Strange Odyssey

Last updated
Strange Odyssey Coverart.png
Developer(s) Adventure International
Publisher(s) Adventure International
Designer(s) Scott Adams
Series Adventure
Platform(s) Apple II, Atari 8-bit, PET, VIC-20, Commodore 64, Commodore 16, Plus/4 TRS-80, TI-99/4A, BBC Micro, Acorn Electron, Dragon 32/64, Exidy Sorcerer
Release1979
Genre(s) Interactive fiction
Mode(s) Single-player

Strange Odyssey is a text adventure written by Scott Adams and Neil Broome.

Contents

Description

Published by Adventure International, this text-based adventure game was one of many from Scott Adams.

Gameplay involved moving from location to location, picking up any objects found there, and using them somewhere else to unlock puzzles. Commands took the form of verb and noun, e.g. "Take Shovel". Movement from location to location was limited to North, South, East, West, Up, and Down.

The game begins with the player stranded on a tiny asteroid in a damaged spaceship. The player must use an alien teleportation device to travel to distant worlds, collect treasure, and find the materials to repair the spacecraft.

Reception

Kilobaud Microcomputing stated that Strange Odyssey was inferior in quality to Adventureland despite being released later, stating that the older game had "many more treasures and situations to figure out" and criticizing Strange Odyssey's lack of help for novice players. [1] The game was reviewed in issue #42 of The Dragon magazine. The reviewer, Mark Herro, stated that "My present situation in this game is opposite that of Pirate Adventure . I’ve found treasures but I don’t know where to take them! ... The game starts in the control room of a disabled spaceship. It took me a good half hour just to find my way out of the spaceship! To compound problems, a space suit must be worn when outside the spaceship. When the air is gone, that’s it, my friend." [2]

Reviews

Related Research Articles

<i>Colossal Cave Adventure</i> 1976 video game

Colossal Cave Adventure is a text-based adventure game, released in 1976 by developer Will Crowther for the PDP-10 mainframe computer. It was expanded upon in 1977 by Don Woods. In the game, the player explores a cave system rumored to be filled with treasure and gold. The game is composed of dozens of locations, and the player moves between these locations and interacts with objects in them by typing one- or two-word commands which are interpreted by the game's natural language input system. The program acts as a narrator, describing the player's location and the results of the player's attempted actions. It is the first well-known example of interactive fiction, as well as the first well-known adventure game, for which it was also the namesake.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott Adams (game designer)</span> American game designer

Scott Adams is an American entrepreneur, computer programmer, and video game designer. He co-founded, with ex-wife Alexis, Adventure International in 1979. The company developed and published video games for home computers. The cornerstone products of Adventure International in its early years were the Adventure series of text adventures written by Adams.

<i>Temple of Apshai</i> 1979 video game

Temple of Apshai is a dungeon crawl role-playing video game developed and published by Automated Simulations in 1979. Originating on the TRS-80 and Commodore PET, it was followed by several updated versions for other computers between 1980 and 1986.

<i>The Pawn</i> 1985 video game

The Pawn is an interactive fiction game for the Sinclair QL written by Rob Steggles of Magnetic Scrolls and published by Sinclair Research in 1985. In 1986, graphics were added and the game was released for additional home computers by Rainbird.

<i>Questprobe featuring Spider-Man</i> 1984 video game

Questprobe: Featuring Spider-Man is the second video game in the Questprobe series.

<i>Labyrinth: The Computer Game</i> 1986 video game

Labyrinth: The Computer Game is a 1986 graphic adventure game developed by Lucasfilm Games and published by Activision. Based on the fantasy film Labyrinth, it tasks the player with navigating a maze while solving puzzles and evading dangers. The player's goal is to find and defeat the main antagonist, Jareth, within 13 real-time hours. Unlike other adventure games of the period, Labyrinth does not feature a command-line interface. Instead, the player uses two scrolling "word wheel" menus on the screen to construct basic sentences.

<i>Hillsfar</i> 1989 video game

Hillsfar is a role-playing video game for MS-DOS compatible operating systems, Amiga, Atari ST, and Commodore 64. It was developed by Westwood Associates and published by Strategic Simulations in 1989. It combines real-time action with randomly generated quests and includes elements of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. A port to the Nintendo Entertainment System was released in 1993. Hillsfar received mixed reviews from critics.

