Early Mac Adventure Games

What are the best point and click adventure games you can play on Mac OS? Get ready to strain your brain and test your intellect with these tricky puzzle games and adventure titles, available for.

The MacVenture games comprise a series of four adventure games introducing a characteristic menu-based point-and-click interface. They were originally developed for the Apple Macintosh by ICOM Simulations:

  1. Déjà Vu (1985)
  2. Uninvited (1986)
  3. Shadowgate (1987)
  4. Deja Vu II: Lost in Las Vegas (1988)

All these games have been released on other platforms including Commodore Amiga, Apple II, Atari ST, Commodore 64, IBM Personal Computer (PC), Pocket PC and Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). This article is about the original Macintosh versions which introduced new interface ideas to the adventure game genre and were blueprints for the other versions.

History[edit]

The MacVenture engine was written in 1985 for the first game in the series, Déjà Vu. Making the entire game fit together with system software on two 400 k single-sided floppy disks proved to be quite a challenge and special image compression routines had to be written to accomplish this.[1]

A handful of sequels such as Beyond Shadowgate and Shadowgate 64 were later made, with only the background story in common with the MacVenture games. The rights to the MacVentures are currently maintained by Zojoi.

The 'MacVenture' name was used in loading screens and about boxes – in the original releases for other platforms it was translated, e.g. 'Atari Venture' or 'PC Venture'. MacVenture is the only of these used for referring to the game series in other contexts.

Developers[edit]

The MacVenture team had the following contributors to all four titles:

  • Darin Adler (primary developer)
  • David Marsh (graphics)
  • Terry Schulenburg (as 'Schulenberg' in Déjà Vu)

The following people had part in the development of some of the games, as noted:

  • Mitch Adler (Déjà Vu II)
  • Fred Allen (Déjà Vu II)
  • Brian Baker (Déjà Vu II)
  • Scott Berfield (producer/designer: Uninvited, producer: Déjà Vu, Shadowgate)
  • Ed Dluzen (Déjà Vu II)
  • Craig Erickson (Déjà Vu, Uninvited)
  • Dave Feldman (Uninvited, Shadowgate, Déjà Vu II)
  • Michael Manning (Déjà Vu II)
  • Kurt Nelson (Déjà Vu)
  • Karl Roelofs (graphics: Shadowgate, Déjà Vu II)
  • Paul Snively (Déjà Vu II)
  • Julia Ulano (Déjà Vu II)
  • Mark Waterman (Déjà Vu, Uninvited)
  • Billy Wolfe (Uninvited)

Features[edit]

The game interface is laid out in a novel 'desktop' style in which objects are taken from the environment and added to the player's possessions by dragging and dropping them into the 'inventory,' and in which there are standard menu commands such as 'Save as…'. Multiple objects can be selected and used at the same time by shift-clicking, and there is even a 'Clean up' command which sorts out the inventory in the same way as in the Finder (unlike the Finder, there is also a 'Mess up' command). Much as with any non-game application, the various game windows can be rearranged according to taste and the font of the text window changed as well. The MacVenture games use the Macintosh's built in widget toolkit for the user interface which adds to the feeling of the game as a regular application.

Unlike Sierra or LucasArts' classic adventure games, MacVentures are played in first-person perspective. The player's current view is displayed in a graphic window accompanied by a symbolic birds-eye view of exits in a side window. The name of the current location is displayed as the title of the graphic window. A characteristic feature is the 'self' window which provides a reference to the player himself for putting on clothes and the like.

The point-and-click approach means that no text commands are used except for occasional speech entered in a dialog box. Events taking place in the graphic window, as well as the result of the 'examine' command (similar to 'look' in other adventure games) are explained in a text window which also acts as a log of recent gameplay.

Content[edit]

The four MacVenture games all take place in settings common to movies. Two are hardboiled detective adventures, one is a haunted house ghost story, and the fourth a fantasyquest. The series has a lot of detail put into the game environment, in the form of a multitude of objects being able to act on each other. This gives a sense of depth to the environment, and -along the freedom to back and forth from room to room or street to street as you please- makes for a very non-linear gameplay.

Possibly to counter this liberty, all MacVenture games have some kind of time limit woven into the story: in Shadowgate the player must collect torches to be able to look around, in Uninvited evil forces gradually take control and create visions at unexpected times. In Déjà Vu the character has been injected with a poison, and has limited time to find the antidote. In Déjà Vu II the character is told to collect money or he will be killed.

