The Game of Robot

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The Game of Robot
developer TOM Productions
Publisher TOM Productions
First title The Game of Robot (1983)
Last title The Game of Robot IV: Operation ExtraTax (1993)
Platform (s) MS-DOS , Windows
Genre (s) Action adventure , puzzle game

The Game of Robot (official spelling also The Game of ROBOT ), often simply called Robot , is a German-language computer game series in which the character experiences numerous adventures, solves puzzles and masters dangers. It was developed by TOM Productions, whose headquarters were in Karben ( Hesse ). Basically, it can be classified into the action-adventure genre, but also contains many puzzle game elements. One of the biggest special features of the games is the non-linear game play. The first episode for MS-DOS was released in December 1988.

history

1983-1988

The original idea for The Game of Robot came from Christian Männchen (* 1964). In 1983 he developed the first playable version based on ASCII graphics on 6502 computers as a gift for Andreas Tofahrn (* 1965). Both met during their school days in upper school at the Ernst Reuter School in Frankfurt am Main . In the following years, the game was ported by Andreas Tofahrn to the Unix and MS-DOS systems . After 1986, Christian Männchen and Andreas Tofahrn developed the actual first episode, which is far more complex and, in contrast to the original version, also has its own graphic representation and German language, which was continued in the subsequent episodes. While Christian Männchen mainly worked on graphic and acoustic design, Andreas Tofahrn's main activity was programming and documentation.

The first episode was created as a hobby project and was not originally planned as a commercial product. While the game was being developed, the name TOM Productions was also created, with "TOM" being formed from "Tofahrn" and "Männchen". In connection with the increasing emergence of shareware in Germany, one saw an opportunity to spread the game. The first episode was published in December 1988 under the name The Game of Robot: Die Schulzasar [sic!] For MS-DOS as shareware. The shareware-related key number mechanism was originally intended exclusively for customer management, but at the same time prevented the illegal distribution of key numbers, as these were computer-dependent.

1989-1991

The game achieved a surprisingly high distribution for the authors. The boeder AG nominee The Game of Robot for game software in 1990, but the show made a new version of a prerequisite. So in 1990 the first successor with the subtitle The Labyrinth in the Forest was published. It was presented at CeBIT 1990 and the authors received the award Public Domain Author of the Year 1990 from boeder AG .

Since the processing of customer inquiries could no longer be managed in one's free time, the developers decided to register a business . They founded a GbR whose full name was A. Tofahrn, Ch. Männchen Software-Entwicklung und Beratung GbR. In 1991 the company moved into an office in Karben, Hesse, and was able to cope better with the work by hiring a few employees. The name TOM Productions was registered as a trademark and was practically synonymous with the GbR. It is still used for the games to this day, even after the company closed. In addition to games, the GbR u. a. also on behalf of customers programs for business purposes.

In 1991 a small version of Robot with the subtitle Junior was released as freeware . Thanks to its small data size, this could be used for the data carriers (usually floppy disks ) supplied at the time by magazines.

1992-1996

The success of the Robot series to date prompted TOM Productions to release another episode in 1992. In addition to Christian Männchen and Andreas Tofahrn, Arne Schäfer was also involved in the development for the first time, who became an employee of TOM Productions in 1991. He was particularly involved in the field of music and the history of the game, with background music being used for Robot for the first time . The third episode Island of the Sacred Trial differs from its predecessors mainly through a dense and much more well thought-out story as well as the much stronger interaction with other characters; Robot III became the most popular episode among fans . Another novelty was the engine , through which the game speed, unlike its predecessors, no longer essentially depends on the performance of the computer and can also be changed between nine different levels while playing by pressing a button.

Just one year later, again with Arne Schäfer's help , the last episode with the subtitle Operation ExtraTax appeared . During the same period, the first two episodes and Junior were reissued. The engine from The Game of Robot III and IV served as the basis , which means that the earlier episodes were no longer solely dependent on PC performance. A little later, TOM Productions introduced a new key number mechanism that is still used today. In contrast to their predecessors, the new key figures do not relate to the PC, but are tailored to the user himself, which means that no new registration is required when purchasing a new system, for example.

