Information about Interactive Fiction Games - Part Four ------------------------------------------------------- Original author Hans Persson unicorn@lysator.liu.se Supplied by The Grue @~Continued from Issue 39 ICOM Simulations, Inc: ********************* American company. All of these are very graphical adventures where you point and click in the pictures to get things, etc. Icom has been doing the "Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective" series recently. There are three volumes out on CD-ROM only. They probably shouldn't be regarded as adventures, though. Distributed by Mindscape, Inc. Deja Vu: A Nightmare Comes True!! [IG, 1985] For Amiga, Apple IIGS, Macintosh, PC (Windows). Uninvited [IG, 1986] For Amiga, Apple IIGS, Atari ST, Macintosh, PC (Windows). Shadowgate [1987, 88] For Amiga, Apple IIGS, CD-I system (on CD), Macintosh. Deja Vu II: Lost in Las Vegas [1988] For Amiga, Apple IIGS, CD-I system (on CD), Macintosh. Incentive Software: ****************** They also made Graphic Adventure Creator. Ket Trilogy ----------- Mountains of Ket For Dragon, Spectrum 48K. Temple of Vran For Dragon, Spectrum 48K. The Final Mission For Dragon, Spectrum 48K. Others ------ Winter Wonderland For Amstrad CPC, BBC B, Commodore 64, Spectrum. IJK Software: ************ Fantasy Quest [TO] For Oric-1. Infogrames: ********** The Inheritance Panic in Las Vegas. [IG] For Commodore 64. IntelliCreations: **************** They distributed Datasoft, Inc. Interceptor Micros: ****************** Heroes of Karn [BG, music] For Commodore 64, Spectrum 48K (improved parser and graphics but no music) [1985]. Interplay Productions: ********************* Distributed by Activision, Inc until sometime round 1987, then by Electronic Arts. Located in Los Angeles, CA (earlier Irvine, CA). They used a system called Advent 2 to create their games. Mindshadow [G] For Amstrad 464, Apple II, Atari 800, XE, XL (disk), Atari ST, Commodore 64 (disk only), PC, PCjr, Spectrum. The Tracer Sanction [BG (some animation)] For Commodore 64. Borrowed Time [G, 1985] Story by Brian Fargo and Michael Cranford. Graphics by David Lowery, Curt Toumanian and Greg Miller. For Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64. Common commands could be entered with icons. Tass Times in Tonetown [G, 1986] Story by Michael Berlyn, Muffy Berlyn, Brian Fargo and Steve Nielsen. Graphics by Bill Heineman and Todd Canasta. For Amiga, Apple IIGS, Atari ST, Commodore 64, PC. Includes four-page tabloid newspaper. Common commands can be entered with icons. Legend: ****** Valhalla [IG] Very graphical adventure with pictures of all locations and a lot of small stickmen walking around and doing things. For Commodore 64, Spectrum 48K. Legend Entertainment Company: **************************** A spin-off company from Infocom. Distributed by MicroProse. Spellcasting ------------ Spellcasting 101: Sorcerers Get All the Girls [BG (can play text-only), 1990] By Steve Meretzky. For PC. Spellcasting 201: The Sorcerer's Appliance [BG (can play text-only), 1991] By Steve Meretzky. For PC. Spellcasting 301: Spring Break [BG (can play text-only), 1992] Steve Meretzky. For PC. Miscellaneous ------------- Timequest [1991] By Bob Bates. For PC. Gateway [1992] By Mike Verdu, Michael Lindner and Glen Dahlgren. For PC. Eric the Unready [1992] By Bob Bates. For PC. Gateway II: Homeworld [1993] By Mike Verdu and Glen Dahlgren. For PC. Companions of Xanth [1993] Level 9 Computing: ***************** An English company that produced over a dozen adventure games, available for a wise variety of machines (Spectrum 48K, Commodore 64, Acorn BBC B, Enterprise 64, Memotech MTX-512, NASCOM, Nimbus, Oric 48K, Spectravideo 328, MSX, Amiga, Atari ST, MS-DOS, Amstrad). Distributed by Rainbird. At least for a while, they had the service of sending out clue sheets for their games for free. I know I had them for Colossal Adventure and Snowball and perhaps something more. Early Games =========== Verb-noun, 200+ locations. These games used a 32K virtual machine and text compression and were able to squeeze in a lot of text in a small amount of memory. The Middle-Earth