| The Wizard of Oz | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Windham Classics |
| Publisher(s) | Windham Classics |
| Artist(s) | Barry Moser [1] |
| Platform(s) | Apple II, Commodore 64, DOS, MSX |
| Release | 1985 |
| Genre(s) | Interactive fiction |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
The Wizard of Oz is an illustrated interactive fiction game developed by and published by Windham Classics for the Apple II, Commodore 64, MS-DOS and MSX in 1985. It is an adaptation of the books The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and The Marvelous Land of Oz .
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The game is a traditional text-based adventure where players assume the role of Dorothy, and interact with the characters, world, and objects from the books through text commands. [2]
The game includes the familiar Tin Woodman, Scarecrow and Cowardly Lion from the first book, along with Jack Pumpkinhead, the Sawhorse, Mombi and Tip from the second book. [3]
The Wizard of Oz was positively received by the press.
II Computing said that "a good parser makes it easy to have believable dialogues" with the characters, and observed, "The on-screen illustrations are not flashy. They utilize the Apple's graphics well, but in a way that appears more like a children's storybook than an epic cartoon novel. This, of course, is the way you would want such a story to be told." [4]
Ahoy! described the game as "a good introduction to adventuring for any novice gamer," saying that "there's little danger of getting in a jam that defies the player's skill." Still, "advanced adventurers won't find enough here to challenge their abilities." [3]
Commodore Power Play complimented the game's parser, saying that "it has a larger vocabulary and understands prepositions and other parts of speech not recognized by some other games... You can 'talk about' a topic to a character, 'tell' them about something, 'ask' questions, and even inquire 'now what?' for a clue." [2] [5]
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.
Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, is software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives, either in the form of Interactive narratives or Interactive narrations. These works can also be understood as a form of video game, either in the form of an adventure game or role-playing game. In common usage, the term refers to text adventures, a type of adventure game where the entire interface can be "text-only", however, graphical text adventure games, where the text is accompanied by graphics still fall under the text adventure category if the main way to interact with the game is by typing text. Some users of the term distinguish between interactive fiction, known as "Puzzle-free", that focuses on narrative, and "text adventures" that focus on puzzles.
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Jinxter is an interactive fiction video game developed by Magnetic Scrolls and published by Rainbird in 1987 for 8-bit and 16-bit home computers of the time. Jinxter tells the story of a man on a mission to save the fictional land of Aquitania from the looming threat of evil witches. The game was well received by critics upon its release.
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.
The Hobbit is an illustrated text adventure computer game released in 1982 for the ZX Spectrum home computer and based on the 1937 book The Hobbit, by J. R. R. Tolkien. It was developed at Beam Software by Philip Mitchell and Veronika Megler and published by Melbourne House. It was later converted to most home computers available at the time including the Commodore 64, BBC Micro, and Oric computers. By arrangement with the book publishers, a copy of the book was included with each game sold.
The Worm in Paradise is the third and final video game in the Silicon Dreams trilogy, a series of text adventure games in which the player takes the role of Kim Kimberly. It is the sequel to Snowball and Return to Eden. Worm in Paradise takes place generations after the first two games, when the planet Eden has been colonised. The player is an ordinary citizen in Eden's most populous city, Enoch. The game was noteworthy for having significant social commentary relative to other games of the same genre and era. The game drew inspiration from the novel 1984.
Hacker is a 1985 video game by Activision. It was designed by Steve Cartwright and released for the Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Atari 8-bit family, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Macintosh, DOS, MSX2, and ZX Spectrum.
Fahrenheit 451 is an interactive fiction game released in 1984 and based on the 1953 novel of the same name by Ray Bradbury. Originally released by software company Trillium, it was re-released in 1985 under the company's new name Telarium.
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.
Tangled Tales: The Misadventures of a Wizard's Apprentice is a computer game developed by Origin Systems in 1989 for the Apple II, MS-DOS, and Commodore 64.
Amazon is an interactive fiction graphic adventure game. The game was published by Telarium in 1984 and written by Michael Crichton.
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.
Windham Classics Corporation was a subsidiary of Spinnaker Software. The corporation was founded in 1984 and went defunct circa 1985/86 or later. The headquarters were in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
Questron is a 1984 game from Strategic Simulations, the first fantasy title from a company known for computer wargames. It was written by Charles Dougherty and Gerald Wieczorek and released for the Apple II, Atari 8-bit family, and Commodore 64. A sequel, Questron II, was released in 1988.
Sex Vixens from Space is an erotic interactive fiction game developed and self-published by Free Spirit Software and originally released in 1988 for the Commodore 64 and Apple II as part of the compilation Sex And Violence Vol. 1. It was released as a standalone game, with the addition of graphics, in November 1988 for DOS and Amiga and in 1989 for the Atari ST. Sex Vixens was inspired by the 1974 sexploitation film Flesh Gordon. The game was panned by reviewers.
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