With Robot IV , however, TOM Productions could no longer build on the success of its predecessors. After the Robot series, the company developed other games, such as the strategy game PC bacteria! and the breakout- like game FlipOut . Even these did not bring the desired sales. Mainly because of the sudden drop in registrations, TOM Productions finally had to be closed. In 1994 the office was given up, in 1996 a final line was drawn and Andreas Tofahrn and Christian Männchen ended their previous collaboration.

After 1996

After the dissolution of TOM Productions in the former constellation, there were no new publications in the area of The Game of Robot for a long time . Already before Andreas Tofahrn began with the support of a WWW - presence of TOM Productions. Some fan sites also appeared on the net. In 2002, in an interview with the fan site operator Robert Schwortschik , Andreas Tofahrn revealed many details of the story behind Robot and published the Game-of-Robot -Ur version for MS-DOS in a form adapted to today's PC speeds.

In 2003, Andreas Tofahrn began porting the Robot series to Windows , which resulted in an extensive beta test that had been ongoing to date . For the purpose of documenting bugs , among other things , he and Robert Schwortschik opened the Robot Forum, which still exists today, to enable robot players to freely exchange information. In 2003 it was also officially announced that an editor for creating your own robot adventures was planned, but there is still no specific date for publication.

In 2004, Andreas Tofahrn also published the earlier versions of Episodes I, II and Junior with the current key number mechanism and at a speed adapted to today's systems.

General gameplay

The principle of the game is that the player, represented by the game character, has arrived at a place without really knowing what to expect there. The story of an episode essentially only gives the reason for the trip, some background information and part of the goal of the game. Before this can be achieved, however, the player has to familiarize himself with the functions of numerous objects, see through various puzzles and avoid and fight dangers. The latter often appear in the form of robots and wild animals . To combat them and to master the tasks to achieve the goal of the game, the player is required to think logically. Collected items are stored in a rucksack and can be used as required, placed anywhere, or, if certain aids are in possession, looked at more closely and doubled. The different functions of the individual objects must first be recognized and effectively linked with one another. Mostly there are several possibilities, so that the course of the game is not linear and therefore very different solutions result; there is no regular one.

The game world is divided into many scenes (rooms). Often these have to be explored several times, as there are passages that are previously inaccessible without the possession of a certain object. Due to the non-linear course of the game, no order is given when exploring the rooms. Hints are hidden in many places that provide the player with important information in both direct and indirect ways. In the fourth, but especially in the third episode, these are often recordings of people who have already explored the respective game world and whose content also often indirectly contains important tips for getting ahead. Another special feature is that the coordinates of almost all objects are saved and the player can thus greatly influence the game world and leave lasting effects. In order to achieve the goal of the game it is not absolutely necessary to explore all the scenes, but in this way further useful things and hints can be found that facilitate this endeavor.

After the first published episode, the three also very extensive successors introduce further game elements. Communication with other people plays a much bigger role in the second episode. In the third episode this is reinforced, for which the player also learns the fictional language Tamalaic . Here, for the first time, the player can learn a lot about the history of the game. This element also plays an important role in the last episode so far, with a further focus on the administration and effective use of an internal game network .

chronology

  • 1983 The Game of Robot (original version) for 6502 processor
  • after 1983 The Game of Robot (original version) for Unix
  • 1986 The Game of Robot (original version) for MS-DOS
  • 1988 The Game of Robot I: The Dungeons of the School Zasar for MS-DOS
  • 1990 The Game of Robot II: The Labyrinth in the Forest for MS-DOS
  • 1990 The Game of Robot Junior for MS-DOS
  • 1992 The Game of Robot III: Isle of Sacred Trial for MS-DOS
  • 1993 The Game of Robot IV: Operation ExtraTax for MS-DOS
  • 1993 New edition of The Game of Robot I , II and Junior for MS-DOS
  • 2002 Adapted version of The Game of Robot (original version) for MS-DOS
  • 2003 Porting of the previous five episodes for Windows
  • 2004 Adapted versions of the original versions of The Game of Robot I , II and Junior

For the episode The Game of Robot II: The Labyrinth in the Forest , boeder AG awarded the authors the Public-Domain Author of the Year 1990 award . The title is a bit misleading because TOM Productions' developments are not in the public domain.

swell

- Interview with Andreas Tofahrn (2002) on Game-of-Robot.de
- author portrait TOM Productions, DOS-Trend 2–3 / 1994, p. 136

Web links