Pieces of Eight
Preview
Gold doubloons and Pieces of Eight, Waiting to be found.
by Marcus Mulkins
previewed on PC
The Joy of a Straightforward Treasure Hunt
Gold doubloons and Pieces of Eight,
Handed down to Applegate...
One of my most treasured childhood memories involves watching Disney's serialized mini-series (before they even invented the term "mini-series") entitled "The Hardy Boys and the Mystery of the Applegate Treasure." In 15-minute installments, Frank and Joe Hardy went snooping around old geezer Applegate's estate in order to locate a treasure Applegate's ancestor acquired from the pirate, Jean Lafitte, as compensation for having torched the Applegate plantation. Unfortunately for the the current Applegate, his ancestor hid the treasure in a safe place -- a very safe place. So safe that a century later, no one has seen any trace of the treasure, and now the locals scoff at the idea that there had ever been a treasure.
Not so the Hardy Boys. Kids all over the US gave up their afternoon playtime in order to sit glued in front of their television sets (making Disney probably THE primary party responsible for succeeding generations of couch potatoes). The show first appeared in 1956, but it was so incredibly popular, it became a mainstay of "The Mickey Mouse Club", appearing year after year. (At least into the '60's, when I saw it for the first - AND second, AND third times.) The concept of the unintentional treasure hunt is such an incredibly potent storyline, it keeps cropping up in all manner of media. More recently, you can see the basic storyline in "The Goonies" (1985), which despite being a patently adolescent film, was surprisingly popular with the thirty-something crowd.
Everybody loves a good treasure hunt. Don't deny it. Just think about how many times you've watched "National Treasure" on DVD.
Pieces of Eight is most definitely the kind of game that reaches out and connects with the treasure-hunter that lurks inside each of us. It will (hopefully soon) be the second offering of Hidden Sanctum, which has recently released Rune Rescue. A particularly noteworthy aspect about Hidden Sanctum is that the entire company pretty much boils down to one man: Eric McConnell. Eric has been writing code since the '80's, and is most definitely a gamer. After doing code for a number of years in the corporate world, in 2006 he decided to take the plunge and start his own company - where he could focus on making gamers' games, for gamers, made by gamers. Being a one-man show at present, he can remain true to that commitment. My impression of him thus far is, "think of Sid Meier during the very early days of Microprose". (I have this hope that unlike Sid, Eric never gets to thinking that making lots of money is more important than producing quality games. Time will tell.)
Our Story Begins...
Port Royal, 1687
Jamaica passes laws to rid the Caribbean of pirates. The "Sodom of the New World" , Port Royal, was no longer a pirate's safe-haven, but rather a place of imprisonment and execution. It is under these conditions that eight of the most notorious pirates of the Caribbean decide to join forces...
New England, 1690-1720
The Eight - as they had become known - had amassed a huge fortune running contraband to and from the American colonies outside of the restrictions of the Navigation Acts imposed by the English. The pirates enjoyed a free hand in the region as the colonists turned a blind eye to their activities due to the economic benefits to be had by doing business with The Eight. However, by 1720, the economy had grown to such an extent that the now elderly pirates were no longer needed or welcome...
New England, 1722
The Eight vanish without a trace. Rumors persist of a pirate base off the coast where they hid their ill-gotten gains.
Modern Day
You receive a package containing intriguing information about a mysterious island off the coast of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Can you decipher the clues to find its location? Is this the long-forgotten base of The Eight?