Graphics are shown in a 256×171-pixel window and, although interactive, remain mostly static. Some limited animation is featured on player-initiated actions and when entering a room. In Uninvited, Shadowgate and Déjà Vu II the about box has an animated presentation of the development team in the style of the game, accompanied by music.

The text element in the games is notably literate and plays a role in the character of the games. Object and location descriptions are written in a recognizable style, and descriptions of the player character can be quite disparaging (for example, looking at a flower vase in Uninvited, you are told, 'It looks like a goldfish bowl, but it's serving as a vase. Function before form, perhaps -- just as in your case).'

Sound[edit]

The MacVentures make good but limited use of the original Mac's sound hardware, which allows for 22 kHzmonodigitized sound. Sound effects consist mostly of door creaks and other noises related to actions, but Uninvited also presents some ambient sounds.

Except for the 'Winchester Cathedral' sound in Uninvited, there is no music in the gameplay of the MacVentures. However, the three latter games feature elaborate about boxes with music and have ending scores.

Characteristic features[edit]

  • The freedom to pick up (most) objects and drop them at another location, at any chosen position. This could create annoyingly realistic 'where did I put that thing?' situations.
  • The ability to put things inside hollow objects such as jars, bowls or drawers. Doing this increases the number of objects that can be carried in the inventory.
  • The 'self' window containing an object referencing the main character. In Déjà Vu and Uninvited, the self is simply an oval with the text SELF, in Shadowgate and Déjà Vu II it is decorated in the theme of the game. Clicking in the background of the inventory window acts as a shortcut for selecting the self.
  • When starting over by selecting 'New', the player is greeted by 'Good morning'/-'afternoon'/-'evening' depending on the time of day.
  • Saved games are stored as ordinary files, unlike the more common save slots used in adventure games at this time.
  • When completing the game, the player is given the option to enter her/his name and print a diploma in the theme of the game.

Ports[edit]

The MacVenture games were ported to a multitude of platforms, including game consoles. Because of hardware limitations, and possibly differing expectations on the user demographic, the games were limited when ported to different platforms—particularly the Nintendo Entertainment System. The Amiga and Apple IIGS versions were translated rather faithfully and only lack some graphics detail (the Mac had typically twice their resolution). The DOS versions were more limited graphically as they used the 320×200 4-color CGA mode.

NES ports[edit]

Because of limited resolution and memory constraints inherent to the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), a lot of detour game objects and interactions as well as some critical ones were removed. The 'Consume' command was removed, and operating (renamed 'use') could only be performed with objects in the inventory. Also lost was the ability to rearrange objects by dragging and dropping, necessitating 'take' and 'leave' commands. Leaving could only be performed on unnecessary game objects, this in combination with numerous changes uncalled for by technical constraints caused a much more guided and linear gameplay. For instance, in NES Déjà Vu the player is prohibited from leaving the bathroom without having looked in the mirror.

The descriptive texts were rewritten in a shorter and in a simplified vocabulary (there is no sign of a coordinated attempt, as some of the more literate game texts were left unaltered). Some of these alterations were most likely made in concordance with Nintendo's censorship policy[2][3] of the time. In Uninvited the spells were turned into objects with names directly hinting at their use, the texts were also explicated to relieve players of unfolding the story by themselves. The digitized sound effects were removed, and music was introduced, giving the game more of an arcade game feel.

Release dates[edit]

Adventures
Déjà VuUninvitedShadowgateDéjà Vu II
Macintosh1985198619871988
Amiga1986198719871989
Atari ST1987[4]1987[5]n/a1989[6]
DOS1987[7]19871988[8]1990
Commodore 641987[9]1988[9]n/an/a
Apple IIGS1988198819881989
NES1990[10]1989[11]1989[12]n/a
MacVenture release years from copyright year on startup screen. Unlisted in this matrix are the Game Boy Color versions of Shadowgate and the release of the two-games-in-one cartridge of Déjà Vu I and II.

Remakes[edit]

In the early 1990s ICOM Simulations made new versions of the four MacVentures for Windows 3.1 (the previous DOS ports used custom controls rather than Windows). These versions used a similar engine and the same objects and text. However, graphics and sound were completely remade (save for the 'Winchester Cathedral' record in Uninvited) with little effort to adhere to the game environments as depicted in the original versions. This created several anomalies where the textual descriptions do not match the way objects look.

The remade graphics were also used in the Infinite Ventures releases for Pocket PC.

Zojoi released a digital-only remake of Shadowgate for Windows, Mac, Linux, and iOS in 2014 via Steam, GOG.com, and the App Store.[13] While the game has a similar room layout to the original, the graphics, plot, and puzzles have all been redone. This remake was ported to consoles[13] by Abstraction Games and released in April of 2019 for the Nintendo Switch,[14]PlayStation 4 (via PlayStation Network),[15] and Xbox One (via Xbox Live).[16]

Reception[edit]

The MacVenture series sold 2 million units by 2003.[17]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^Adler, Darin. 'Monologue'. pp. 1985: Schoolwork suffers. Retrieved December 28, 2007.
  2. ^Crockford, Douglas. 'The Expurgation of Maniac Mansion'. Retrieved June 5, 2006.
  3. ^Nintendo's Era of Censorship
  4. ^http://www.atarilegend.com/games/games_detail.php?game_id=929
  5. ^http://www.atarilegend.com/games/games_detail.php?game_id=3100
  6. ^http://www.atarilegend.com/games/games_detail.php?game_id=930
  7. ^http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/deja-vu-a-nightmare-comes-true/screenshots/gameShotId,5644/
  8. ^http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/shadowgate/screenshots/gameShotId,17917/
  9. ^ abhttp://www.lemon64.com/?game_id=2760
  10. ^http://www.mobygames.com/game/nes/deja-vu-a-nightmare-comes-true/screenshots/gameShotId,74375/
  11. ^http://www.mobygames.com/game/nes/uninvited/screenshots/gameShotId,550581/
  12. ^http://www.mobygames.com/game/nes/shadowgate/screenshots/gameShotId,48287/
  13. ^ abhttps://www.zojoi.com/shadowgate
  14. ^https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/shadowgate-switch
  15. ^https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP4126-CUSA06961_00-000SHADOWGATEPS4
  16. ^https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/shadowgate-remake/9n1217ltqqs8
  17. ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on 2003-02-01. Retrieved 2003-02-01.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

External links[edit]

Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=MacVenture&oldid=950427685'

The following list of text-based games is not to be considered an authoritative, comprehensive listing of all such games; rather, it is intended to represent a wide range of game styles and genres presented using the text mode display and their evolution across a long period.

On mainframe computers[edit]

Years listed are those in which early mainframe games and others are believed to have originally appeared. Often these games were continually modified and played as a succession of versions for years after their initial posting. (For purposes of this list, minicomputers are considered mainframes, in contrast to microcomputers, which are not.)

TitleYear CreatedCreatorNotes
BBC1961John BurgesonBaseball simulator
Unnamed American football game[1]1968 or beforeUnknownFor the Dartmouth Time Sharing System. One of 'many games' in library of 500 programs.
The Sumer Game1968Doug DymentAKA Hamurabi
Highnoon1970Christopher Gaylo
Baseball1971Don Daglow
Oregon Trail1971Don Rawitsch
Star Trek (strategy game)1971Mike Mayfield
Hunt the Wumpus1972Gregory Yob
Star Trek (script game)1972Don Daglow
TREK731973William K. Char, Perry Lee, and Dan Gee
Cornell U. Hockey1973Charles Buttrey
Wander1974Peter Langston
dnd1975Gary Whisenhunt and Ray Wood
Dungeon1975Don Daglow
Colossal Cave Adventure1976Will CrowtherThe original adventure game
Dukedom1976Vince Talbot
Empire1977Walter Bright
Mystery Mansion1977Bill Wolpert
Zork1977Tim Anderson,

Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels and Dave Lebling

Acheton1978Jon Thackray, David Seal and Jonathan PartingtonAdventure game originally hosted on Cambridge University's Phoenix mainframe
Decwar1978Hysick, Bob and Potter, Jeff
MUD1978Roy Trubshaw and Richard BartleThe first multi-user dungeon. See List of MUDs for later examples.
Battlestar1979David Riggle
Brand X1979Peter Killworth and Jonathan MestelAKA Philosopher's Quest
HAUNT1979John Laird
Martian Adventure1979Brad Templeton and Kieran Carroll
New Adventure1979Mark Niemiec
FisK1980John Sobotik and Richard BeigelText based adventure game
Hezarin1980Steve Tinney, Alex Shipp and Jon Thackray
Kingdom of Hamil1980Jonathan PartingtonAdventure game originally hosted on Cambridge University's Phoenix mainframe
Monsters of Murdac1980Jonathan PartingtonAdventure game originally hosted on Cambridge University's Phoenix mainframe
Quondam1980Rod UnderwoodAdventure game originally hosted on Cambridge University's Phoenix mainframe
Rogue1980Michael Toy, Glenn Wichman, and Ken Arnold
LORD1981Olli J. PaavolaBased on Lord of the Rings
Avon1983Jonathan PartingtonShakespeareanadventure game originally hosted on Cambridge University's Phoenix mainframe
Castle1983Barry Wilks
Dunnet1983Ron Schnell
Fyleet1986Jonathan PartingtonAdventure game originally hosted on Cambridge University's Phoenix mainframe
Crobe1987Jonathan PartingtonAdventure game originally hosted on Cambridge University's Phoenix mainframe
Nidus1987Adam Atkinson
Quest of the Sangraal1987Jonathan PartingtonAdventure game originally hosted on Cambridge University's Phoenix mainframe
Spycatcher1989Jonathan Partington and Jon ThackrayAdventure game originally hosted on Cambridge University's Phoenix mainframe; released commercially by Topologika Software as Spy Snatcher

