Adventureland (video game)
| Adventureland | |
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| Developer(s) | Adventure International |
| Publisher(s) | Adventure International |
| Designer(s) | Scott Adams |
| Platforms | TRS-80, Apple II series, Atari 8-bit, TI-99/4A, Commodore PET, Commodore 64, IBM-PC, Commodore VIC-20, ZX Spectrum, BBC Micro, Acorn Electron, Dragon 32/64, Exidy Sorcerer |
| Release date(s) | 1978 |
| Genre(s) | Interactive Fiction |
Adventureland is the first text adventure game for microcomputers,[1] released by Scott Adams in 1978. It was very successful and led Adams to form Adventure International,[2] which went on to publish twelve similar games in different settings.
The game involves the search for thirteen lost artifacts in a fantasy setting.
Gameplay
Gameplay involves moving between the various locations found within the game, collecting found objects (and often subsequently using them, generally in another location), and the solving of puzzles.
The game commands take the form of either simple, two-word, verb/noun phrases, such as "climb tree," or one-word commands, such as those used for player character movement, including north, south, east, west, up, and down. Although the game has a vocabulary of about 120 words,[3] the parser only recognised the first three letters.[3] This meant that the parser occasionally identified a word incorrectly, but also that commands could be truncated, for example "lig lam" would be interpreted as "light lamp."
In order to complete the game, the player has to collect the thirteen lost artifacts: A statue of Paul Bunyan's blue ox, Babe, the jeweled fruit, the golden fish, a dragon's egg, a golden net, a magic carpet, a diamond necklace, a diamond bracelet, a pot of rubies, the "royal honey", a crown, a magic mirror, and a "firestone." Unlike succeeding adventure games, Adventureland has no story or plot, it is simply a treasure hunt.
The game was available on a number of platforms, including the Apple II series of computers, and various computers released by Atari, Commodore International, and Texas Instruments. A cut-down, three treasure version entitled 'Adventure 0: Special Sampler' was also made available at a special low price.[4]
In 1982, Adventureland was re-released with graphics, thus enabling the player to view visible representations of the scenery and objects to be found within the game.[5]
Development
Adventureland, Adams' first program, is a slightly scaled-down, machine-language game similar to the “original” Adventure program.[6] The source code for Adventureland was published in SoftSide magazine in 1980[7] and the database format was subsequently used in other interpreters such as Brian Howarth's Mysterious Adventures series.[8]
References
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- Playable Adventureland in Java
- Adventureland at MobyGames
- Scott Adams' Graphic Adventure #1: Adventureland at MobyGames
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ "Game Set Interview: Adventure International's Scott Adams", Game Set Watch, July 19th, 2006, retrieved on April 20th, 2009
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 0:Adventureland Demo "Scott Adams Classic Adventures," (retrieved on May 4th, 2009).
- ↑ "Scott Adams Classic Adventures", Adventureland, retrieved April 20th, 2009
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
