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Mento

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ST-urday #020: Black Lamp

By Mento 2 Comments

Hey gang, quick episode this week as I'm knee-deep in moderating the 75+ hours of charity streaming chaos happening on and around the site. Today's game is really another like Kid Gloves, where the only significant about it is its sentimental value to myself. Still, why write these things without giving them a personal edge?

Elsewhere and elsewise, I'm happy to report that after 104 hours (according to the game over screen), I've finally slain a long-standing "pile of shame" entry: Yakuza 3. I'm now fully prepared for 2011's Yakuza 4, the imminent English language release of Yakuza 5 and whenever Yakuza 6 is localized after its JP release next year. So, basically I'm never finishing this series. Bamco's Tales is another such case: I'm planning on going through Graces F soon, but even once that's done I'll be at least three games (four if you count Hearts R) behind the soon-to-be-released Tales of Berseria. Any single Tales or Yakuza game takes so much time to get through, an issue exacerbated by my completionist tendencies, that I doubt I'll ever catch up or run out of games from either series to play. Having missing entries in a series I adore used to bother me so much when I was younger, but these days it's almost comforting: that knowledge that if I ever have the inclination to play another game of that type, there'll always be a new one waiting for me. I think that epiphany hit me once the IGAvanias dried up, after being spoiled with a new one almost every year for so long. Makes me wish I had the forethought to save one for a rainy day, but maybe that's what Bloodstained can be.

Now that Yakuza's done, I think I'll concentrate on smaller 2015 games for GOTY purposes until I finally snap and get a damned PS4 already. Undertale would be the most pressing item on that shortlist, given how frequently people seem to mention it. Anything else can hopefully wait for the big Steam holiday sale.

Black Lamp

No Caption Provided

Black Lamp is a side-scrolling platformer/action game published on the Atari ST in 1988 by Firebird, a UK company that frequently took on projects from smaller teams, often taking a classic 8-bit game and sprucing it up for the 16-bit Amiga/ST - this was the case for their ST versions of Elite and The Sentinel. In this case, it also means that there's no obvious developer here: most places don't seem to have any name for the developer, just the people who actually made it who appear on the title screen (see below). It's been a recent phenomenon in the Indie world where people are just using their real names in lieu of company names, like Christine Love (though she only recently started using the Love Conquers All Games label to ship her games under), but it's possible it goes even further back. We'll see the 16-bit version today, but Black Lamp first appeared in the 8-bit home computer era: the C64, the ZX Spectrum and the Atari 400/800. I'd post the music, but they're just MIDI renditions of Elizabethan Serenade and Greensleeves. (Except for the C64 version, which gets this sweet SID track from Contradiction designer and erstwhile VGM maestro Tim Follin, because of course it does. Damn you, @buzz_clik! You win the ST/C64 soundtrack game once again!)

Black Lamp tells the tale of Jolly Jack the Jester, who is the lone defender of a massive raid on his kingdom. Equipped with a powerful amulet that acts as both his means of offense and defense, Jack has to recover the protective magical lamps that keep the kingdom safe and repel the horde of creatures that have invaded. Jack's hoping this act of heroism is enough to convince the king to let Jack marry the fair Princess Grizelda. (Grizelda isn't a particular "fair" name though, no offense to any Grizeldas out there. It's like a gritty Zelda. Not that we need to give Nintendo that idea.) The most striking aspect of the game was its open-world approach: you're free to explore in any direction, and having a set of collectibles to find in order to progress the game meant fully exploring each room of its huge maze-like kingdom for required McGuffins and useful power-ups.

I said this was a low key game this week, and it won't take a whole of explanation, but even revisiting it years later expecting the worse, I'm surprised how well Black Lamp has held up. The most maligned aspect of it - the controls - actually feel deliberate in a way that it almost feels like a positive. There's a certain clunkiness to how it works: Jack walks very slowly, and you have to turn around in two increments because of the way the game's foreground/background traversal works. It'd be a frustrating slog in most cases, but it works with the game's odd emphasis on aspects you'd normally not emphasize in a colorful, noisy platformer. I'm speaking cryptically because I intend to demonstrate what I mean with the screenshots below, but you'll hopefully see what I'm talking about in just a moment.

