Cutthroats (video game)

Last updated
Cutthroats
Cutthroats box art.jpg
Developer(s) Infocom
Publisher(s) Infocom
Designer(s) Michael Berlyn
Jerry Wolper
Engine Z-machine
Platform(s) Amiga, Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Atari ST, Commodore 64, DOS, Macintosh, TI-99/4A, TRS-80
ReleaseAugust 9, 1984
Genre(s) Adventure, Interactive fiction
Mode(s) Single-player

Cutthroats is an interactive fiction computer game written by Michael Berlyn and Jerry Wolper and was published by Infocom in 1984. [1] It was released for the Amiga, Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, TRS-80, TI-99/4A, and Macintosh. It is Infocom's thirteenth game.

Contents

Plot

The game takes place in and around the fictional Hardscrabble Island. For centuries, Hardscrabble was a thriving seaport, but the local fishing industry died out in the 1920s. Most of the area's remaining population is an assortment of hard-luck types and people of questionable ethics.

The player's character is a skilled diver scraping to make ends meet. One night, an old shipmate named Hevlin barges in with a map indicating the locations of two previously undiscovered shipwrecks. Flashing between excitement and paranoia, Hevlin abruptly leaves, asking the player to safekeep the map. Naturally, the old sailor is murdered as he practically steps from the doorway; someone obviously wants this map quite badly.

As the player attempts to mount a perilous dive for sunken treasure, several characters offer their help. Some of them can be trusted and some cannot. Failure to tell the difference between the two can result in an "untimely accident". Successfully making positive contact with the right characters is the only way the player can advance to the actual shipwrecks. Once the dive begins the player must locate and retrieve the treasure from that wreck to complete the game.

Each time the game is played, either the São Vera or the Leviathan is randomly chosen as the wreck to be explored. The other two locations contain no treasure and are red herrings.

The game has 68 locations. [2]

Release

Each package of Cutthroats contained the following physical items:

  1. True Tales of Adventure, a fictional magazine catering to self-styled adventurers
  2. Four Shipwrecks off Hardscrabble Island, a fictional book "published" by the Hardscrabble Harbor Historical Society with information on the wrecks of São Vera, H.M.S. Intrangisent, The Fianna, and S.S. Leviathan.
  3. A dive map indicating the locations and depths of the above four ships
  4. A "supplemental price list" from Outfitters International featuring a tide table. As the equipment available does not appear in list form or in any other reference within the game, the player requires the price list packaged with the game for a successful dive.

Reception

Antic criticized Cutthroats' use of timed puzzles that "made us feel as though were being overly manipulated", and called others "obscure, illogical and nearly clueless. Be prepared to mail away for the [ Invisiclues ]". The magazine concluded that the game was inferior to Berlyn's Infidel . [3]

Related Research Articles

Infocom was an American software company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that produced numerous works of interactive fiction. They also produced a business application, a relational database called Cornerstone.

<i>Zork</i> 1977 video game

Zork is a text-based adventure game first released in 1977 by developers Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling for the PDP-10 mainframe computer. The original developers and others, as the company Infocom, expanded and split the game into three titles—Zork I: The Great Underground Empire, Zork II: The Wizard of Frobozz, and Zork III: The Dungeon Master—which were released commercially for a range of personal computers beginning in 1980. In Zork, the player explores the abandoned Great Underground Empire in search of treasure. The player moves between the game's hundreds of locations and interacts with objects by typing commands in natural language that the game interprets. The program acts as a narrator, describing the player's location and the results of the player's commands. It has been described as the most famous piece of interactive fiction.

<i>Suspended</i> (video game) 1983 video game

Suspended: A Cryogenic Nightmare is an interactive fiction video game written by Michael Berlyn and published by Infocom in 1983. Infocom's sixth game, it was released for Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Atari 8-bit family, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Commodore Plus/4, IBM PC, TRS-80, and TI-99/4A. It was later available for Macintosh, Amiga, and Atari ST.

<i>The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy</i> (video game) 1984 video game

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is an interactive fiction video game based on the comedic science fiction series of the same name. It was designed by series creator Douglas Adams and Infocom's Steve Meretzky, and it was first released in 1984 for the Apple II, Macintosh, Commodore 64, CP/M, MS-DOS, Amiga, Atari 8-bit family, and Atari ST. It is Infocom's fourteenth game.

Magnetic Scrolls was a British video game developer active between 1984 and 1990. A pioneer of audiovisually elaborate text adventure games, it was one of the two largest and most acclaimed interactive fiction developers of the 1980s.

<i>Leather Goddesses of Phobos</i> 1986 video game

Leather Goddesses of Phobos is an interactive fiction video game written by Steve Meretzky and published by Infocom in 1986. It was released for the Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Amstrad PCW, Apple II, Macintosh, Atari 8-bit family, Atari ST, Commodore 64, TI-99/4A and MS-DOS. The game was Infocom's first "sex farce", including selectable gender and "naughtiness"—the latter ranging from "tame" to "lewd". It was one of five top-selling Infocom titles to be re-released in Solid Gold versions. It was Infocom's twenty-first game.

<i>The Lost Treasures of Infocom</i> 1991 video game

The Lost Treasures of Infocom is a 1991 compilation of 20 previously-released interactive fiction games developed by Infocom. It was published by Activision for MS-DOS, Macintosh, Amiga, and Apple IIGS versions. It was later re-released on CD-ROM, and in 2012 on iOS.

