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Earth will be destroyed in 12 minutes... (lemmy.world)

submitted 10 months ago by FlyingSquid@lemmy.world to c/games@lemmy.world

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This is accurate gameplay from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy text adventure that INFOCOM made with the help of Douglas Adams in 1984.

I thought people would find it interesting to see the way a game would creatively do a demo in print in the 1980s since doing it other ways was either too expensive or not very useful from a marketing perspective.

More info on the game- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy_(video_game)

It was very challenging. I never got all the way through it. Amazingly, it only covers a small portion of the first book despite taking hours and hours to play.

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[-] Shig23@lemmy.world 84 points 10 months ago

I actually shelled out for the invisible-ink "strategy guide" (i.e. cheating instructions) just to finish the damn thing. I suspect the guide was written by Adams as well, because it was almost as entertaining as game itself. Halfway through the section on how to get the Babel fish—the single toughest puzzle I’ve ever encountered in a game—it tells you that "it is at this point that grown men begin weeping uncontrollably."

[-] Grabthar@lemmy.world 19 points 10 months ago

I remember working that one out with my brothers. Every step you take just leads to further problems getting the fish. It was easy to figure out to put the towel over the perfectly towel-sized grate and hang your robe on the hook. Blocking the cleaning robot access panel with Ford's satchel also seemed to make sense as well. But when we put the stack of junk mail on the satchel and it actually worked? Well holy shit, were we ecstatic. It opens up some of the best parts of the game, though I would argue not as much as figuring out how to get the spare improbability drive to work. I think one of my brothers bought that same guide book long after we retired the C64, so though he knew how to finish it, I don't think any of us ever did. I remember getting to Magrathea and not ever being able to figure out the proper tool bit. Tried taking the proper tool, and storing another tool in the thing your aunt gave you, but never seemed to work.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 14 points 10 months ago

Hmm... I definitely had at least one of those for an Infocom game... Maybe I had that one? But I don't remember getting to the end of the game. It was so long ago, I don't remember. I just remember it was basically a FAQ where you had to use a special marker to reveal the answer.

[-] Rhaedas@kbin.social 19 points 10 months ago

There were a number of books back then like that (mysteries and such), with the idea that you only revealed the answers to things you couldn't figure out.

As for the game itself, the one part that I have a continued memory about is where you could press the button labeled "Do Not Press". Only doing it a few times gave you the same "nothing happens" message, but being persistent got a different one. Infocom games were so great and full of humor, even the non-Douglas Adams ones.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago

Yes! I remember that too! And yes, I was a huge Infocom fan. I think the only one I got all the way through without help was Wishbringer, but I can't remember one I didn't enjoy playing.

[-] Got_Bent@lemmy.world 65 points 10 months ago

This was an exceptionally difficult game from the very first scene. You were particularly hard pressed to even make it off earth if you hadn't read the book.

After that, it didn't necessarily coincide with the book, so you had to put yourself into a Douglas Adams mindset for the duration, and that was no easy task.

I think I may have gotten through roughly a third of it before moving on to other games.

Zork was the other game I never did particularly well with. I think I got a little further in it than hitchhikers though.

[-] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 53 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I got so frustrated getting killed over and over that I typed:

 Fuck Ford

into the prompt. The game responded with:

 This is a family entertainment game, not a video nasty.

Which is how I found out that was British slang for ~~porn.~~ graphic horror films, apparently.

[-] havocpants@lemm.ee 19 points 10 months ago

Video nasty was slang for graphic horror movies, not porn. Not heard anyone say it since the 80s though.

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[-] otp@sh.itjust.works 13 points 10 months ago

British slang for porn.

I'm not sure if I'm missing something here...but what did you think "fuck" meant? Lol

[-] kux@kbin.social 19 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

more likely he thought 'video nasty' was slang for porn (unless of course it was a joke)

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[-] isles@lemmy.world 11 points 10 months ago

but what did you think “fuck” meant?

Just about anything

[-] samus12345@lemmy.world 8 points 10 months ago

Fuck the fucking fuckers.

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[-] thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.org 9 points 10 months ago

the only harder text based adventure game of that era was Steven Kings' The Mist. That game was fucked! I cannot tell you how many times my friend and I tried to survive the god dam grocery store!

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[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 8 points 10 months ago

There were at least five Zork games I can think of that were purely text (graphical ones came later): Zork, Zork II, Zork III, Beyond Zork and Zork Zero.