Welcome to Black Lamp! The last time I thought about this game prior to planning ST-urday was when was I played Daedalus's The Whispered World last year. That had a gloomy, pint-sized jester too.
Welcome to Black Lamp! The last time I thought about this game prior to planning ST-urday was when was I played Daedalus's The Whispered World last year. That had a gloomy, pint-sized jester too.
It may not look like much now, but this was a great-looking game for 1988. The Genesis wasn't even out yet.
It may not look like much now, but this was a great-looking game for 1988. The Genesis wasn't even out yet.
As you may have ascertained by that weird-looking bookshelf in the first room, but the goal is to collect nine colored lamps from the environment. That opening room also had three exits, if that gives you an idea of how open this game is. As far as I know, the room assortment and lamp placement is random each time you begin. It might be that you're just starting the game in different parts of the same huge map though.
As you may have ascertained by that weird-looking bookshelf in the first room, but the goal is to collect nine colored lamps from the environment. That opening room also had three exits, if that gives you an idea of how open this game is. As far as I know, the room assortment and lamp placement is random each time you begin. It might be that you're just starting the game in different parts of the same huge map though.
Recovering the purple lamp simply involves picking it up and bringing it here. You can only carry one lamp at once, but there is more than one of these lamp-holder cases and they're all linked. If you wandered too far from the last one, you might want to keep going and hope another shows up.
Recovering the purple lamp simply involves picking it up and bringing it here. You can only carry one lamp at once, but there is more than one of these lamp-holder cases and they're all linked. If you wandered too far from the last one, you might want to keep going and hope another shows up.
Scattered around are these power-ups. Gems, weapons and musical instruments all go towards one of those power-ups at the bottom of the screen: they become active once you have five of one type of item. Food items, meanwhile, restore your health. That would be the gauge on the bottom right. The jester sticks are lives.
Scattered around are these power-ups. Gems, weapons and musical instruments all go towards one of those power-ups at the bottom of the screen: they become active once you have five of one type of item. Food items, meanwhile, restore your health. That would be the gauge on the bottom right. The jester sticks are lives.
Protip #1 when playing Black Lamp: avoid the floor. Enemies will simply stream in from both sides regardless of how many you kill, so the best tactic is to ignore them and keep moving to avoid damage. Most enemies will simply walk across the bottom of the screen shooting magic at you, hence the relative safety of the ladders and higher platforms. Worse than enemy damage, however, is falling damage; it can be downright fatal if you fall from the top of the screen. This allows the game to create its difficulty not from its endless foe spawns, which are a persistent and ubiquitous but comparatively minor menace, but from carelessness when traversing the screens because of being too hurried.
Protip #1 when playing Black Lamp: avoid the floor. Enemies will simply stream in from both sides regardless of how many you kill, so the best tactic is to ignore them and keep moving to avoid damage. Most enemies will simply walk across the bottom of the screen shooting magic at you, hence the relative safety of the ladders and higher platforms. Worse than enemy damage, however, is falling damage; it can be downright fatal if you fall from the top of the screen. This allows the game to create its difficulty not from its endless foe spawns, which are a persistent and ubiquitous but comparatively minor menace, but from carelessness when traversing the screens because of being too hurried.
The power-ups I mentioned: five instruments (lyres, lutes, etc.) gives you the winged shoes, which completely eliminates falling damage for a duration. Five weapons (swords, maces, etc.) gives you that magic eye which pumps up your damage output, while five gemstones gives you temporary invincibility (the bascinet symbol). It's also worth noting that power-ups don't respawn, ever, so don't grab any food items if you don't need them. Best way to find new power-ups is to head towards unexplored territory.
The power-ups I mentioned: five instruments (lyres, lutes, etc.) gives you the winged shoes, which completely eliminates falling damage for a duration. Five weapons (swords, maces, etc.) gives you that magic eye which pumps up your damage output, while five gemstones gives you temporary invincibility (the bascinet symbol). It's also worth noting that power-ups don't respawn, ever, so don't grab any food items if you don't need them. Best way to find new power-ups is to head towards unexplored territory.
I haven't really spoken too much about the controls since that enigmatic opener, but you can see from this screenshot that the game operates on a sort of invisible grid in much the same way as something like Toki Tori does: one
