[08] Hit it, Rockapella

For years, computer game companies and computer stores tried to sell more games by adding a little bit of "educational" content and then claiming that it was really educational software made fun.  More often than not, they were just lying through their teeth.  But sometimes, they did it right.  Every now and then, a company would make good on this "edutainment" market.

Take, for example, the company Broderbund.  Founded in 1980 by brothers Doug and Gary Carlston, they often tried to be the clean, pure company in comparison to the wild and crazy competitors such as Sierra.  But competition in that time was friendlier -- at the same time each one would try to outsell the other, they also went on vacations together, rafting trips, and the like.  And there was an unspoken gentleman's agreement to not step on each other's toes so much.

So Broderbund later diverted their attentions more to educational titles, while Sierra pumped up their games.  They both still did a little of each; Sierra taught us a lot about sea life, for example, and Broderbund polarized the adventure gaming community with the non-standard interface and design of their best -selling adventure.

[07] Going down a rabbit hole...

I was in the middle of writing my latest post, and circumstances happened.  I found myself impulse buying a new computer to replace my 10 year-old desktop (Thanks, Amazon Prime Day!) So I got to thinking about some of my routines, whenever I upgrade hardware.  The last time I upgraded my monitor (to a 28" I still use), the last computer upgrade, the last time I got a larger TV.  How do I test these new things?

For the new TV, I pull out the DVD for my favorite movie, the 1980 sleeper classic Used Cars.  New speakers?  The gunshots near the beginning of Grosse Pointe Blank. For that one, I was introduced the the movie by a friend of a friend, showing off the new subwoofer in his college dorm room.  It's what started this tradition for me.

Hey, Jenny Slater.

For a new computer, it's often one of my favorite games, even if it's something not graphically impressive.  I've played some favorites like the original Police Quest often (and I promise, I will be getting to that game on this blog soon), but this time, the first game I played was a game that forced me to buy a new graphics card for my old desktop.  On this trip down the rabbit hole, we're going down into The Cave.

[06] Now, This is the Game of a Carpenter

For the last few entries, I have been excited about writing this post.  Finally, the first graphical adventure game, which from this point on would become my favorite genre.

Then, I started playing the game, and realized I had no reason to be excited, because this game wasn't very good.  But this blog is a blog of firsts, of memories -- if I was writing simply an adventure game blog, I would skip this game for the much, much better follow-up entry in this game series, Fate of Atlantis.

But that's getting ahead of myself.  First, let's set the stage.  Another game I copied from my friend Troy came on a bunch of floppy disks and had a seemingly-important, very large manual, the grail diary.  To be fair, if I had seen the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade yet, I'm not entirely sure.  But it would definitely become one of my all-time favorites.

This is the companion, of sorts, to the 1989 cinematic gem by George "Star Wars" Lucas.  Set in 1938, Dr. Indiana Jones goes off in search of the biblical Holy Grail, after his father was lost on the same quest.  Some of the historic locations include Hitler's Germany, a scenic Italy, and more.

In replaying this game after some time, I planned to run the CGA/EGA version, but sadly, I decided I couldn't stomach it.  I think this is why I gave up on the game very early back in that time.  Well, that, and the fact that I didn't have access to a BBS to get a walkthru yet.  Nor was I yet a subscriber to QuestBusters, and their incredible hint pages each month.

[05] Many Hours of Productivity Down the Drain

 Another game Troy had in his collection was Pipe Dream from LucasFilm Games.  A simple game, you needed to quickly lay down the pipe shapes you were given into the grid, so that the liquid (flooz) would flow far enough away from the starting point.  I found in research that a later re-release of the game from a later publisher added a goal of connecting the output to an appropriate exit -- something definitely missing from the original.

From a blurb in Computer Gaming World:

PIPE DREAM: This is a spatial strategy game that'll keep you on your toes. As a Plumber-in-Chief for a chemical company, you've got stay one step ahead of the flowing 'flooz' as you try to build the longest possible pipe system. The pipe segments appear at random and you've got to use quick thinking and forward planning in laying the pipe. As the rounds progress, you'll have to deal with obstacles, one way pipes, and faster flowing flooz. One or two players.

So in a way, a game that is reminiscent of Tetris -- here's a bunch of random pipes, quickly lay them, but try to plan ahead.

I wanted to do my replay in CGA, as I played it then, but I could not get the program working under DosBox for anything less than EGA.  So, enhanced graphics I didn't have at the time.

A title screen that accurately depicts the game to come

[04] A Rad Execution of a Quarterpipe by a Computer Semi-Pro

Well, it seems Mom won't drive me all the way to Keith's house, so we'll go halfway -- to my friend Troy.  Not a massive gamer of his time, he would later go on to work at a local McDonald's in high school, help me get a job there with him, and use that money to buy his first car, a 12 year-old Pontiac that he would upgrade with, among other things, a light-up neon license plate border.  But this isn't the tech you were expecting to read about -- so, back to the topic on hand.

Up to this point, I don't think I owned a lot of commercial releases of software myself.  Most of what I had gotten, some with my grandfather's help, were shareware and freeware titles.  And the rest, well, were (ahem) obtained over the SneakerNet.

Technically, this ad campaign didn't come about until a few years after this post...

[03] Having a daffy time in the third grade

 Back in elementary school, one of the greatest joys, besides trying to get your playground swing to do a 360°, was when we spent time in the library, which often meant we could use the computers.

Memories, memories... I have more than this computer could hold in it's RAM.

For anyone in Generation X, or even those a few years after us, certain games at school were a rite of passage, a required step in life.  Lemonade Stand, for example, was a 1979 classic that was played for over a decade without upgrade or revisions, and has since been ported and re-released multiple times over.  Oregon Trail is another one that has avoided dying of dysentery for many decades, most recently, as a card game that I have yet to experience.