1992 Marcus Hamilton
Platforms: Commodore Amiga, PC and Atari ST
A bizarre name for an intriguing puzzle game that was due for release on the Amiga, ST and PC platforms back in 1992. Not much is currently known about the game, and it was only seemingly previewed in Joystick magazine in October 1992.
In the magazine article, the story goes that Sisyphus, who offended the Gods, was condemned for eternity eternity to roll stones up a mountain just to see them tumble and to start over and over again (a very severe punishment! ). Millennia have passed and men have forgotten Sisyphus and the warning he exemplified. The Gods are therefore again very angry and decide to appoint a new Sisyphus.
Bad luck, it’s George, the character you play! As the gods are devoid of rocks and mountains (it’s the fault of the ozone layer apparently), they have designed a Giant Telephone Dial. George must progress from each level by filling the holes of this dial with coloured balls to obtain the same pattern indicated in the status panel.
You have a limited number of balls, where each one that falls into the holes in the dial will be collected and placed back into the appropriate dispenser. Periodically, special balls, favourable or harmful will be distributed, where some will clean the dial, but others will change the colour of the balls and give bonuses. If a ball bomb falls into a hole, you will have to get rid of it quickly before it explodes. If the time runs out in the game, then a hand of God will come down and crush you.
Preview screens shown suggest that the game was quite advanced in development. The article mentioned that the developer was Marcus Hamilton, who was looking for a publisher for the game. Marcus had apparently done work for Thalamus, so it was quite possible that would have been the target publisher. Though what other work did Marcus do? Couldn’t seem to see a record on Hall of Light, but please let us know if Marcus did have any other released Amiga works.
So what happened to the game? As we mention at the start – not much is known at this stage at all, and it is unclear exactly why the game never saw a release. Our guess is that publishers were not interested in the title, and so it was decided to put the game to rest.
If you know anything more about the title or can help find it – then please let us know!
With thanks to Grzegorz Antosiewicz for highlighting the game and archive.org for the scans.
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