I haven't really spoken too much about the controls since that enigmatic opener, but you can see from this screenshot that the game operates on a sort of invisible grid in much the same way as something like Toki Tori does: one "unit" is approximately the length of the character sprite, and items like the staircase blocks, the ladder placements and doorways in the foreground/background. When you move, you move one of these units per animation cycle. When you jump, you can jump a certain distance straight up, a certain height and length when stationary and a different height and length when moving. The moving jump gets you further horizontally but less vertically. There's also a backwards jump, which doesn't go far but is perfect for small horizontal/vertical hops. Knowing which jump is best for the platform you want to reach is paramount in this game. One last thing: doorways in the foreground are always represented by those two little white dots. I guess they didn't have transparency filters yet.
I've just accidentally stepped off a high ledge, which has the unfortunate effect of vaporizing me into nothing. The Rock was right: the threat of vaporization is real. Just goes to show also, that there doesn't need to be enemies on screen for it to be a dangerous situation.
I've just accidentally stepped off a high ledge, which has the unfortunate effect of vaporizing me into nothing. The Rock was right: the threat of vaporization is real. Just goes to show also, that there doesn't need to be enemies on screen for it to be a dangerous situation.
The last thing you want to meet. While you'll find eight of the nine colored lamps in random spots, the ninth - the titular black lamp - is always being held by a dragon. Dragons are essentially bosses that start blasting you as soon as you appear and is where Jack's sluggish motion is felt most keenly.
The last thing you want to meet. While you'll find eight of the nine colored lamps in random spots, the ninth - the titular black lamp - is always being held by a dragon. Dragons are essentially bosses that start blasting you as soon as you appear and is where Jack's sluggish motion is felt most keenly.
Dragons, rather than being killed by Jack's amulet, are slowly colored black by his shots. It's determinant on where on its body you hit it, so you'll need to get to high ground to hit its head and neck. It's also beneficial for survival, since most of its fireballs are angled downwards.
Dragons, rather than being killed by Jack's amulet, are slowly colored black by his shots. It's determinant on where on its body you hit it, so you'll need to get to high ground to hit its head and neck. It's also beneficial for survival, since most of its fireballs are angled downwards.
Unfortunately, I still haven't dropped off the brown lamp I was carrying. That means I'll have to come back to this dead end, but...
Unfortunately, I still haven't dropped off the brown lamp I was carrying. That means I'll have to come back to this dead end, but...
...the dragon stays dead. Or, I dunno, inky. Whatever its deal was on that last screen.
...the dragon stays dead. Or, I dunno, inky. Whatever its deal was on that last screen.
Through pitfalls, constant monster attacks and that dragon, I've used up all my lives and most of my remaining health. But you know what? I did recover a black lamp. That's a moral victory as far as I'm concerned.
Through pitfalls, constant monster attacks and that dragon, I've used up all my lives and most of my remaining health. But you know what? I did recover a black lamp. That's a moral victory as far as I'm concerned.
This seven foot knight ends poor Jack's life, but I had a good run. Never expect to beat this game the first few times you play it: beyond getting the jumping right, there's also an element of luck involved in getting the right power-ups at the right time, not getting sidewinded by the dragon and finding the right lamps within reach. If one particular colored lamp eludes you, you can always go find another dragon: black lamps also act as wild cards.
This seven foot knight ends poor Jack's life, but I had a good run. Never expect to beat this game the first few times you play it: beyond getting the jumping right, there's also an element of luck involved in getting the right power-ups at the right time, not getting sidewinded by the dragon and finding the right lamps within reach. If one particular colored lamp eludes you, you can always go find another dragon: black lamps also act as wild cards.
Jack also turns into ash when he dies, which sort of says to me that the designers expect most player deaths to be due to dragon attacks.
Jack also turns into ash when he dies, which sort of says to me that the designers expect most player deaths to be due to dragon attacks.
One thing I love about computer games: way more characters to input for the high score screen.
One thing I love about computer games: way more characters to input for the high score screen.

That's Black Lamp in a nutshell. Sort of difficult and weirdly unresponsive, but I hope you get that it was going for something a little different and methodical. Jack takes hits from enemies like a champ, so the deliberate platforming aspects are far more integral to success than trying to shoot everything. Open-world game design was still fairly novel for action games in 1988 too.

I'm just glad it lived up to my memories of it: that's an ever-present concern whenever I create a new ST-urday based on a game I loved as a kid.

(Back to the ST-urday ST-orehouse.)

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