| The Sacred Mirror of Kofun | |
| Developer: | Enteractive, Inc., Future Concepts |
| Publisher: | Enteractive, Inc. |
| Genre: | Puzzle game/Digital encyclopedia |
| Modes: | Single-player |
| Platforms: | Microsoft Windows |
The Sacred Mirror of Kofun is a 1996 puzzle video game/multimedia encyclopedia co-produced by Jean-Michel Cousteau with the cooperation of the National Center of Cinematography and the moving image and the French Ministry of Economy, Finances and Industry. It features full motion video sequences and actual underwater footage, the first game to do so.[1]
The game is set in 1999 (three years into the future) on the Antares, a futuristic nautical research lab which sails off from Honolulu.
The player character is Chris Young, a former racecar driver and Gulf War pilot, who was hired by Cousteau because of his interest in marine technology, to pilot the Antares and find the ideal location to launch the Poseidon research lab.
Early in the game, the player receive a videophone message from Steve Grant of the "Worldwide Heritage Foundation". Archeologist John Braddy was after a sacred Japanese mirror of the Kofun period which belonged to a Japanese warlord Ishuta who led the Yamato armies to fend off invaders from the Kinai plains. The mirror was given to him as a talisman by his wife, Maiko. It was said that its reflection helped him defeat his enemies and afterwards his victory was engraved on the mirror. After his death, it was buried in his kofun (tomb). Fifty years after World War II, an ancient document came to light which established the mirror's historicity. Grant had failed to find the mirror but Braddy found Ishuta's lost tomb.
The player has to navigate the Antares to the wrecks and reefs of the West Pacific and the Palau Archipelago, explore islands, gather clues and combine them using the database of EDWARD to unfold more clues. The educational portion of the game includes scuba diving with the aid of the Angel Shark diver propulsion vehicle, taking photographs of the sea fauna and then cataloguing them to EDWARD. The player is additionally tasked to locate Braddy.
There are several characters the player can interact with, mainly from the ship's intercom.
The interface of the game is that of a typical first person point-and-click puzzle adventure game. The player explores environments depicted through a large series of computer generated stills, using mouse clicks for movement or to manipulate objects within reach. Environments include the CGI sections and corridors of the Antares or natural environment exploration on the islands, generated by actual photographs.
The game was produced by Paris-based Future Concepts, a subsidiary of IDP. It was envisioned as the first part of an edutainment multimedia title series under the name The Interactive Adventures of Jean-Michel Cousteau.[2] Cousteau was excited by the possibilities of interactive CD-ROM technology which would not only help his work reach young people, but allow them to participate.[3]
Pre-production begun in early 1995,[4] and development and design took place in Paris, simultaneously with filming. The project cost roughly 8 million French francs.[3]
The virtual setting of the ship Antares was designed with Cousteau's naval officer as a consultant. According to Cousteau, a ship like the Antares might become reality in the future.[3]
In summer, a team consisting of oceanographers, photographers and a scriptwriter, led by Cousteau, transported equipment from Los Angeles to Chuuk Atoll, Micronesia. Production lasted several weeks (one in Chuuk and 2 in Palau) during which they took several photographs and video footage around the island and the ocean; Cousteau and his team performed 4-5 dives a day.[3] [4]
A location featured prominently was the Chuuk Lagoon, famous for the more than 100 shipwrecks that sunk during Operation Hailstone of the WWII. The project was marked when one torpedo, whose compressed air container of its propulsion system had rusted away, and exploded while the team were down.[3] [4]
The plot was written simultaneously with the brainstorming and the reviewing and selection of the footage.[4]
Since the game play was weak by gamers standards[5] special care was given to advertising which encompassed several media and highlight Cousteau's name and participation.
Development problems encountered in late testing resulted in release delays, so the game was released in late November, after the hype subsided.[5]
The game package included a demo CD, a 3.5 inch floppy with Saved Games, an Evaluation Guide, and an overview brochure in the form of a passport.[5]
Despite an ambitious project, the game was not well received and passed rather unnoticed, mostly because of its limited or buggy gameplay. There are currently very little reviews on the game.[6] [7]
The game was envisioned as the first title of The Interactive Adventures of Jean-Michel Cousteau series. Shortly after the production of the game, and according to its success and financial backing, Cousteau considered a new interactive adventure in the freshwater caves of Yucatan and the blue holes of Belize,[3] however such plans did not come to fruition.