Name the Game - Part 3 - Page 7

Buck Birdseed · November 28, 2003, 11:51

I'll throw in a guess at the first proper graphic adventure, King's Quest, just for formality's sake. That's certainly well known...

Dale · November 28, 2003, 18:09

And I'll throw Police Quest into the ring as well.

child of Thor · November 28, 2003, 19:05

the Pawn?(although i'm sure it got released on a few more platforms??).

Argh no damit - can you ignore that one, i'm sudenly reminded of that weird game by C.Crawford - Trust and Betrayal.

CapTVK · November 29, 2003, 16:54

Sorry I haven't been here yesterday. Had some other engagements like meeting the creator of Knoppix in person and the Dutch polymeet. (Restaurant critic mode: if you're in Utrecht. Don't go eat at "stairway to heaven". Food is awful!) :doitnow:

As for the answers....

No, no and no again...time for another clue!

While the game wasn't a major shocker
It did contain a famous rocker...

Rasputin · November 29, 2003, 17:49

Me wonders how populare the C64 realy was, I didnt know anyone with one when me growing up, everone seemed to have the console games Atari.

My first ever computer was an XT which i got late 80's

Although at school we did learn how to do stuff on a BASIC terminal , and were allowed to paly al lthose damn text only games like Hamrabi!!!

Me was so excited when me fianlly got to paly the classics such as the Kings Quest series ( I still own the complete series , none pirated), Sierra are my fav game company, got all the quest series nearly, Space Quest , Police quest, even all the leisure suit larry series....

Ahhhh the memories...

Buck Birdseed · November 29, 2003, 19:09

The C64 was considerably more popular in Europe than anywhere else. In Britain, Scandinavia, Central Europe it was massive, easily the biggest machine in the mid-eighties. Well, Britain had the Spectrum as well but I believe the c64 was still well more popular.

Plus it lived on for like a decade, much like the NES or more recently the Game Boy. In some ways it still lives on, certainly the SID music community is very active... It's also almost entirely European, and always has been, as per above.

CapTVK · November 29, 2003, 19:43

Quote:

Originally posted by Rasputin
Me wonders how populare the C64 realy was, I didnt know anyone with one when me growing up, everone seemed to have the console games Atari.

20-25 million C64/128 Commodore owners can't be wrong!

Standup · November 29, 2003, 20:16

The Spectrum was the biggie in the UK but was pre C64 for some of it life. I remember it fitting in after the Vic20. The Spectrum was around for ages but 128K models with almost proper keyboard just didn't quite seem the same. The other popular 8bit in the UK was the BBC Micro which was made by Acorn but i can also remember the Dragon, an Atari, Jupiter Ace and quite a few others. I think i was almost unique in having a Sharop MZ80K at the start of the 80s.

Consoles didn't really take off in Britian initially which is apparently why the country has/had loads of games developers out of proportion to its size/user base. All those budding programmers on their Amigas and Ataris.

All of which probably doesn't cover up the fact i have no idea about the game.

CapTVK · November 30, 2003, 06:20

Commodore was really big all over Europe from Scandinavia down to Italy and ever some countries in eastern Europe. There was a huge scene with cracking/intro and demo-groups doing there thing on the C64. Internet wasn't as common in those days so everything had to go via BBS (in most countries local calls are not free) and via swaps and trade groups.

Alright, one more clue!

Did I mention it was based on a movie?
With its fantasy setting it was kind of groovy...

Buck Birdseed · November 30, 2003, 08:08

Lessee... Fantasy Movies of the 1980s...

(looks at clue #1 again)

Was there ever a game based on Labyrinth?

Buck Birdseed · November 30, 2003, 08:13

I just looked it up and apparently there was. I can't believe I didn't get this, I'm such a LucasArts fanboy.

DrSpike · November 30, 2003, 08:15

That's funny, google was really busy a few minutes ago.

Buck Birdseed · November 30, 2003, 08:44

And you'd be right. The thought process went like this: Hmmm, Fantasy Movies of the 1980s... Ladyhawke, The Bowie flick Labyrinth, what other ones? Google! "Fantasy Movies 1980s". Amazon.com listmania second link. Oh yes, The Princess Bride, The Never Ending Story. Should I pick Ladyhawke or Labyrinth anyway? None of them ring a bell as a game title. Oh wait, I get the first clue now. Amazing. Ha ha.

DrSpike · November 30, 2003, 08:50

Did you google Monty on the Run as well?

Buck Birdseed · November 30, 2003, 09:13

I didn't google Labyrinth! Dammit.

Anyway, no, that was an entirely bizarre coincidence. When I was trying to find the game music for Barbarian I came across a site called the High Voltage Sid Collection which bascially supplies a zip archive of some 21 000 SID files from various games and demos and just independent ones. I thought sids would make a great theme for my student radio show (where I play modern, bass-heavy music from around the world) so I spent the next couple of days picking out good SIDs to use.

On the HVSC site there was a list people had voted for of the top 100 SID files ever. I was going through this to find good examples and in the 20s somewhere was the great Rob Hubbard's theme to Monty on The Run. I played it, it was excellent, but narrowly missed out on inclusion in the programme.

A few hours later I was browsing through this thread when my mind suddenly clicked in the good old Adventure-Game-Puzzle-Lateral-Thinking way. "Wait, I seem to remember there was a game caled 'Monty Mole' or something like that*, that SID I've been playing must be from another game in the series. And it was called something vaguely criminal, 'Monty is Escaping' or something. Oh, Monty on the Run. That has to be it!"

I then googled up the name of the original Wanted: Monty Mole game just to not make a complete fool of myself. But then that kind of "verify my own guess" googling is totally harmless surely.

* Probably from a feature on british game developers in PC Zone some time in the mid nineties. I'd already been sniffing on this list with my half-hearted guess of Jet Set Willy.

CapTVK · November 30, 2003, 09:26

Quote:

Originally posted by Buck Birdseed
I just looked it up and apparently there was. I can't believe I didn't get this, I'm such a LucasArts fanboy.

Correct, it is Labyrinth by Lucas filmgames. With its joystick menu interface is was a sort of precursor to Maniac Mansion.

Now there, that wasn't so hard was it?

DrSpike · November 30, 2003, 09:32

Over to Buck 'Googler' Birdseed.

Hehe just pulling your leg. I can't wait to see what's next. Try to come up with something Cap can't possibly know but the rest of us can get. Now that could be quite difficult.

Buck Birdseed · November 30, 2003, 10:06

Did he ever have a Spectrum I wonder? Lemme think...

Buck Birdseed · November 30, 2003, 10:14

Okay, game: early-mid eighties, on the speccy, first game I owned in the mid-eighties before I got my c64 and dumped the Sinclair, which I'd mostly used for programming anyway.

Clue #1- a lot of people seem to think the robot is an owl.

DarkCloud · November 30, 2003, 13:21

Robocop!

Buck Birdseed · November 30, 2003, 14:31

Clue #2, part of title screen...

CapTVK · November 30, 2003, 16:17

Doesn't ring a bell. Keep going!

Buck Birdseed · November 30, 2003, 18:05

Clue #3:

This is an object you can pick up (flashes purple/white) which doesn't do anything in game, only gives you 1000 extra points. Unfortunately you have to put down your tools to get them. By about level three you'll barely have time to think about them, it gets somewhat hectic.