope with for the average games player. There's a tremendous amount of depth with an excellent number of locations to be ploughed through, not to mention the huge volume of characters and spells to be played with. At the end of the day, Perihelion could have been so much more. It's tried to do something different with the genre but the areas it's lacking in tarnish what could have been a truly stunning RPG.—Matt Broughton
Perihelion is an extremely interesting departure from the normal RPG style Dungeons & Dragons title, the designers have attempted to tread a different path on many other aspects of the game.
For instance, many titles of the genre have a very similar style for representing spells and spellcasting. They are either awarded on graduating your character's rank, found lying around in corners of arcane buildings, or bought from dodgy magicians.
In Perihelion the designers have opted for a similar technique as Dungeon Master, with the acolyte in question having to construct the spell from runic symbols. The computer network that your mutated characters can log on to and access, is also a nice extension of concurrent themes.
The only aspect of Perihelion that let it down slightly was the combat. It's a completely understandable notion to take the user to a seperate screen to commence battle; it grants the opportunity to make tactical decisions, aim and effect repairs. But it's where, if a computer game can ever manage it, the fantasy of being real is lost.
However, while it's a little samey in places, Perihelion is a very competent adventure, and I look forward to the next offering from this development team.—Simon Clays
