~5 minute readCome Cast a Spell With Me
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Leads an Invasion of the Pros
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We welcome our new Adventure Game Editor, Roe Adams, to the pages of CGW. "Come Cast a Spell With Me" is just one of the contributions Roe will be bringing to our readers.
In 1984 companies and machines fell by the wayside with incredible regularity. Some to thunderous applause, others with silent tears. In retrospect, however, one of the most significant trends to enter the microcomputer field in 1984 was the debut of top fiction writers into adventure game designing. In the past, even the best adventure games have been written by ordinary people (well, not counting Michael Berlyn, who is, after all, hardly ordinary).
The craft of adventure game designing apparently has matured sufficiently to entice some of the finest science fiction and fantasy writers to take a fling with a computer. Alas, for most of these authors, who shall mercifully remain anonymous, the results can only be described as flops. In some cases, the big-name author contributed only their illustrious name or perhaps a cursory wave of their hand over the scenario design in benediction. Other authors were totally mesmerized by computer jargon and surrendered their talent to the whims of third rate programmers. The resultant quality of these type of efforts has been mediocre to abysmal. There really is no adequate substitution for original thinking, clear concepts, and masterful writing. Putting the name Maserati on a K-car fools only the advertising people.
The two authors who really delved deep into this new and somewhat mysterious realm of computer adventure games have succeeded with excellent results: Michael Crichton's AMAZON, published by Tellurium (a.k.a. Trillium, a.k.a. Spinnaker Software), and Douglas Adams' HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY, published by Infocom (a.k.a. Grues Unlimited Industrious).
Crichton is famous for writing THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN, and THE TERMINAL MAN. The entire hi-res adventure game construct is Crichton's from start to finish. He worked closely with the programmer and the graphics illustrator to ensure that none of the story nuances were sacrificed. The cohesive manner in which the game's storyline unfolds reflects Crichton's skill as a writer.
AMAZON is also notable for its use, if sparingly, of beautiful scrolling animation. The fantastic opening, which scans a massacred jungle campsite, completely rivets the player. It is so good, that when the game proceeds to the regular static screens, it is quite a wrench and a lingering feeling of loss. Similar rare animation treats await the player at strategic spots in the scenario.
The game also represents a new break through in the genre: A book will be published based upon the scenario, instead of the other way around. AMAZON proves what Crichton has been quoted as saying, "This is the future of fiction, and it is fun."
One of the most significant trends... in 1984 was the debut of top fiction writers into adventure designing
Douglas Adams, who emphatically denies being solely responsible for all of British humor, has approached his undertaking in an entirely different manner. He sought out the industry's premier adventure game house, Infocom, and suggested a collaboration to bring forth the computerized version of his international bestseller, HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY. This book has been a gigantic hit in book format, television and radio shows, and a not-so-soon to-be-released motion picture.
Infocom's illustrious grandmasters of game design, Marc Blank and Dave Lebling, were however busy with other pursuits. Blank was last seen doing death defying loop the loops in the Grand Canyon, and Lebling was hanging around the Hart Mansion looking SUSPECT. So, Infocom's hottest second generation game designer, Steve Meretzky (Planetfall and Sorcerer) got the awesome privilege of working with the hyperfamous Douglas Adams.
Actually, Meretzky was partly chosen because he is so unflappable and stoic and not prone to awe or hyperness. He can handle highly volatile humor for long periods of time without self-destructing. Who else within Infocom's vast corporate (or is it now Empire-wide) headquarters could have countered Douglas Adams' infamous multicolored bright ties so effectively and casually? Meretzky's use of differently patterned 1950's Ugly American Hawaiian Dress Shirts was rumored to be responsible for Adams inventing the peril-sensitive sunglasses (a sample is enclosed with the game). Watching them work together is inspiring, as they thrust and parry understatements. Brilliant non sequiturs follow jabs of incongruities. In half an hour Meretzky and Adams have generated an entire year's worth of outlines for Gallagher.
The game unfolds with all the majestic splendor of Douglas Adams' irreverent humor, lovingly expounded in great detail. In other words, at first, it is VERY slow going for the veteran adventure game player. That unfortunate aspect is balanced by the fact that for any novice wouldbe Douglas Adams fan who has miraculously missed touching any of the four books, seeing the BBC television series, hearing the radio show, or tasting the unreleased movie, the beginning of the scenario is highly odorous. A fast perusal of the first hundred or so pages of the HITCHHIKER book will be decidedly helpful in grasping the full significance of the mud, the pub, and the babel fish.
Rumors are circulating that several important people within the industry cannot (snicker, snicker!!!) even get out of HITCHHIKER'S first room! Seems to be a game whose players rise to their own level of incompetency. Now that is quite a break through in design!
The segment that has the babel fish puzzle also marks a significant shift in game play. Over a breakfast of poached Bugblatter on toast, Douglas Adams confided that the scenario design was pear shaped: "Just as the player gets comfortable in the narrow neck, the bottom drops out!" From there on, the adventurer is in for a non-stop roller coaster of laughs and delicious puzzles.
The range of puzzles is from novice to expert with mast of them falling into the standard-advanced category. Unlike other authors, Douglas got far into the core of the game design and worked on the puzzle constructs. So great was the depth of collaboration between Adams and Meretzky, that it is impossible even for them to decide who conjured up which puzzles. The scope is certainly impressive. Try to cheer up Marvin, the manic-depressant robot; search yourself for a small bit of intelligence; fillet a babel fish; balance a platter of hor d'oeuvres; swim up a pillar of water; take a screening test; or play Jonah. Does all this sound impossible? Well, no, it is only improbable!
HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY will undoubtedly be voted as the best adventure game of either 1984 or 1985, with an honorable mention for its highly imaginative graphics. Douglas turned down hi-res graphics, animation, laser disk, and plasma screens as being too staid to fully convey the brilliance of the scenes in the game. Only Infocom's famous slogan, "Here's MUD(DLE) in your eye!" would serve as the perfect foil for Douglas's delicate hues and cries.
When he was asked whether he would consider doing a sequel to this game (after all, he has three other books lying around collecting royalties), Douglas responded, "I feel the need to branch out into new vistas of creative work, and to explore new frontiers. I would really like to do another computer adventure, but on a different topic." The interview ended when I, not so innocently, suggested, "How about Dr. Who?" Note: Douglas Adams was the script editor for many reincarnations of the long running British Dr. Who television show.
This article appeared in
Computer Gaming World
Jan 1985
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