Zool: Taking It to the N Dimension - The Game Maker's Companion: Game Development - page 47

C H A P T E R 3
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Zool: Taking It to the N th
Dimension
Gremlin Graphics was responsible for bringing a menagerie of video-game franchises to the
gaming world, including the likes of Monty Mole and Jack the Nipper in the 1980s, Premier
Manager and Zool in the early 90s, and Actua Soccer and Loaded before the turn of the
millennium. If you're young enough not to have heard of Zool, then you may be surprised to
know that he was once seen as the gaming mascot for Amiga computers in the same way that
Sonic was for SEGA and Mario is for Nintendo. Zool was a best-selling title that was bundled with
every new Amiga 1200, as well as being ported to all the major game consoles of the day. There
was even a sequel that featured Zooz (Zool's girlfriend) and Zoon (Zool's alien dog). 1
However, Zool's popularity declined with that of the Amiga platform he was associated with
and, unlike his contemporaries, he's not been seen or heard of since. Until now, that is, for in the
next few chapters, we will continue our journey by reviving this lost icon of platform gaming
history for one last candy-fuelled excursion….
Designing a Ninjalien
Back in 1991, a fresh young artist at Gremlin was asked to come up with an idea for a video-game
character to rival Sonic the Hedgehog. That artist's name was Adrian Carless. He went on to
become Gremlin's lead game designer and spent the following decade as the prolific studio's
game design front-man. So who better then to explain the origins of Zool than the man himself:
1 ZOOL and the ZOOL logo are registered trademarks of Urbanscan Ltd. All rights reserved. The
Zool game resources are provided solely for use with The Game Maker's Companion and should
not be distributed without written permission from the copyright holder.