Deadline (video game)

Deadline is a computer game of the U.S. company Infocom in 1982. It belongs to the genre of text adventures ( interactive fiction ).

Action

The plot in the style of a classic detective story takes place in Connecticut. The wealthy entrepreneur Marshall Robner is dead He is found in his library, the door is locked from the inside. The player, a police investigator, is to find the killer. With the support of Sgt Duffy he determined against six suspects who are on the premises Robners.

Gameplay

The text adventure is controlled via keyboard. English words, short sentences and complex sentences are thereby entered into a text parser. The player observes the six suspects, interviewed them and collects evidence. Deadline to be solved within a time limit. In the leaflet are police interrogation records of the suspects, a photo of the crime scene and other objects with references to the play solution.

Development and production details

Deadline has no graphics and no sound. Technically the game with the Z -machine was realized; the reaction was carried out for the C 64, DOS, Atari 8- bit, Atari ST, Amiga, Amstrad, Mac OS and Apple II developer was Marc Blank.

Reception

In the 1980s, a review emphasized in the literature section of The New York Times the narrative character of text adventures ( "Deadline, in fact, is more like a genre of fiction than a game. "). A match report in a German computer magazine highlighted the independent actions of the six suspects and the varied course of action.

A study on computer game history and theory from 2006 praised the ambitious approach of Adventures. The realistic story from the thriller genre marked a clear break with the previously prevailing in the field of Interactive Fiction Fantasy actions. For the first time more emphasis will also be placed on the dialog boxes with plastic non- player characters, as in solving puzzles.