THE MAKING OF: AFTERLIFETHE MAKING OF: AFTERLIFE
T
he life of a demiurge is quite a
complicated one. After many failed
attempts, you have finally designed an
afterlife in perfect harmony, welcoming
sinners and saints to a world of untethered
delight, or one of abject suffering. A thousand
years, many deaths and a few bank loans later,
your afterlife has become a well-oiled machine; a
highly sophisticated network of karmic vehicles,
punishments, rewards, supernatural training
facilities and so much more.
To keep costs down, you have opted to train
your own angels and demons. However, even with
the ongoing plague down in the mortal world,
their numbers have grown too strong. While
you’re busy preparing to ship in the next batch
of SOULs, the out-of-work angels and demons
suddenly declare war on one another. Heaven and
hell are rocked by explosions. Before you know it,
your afterlife is haemorrhaging SOULs and, more
importantly, money. Enter the Four Surfers Of
the Apocalypso, summoned to lay waste to what
remains of your unsuccessful enterprise. You’re
fired. Back into the void you go.
Right off the bat, it is clear that Afterlife is not a
typical city-builder. Part-god game, part-simulator
and part-social commentary, the title oozes farce,
wit and satire at every turn. It is outlandish, even
by LucasArts’ standards, and very much the
twisted brain child of designer, Mike Stemmle.
“The idea for Afterlife had been kicking around
in the back of my head ever since I played
SimCity for the first time,” says Mike. “Although,
it’s probably fair to say that the concept of an
‘organised’ afterlife has tickled my creative bone
ever since I’d read Dante’s Inferno.”
While he reserved particular adoration for
SimCity 3000, Mike felt the simulator genre had
never quite fulfilled its potential. “When it came to
the disasters, I always thought it was a shame that
most sim games were unfortunately too restrained
by the ‘reality’ of their sim to go whole-hog goofy.
SimCity added an alien invasion, but they really
didn’t get any sillier than that. Fortunately, Afterlife
was under no real-world constraints, allowing me
to indulge all of my worst pun instincts.”
While Mike’s concept for Afterlife was far from
conventional, hot on the heels of his work on
Indiana Jones And The Fate Of Atlantis and Sam
& Max: Hit The Road, he had no trouble getting
it greenlit. “To its credit, LucasArts was a rather
experimental studio at the time,” he reflects, “and
allowed me to launch the project based on little
more than a five-page outline and a lean budget.”
Mike ran a tight ship; a modest team, with
ten to 20 people working on the game at any
given moment. “I was pretty deeply involved at
all times. It’s probably the last game that I did
any serious ‘real’ programming for, much to my
programmers’ chagrin.”
Gamers play a demiurge, a local deity appointed
by the Powers That Be to create a balanced system
of eternal rewards and punishments for sinners
and saints. Despite the weighty premise, every
step of the journey is accompanied by a dose of
Mike’s distinct brand of satirical humour – one he
attributes to “a steady diet” of Mad Magazine,
Cracked, National Lampoon and Spy.
“Satirising religion itself requires a deft touch
that even my arrogant 20-something self knew
was beyond his skills. I was primarily intent on
using the trappings of a very Christian afterlife» [PC] Ever y once in a while, disaster strikes the planet of the
EMBOs, sending a generous batch of SOULs your way.To its credit,
LucasArts was a rather
experimental studio at
the time
Mike StemmleTAKE IT SLOW
QIt is difficult to start turning
a profit in Afterlife. The key
is to take your time, and
only zone as many rewards
as punishments, and build
as many buildings as you
need. Especially in the early stages, keep overheads to a
minimum, and remain as efficient as possible.FORWARD PLAN
QIntroduce an influential
EMBO to affect technological
and spiritual development.
If you only want to build a
hell, for example, boost the
number of OPRAists – who
only believe in hell. In addition, spreading lust will boost
the planet’s population, mostly destined for hell.BALANCE
QWhile heaven prefers
diversity for its residents,
favouring mixed zoning
blocks, hell’s residents
deser ve to be bored –
making large, monochrome
blocks more preferable. Micromanaging your structures
mid-game will pay dividends in the long term.GOOD
VIBRATIONS
QBuildings generate good
or bad vibes. While gates
and karma stations put out
the wrong variety of vibes in
each domain, ‘topias’ and gift
structures are good sources of bad vibes in hell and good
vibes in heaven.ANGELS AND
DEMONS
QInitially all your angels and
demons are imported. You
can cower your overheads
by building training centres.
However: make sure at
least a tenth of your workers are imported; too many
homegrown workers leads to idleness, riots and war.BANKING
QIncome is based on total
SOULs, multiplied by the
SOUL rate. While heavenly
loans require payments with
interest, banks in hell only
require the money be repaid
within 100 years. This can be abused by running a Ponzi
scheme, taking new loans to pay off older ones.LISTEN TO
YOUR GUIDES
QWhile Jasper and Aria
always seem to have a long
list of gripes, it is well worth
heeding them. Whether
its traffic efficiency or
labour management, take the time to understand the
mechanics of the problems they have outlined.KARMA POLICE
QSUMAists believe they
will visit both fate zones. In
heaven, they consider blue
tiles the most important, and
green the least, so blue tiles
should be placed closest to
the gates. In hell, residents should have to suffer longer
walks; so place the blue tiles furthest from your gates.Helpful hints to make it big in heaven or hell
EXCEL IN THE AFTERLIFE
RETRO GAMER | 81