Time zone
| Time zone | |
|---|---|
| Studio | On-line systems |
| Publisher | On-line systems |
| Senior Developer | Roberta Williams |
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
5th January 1982 |
| platform | Apple II , Apple II + , PC-88 , PC-98 |
| Game engine | Adventure Design Language (ADL) |
| genre | Adventure |
| Game mode | Single player |
| control | keyboard |
| medium | diskette |
| language | English |
Time Zone is a computer adventure game that was developed by Roberta Williams for On-Line Systems (later Sierra Entertainment ) in 1982 for the Apple II and Apple II + . It is a very extensive adventure game that was delivered on six double-sided floppy disks . The game offered the player 1500 different locations to stay during the game. Furthermore, there were 39 different game courses to solve the adventure.
action
The player has been chosen to destroy the ruler of the planet Neburon. For this purpose, he is equipped with a device that enables him to travel through space and time. During the fulfillment of his task, the player meets personalities such as Benjamin Franklin , Cleopatra and Julius Caesar .
Game principle and technology
Time Zone 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. In contrast to classic text adventures, which do not have any graphic decoration, Time Zone comes up with a picture of the respective environment. 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.
reception
Most contemporary reviews focused solely on the sheer size of the game and less on its playful qualities. For example, was Computer Gaming World , Time Zone is "great in terms of size and claim" and a "milestone of the computer game". The Softalk magazine looked after all "good puzzles and many dangers and challenges". Later reviews were mostly negative; The technical achievement of combining 1400 locations with different graphics into one game is praised, but in a detailed essay published in 2012, the ludologist Jimmy Maher summarized that, from today's perspective , Time Zone was working on an unprofessional design concept by Roberta Williams, a primitive parser and obscure puzzles sick, while companies like Infocom would have developed much more professional games at the same time.
Web links
- Time Zone at MobyGames (English)
- Solution to the game (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ CGW Vol. 2 No. 3, May 1982, p. 14: Time-Zone: An Interview with Roberta Williams. Retrieved March 10, 2017 .
- ↑ Softalk, Dec. 1982, p 148: Time Zone. Retrieved March 10, 2017 .
- ↑ Filfre.net: Time Zone. Retrieved March 10, 2017 .