Review Fix Exclusive: Steve Jackson Talks ‘Sorcery!’ on the iPad

Review Fix chats with author Steve Jackson who discusses his book series “Sorcery!” and its success as an app on the iPad. More than a digital book, publisher inkle has brought the series, originally published in the ‘80s, alive in more ways than one on the iPad.

Review Fix: How did you feel originally when the books were becoming video games?

Steve Jackson: There have been other digital versions of the books but I was especially excited when Jon Ingold & Joe Humfrey of inkle said they wanted to enhance the original adventures by building in new features. I especially wanted this version of Sorcery to be more than a translation of the original gamebooks to digital format. More than just reading text from a screen.

Review Fix: Were you ready for the success of the first game?

Jackson: As it happens I was on holiday with some of my game-playing friends the day Sorcery 1 was published. I got a text from Jon saying the launch was going even better than he expected. And favourable reviews were coming in. It was all taking off. This was exciting. I desperately wanted to come back home as soon as I could. Nothing I could do of course, but I just wanted to be nearer where it was all happening.

Review Fix: How did you feel the first time you played the games?

Jackson: I guess when I first played the adventure I was subconsciously expecting screens full of text, like previous Sorcery apps. But right from the start, it was promising much more than that. Just the way the text appeared was… stylish. Then when I tried out the original features, like combat and the spell system, I loved it. Suddenly I realised this was something new. Something special.

Review Fix: How much of a role do you play in the development process?

Jackson: When we originally met at a pub in Richmond to discuss the project, I can remember saying I’d really like to see Sorcery come into the 21st century. Using the iPad processor to make much more game features than had been done previously. Well they really took that to heart and already had plans along those lines. I’m no coder so I wasn’t so much involved in the development process itself. Maybe my main contribution was paying for the beer.

Review Fix: What other video games do you play?

Jackson: I like strategy games like Civilization and RPGs like Diablo and Fable. But these days I mainly play apps. Especially conversions from old favourite boardgames, like Ticket to Ride, Caylus, Carcassonne, Lost Cities, Tikal. Particularly like the ones where you can play online against mates.

Review Fix: What should fans of the books and first game expect in this one?

Jackson: New features. I don’t want to spoil anything, but inkle have been busy building in new stuff. And they have written a huge amount of new adventure text for Part 2. They’ve set themselves high standards to keep up with. Sorcery 3 & 4 will be challenging.

Review Fix: How do you want these games to be remembered in connection to the books?

Jackson: When I said the inkle apps bring the original into the 21st century, I guess that’s how I’d want them to be remembered in relation to each other. Paper and print in the 20th century; digitally enhanced in the 21st century. And still around in the 22nd century? My great-grandchildren will hope so.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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