Assassins - Ultimate CD Games Collection 4/Assassins 4 (1999)(Weird Science).iso/adventures_1/lost_in_space/agt_files/design.doc

Text File | 1977-12-31 | 8KB | 141 lines

DESIGNER'S NOTES

I:  MINI-TEXT GAMES
     Oftentimes I have found it difficult to get new players to try a text game.
They think that they are too long, and they hate mapping with graph paper.
The situation where most new players consider trying a text game is usually at
a video party or something where time is limited.
     Infocom did a little to solve the problem.  Their game "Nord & Bert
Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It" consists of several "short stories" (one of
which only has 2 (!) locations).  However, this is a rather atypical game, and
the stories are so interrelated that you can't play just one (rather like Lay's
Potato Chips).
     Marc Blank's game "Border Zone", which consists of three spy stories based
on a common theme is very good also.  The first chapter of Border Zone with
only about 10 locations is a very good introduction to text games.  However,
Border Zone is out of print, and wasn't in print very long, so there aren't
many copies out there.  You can still find it as part of the Lost Treasures of
Infocom II collection, however.
     This is a mini-text game, with a map small enough to completely visualize
(thus eliminating the need for mapping), and short enough to play in a single
sitting, making it an ideal introductory game.  Lost in Space was selected as
the subject matter because its ship is small enough to fit incorporate every
room in a mini-text game.

II:  PERSONALITY OF DR. SMITH
     One of the main points of this game was to reconcile the contradictory
character of Dr. Smith.  In the inaugural (5-part) episode, Smith is a villain
who sabotages the ship, tries to kill Dr. Robinson, threatens to have the robot
crush peoples heads, and orders the robot to kill crewmembers caught isolated
from the others.  The writers had written themselves into a corner as such a
character positively couldn't be allowed to remain at large.  He would have had
to be either killed, marooned, or frozen permanently.  So for the rest of the
series Smith was merely a buffoon whose main ambition was to find ways to avoid
work.  However near the end of the 5-parter when the robot rescued Smith from
the freezing tube, he made some speech about dissembling his true motives and
being "Saint Zachary".  The reconciliation therefore is that his character for
the rest of the series was an act designed to put the others off their guard
until the ultimate opportunity arose.

III:  THE REAL DR. SMITH
    Dr. Ann Smith, referred to in the instructions is a real person, and was
the first to playtest this game.

IV:  FINAL EPISODES
    Some television shows have a "first" episode, some have a "last" episode.
Some have both, and some have neither.  Star Trek, for example had neither, as
the series begins and ends in the middle of the 5-year mission.  The Prisoner
had both; an episode where Number 6 is brought to the Village and an episode
where he escapes.  Get Smart had a first episode (where Max and 99 meet), but
no final episode.  M*A*S*H had a final episode, but no "first" episode.  Shows
that revolve around the main characters trying to achieve a specific task (like
Lost in Space, Gilligan's Island, and Quantum Leap) need to have final episodes,
and if they aren't made, the audience feels cheated (even with a lousy show like
Lost in Space).  Quantum Leap is still running and Gilligan's Island had no
final episode, but rectified that ommission in TV movies.  Lost in Space still
had no conclusion until now.

V:  POINT SCORING IN TEXT GAMES
     I've always thought that points were irrelevant to a text game.  A player
is only satisfied by solving the game.  If he can't do that, he's not going to
take any solace in the fact that he got 280 out of 400 points.  Thus, there is
only 1 point to be earned in this game.  You get it when you win.