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[-] Whelks_chance@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago

I didn't even get out the house

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[-] Socsa@sh.itjust.works 33 points 10 months ago

Gonna head down the Winchester and wait for all this to blow over

[-] RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world 24 points 10 months ago

INFOCOM: We make games that nobody ever finished!

[-] Whelks_chance@lemmy.world 8 points 10 months ago

In the era of arcade games, finishing it wasn't intended

[-] W_itjust_works@sh.itjust.works 23 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Good News Everyone https://www.myabandonware.com/game/the-hitchhiker-s-guide-to-the-galaxy-42/play-42

[-] Hyperreality@kbin.social 16 points 10 months ago

Or:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1g84m0sXpnNCv84GpN2PLZG/the-game-30th-anniversary-edition

[-] xyguy@startrek.website 20 points 10 months ago

Wow! Spoilers much?! I can't believe they spoiled the "Beer Ending" in the trailer...

I will say though that even though I know it will just be a text adventure, I kid of want to play it now.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 15 points 10 months ago

Honestly, if you like text adventures, despite the difficulty, it's one of the most entertaining ever. Douglas Adams himself wrote most of the text, so even if you don't get very far, it's all funny.

[-] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 points 10 months ago

Starship Titanic is similarly incredibly under-rated, as is the companion novel written by Monty Python's Terry Jones.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago

I haven't read the novel, but I have played the game. When I played it, it was new, and it was really slow to load levels, which made it kind of a pain to play, but I did restore a good 3/4 of the ship robot thingy's face.

And my god the parrot was annoying.

[-] mkwt@lemmy.world 19 points 10 months ago

Unlike many video game adaptations, Douglas Adams was substantially involved in the game design and writing the text. I believe he shares the authorship credit with an Infocom programmer.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 13 points 10 months ago

Adams wrote most of the text of the game. He also created another INFOCOM game, Bureaucracy, which was basically impossible. And if you don't believe me, check out a walkthrough sometime. There are multiple points where you'll say, "well how would anyone ever think of that?" Especially when it gets to the airplane.

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[-] amio@kbin.social 12 points 10 months ago

This tickled a half-forgotten memory. I was into a few "ASCII" "game engines" when I was a kid, ZZT and MZX. There was definitely a Hitchhiker's game on one of those. Doubt it was official, of course.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago

Maybe an unofficial sequel?

[-] amio@kbin.social 6 points 10 months ago

Almost definitely just some random guy making an homage. I think the games/engines were pretty niche themselves.

[-] MajorHavoc@programming.dev 10 points 10 months ago

You have:

No tea.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 15 points 10 months ago

I love that 'no tea' was listed as one of the things included in the box.

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[-] xX_fnord_Xx@lemmy.world 9 points 10 months ago

The BBC released this in html5 for an anniversary, you may need to faff around with sky player if you don't have a BBC license, though.

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/the-hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy-game

[-] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 8 points 10 months ago

It took me way too long to solve the first, easy ass puzzle in this game. It's dark. You can't see anything. And your head hurts.

Solution? Open your freakin' eyes.

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[-] surewhynotlem@lemmy.world 8 points 10 months ago

I never got far in this game because I was too young. I'd love to give it another go.

[-] Hyperreality@kbin.social 15 points 10 months ago

Here it is on the BBC's website:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1g84m0sXpnNCv84GpN2PLZG/the-game-30th-anniversary-edition

[-] surewhynotlem@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago

Oh god, it's just as hard as I remember.

Thanks!

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago

I spent days on it. I did finally get the Babel Fish. I think with help by talking about it with friends who had solved other parts of the puzzle... but it got even harder after that!

spoiler

First you had to put together the improbability drive, then you jumped into different characters' bodies and had to survive in their bodies AND bring back the items you need to make it an infinite improbability drive and I didn't get past that, but apparently after that, you land on the planet Magrathea and you have to figure out how to get the door open and that's where the game ends.

[-] Davel23@kbin.social 5 points 10 months ago

I bought several Infocom games in their day, I think HHGTTG was the only one I ever finished.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 8 points 10 months ago

You finished it?!

[-] Davel23@kbin.social 6 points 10 months ago

Yup. As I recall it was kind of a school-wide effort, with kids relaying solutions of various puzzles to each other until we had enough to complete the game. I do recall working out the Babelfish puzzle on my own, though I also neglected to feed the dog at the beginning of the game soft-locking myself on at least one playthrough.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago

That was the most frustrating part of the game- finding out that you should have done something else ages ago and now you can never finish even though it let you keep going.