| Byzantine: The Betrayal | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Discovery Channel Multimedia, Stormfront Studios |
| Publisher(s) | Discovery Communications |
| Platform(s) | Windows |
| Release | September 1997 |
| Genre(s) | Adventure, education |
Byzantine: The Betrayal is a video game, released September 30, 1997 for Microsoft Windows. [1]
The game consists of a series of 360º screens ala Zork Nemesis, [2] with live actors and photo realistic backgrounds. 16-bit models were designed to be placed into the backdrops for plot twists and puzzles. [3] 45 minutes of live action footage was shot on location in Turkey. [3]
The protagonist is an American journalist who travels to Turkey to chase an exclusive scoop, and ends up being caught up in a murder mystery. Your friend tells you to travel to the country, and when you arrive you are told by police that the friend isn't as innocent as you first thought, and that by proxy you are under suspicion of smuggling priceless artifacts out of the country. [2] Their journey takes them to virtual reconstructions of historic locations such as Aya Sofya, Suleymaniye Mosque, and the Archaeological Museum.
Byzantine was the first title in the planned Planet Explorer series by Discovery Channel. [4] This series offered a range of cultural experiences from TV to gaming to online expeditions [5] The tie-in television special to this game (by Enterprise Studios) was called Intrigue in Istanbul. [6] [7] The tie-in online expedition was called Selam: The Secret Language. [8]
Serious Games and Edutainment Applications asserts that the flagship game in "cultural entertainment", Versailles 1685 , paved the way for other historical video games such as this, as well as China: The Forbidden City, Egypt 1156 B.C.: Tomb of the Pharaoh, Pilgrim: Faith as a Weapon, Rome: Caeser's Will, and Vikings. [9]
According to Byzantine executive producer Harry Moxley, it took the team 16 months to produce the game, during which time they travelled throughout Turkey with the government's permission, and captured rolls of pictures and tapes of anything of interest from vehicles to museums to religious buildings. [10] The team hired Turkish soap star actors to record lines for the game, despite many of them barely being able to speak English. [10]
According to Byzantine artist Martin Servante, the project went through a crisis situation during the completion of one of the levels. [11]
J.D. Sussman, vice president of Enterprise Studios, said: "the techniques and tools we've had to use to convert the Byzantine title from CD-ROM to DVD-ROM are all new. We have had to come up with custom solutions and this title has paved the way to develop solutions for other titles that follow." [12]
Package design for the DVD was done by Zimmerman Crowe Design. The game was released in the United States in Oct, 1997. In Germany, the game was distributed by Egmont Interactive GmbH, was re-dubbed into German by voice recording company Tonsynchron, and was released in 1998. [13] The game was also dubbed and subtitled into Castillian. [14]
The game has a rating of 75.17% on GameRankings based on 6 reviews. [15]
Skinny Minnie of Tap Repeatedly wrote that the soundscape consisted of ethnic Turkish-sounding strings and percussion. [16] Just Adventure appreciated that the sex of the protagonist remains undefined. [17] Adventure Classic Gaming felt that the game provided a satisfactory simulation of a tour through Byzantine (modern day Constantinople). [4] Przygodoskop thought the game provided both an interesting and entertaining mystery. [18] Game Revolution thought the narrative was engrossing yet convoluted at parts. [19] Gamespot was impressed by the game's seamless blending of "Muslim and Christian religions" with "modern and conservative cultures". [20] Metzomagic noted that the player is able to die throughout the game, so recommended the player keep autosave open. [21]
Byzantine was a finalist for the Software Publishers Association's 1997 "Best Adventure/Role-Playing Software Game" Codie award, which ultimately went to Diablo . It was also nominated in the "Best Overall Multimedia Production" and "Best Use of Visual Arts in Multimedia" categories. [22] Similarly, the Computer Game Developers Conference nominated Byzantine for its 1998 "Best Adventure/RPG" Spotlight Award, but this went ultimately to Final Fantasy VII . [23]
| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Byzantine: The Betrayal | International EMMA Award for Best Entertainment Title - Adult | Won [24] [25] |
| 1998 | Byzantine: The Betrayal | International EMMA Award for Best Adventure/Fantasy Game | Won [24] [25] |
| 1998 | Byzantine: The Betrayal | International EMMA Gold Award for Excellence | Won [24] [25] |
Starship Titanic is an adventure game developed by The Digital Village and published by Simon & Schuster Interactive. It was released in April 1998 for Microsoft Windows and in March 1999 for Apple Macintosh. The game takes place on the eponymous starship, which the player is tasked with repairing by locating the missing parts of its control system. The gameplay involves solving puzzles and speaking with the bots inside the ship. The game features a text parser similar to those of text adventure games with which the player can talk with characters.
JumpStart Games, Inc., formerly Knowledge Adventure, Inc., was an American edutainment video game company based in Torrance, California. Founded in 1991, it was acquired by Chinese holding company NetDragon Websoft in 2017.
Under a Killing Moon is a 1994 point-and-click adventure interactive movie video game. It is the third installment in the Tex Murphy series of adventure games produced by Access Software. In it, the detective Tex Murphy finds himself unwittingly involved in the affairs of a dangerous cult.