<i>Starcross</i> (video game) 1982 video game

Starcross is a 1982 interactive fiction game written by Dave Lebling and published by Infocom. The game was released for the IBM PC, Apple II, Atari 8-bit family, Commodore 64, TRS-80, TI-99/4A, and later the Atari ST and Amiga. It was Infocom's fifth game and first in the science fiction genre. Starcross takes place in the year 2186, when the player's character is a lone black hole miner exploring an asteroid belt. It sold 90,315 copies.

<i>Beyond Zork</i> 1987 video game

Beyond Zork is an interactive fiction computer game written by Brian Moriarty and released by Infocom in 1987. It was one of the last games in the Zork series developed by Infocom. It signified a notable departure from the standard format of Infocom's earlier games which relied purely on text and puzzle-solving: among other features, Beyond Zork incorporated a crude on-screen map, the use of character statistics and levels, and RPG combat elements.

<i>Spellbreaker</i> 1985 video game

Spellbreaker is an interactive fiction computer game written by Dave Lebling and published by Infocom in 1985, the third and final game in the "Enchanter Trilogy." It was released for the Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Atari 8-bit family, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Macintosh, and DOS. Infocom's nineteenth game, Spellbreaker is rated "Expert" difficulty.

<i>Infidel</i> (video game) 1983 video game

Infidel is an interactive fiction video game published by Infocom in 1983. It was written and designed by Michael Berlyn and Patricia Fogleman, and was the first in the "Tales of Adventure" line. It was released for the Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Atari 8-bit family, Commodore 64, IBM PC, TRS-80, and TI-99/4A. Ports were later published for Macintosh, Atari ST, and Amiga. Infidel is Infocom's tenth game.

<i>Suspect</i> (video game) 1984 video game

Suspect is an interactive fiction video game designed by Dave Lebling and published by Infocom in 1984. It is the third and last murder mystery Infocom released. It was written in highly portable ZIL and released for Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Amstrad PCW, Apple II, Atari 8-bit family, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Kaypro II, Macintosh, and MS-DOS. It is Infocom's fifteenth game.

<i>Ballyhoo</i> (video game) 1985 video game

Ballyhoo is an interactive fiction video game designed by Jeff O'Neill and published by Infocom in 1985. The circus-themed game was released for ten systems, including DOS, Atari ST, and Commodore 64. Ballyhoo was labeled as "Standard" difficulty. It is Infocom's nineteenth game.

<i>Hollywood Hijinx</i> 1986 video game

Hollywood Hijinx is an interactive fiction video game written by Dave Anderson and Liz Cyr-Jones and published by Infocom in 1986. The game was released for the Apple II, Atari 8-bit family, Atari ST, Amstrad CPC, Amstrad PCW, Commodore 64, Amiga, TI-99/4A, and DOS. It was Infocom's twenty-third game.

{{Infobox video game |title = Moonmist |image = Moonmist box art.jpg |caption = Cover art |developer = Infocom |publisher = Infocom |designer = Stu Galley
Jim Lawrence |writer = Jim Lawrence
Stu Galley |engine = [[Z-machine] |released = Release 4: September 18, 1986
Release 9: October 22, 1986 |genre = Interactive fiction |modes = Single-player |platforms = Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, TRS-80, TI-99/4A, Macintosh }}

<i>Border Zone</i> (video game) 1987 video game

Border Zone is an interactive fiction video game written by Marc Blank and published by Infocom in 1987. It was released for DOS, Apple II, Commodore 64, Amiga, Atari ST, and Macintosh. Unlike most other purely text-based games, Border Zone incorporates real-time aspects of gameplay. It is also Infocom's thirtieth game. Its tagline is "Action and international intrigue behind the Iron Curtain."

<i>Fooblitzky</i> 1985 board game video game

Fooblitzky is a board game-style video game published by Infocom in 1985 and designed by a team which included interactive fiction authors Marc Blank and Michael Berlyn. It is unique among Infocom titles for not being interactive fiction and for being the first to incorporate graphics beyond ASCII characters. Unlike most Infocom games, it was only released for the Apple II, Atari 8-bit family, and IBM PC compatibles.

Michael Berlyn was an American video game designer and writer. He was best known as an implementer at Infocom, part of the text adventure game design team. He is also known as the designer behind Bubsy in Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind (1993) and Bubsy 3D (1996).

<i>The Guild of Thieves</i> 1987 video game

The Guild of Thieves is an interactive fiction game by Magnetic Scrolls first published by Rainbird in 1987. The game takes place in Kerovnia like the previous game The Pawn.

<i>Nine Princes in Amber</i> (video game) 1985 video game

Nine Princes in Amber is an interactive fiction video game with graphics. The game was published by Telarium, a subsidiary of Spinnaker Software, in 1985. The game is based upon the fantasy novels Nine Princes in Amber and The Guns of Avalon by Roger Zelazny.

References

  1. ↑ Hague, James. "The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers".
  2. ↑ Infocom Fact Sheet, Section VI, Game Statistics
  3. ↑ Ciraolo, Michael; Powell, Jack (March 1985). "Cutthroats". Antic. p. 74. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.