VI:  THE SIZE OF SPACE (OR "ARE THEY LOST?")
     Lost in Space had several different viewpoints about the immensity of the
universe.  At the beginning of the first episode it is stated that the Jupiter 2
is a sub-light vessel that takes 5 1/2 years to get to Alpha Centauri.  At the
end of that episode, this sub-light ship unexplainedly goes into hyperdrive and
travels to another galaxy in a matter of seconds, and the crew has no idea
where they are.  They learn their location from the Space Cowboy in "Welcome
Stranger".  In The Lifeboat, they are not clearly not lost, merely stranded, as
they attempt to construct a pod vessel to take someone back to earth.  They are
clearly not far from earth if they believe that a pod the size of a large
closet can make it back.
     However, at the beginning of the Second Season, when they leave the first
planet that they visited, they are somehow lost again.  The Robot finds the
course back to Earth, and the sub-light Jupiter 2 returns in "Wild Adventure"
(The Hyperdrive incident seems to have been forgotten).  However in rescuing
Dr. Smith from a Space Siren, they drift out of Earth's solar system and
become lost again.  It isn't clear why, since there is no hyperdrive this time.
     By the Third Season, space had clearly shrunk, as the sub-light
Jupiter 2 travelled to a new star system every week.
     For this game, the original scale has been restored.  It was stated in
"The Reluctant Stowaway" that it takes the Jupiter 5 1/2 years to make a
journey between Earth and Alpha Centauri, and that's the way it is here.
     There are attempts to reconcile the seemingly contradictory view of the
universe.  Some theorise that in an untelevised adventure the Jupiter
cannibalized an alien warp drive and that's why they were able to starhop in
the Third Season.
     Maybe.  But if so, Smith doesn't know how to work it.  Or it was damaged
when they landed on Alpha Centauri.  Or [fill in your explanation here].  But
in any case, it is not available to the player in this game (until the Epilogue,
that is).

VII:  THE ROBOT RECITES THE FIRST 600 DIGITS OF PI
     The silly things that the Robot says are lifted verbatim from things that
Floyd the Robot says in Steve Meretzky's Planetfall.  Since I already made the
game unmarketable by using copyrighted characters, I thought I would go all out,
and that the Floydisms were a good way to pay tribute to perhaps the greatest
computer adventure game of them all.

VIII:  LOGBOOK BLOOPER
     The entry in the logbook found in Dr. Robinson's cabin is taken directly
from Episode 2 of Lost in Space, including the blooper.  The entry is dated
October 21, 1997, which is said to be 24 hours after launch.  That's all very
well, but the caption at the beginning of Episode 1 shows the launch date to be
October 16, 1997.

IX:  SPEAKING OF BLOOPERS
     While we're on the subject of bloopers, when Dr. Smith is trapped aboard
the Jupiter 2 in Episode 1, the Colonel's uniform he is wearing consists of
pants and a jacket.  Later, his uniform is a 1-piece jumpsuit, the same
jumpsuit he is seen wearing in the teaser of Episode 1.  This game avoids the
difficulty entirely by not bothering to describe Smith's uniform in any great
detail.
     Besides, who says it's a blooper?  If the Howells could take along an
entire wardrobe on a 3-hour tour, who says Smith couldn't have taken along a
change of clothes when he set out to sabotage the Jupiter 2?

X:  MUSIC
     The Deluxe Version of this game plays the theme from Lost in Space's
3rd Season during the opening screen, and plays the theme from the first 2
seasons after the game is over.  The music is not a part of the Adventure
Game Toolkit.  It was created using a Shareware program called Pianoman,
which creates tunes and stores them as executable files, playing them over
the PC Speaker.
     The music is not a part of the Adventure Game Toolkit.  It was created
using a Shareware program called Pianoman, which creates tunes and stores
them as executable files.
     Pianoman was created by Neil J. Rubenking.  A copy of it can be downloaded
from various BBS's around the country (including Compuserve), or you could
get a copy from
     Support Group, Inc.
     PO Box 1577
     Baltimore, MD   21203
or call 1-800-872-4768 or 1-301-889-7893.
Mr. Rubenking can be reached through Compuserve mail at address:  72267,1531
     One of Lost in Space's strong suits was always its music, and the music
at the beginning really helps to set the proper mood for the game.