Trilogy (later renamed The Jewels of Darkness) ------------------------ Colossal Adventure [TO/DG] For Amiga [DG, 1986], Amstrad [TO], Atari ST, BBC [TO], Commodore 64 [TO], Memotech MSX [TO], MS-DOS, NASCOM [TO], Oric 1 [TO], Spectrum 48K [TO]. This was an expanded version of the original Adventure by Crowther and Woods. At the start there was no mention of it being the first part of a trilogy as far as I can remember. Adventure Quest [TO/DG] For Amiga [DG, 1986], Amstrad [TO], Atari ST, BBC [TO], Commodore 64 [TO], Memotech MSX [TO], MS-DOS, NASCOM [TO], Oric 1 [TO], Spectrum 48K [TO]. Dungeon Adventure [TO/DG] For Amiga [DG 1986], Amstrad [TO], Atari ST, BBC [TO], Commodore 64 [TO], Memotech MSX [TO], MS-DOS, NASCOM [TO], Oric 1 [TO], Spectrum 48K [TO]. The Silicon Dreams Trilogy -------------------------- Snowball [TO/DG] For Amiga [DG], Amstrad [TO], Atari 8-bit [TO], BBC [TO], Commodore 64 [TO], Lynx [TO], Memotech MSX [TO], NASCOM [TO], Oric 1 [TO], Spectrum 48K [TO]. I don't think this was meant to be part one of a trilogy from the start either. Snowball had more than 7000 rooms. Return to Eden [TO/DG, 1984] For Amiga [DG], Amstrad [TO], Atari 8-bit [TO], BBC [TO], Commodore 64 [DG], Lynx [TO], Memotech MSX [TO], NASCOM [TO], Oric 1 [TO], Spectrum 48K [DG]. Contained about 220 locations. The Worm in Paradise [TO/DG] For Amiga [DG], Commodore 64 [DG], Spectrum 48K [DG]. The Time and Magik Trilogy -------------------------- Lords of Time [DG/TO] By Sue Gazzard. For Amiga, Amstrad [TO], Atari 8-bit [TO], BBC [TO], Commodore 64, Lynx [TO], Memotech MSX [TO], NASCOM [TO], Oric 1 [TO], Spectrum 48K. Red Moon [DG, 1985] For Amiga, Commodore 64, Spectrum. The Price of Magik [DG, April 1986] For Amiga, Commodore 64, Spectrum. There were three different versions available for the Spectrum: A text-only version, a graphic version with reduced text, and a Spectrum 128K version with full text and graphics. Miscellaneous ------------- Emerald Isle For BBC Micro, Commodore 64, Spectrum. Erik the Viking [DG, 1984] For Commodore 64. The Archers Development by Level 9 Computing. See under Mosaic Publishing. The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13 3/4 -- The Computer Game Development by Level 9 Computing. See under Mosaic Publishing. Later Games =========== Which deteriorated as they tried a new game engine, which although more powerful reduced the size of the games. Knight Orc [BG, 1987] For Commodore 64, Amiga, PC. Divided into three parts. Gnome Ranger [1988] Divided into three parts. Gnome Ranger II: Ingrid's Back [1988, 89] Divided into three parts. Lancelot [1988] Divided into three parts. ScapeGhost [1989] Divided into three parts. Lothlorien: ********** Time Sanctuary Lucasfilm Ltd -- Games Division: ******************************* They later changed their name to Lucas Art. They are distributed by Activision, Inc. Labyrinth [BG, 1986] By David Fox. For Apple II. Based on the film of the same name. The game has no facility for ordinary text input, instead you choose from two scrolling lists of words. Maniac Mansion [G, 1987] Design by Ron Gilbert and Gary Winnick. Text by David Fox. For Apple II, Commodore 64. Also available in German. Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders [G, 1988] Design by David Fox, David Spangler, Matthew Kane and Gary Winnick. For Commodore 64, PC. Also available in German. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade [G, 1989] Based on the movie. Also available in German. Loom [G, 1990] By Brian Moriarty and Marc Ferrari. For Macintosh, PC. Also available in German. The Secret of Monkey Island [G, 1990] By Ron Gilbert. For Amiga, Macintosh, PC. Also available in German. Monkey Island II: LeChuck's Revenge [G, 1992] For Amiga, PC, Macintosh. Also available in German. Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis [G, 1992] For Amiga, Macintosh, PC. Also available in German. Maniac Mansion 2: Day of the Tentacle [G, 1993] For PC. Also available in German. Sam & Max Hit the Road The Dig By Brian Moriarty. Not yet released (Aug 1993). Uses a newly-developed point-and-click interface. @~More next issue - o -