4

I played this around 1988 (it could be as late as 1991, but that's unlikely) or so at my Uncle's house in California. I remember Autoduel also being on the machine. I think it was an IBM PC. I've tried asking my uncle about it, and he doesn't really remember.

I remember the beginning had a page of text explaining why you were playing. I think that it was your standard fantasy setup with the evil wizard in a tower. The opening was an action sequence where you were trying to navigate your raft from the top of the screen to the shore at the bottom using the arrow keys, avoiding hazards on either side of the channel. I don't remember if this was something possible to win or lose. It was in a fairly primitive line-drawing setup, I think.

After that, I remember it as being an Interactive Fiction kind of setup with typing in commands (GET MAGNIFYING GLASS, GO EAST, etc) with drawings at the top of the screen (draw in place with lines, I think, largely dark and few colors if not black-and-white). One of the items was a magnifying glass, which I think was used to ignite some brush. I mainly remember the magnifying glass because there was a scene where, if you entered a village, you joined in their festival and succumbed to food poisoning after which they carried you to the outskirts and left you there, with someone pilfering the magnifying glass from you. I have a fairly vivid memory of that screen, up at the top of a hill with trees to one side, and the village down at the bottom of the slope.

I don't think that we beat the game in the week we were visiting, and it's been a number of years, so that's about all I remember from the plot.

|improve this question
  • King's Quest 2? There is an aspect of that game where poisoned tastycakes come into play and you can get food poisoning – NKCampbell Sep 27 '17 at 14:45
  • No. The beginning is very different, no town festival, and no magnifying glass. Also, a lot more colorful. – FuzzyBoots Sep 27 '17 at 14:49
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    Maybe have a look at the wiki site for graphic adventures and start your search from there. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_graphic_adventure_games – Enroth186 Sep 27 '17 at 16:41
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    Except for the animated slalom course, this sounds like an Infocom game. Are you sure the first bit is the same game as the second bit? – Yorik Sep 27 '17 at 17:45
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    filfre.net has a series of posts about the history of videogames, with a focus on 'interactive fiction'-type games. It's probably not easy to skim, but if you're interested in such things anyway, it's excellent to read and you might find a reference or review of what you're looking for there. – LAK Sep 27 '17 at 18:31
2

Could it be Guild of Thieves?

It begins in a boat, but it is controlled by text commands as is standard in text adventures.

Gameplay video here

From the Wikipedia entry:

The player's character is "an aspiring member of the infamous Guild of Thieves" and is to steal all the valuables that can be found in and around an island castle. The game features "extremely atmospheric"2 descriptions and 30 artistic renditions of key locations.

Wikipedia article here

|improve this answer
  • It's a good guess, but as best I can tell, it doesn't have that salient memory of getting robbed at the festival. – FuzzyBoots Sep 27 '17 at 20:59
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    I vaguely remember that, but I don’t seem to be able to separate all the elements from all the various games anymore. Too many knocks to the head, perhaps – Blair Sep 27 '17 at 21:01
  • This game is a sequel to "The Pawn" - mayhaps it's there. Also - is there any possibility of conflating two games into one memory? – NKCampbell Sep 27 '17 at 21:07
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    I think I, at least, have now rolled all text adventures into one game, with the exception of Hampstead which was so different I still vividly remember it. And the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy with that **** babelfish! – Blair Sep 27 '17 at 21:09

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