🧭 THE ARCHIVES

Quote of the day

Raindrops keep fallin' on my head
And before you know it I'll
wake up dead... a puddle of lead.

-- Suspended

Factoid of the day

Accardi-by-the-Sea is a village in the Enchanter trilogy and ZorkQuest Infocomics. Accardi-3 is a planet mentioned in a Planetfall postcard which mentions "the Gabrillic Hyphenated Woman". The name comes from Gabrielle Accardi, an Infocom marketing employee.

*Twelve hours to find the murderer. One false move, and he kills again.*
Aug 1982

Analog Computing, #7

~1 minute read

Sep-Oct 1982

NEW PRODUCTS...

First Sophisticated Computer Mystery Game Steeped in Treachery and Suspense

Deadline outside packaging — The packaging for DEADLINE is as unique as the highly sophisticated prose mystery game itself. DEADLINE comes packaged in an actual dossier

Deadline packaging contents — The packaging for DEADLINE is as unique as the highly sophisticated prose mystery game itself. DEADLINE comes packaged in an actual dossier

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - "A dead man, a locked door and a killer who may strike again..." are the dilemmas a computer game buff faces as the detective/player in the first sophisticated murder mystery of the computer age.

Called DEADLINE, the new mystery game was created by Infocom, Inc., developers of the best-selling ZORK I and ZORK II' computer adventure games. DEADLINE will go on sale at fine computer stores and software outlets across the country beginning May 1, according to the Cambridge, Mass. firm.

The packaging for DEADLINE is as unique as the highly sophisticated prose mystery game itself. DEADLINE comes packaged in an actual dossier containing critical evidence on the crime. The dossier includes such genuine clues as a lab report, fingerprints, physical evidence collected near the victim's body, interviews with possible suspects, an 8 X 10 glossy photo of the scene of the crime, as well as a full-fledged detective's manual.

This dossier is not "window dressing," according to Joel Berez, President of Infocom, Inc. "The clues must be utilized to solve the crime. It's a whole new concept in which the player utilizes in-hand materials, as well as the software to play the game," Mr. Berez said.

In addition to tactile as well as cerebral sleuthing, DEADLINE delivers an unparalleled degree of realism because of the INTERLOGIC™ English upon which it is founded. INTERLOGIC, trademarked by Infocom, offers personal computer owners and English-based vocabulary of 600+ words, the ability to use complete English sentences, and the widest range of command options in the genre.

Only the utmost skill, logic and intuition enable the computer detective to unravel the treacherous web of motives and suspicions to solve the crime within the 12-hour "deadline." Actual playing time, according to the company, may run a good 20 hours or more.

DEADLINE is available for Apple II, ATARI 400/S00, IBM Personal Computer, NEC PC-SOOO, CP/M, and PDP-11.

This article appeared in
Analog Computing
Sep-Oct 1982

These historical, out-of-print articles and literary works have been GNUSTOed onto InvisiClues.org for academic and research purposes.