Cauldron II: The Pumpkin Strikes Back - Development

Development

The idea behind Cauldron II was that there should be a sufficient thread to link to the previous game, but that it should also present new ideas around the platform genre. A player would then be sufficiently assured that we'd done our best to create a new game, rather than fobbing them off with more of a successful formula.

“ ” Stan Schembri on the design of Cauldron II

The success of Cauldron in 1985 prompted Palace Software to produce a sequel. Rather than recycle the previous game's design, the development team wanted to be innovative and implement new gameplay features. Steven Brown and Richard Leinfellner resumed their roles as designer and programmer, respectively. Richard Joseph handled the audio design and Stan Schembri programmed the Commodore 64 version.

Brown first drew inspiration from the final scene of Cauldron: the witch's fight against the Pumpking, which bounced around a room. He felt the bouncing pumpkin looked "cool" and decided to base the sequel's gameplay on this aspect. Although unsure about the idea, the other team members proceeded with development. Intended to mimic a bouncing ball, the pumpkin's movement could change direction only if force is applied to it while it is in contact with a surface that provides friction. This mechanic prohibited the pumpkin from changing directions while in mid-air, and proved problematic for the programmers to implement. Issues included difficulties with collision detection, unpredictable movements that led to glitches, and troubles with the firing mechanism. The pumpkin's ability to fire projectiles was intended to provide offensive game mechanics to players. In early designs, however, the projectile inadvertently generated a force that changed the pumpkin's direction. The programmers tried to correct this, but were unable to create a perfect solution.

As the gameplay designs were being implemented, Brown switched focus to the game's aesthetics. Scenes from the game were sketched on storyboards to aid development. Cauldron II's game world, the witch's castle, was designed to resemble Palace Software's logo as an advertising tactic. Brown photographed separate screens of the game and assembled them into a complete map, showing the shape of his company's logo, for video game magazines. Enemy designs were similar to those in the previous game, based on the Halloween holiday. Brown envisioned a graphical effect for the game's narration, showing a book whose pages turned as the story is read. However, technical limitations at the time prohibited the implementation of such a visual effect. Brown also wanted the game's visuals to scroll seamlessly as the character moved through the game world, but flick-screening (showing one section of the world at a time) was more feasible. As with the previous game, Brown created a Plasticine model of the witch character as a reference for a painting that was used for the game's box art. The group tested the game prior to release and deemed it too challenging. They reduced the difficulty level so that more players could complete the game.

Palace Software developed Cauldron II for three home computers: Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, and ZX Spectrum. The game was first released for the Commodore 64, and then for the Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum. It was later re-released on the ZX Spectrum in 1989 by Telecomsoft under its Silverbird budget label. Cauldron II was also re-released with the first game as a compilation title for Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum computers.

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