Little Big Adventure 2 is a 1997 adventure game developed by Adeline Software International and published by Electronic Arts.
Amber: Journeys Beyond is an American computer game released in 1996 for Apple Macintosh computers and Windows 95. It is the only game produced by Hue Forest Entertainment, founded by Frank and Susan Wimmer.
Reader Rabbit is an educational video game franchise created in 1984 by The Learning Company. The series is aimed at children from infancy to the age of nine. In 1998, a spiritual successor series called The ClueFinders was released for older students aged seven to twelve.
Monty Python's Complete Waste of Time is a collection of minigames, screensavers, desktop wallpaper and icons for Mac OS System 7 and Windows released in 1994 by 7th Level, Inc. It was brought on board the Mir Space Station by astronaut Andy Thomas.
Star Wars: DroidWorks is a 1998 edutainment computer game and the premiere title from LucasArts subsidiary Lucas Learning. It uses the same engine as LucasArts' previous title Star Wars: Jedi Knight. The creators aimed to create a game that would be both appealing and nonviolent. The game's original release date was moved up by months, which resulted in the development team cutting some planned game features.
Humongous Entertainment, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Bothell, Washington. Founded in 1992, the company developed multiple edutainment franchises, most prominently Putt-Putt, Freddi Fish, Pajama Sam and Spy Fox, which, combined, sold over 15 million copies and earned more than 400 awards of excellence.
Carmen Sandiego is a media franchise based on a series of computer video games created by the American software company Broderbund. While the original 1985 Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? video game was classified as a "mystery exploration" series by creators and the media, the series would later be deemed edutainment when the games became unexpectedly popular in classrooms. The franchise centers around the fictional thieving villain of the same name, who is the ringleader of the criminal organization V.I.L.E.; the protagonists are agents of the ACME Detective Agency who try to thwart the crooks' plans to steal treasures from around the world, while the later ultimate goal is to capture Carmen Sandiego herself.
Dead Reefs is a game, developed by Canadian studio Streko-Graphics and published by The Adventure Company.
The Magic School Bus is a series of educational software video games developed by Music Pen and published by Microsoft via their Microsoft Home brand. The interactive adventures are part of the larger franchise and based with The Magic School Bus original series books and public television series.
Amazon Trail 3rd Edition: Rainforest Adventures is a 1998 game based on the video game The Oregon Trail. It is not a true sequel to the franchise, but is rather largely the same game as Amazon Trail II, only with updated graphics, interfaces, and major bug fixes that caused problems in the second game. The game was published by The Learning Company.
The Oregon Trail 3rd Edition is the second sequel to the 1985 edutainment video game The Oregon Trail after Oregon Trail II. It was developed by MECC and released in 1997.
Early Learning House or simply the House Series is a collection of four main educational video games and two compilations for the Windows and Macintosh platforms, developed by Theatrix Interactive, Inc. and published by Edmark software. Each different game focuses on a particular major learning category with selectable skill settings for preschooler, kindergarten and elementary learners. Millie's Math House (1992) on mathematics, Bailey's Book House (1993) on language, Sammy's Science House (1994) on science, and Trudy's Time and Place House (1995) on history and geography. A spin-off, Stanley's Sticker Stories (1996), sees players create animated storybooks with the series' characters. Millie & Bailey Preschool and Millie & Bailey Kindergarten each contain the combined activities from two of the four software products. In addition the programs can be configured by an adult mode to suit students with special needs. Most of the activities in every game have two modes, one to allow learners to explore and try it out for themselves and the other for learners to follow specific tasks set by the game characters. Learners also have the option to print pictures of creative activities and record sounds in phonics activities. Later the games were re-developed by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Learning Technology and re-published by The Learning Company with newer graphics and additional activities.
The Arthur video games franchise was a series of learning and interactive story video games based on the American-Canadian children's TV show Arthur. The games were released in the 1990s and 2000s for PlayStation and Game Boy Color alongside Windows and Mac OS computers.
Reader Rabbit Kindergarten is a video game within the edutainment series Reader Rabbit, published by The Learning Company in July 1997.
Thinkin' Things is a series of educational video games by the Edmark Corporation and released for Windows and Mac in the 1990s. Entries in the series include Thinkin' Things Collection 1 (Formerly Thinkin Things) (1993), Thinkin' Things Collection 2 (1994), Thinkin' Things Collection 3 (1995), the adventure game Thinkin' Things: Sky Island Mysteries (1998), Thinkin’ Things Galactic Brain Benders (1999), Thinkin' Things: All Around Frippletown (1999) and Thinkin' Things: Toony the Loon's Lagoon (1999).
D.A. Pursuit of Justice is a three-part video game series based around a criminal lawyer who is trying to convict guilty people. The three individual cases were sold separately or also as a three-case 8-CD bundle published by Alpha Software, shipped on September 15, 1997. The game is part of Legacy Software's RealPlay Series.
Smart Games Challenge is a video game series developed by American companies KnowWare and Smart Games. Three games were released between 1996 and 1998.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link){{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)