We talk to the creators of Bullfrog's pioneering 3D Arabian adventure Magic Carpet

There are many games that are heralded as being pioneers of a genre, shaping the way for future generations and single-handedly creating new ones with a simple idea. Yet there are just as many that have the potential to make waves but fail to make an impact and slide into obscurity, never to be given a second thought. One of these was Magic Carpet, an oftenoverlooked title that was a technical marvel and offered a different style of shooter when compared to other games pigeonholed into the genre.

For those who have never played Magic Carpet, you take on the role of a wizard who has to restore the equilibrium of each world. To do so, you have to collect mana that is lying around or destroy the creatures that are in possession of it, before claiming it as your own and then transporting it back to your castle.

The premise of flying on a magic carpet while vanquishing enemies is something that Aladdin would be envious of, yet the idea for the game (like most of Bullfrog’s portfolio) and its Arabian-inspired setting came purely out of experimenting with new graphical techniques. “I was playing with a texturing polygon draw and fractal landscape,” explains Glenn Corpes, who created the 3D engine for the game. “I had what looked like a flight-sim engine but, like most people at Bullfrog, I wasn’t interested in flight sims, the question of ‘what else could you be flying without going sci-fi’ was answered by someone with the idea of flying a magic carpet.”

He was also responsible for creating the landscape generator for each of Magic Carpet’s 50 levels. This was accomplished with a “fractal landscape generator based on a description of the algorithm used by Mike Singleton for Midwinter,” says Glenn. “I’d used it before on Powermonger. I’ve used it since. It basically used a sneaky wrapping landscape which is easier than implementing any kind of borders. It also had ‘intelligent’ creatures, which sounds clever but lets you get away with no real level scripting. Laziness wins every time.”

Like many of Bullfrog’s early releases, none of the game received any planned design. “I don’t remember ever seeing a design document in all my time at Bullfrog, that was probably why they did so well,” says Mark Healey, who was an artist on Magic Carpet.

The range of spells reached 25 in all, from fireballs, volcanoes, earthquakes, lightning bolts and meteors to use against the monsters, while spells such as a shield can defend against attack. It is also possible to teleport back to your castle; recharge your health and mana before heading back into the warzone. Many of these were awe inspiring with the ability to alter the terrain entirely.

“The landscape modifying spells were based around what was possible, rather like Populous,” comments Glenn, citing that his favourite spell “was called ‘chasm’ (I think), it basically chopped huge canyons into the landscape.” When enemies were destroyed their carcasses were left behind, a trait shared with many Bullfrog games. “It’s actually quite easy to do,” explains Glenn. “Most games are written so that there are a number of active enemies, maybe with new ones being spawned in the place of those that have been destroyed.

All Magic Carpet did was leave them laying around dead and, if it did need to spawn anything new, it would reuse the dead ones. This was very hard to spot happening as by then the player would have moved on.”

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