![]() The first thing I learned about playing Theme Hospital again for the first time in 20 years is that you need to be fast. And so I found myself on her sofa, drinking prosecco and watching the opening animation of Theme Hospital. “I downloaded it again the other week,” she told me. Why did we, as nine or ten-year-old girls, love it so much? Shortly before speaking to Carr and Webley, I asked a friend who had been part of our pre-adolescent Theme Hospital posse about it. “The humour seemed to work, the British things translated.” Hospital workers themselves have always had a particular interest in the game: at the US launch, a doctor told the team: “I am just fascinated about how much you have got right.” ![]() “I think they like a lot of nurturing games,” says Carr. When pirated as well as legal copies are considered, the most popular market for Theme Hospital is China, where, the makers say, it is almost a household name (Russia also contains a huge fan base). The combination of British-style hospital culture – complete with 1950s-style iron beds, and nods to Carry On Doctor – and American-style healthcare profiteering turned out to be an epidemic success. “It is actually one of the harder levels to play because you have to make decisions that will have an impact down the line,” Carr says, a sentiment many NHS managers may sympathise with. This time, they incorporated levels where the player must meet targets, rather than simply rake in the cash. Recently, Webley and Carr worked on a “spiritual successor” to Theme Hospital, Two Point Hospital, released in August this year. In fact, it was simply an easy way of giving players rewards. “People thought because you got paid we were trying to recreate an American-style hospital system,” says Carr. While the makers of Theme Hospital based their research on the NHS, in the game the hospital operates as a money-making business.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |