The Mask of the Sun
| The Mask of the Sun | |
|---|---|
| Studio | Ultrasoft |
| Publisher |
Brøderbund Ariolasoft
|
| Senior Developer | Alan B. Clark Larry Franks Christopher P. Anson Margaret Anson |
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
1982 (Apple II) 1984 (Atari, C64) |
| platform | Apple II , Atari XL , C 64 |
| Game engine | UltraVision |
| genre | Text adventure |
| Game mode | Single player |
| control | keyboard |
| medium | diskette |
| language | English German |
The Mask of the Sun is a computer game by the US company Brøderbund from 1982. It belongs to the genre of text adventures . In Germany a translation under the title The Mask of the Sun - The Secret of the Aztec Mask was distributed by the company Ariolasoft . 1983 appeared the follow-up game The Serpent's Star .
action
The action in the style of an adventure story takes place in Mexico. The player takes on the role of the archaeologist Mac Steele, who has suffered fatal poisoning from an artifact he has found and is now looking for an antidote in the form of another artifact. This artefact, the eponymous sun mask ("Mask of the Sun"), is hidden in an Aztec pyramid . He is assisted in the search by Raoul, an assistant to the Mexican archeology professor de Perez. His opponent Francisco Roboff also wants to find the mask; he tries to prevent Steele and Raoul from searching.
Game principle and technology
The Mask of the Sun is a text adventure, which means that the environment and events are displayed as screen text and the visualization is largely up to the player's imagination. The character is controlled via commands that the player enters using the keyboard and that are processed by a parser . The commands are in natural language and allow the game character to interact with his environment. The player can move through the game world, find objects, apply them to the environment or other objects and communicate with NPCs . As the story progresses, more locations in the game world will be unlocked. The parser can only process commands consisting of two words in the Verb-Object format (e.g. “open door” or “examine fence”). Some actions in the game must be completed within a time limit.
The game has two-dimensional graphics that are animated in some game scenes. It uses an animation technique special for the time that draws still images so quickly that the sequential playback of the images gives the impression of a fluid animation.
Development and production details
Mask of the Sun was originally developed by Ultrasoft for the Apple II. The implementations for popular home computers that Brøderbund was responsible for appeared in 1984. The Atari version was developed by Jeff Johannigmann , and the C64 version by Scott Shumway.
reception
Test reports by the computer magazine Happy Computer rated the plot as very good, the graphics as good and the vocabulary of the text parser as satisfactory. The successful atmosphere and the high level of motivation for playing the adventure were highlighted. An American game review rated the graphics as "absolutely superb" and the general game quality as "excellent".
Web links
- The Mask of the Sun at MobyGames (English)
- Mask of the Sun and Serpent's Star onHoward Feldman's Museum of Computer Adventure Game History website
- Contemporary presentation in Happy Computer 2/1985
- Information on the German version in Computer Kontakt 6/85
- Presentation in Page 6 Magazine November 1985 (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Mask of the Sun . In: Byte Magazine . 7, No. 12, December 1982, p. 89.
- ↑ See Heinrich Lenhardt : 7 class adventures in one go . In: Happy Computer 9/1985, pp. 145f .; ders .: In search of the sun mask . In: Happy Computer 10/1984, pp. 144f.
- ↑ Kevin G. Swiger: The Mask of the Sun . In: Antic Amiga Magazine, Vol. 3 No. 8, 12/1984, p. 74.