Moonstone Trivia Part II: Secrets, Myths and Mysteries
You wanted more! So here it is!
1. Nobody Can Agree About The Gnome
Rob Anderson says he has no idea why the gnome-like character appears on the box and poster artwork; after all, there’s not one in the game. Artist David O’Connor insists he was told there was a gnome in Moonstone. Nobody seems entirely sure who’s right.
2. The First Artist Choices Were Fantasy Legends
Before David O’Connor was commissioned, Rob suggested other fantasy art giants including Alan Lee, John Buscema, and Jeff Easley. None were available, leading Mindscape to look elsewhere and eventually land on David (good shout).
3. Rob Wasn’t Sure About The Cover Knight
The box art shows the knight’s face, despite Moonstone never revealing the face of any knight in-game.
4. David O’Connor’s Sketches Ended Up Inside Moonstone
Concept artwork created for the packaging later influenced parts of the game map, including Rob creating pixelised renditions of David’s art for locations such as Highwood and Waterdeep.
5. Peter Gabriel Influenced The Intro Music
Rob Anderson says he regularly listened to Peter Gabriel during Moonstone’s development and shared musical references with composer Richard Joseph. Fans comparing Moonstone’s intro theme with Gabriel’s The Rhythm of the Heat may notice some striking similarities.
6. Fantasia Helped Inspire The Gore
Rob studied the movement of water in Disney’s Fantasia when creating Moonstone’s blood effects.
7. Deluxe Paint Accidentally Helped
Mouse lag in Deluxe Paint sometimes created convincing blood splatter patterns, giving Rob unexpected ideas for future effects.
8. Moonstone Was Written In Assembly Language
Not only the game itself, but many of the supporting tools were written in 68000 assembly. Rob wasn’t involved in the PC port; he wasn’t a fan of Intel’s programming language.
9. Two Amigas Built Moonstone
Development used an Amiga 2000 alongside a linked Amiga 500 used for testing and debugging. Rob credits this setup as making life much easier.
10. The Amiga Operating System Was Removed
To free valuable memory, clever co-designer Kevin Hoare effectively replaced the parts of the Amiga OS Moonstone didn’t need.
11. Moonstone Nearly Had More Monsters
Several creatures were started but ultimately cut because of time, memory or gameplay constraints.
12. The Dragon Was Meant To Be Bigger
Rob has said he would have loved the final Dragon encounter to feel even more epic than it already was.
13. The Guardian Was Also Scaled Back
The climactic Guardian battle was another element that suffered from time and memory limitations.
14. Moonstone Nearly Included Save Games
One feature Rob wishes he’d added is a proper save system so players could tackle the adventure across multiple sessions.
15. Germany Banned Moonstone
The game’s violence was enough to land it in trouble with German regulators. It was only sold to adults. However, cracked pirate copies appeared on German bulletin boards almost immediately after release. Nowadays, many of Moonstone’s most hardcore fans are German!
16. Cinemaware Titles Were Among Moonstone’s Inspirations
Rob Anderson has cited Cinemaware among his favourite Amiga developers. Looking back, it’s easy to spot traces of the studio’s cinematic presentation and larger-than-life fantasy style in Moonstone’s design.
17. A Pirate Group Fixed One Of The Bugs
One serious inventory bug was patched by a pirate group, despite them having no access to the source code. Rob Anderson remains puzzled.
18. Moonstone Sold Poorly
Rob estimates the game sold around 50,000 copies at most, far below what was needed to become a major commercial success.
19. Weak Sales Killed The Sequel
Although discussions took place, Moonstone’s sales weren’t strong enough to justify an official sequel.
20. Rob Still Considers Moonstone His Greatest Achievement
After decades in the games industry and having worked on series including Sega’s Golden Axe and Iron Man, Rob still describes Moonstone as the project he’s proudest of creating.