<i>Tass Times in Tonetown</i> 1986 video game

Tass Times in Tonetown is an adventure game published by Activision in 1986. It was designed by Michael Berlyn and Muffy McClung Berlyn and programmed by Rebecca Heineman of Interplay in cooperation with Brainwave Creations.

<i>Space Quest I</i> 1986 video game

Space Quest: Chapter I – The Sarien Encounter, commonly known as Space Quest I, is a graphic adventure game released in October 1986 by Sierra On-Line. It is the first game in the Space Quest series. It quickly became a hit, selling in excess of 100,000 copies. Total sales are believed to be around 200,000 to date, not including the many compilations it has been included in.

<i>Adventureland</i> (video game) 1978 video game

Adventureland is the first text adventure video game for microcomputers, released by Scott Adams in 1978. The game involves searching for thirteen lost artifacts in a fantasy setting. Its success led Adams to form Adventure International, which went on to publish thirteen similar games in the Adventure series, each in different settings.

<i>Pirate Adventure</i> 1979 video game

Pirate Adventure is a text adventure program written by Scott Adams.

<i>Lords of Karma</i> 1980 video game

Lords of Karma is a text adventure that was produced by Avalon Hill in 1980. Written in machine language, it was released for the Apple II, Commodore PET, Atari 8-bit family, TRS-80, and Commodore 64.

<i>Mystery Fun House</i> (video game) 1979 video game

Mystery Fun House is a text adventure game written by Scott Adams, "Adventure 7" in the series released by Adventure International. The player explores a fun house explore to locate a set of secret plans, solving puzzles along the way. Mystery Fun House was produced in only one week and was among the most difficult games in the series.

<i>Questprobe featuring The Hulk</i> 1984 video game

Questprobe featuring The Hulk is a 1984 graphic adventure video game developed and published by Adventure International in collaboration with Marvel Comics. It is the first entry in Questprobe, an intended series of graphic adventure games that only released three installments before the developer's bankruptcy. The game's narrative follows the Marvel superhero Hulk and his human alter-ego Bruce Banner, who must explore the mysterious lair of the Chief Examiner. The graphics and story outline were created by Marvel artists and writers. Critical reception was generally positive, with much of the praise going to the visuals. Reactions to the gameplay were mixed, especially upon the game's budget re-release, by which time it was considered dated.

Adventure International was an American video game publishing company that existed from 1979 until 1986. It was started by Scott and Alexis Adams. Their games were notable for being the first implementation of the adventure genre to run on a microcomputer system. The adventure game concept originally came from Colossal Cave Adventure which ran strictly on large mainframe systems at the time.

<i>Time Traveler</i> (1980 video game) 1980 text adventure game

Time Traveler is a 1980 fantasy text adventure developed by Krell Software. The game was released on the 16K, Level II TRS-80, Apple II, Commodore PET, and Atari 8-bit family

<i>Ghost Town</i> (video game) 1980 video game

Ghost Town is a text adventure developed by Adventure International and released in 1980. It is part of the Adventure series of games developed by Scott Adams, preceded by Adventureland, Pirate Adventure, and Strange Odyssey.

<i>Scott Adams Scoops</i> 1987 video game

Scott Adams Scoops is a compilation of video games designed by Scott Adams and published by U.S. Gold for a variety of home computers: Pirate Adventure, Strange Odyssey, Voodoo Castle, and Buckaroo Banzai.

Instant Software was a company that produced game, utility, and education software in the late 1970s and early 1980s primarily for the TRS-80 line of home computers. Instant Software was a subsidiary of Kilobaud Microcomputing, headquartered in Peterborough, New Hampshire and run by Wayne Green.

References

  1. Colsher, William L. (September 1980). "Role-Playing Games Reviewed". Kilobaud. pp. 106–108. Retrieved 23 June 2014.
  2. Herro, Mark (October 1980). "The Electric Eye". The Dragon (42): 42–43.
  3. "Commodore User Magazine Issue 23". August 1985.