Spindizzy

About Spindizzy

Spindizzy (1986) is Paul Shirley's isometric action-puzzle game in which a shape-shifting probe called GERALD explores hundreds of floating stages against the clock, often compared with Marble Madness.

Spindizzy in Depth

The player steers a probe called GERALD, the Gyroscopic Environmental Reconnaissance And Land-Mapping Device, through a world of interconnected stages of ramps and corridors suspended in space, using the keyboard or a joystick. GERALD can transform between a ball, an inverted square pyramid and a gyroscope, each handling the terrain slightly differently, and can move in eight directions and put on a burst of speed. The view can be rotated between four angles, with a compass arrow to help orientation.

The aim is to explore hundreds of stages before time runs out. Power jewels scattered around extend the limit, while falling off a stage, or from a great height, costs time. Ramps, corridors and other obstacles slow the probe, and a burst of speed up a ramp can launch it into other areas. Some tiles carry symbols that help, such as activating lifts to higher regions, and the game ends when time expires or the whole world has been mapped. Shirley, inspired by Ultimate Play the Game's isometric games, approached it as a mix of adventure and puzzle game, feeling the rolling-ball mechanic allowed creative puzzles. Reviewers praised its visuals and design but criticised its audio.

Making Spindizzy

Paul Shirley developed it and Electric Dreams Software published it in 1986 for several 8-bit home computers, partnering with Activision for the US release. It was successful in the UK and well received by the press, and later publications continued to praise it, though Shirley attributed its short marketing life to Activision.