On personal computers[edit]

Early Mac Adventure Games Online

Commercial text adventure games[edit]

Macs Adventures Uk

These are commercial interactive fiction games played offline.

TitleYear CreatedCreatorNotes
Adventureland1978Scott Adams of Adventure Internationalseries
Zork I: The Great Underground Empire1980Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels and Dave Leblingseries
C.I.A Adventure1980Hugh Lampert of CLOAD
Softporn Adventure1981On-Line Systems
Madness and the Minotaur1981for Spectral Associates
The Hobbit1982Philip Mitchell and Veronika Megler of Beam Software
Valhalla1983Legend
Time and Magik1983Level 9
Forbidden Quest1983Pryority Software
Valley of the Minotaur1983Nicolas van Dyk of Softalk
The Wizard of Akyrz1983Brian Howarth of Mysterious Adventures and Cliff J. Ogden for Adventure International
The Biz1984Chris Sievey of Virgin GamesMusic band simulator for the ZX Spectrum
High Stakes1984Angelsoft
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy1984Douglas Adams and Steve Meretzky of Infocom
Mindwheel1984Robert Pinsky for Synapse Software
Zyll1984Marshal W. Linder and Scott B. Edwards for IBM
The Pawn1985Magnetic Scrolls
A Mind Forever Voyaging1985Steve Meretzky of Infocom
Brimstone1985James Paul for Synapse
Essex1985Bill Darrah for Synapse
Hampstead1985Peter Jones and Trevor Lever for Melbourne House
Bored of the Rings1985Delta 4
Mind Wheel1985Brøderbund Software
Heavy on the Magick1986Gargoyle Games
Breakers1986Rodney R. Smith for Synapse
Terrormolinos1986Peter Jones and Trevor Lever for Melbourne House
Amnesia1987Thomas M. DischThe only entirely non-graphical text adventure ever published by Electronic Arts
Braminar1987
Dodgy Geezers1987Peter Jones and Trevor Lever for Melbourne House
Enchanted Castle1987Michael R. Wilk[2]
Gnome Ranger1987Level 9
Jacaranda Jim1987Graham Cluley
Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It1987Jeff O'Neill for Infocom
Sherlock: The Riddle of the Crown Jewels1987Bob Bates for Infocom
Shadows of Mordor1987Melbourne House
Knight Orc1987Level 9
The Guild of Thieves1987Magnetic Scrolls
Fish!1988Magnetic Scrolls
Ingrid's Back1988Level 9
Corruption1988Magnetic Scrolls
Dr. Dumont's Wild P.A.R.T.I.1988Michael and Muffy Berlyn
Avalon1989Yehuda Simmons[3]A MUD, notable for its pioneering introduction of various innovations such as plotted quests, real estate, banking and distinct skills [4][5]
The Hound of Shadow1989for Eldritch Games
Humbug1990Graham Cluley
Danger! Adventurer at Work!1991Simon Avery
Spy Snatcher1992Jonathan Partington and Jonathan Thackray for Topologika
dead rage2005Tate Productions
World War II: Heroes of Valor2009Samuel Horton
Cypher: Cyberpunk Text Adventure2012Cabrera Brothers [6]
The Yawhg2013Emily Carroll[7]
Shimlar2013SHIMLAR LTD.Text-Based RPG
Criminal Gangsters2014Inspire Gaming[8]
SanctuaryRPG: Black Edition2015Black Shell GamesText-Based RPG[9]
What Would You Do As a Nigerian Tribal Chief2015Nathaniel Ogungbuyi[10]
Commandverse2015Cyborg RealityText-Based God Game[11]
Open Sorcery2017Open Sorcery GamesText-Based RPG[12]
City of Ages2017Darren N. Lory of formsmatter.com[13]written in Visual Basic 6.0 sr 6

