Jump Raven
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Debbie Hughes
| Jump Raven | |
|---|---|
 Cover art by Mark Maxwell | |
| Developer | Cyberflix |
| Publisher | Paramount Interactive |
| Programmer | Bill Appleton |
| Artists | Jamie Wicks Debbie Hughes |
| Writer | Andrew Nelson |
| Platforms | Windows, Mac OS |
| Release | 1994 |
| Genre | Shooter |
| Mode | Single-player |
Jump Raven was the second game released by Cyberflix, in 1994. The game's technology is similar to that of Lunicus, released by Cyberflix one year prior, but this time employs a more detailed storyline and environment. In an opening sequence of the game, we see future New York City, which has fallen into horrible disrepair in the aftermath of global warming and rising sea levels and a bankrupt federal government. The premise of the story is that gangsters, neo-nazis, and various other thugs have acquired large stores of weapons from the government, and have ransacked New York's store of cryogenically-frozen DNA of endangered species. The player's job as a bounty hunter is to retrieve them.
Before taking off in a fancy hovercraft, the player chooses a co-pilot who can navigate or fire weapons. selecting Nikki, Chablis, "Cheesestick" Limbaugh (supposedly descended from Rush, though he is black), Thrash, Lark or Dogstar. Each co-pilot is unique and may not be available for every level.
The game's three difficult and lengthy levels are played in the player's hovercraft flying around the streets of New York. The opponents drive tanks or fly planes and insult the player frequently. The user can choose between one of several bands for theme music, each of which has a unique song per level. The bands include: X-Static, Deathkiller, Pink Flannel, and Smoove Da Groove. The name "Deathkiller" was coined at a trade show - two Japanese girls watched the demo and described it as "deathkiller".[citation needed]
Game control is rather complicated as the player can move up, down, left, right, and forward and backward. The player must also control weapons. Fortunately, the copilot can take care of one or more of these functions.
Development
Following the successful launch of its CD-ROM game Lunicus in April 1993,[1][2] developer CyberFlix began to create Jump Raven with the DreamFactory development environment from the first title.[2] At the time, CD-ROM games tended to run slowly, but DreamFactory was designed to allow an unusually high level of speed for the era. However, CyberFlix considered its projects to be "interactive movies" rather than games, according to Jack Neely of Metro Pulse,[1] and DreamFactory placed an emphasis on storytelling.[2] As with Lunicus, production of Jump Raven began in the basement of a log cabin owned by CyberFlix founder William Appleton.[1][2] The game's development team was composed of four members: Appleton, creator of DreamFactory, who handled the game's programming; audio lead Scott Scheinbaum; artist Jamie Wicks; and screenwriter Andrew Nelson. The four had originally founded CyberFlix to create Lunicus, and the company was incorporated a month after its release, with the help of manager Erik Quist. Science Fiction and Fantasy Illustrator: Debbie Hughes was hired as a freelancer to create the "puppet characters" for the game. Hughes Illustrated over 14 characters that players interacted with in the game.[1]
CyberFlix demonstrated Jump Raven at the Macworld Expo later in 1993, to public acclaim, and impressed Paramount Interactive employees who were in attendance. As a result, CyberFlix received a "multi-million-dollar deal for it" from Paramount, Neely later wrote.[1] The agreement, which the two companies closed by November 1993, contracted CyberFlix for three games.[2]
