Lane Mastodon vs. the bubbling men
| Lane Mastodon vs. the bubbling men | |
|---|---|
| Studio | Tom Snyder Productions |
| Publisher | Infocom |
| Senior Developer | Steve Meretzky |
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
1988 |
| platform | Apple II , C64 , PC Booter |
| genre | Visual novel |
| medium | diskette |
| language | English |
Lane Mastodon vs. the Blubbermen is an interactive comic as a computer game that was marketed as Infocomic by the US publisher Infocom in 1988 and is a visual novel by today's standards .
action
Lane Mastodon vs. the Blubbermen takes place in the year 2029. The Blubbermen from Jupiter , the name of which may be derived from Blubber , attack the earth with a beam weapon that turns small animals into giant monsters. Only superhero Lane Mastodon can stop the aliens. The story written by Steve Meretzky does not take itself seriously and parodies contemporary media phenomena such as the US TV series Siskel & Ebert & the Movies .
Game principle and technology
The graphic style and content are in the style of sci-fi films from the 1950s. Technically, the comic was realized using colored vector graphics , effects such as camera pans, zooms and cross-fades were also used . In terms of content, the narrative perspective of the comic can be changed at predefined points by pressing the "Return" button, in which the player selects an acting character from whose perspective the story will be told from now on. The player experiences different perspectives on what is happening as well as backgrounds that would otherwise have remained hidden to him. Other functions include fast-forwarding or rewinding as well as pausing the comic, setting the running speed and setting a virtual bookmark for later re-entry. Some scenes are accompanied by sound effects.
Production notes
The hero of the game, Lane Mastodon, is a spin-off of another Infocom game: He is depicted on the game packaging of the 1986 Leather Goddesses of Phobos text adventure , and the Leather Goddesses game packaging also contained a 3D comic called The Adventures of Lane Mastodon , which could be read with 3D glasses that were also included . The interactive fiction author Robb Sherwin pointed out in a retrospective that King's Quest I by Sierra had appeared around the same time , which was graphically and technically much better and at the same time a real adventure game . He described Lane Mastodon as a collection of clichés full of silly humor, characterized by a very average writing style and one-dimensional characters.
reception
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The ASM praised the innovative character as well as the "really very well done" graphics of the game and assessed it as "a must for comic fans". Computer Gaming World praised "dynamic animations and interestingly visualized conflicts", but criticized the graphics as a bit rough and colorless and judged the sound effects, "the less you talk about them, the better". The magazine pointed out that the game had little interactivity to offer: "It's painless entertainment. It's called 'reading'." Reviewer Charles Ardai also judged that the only approach to interactivity was moderately successful, as the alternative viewing perspectives offered little new insights. However, he found the concept interesting and expressed hope that the quality of the infocomics would increase with the experience of the authors. The game journalist Nick Montfort described the game's gameplay and graphics as "uninteresting", but the interface as a novelty and possibly influential on later interactive fiction titles.
Web links
- Lane Mastodon vs. the Blubbermen at MobyGames (English)
- Lane Mastodon vs. the Blubbermen as longplay on YouTube
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b CGW # 49, July 1988, p. 21: Beyond Beyond Zork: The Infocomics Approach to Computer Fiction. Retrieved March 15, 2017 .
- ↑ Gamespot.com: Lane Mastodon # 91. Retrieved March 16, 2017 .
- ↑ JoltCountry.com: Lane Mastodon by Steve Meretzsky (sic), Infocom (1988). Retrieved March 17, 2017 .
- ↑ a b ASM 9/1988: Comic from the computer. Retrieved February 1, 2017 .
- ↑ Nick Montfort: Twisty Little Passages - An Approach to Interactive Fiction . The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts 2003, ISBN 0-262-13436-5 , pp. 167 .