Early Mac Adventure Games Download

On Android phones[edit]

TitleYear CreatedCreatorNotes
Snipes2017Charles Bergren of bdesigncorp.com[14]rewritten in Java

Miscellaneous games[edit]

TitleYear CreatedCreatorNotes
Wizard's Castle1978Joseph R. Power
Aliens1982Yahoo SoftwareSpace Invaders clone for Kaypro.
CatChum1982Yahoo SoftwarePac-Man clone for Kaypro.
Ladder1982Yahoo SoftwareDonkey Kong clone for Kaypro.
Snipes1983SuperSet
Sleuth1983Eric N. Miller
Beast1984Dan Baker, Alan Brown, Mark Hamilton and Derrick Shadel
Kingdom of Kroz1987Scott Miller of Apogee Software
Mtrek1987Chuck Peterson of UCSC
ZZT1991Tim Sweeney of Epic MegaGames
Curses!1993Graham Nelson
MegaZeux1994Alexis Janson of Software VisionsSupports editing the character set to allow for more advanced graphical capabilities than most text mode games.
Jigsaw1995Graham Nelson
Chibot Ultra Battle1999
PAEE1999Enrique D. Bosch
For a Change1999Dan Schmidt
Shade2000Andrew Plotkin
Shrapnel2000Adam Cadre
The Gostak2001Carl Muckenhoupt
Cantr II2001Jos ElkinkText-Based Society Simulator
Deadline Enchanter2007Alan DeNiro
combatgrounds2008war games
sie fate2014fate team
Tau Station2018Makes Dreams HappenNarrative sci-fi MMORPG[15]
Warsim: The Realm of Aslona2019Huw MillwardComplex kingdom management simulator with procedurally generated ascii art systems [16][17]

Online games[edit]

Best Adventure Games For Mac

Play-by-email games[edit]

These are play-by-email games played online.

TitleYear CreatedCreator
Lords of the Earth1983
Quantum Space1989
Atlantis PbeM1993
Eressea PbeM1996
WW2 The Big One PbeM2010

BBS door games[edit]

These are BBS door games played online.

TitleYear CreatedCreator
TradeWars 20021987Gary Martin for Martech Software
Legend of the Red Dragon1989Seth Able Robinson

MUDs[edit]

Other[edit]

  • Multi-Trek (MTrek) (1986) by Chuck L. Peterson
  • Imperium (1989) by Pocketfiction
  • Rise to Glory (1997) by Jason Granum
  • JavaTrek (JTrek) (2003) by Joe Hopkinson and Jay Ashworth
  • 'Thy Dungeonman' (2004) by The Brothers Chaps
  • Text Gangsters (2014) by Pan Gamers
  • 'Crypt Shyfter' (2017) by Kung Fu Space Barbarian
  • 'DNDBBS' (1990) DNDBBS

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^Kemeny, John G.; Kurtz, Thomas E. (11 October 1968). 'Dartmouth Time-Sharing'. Science. 162: 223–228. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
  2. ^Michael R. Wilk (1 January 1987). 'Enchanted Castle' – via Internet Archive.
  3. ^Lives, Avalon, The Legend. 'Online RPG Game - Avalon - Text Based Games'. Archived from the original on 2015-12-05.
  4. ^'Richard A. Bartle: Reviews - UK'. Archived from the original on 2015-12-28.
  5. ^'Designing Virtual Worlds'. Archived from the original on 2015-11-18.
  6. ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on 2017-10-08. Retrieved 2017-10-07.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. ^'The Yawhg'. Archived from the original on 2014-06-01.
  8. ^http://www.criminalgangsters.co.ukArchived 2014-11-29 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on 2018-05-14. Retrieved 2018-05-14.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  10. ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on 2015-07-07. Retrieved 2015-05-17.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  11. ^http://www.cyborgreality.com/[dead link]
  12. ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on 2017-05-24. Retrieved 2017-05-06.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  13. ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on 2018-03-04. Retrieved 2018-03-03.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  14. ^http://www.bdesigncorp.comArchived 2017-12-01 at the Wayback Machine
  15. ^'Tau Station'. Retrieved 2018-10-16.
  16. ^'Warsim: the realm of Aslona on Steam'. Retrieved 2019-01-16.
  17. ^'Warsim: the realm of Aslona community on Reddit'. Retrieved 2019-01-16.

Early Mac Adventure Games 2017

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