''Wizard'' is a video game developed for the

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...

written by Sean A. Moore and Steve Luedders-Dieckbrader for Progressive Peripherals and Software (PP&S) out of Denver, Colorado in 1984.

Gameplay

Each level contains keys, and the object is for Wilfrid the Wizard to get each key to move on to the next location. Each level requires a different spell to find the key, and every key found gives Wilfrid a finite number of times he can cast the spell. Some spells cast projectiles, which can either kill or freeze enemies, while some teleport Wilfrid around, either by turning him to a non-corporeal "shadow" or by instantly moving him to his starting point. The player character, Wilfrid, is a wizard in purple robes, and his enemies include

witch Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have us ...

es,

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

s, giant

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...

s, and other various monsters.

Development

''Wizard'' was created contemporaneously with the Epyx release '' Jumpman''. Steve Luedders stated that it was a coincidence, and that he felt ''Wizard'' could have been more successful if ''Jumpman'' had not been released first (company size and marketing resources being a significant factor).

Ultimate Wizard

Craig Smith and Aaron Hightower teamed up to make an improved construction set in their homes in

North Richland Hills, Texas North Richland Hills, commonly known as NRH, is a city inside Tarrant County, Texas, United States, and a mid-to-high end suburb of Fort Worth. The population was 69,917 at the 2020 census, making it the third largest city in Tarrant County. I ...

. They communicated with Sean and Steve to understand the memory layout for the levels and then set out to create an advanced construction set better than the one included with the original game. Among other things, their construction set included the ability to create "treasure matrices" that allowed the user to create special effects similar to the ones seen in the main levels. The original set had remnants in its code alluding to features that had been disabled, likely due to their instability or lack of documentation. PP&S took the code from Craig and Aaron, and released it commercially in a package called the ''Wizard Expansion Set''. This add-on pack also included 50 new levels from a competition held by the company specifically for the expansion; none of the new levels had any advanced features because of the limitations of the original construction set. Electronic Arts, including

Paul Reiche III Paul Reiche III ( ) is an American game designer, particularly known for his work on video games. Reiche is best known for being the co-creator, together with Fred Ford, of the '' Star Control'' universe. Career Pen and paper RPGs Reiche was ...

, used the Construction set created by Aaron and Craig to create a new set of levels. The Construction Set was also included by EA, as were a combination of levels from the original game and from the expansion pack, albeit in a different order from the original PP&S releases. The ''Ultimate Wizard'' version also featured some changes to existing levels to increase their difficulty, as well as different sprites for some of the game's monsters.

Reception

Compute!'s Gazette ''Compute!'s Gazette'' (), stylized as ''COMPUTE!'s Gazette'', was a computer magazine of the 1980s, directed at users of Commodore's 8-bit home computers. Announced as ''The Commodore Gazette'', it was a Commodore-only daughter magazine of the ...

'' approved of the "instant playability" of the Commodore 64 version of ''Ultimate Wizard'', reporting that it "has become a favorite of the neighborhood youngsters".

References

{{notelist

External links

''Wizard''
at MobyGames
''Ultimate Wizard''
at MobyGames
Ultimate Wizard reviewed by Jason ComptonYouTube video of Ultimate Wizard DemonstrationReview
in

GAMES Magazine ''GAMES World of Puzzles'' is a puzzle magazine formed from the merger of Games and World of Puzzles in October 2014. The entire magazine interior is now newsprint (as opposed to the part-glossy/part-newsprint format of the original ''Games'') an ...

1984 video games Ariolasoft games Commodore 64 games Commodore 64-only games Electronic Arts games Multiplayer and single-player video games Platform games Video games about witchcraft Video games developed in the United States