Wishbringer
| Wishbringer | |
|---|---|
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| Studio | Infocom |
| Publisher | Infocom |
| Senior Developer | Brian Moriarty |
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
May 1, 1985 |
| platform | Apple II , Atari 8-Bit , Atari ST , Commodore 64 , Commodore 128 , Commodore Amiga , MS-DOS , Schneider CPC |
| Game engine | ZIL |
| genre | Fantasy |
| Game mode | Single player |
| control | keyboard |
| medium | diskette |
| language | English |
| Current version | Release 69 |
| copy protection | Feelies |
Wishbringer is a fantasy text adventure from Infocom from 1985. It takes place in the Zork universe and, in contrast to other Infocom games, is aimed at beginners of the genre.
action
The plot of the game is based on the fictional legend of the Wishbringer , according to which the nefarious Queen Alexis once kidnapped Princess Morning Star when she was a baby and passed it on as her own child. Morning Star grew up and six knights, one after the other, asked for her hand. Alexis put her to the test with impossible tasks, so Morning Star remained unmarried. The Kingdom, Alexis, and Morning Star passed. Morning Star's heart, however, stood the test of time and became a glowing stone wishbringer , granting its finder seven wishes - one for Morning Star and one for each of the knights who were courting her at the time.
The player takes on the role of a postman in the small fishing village of Festeron. He delivers a letter to an elderly lady who runs a small shop selling magic supplies. The old lady asks the player to free her cat from the clutches of a witch named The Evil One . Upon leaving the store, the village of Festeron has turned into a gloomy, nightmarish and threatening image of itself called Witchville . When looking for the cat, the player is helped by the stone wishbringer , which, under certain circumstances, fulfills wishes and thus drives the game forward. The player has a total of seven wishes, which, however, require possession of a special object. Possible requests and items required for them are:
| Desire for... | Required |
|---|---|
| Darkness | Green milk |
| freedom | Sweets |
| luck | horseshoe |
| Levitation | Broomstick |
| advice | shell |
| rain | umbrella |
| Foresight | glasses |
Game principle and technology
Wishbringer is a text adventure , which means there are no graphic elements. Environment and events are displayed as screen text and the player's actions are also entered as text via the keyboard. The parser of Wishbringer understands more than 1,000 words, compared to just 700 the parser of Zork dominated.
Production notes
As supplements ("Feelies") the early publications of Wishbringer contained a booklet called "The Legend of Wishbringer", the content of which plays a role in the game and is queried and thus serves as copy protection. Also included were a replica of the letter to be delivered at the beginning of the game, including an envelope, a map and a plastic replica of the “Wishbringer” stone that glows in the dark.
The novel Wishbringer by Craig Shaw Gardner , published by Avon Books , takes place in the same world as the computer game, but the plot is only based on the game. For Brian Moriarty , author of the game, Wishbringer was the first title he wrote for Infocom; followed by Trinity (1986) and Beyond Zork , (1987) before joining LucasArts changed, where he worked as a writer and producer Loom responsible and at times on The Dig worked.
In 2019, the source code of the game was published on the software development repository GitHub .
reception
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AdventureClassicGaming praised the game's parser, puzzles, and humor, but criticized the simplicity. The Compute! Magazine also highlighted the lovingly designed package inserts. The game was designed by the manufacturer for a target group of 9 years and over, but is recommended in Germany for ages 13 and over due to the necessary knowledge of English.
Web links
- Wishbringer at MobyGames (English)
- Fact Sheet on Resonant.org
- Packaging and goodies on GUETech.org
Individual evidence
- ^ Resonant.org: Wishbringer. Retrieved November 14, 2016 .
- ↑ Craig Shaw Gardner: Wishbringer . Avon Books, New York 1988, ISBN 0-380-75385-5 .
- ↑ GitHub.com: Wishbringer: The Magick Stone of Dreams by Brian Moriarty (Infocom). Retrieved April 18, 2019 .
- ↑ Computer & Video Games # 051, January 1986, p. 110: Wishbringer. Retrieved November 13, 2016 .
- ↑ Wishbringer on AdventureClassicGaming.com
- ↑ Compute! # 067, December 1985, available online
- ↑ Happy Computer special issue 1 1985, p. 33