Confuzion

Confuzion is a puzzle game developed and published by Incentive Software for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, BBC Micro, and Acorn Electron. The object is to guide a spark along a fuse wire. It is similar to the 1982 arcade game Loco-Motion. Confuzion was written by Paul Shirley who later wrote Spindizzy.[1]

Not to be confused with Confusion.
Confuzion
Developer(s)Incentive Software
Publisher(s)Incentive Software
Programmer(s)Paul Shirley[1]
Composer(s)Rob Hubbard
Platform(s)ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, BBC Micro, Acorn Electron
Release1985
Genre(s)Puzzle
Mode(s)Single-player

The game became popular in 2020 when it was one of the 64 games included in the Commodore 64 remake mini version (Commodore 64 Mini)[2]

The game was very popular at the time, rated as the best arcade-puzzle game for the C64 by (ZZAP magazine issue 4 Aug 1985)[3]

Audio track

The cassette tape on which the game was supplied also contained an audio track also titled "Confusion", which was composed by the Band Private Property (Matt Smith Lyrics, Joanne Holt/Steve Salt Music) and performed by Joanne Holt, Matt Smith, Steve Salt, Chris Weller and Gary Seaward. Rob Hubbard translated the original track into the game's soundtrack. Rob Hubbard's version of the music is mentioned in the book Bits and pieces: a history of chiptunes by Kenneth B. McAlpine[4]


The band persuaded Incentive Software to change their audio cassette duplication process from monophonic to stereophonic, so that the music could be better appreciated (mono was fine for the computer program data which was distributed on cassette tapes in the 80s).

Matt Smith, Ph.D. has now switched from playing music on computer games to teaching and writing books about computer games. He is senior lecturer in computing at the TUDublin, Blanchardstown Campus, Dublin, Ireland.

Joanne married Steve, and is a teacher. Steve is a cabinet maker in Oxfordshire.

The graphic design for the cover of the cassette was created by Matthew Tidbury.

References
  1. Hague, James. "The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers".
  2. https://www.smh.com.au/technology/video-games/full-size-commodore-64-remake-has-retro-fun-for-young-and-old-20200128-p53vf9.html
  3. http://www.zzap64.co.uk/cgi-bin/displaypage.pl?issue=4&page=95&magazine=zzap
  4. Kenneth B. McAlpine (2018) "Bits and pieces: a history of chiptunes", Oxford University Press, Oxford. UK.
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