The best Speccy game by 8th Day Software: discussion

[PeteProdge]

We're into the text adventure section in YS #19 on page 79, and here's 8th Day's Speccy catalogue.

Cuddles
Dark Lore
Earthshock
Faerie
Four Minutes To Midnight
H.R.H.
Harvesting Moon, A
Ice Station Zero
In Search Of Angels
Quann Tulla
Raven, The
Ronnie Goes To Hollywood
Weaver Of Her Dreams, The

Let me know if I've missed anything and/or shouldn't be including something!

[equinox]

"Four Minutes To Midnight" was a title that always intrigued me. Presumably, in the "protect and survive" times, a reference to the "Doomsday Clock", that still-extant symbol of oncoming apocalypse whose hands a bunch of nerdy physicists adjust every so often. When the apocalypse cometh, it will still be pointing at 30 seconds to the hour. They can't set it to like "a minute AFTER midnight" for marketing reasons.
So in this text adventure game (oh yes! 8th Day! not well known for shoot 'em ups!) you start off smashing your car into a petrol station and dying. Unless...

(It interestingly involves controlling a number of separate people, who may get bored and wander off on their own; actually a bit like Stephen King's The Stand, which has a similar apocalyptic scenario but based on super-influenza rather than The Bomb.)

Anybody want to suggest there could possibly be a SCARIER game in the world?

Ideologically speaking, stuff like HRH was just tedious unnecessary satire like Hampstead, Flunkey (sorry Don), or the recent Spitting Image reboot.

BTW was "8th Day" a reference to "Level 9"? cause like 8 to 9, they never quite got there.

[PeteProdge]

BTW was "8th Day" a reference to "Level 9"? cause like 8 to 9, they never quite got there.

I think it might be a nod towards Christanity's 'Seven Days Of Creation', as outlined in the book of Genesis.

[RWAC]

I'd like to think it's a nod to the Beatles 8 Days a Week.
Interestingly, i've never played any of these games. Tell a lie, it's not interesting at all.

[8BitAG]

Skelvullyn Twine probably should be on the list as well. At the moment, there isn't (as far as I know) any evidence Peter himself sold any copies prior to 8th Day releasing the game. All the reviews we have are for the 8th Day version.

[PeteProdge]

Skelvullyn Twine probably should be on the list as well. At the moment, there isn't (as far as I know) any evidence Peter himself sold any copies prior to 8th Day releasing the game. All the reviews we have are for the 8th Day version.

Okay, in it goes!

[equinox]

I think it might be a nod towards Christanity's 'Seven Days Of Creation', as outlined in the book of Genesis.

Impossible, the Genesis didn't come out until 1988.

Serious comment: I don't think many of these games got a lot of attention, so I wonder how meaningfully people can vote. "In Search Of Angels" sounds rather mystically beautiful until you realise that the angels are some kind of military bombs or UFOs or whatever, argh. and you're 007 (the number that precedes 8th Day and Level 9 and -- uhm, Room 10 by Pete Cooke, damn I'm good).

[PeteProdge]

Impossible, the Genesis didn't come out until 1988.

No, they were formed at Charterhouse School, Surrey in 1967.

Serious comment: I don't think many of these games got a lot of attention, so I wonder how meaningfully people can vote.

Well, the more popular software labels do obviously pull in a lot of responses, but it can't all be chocolate and ice cream. The smaller labels and yeah, the genre of text adventures won't have the clout of yer Chuckie Eggs and yer Robocops, but there are committed fans of these homebrew-esque producers and we have hardcore adventure fans who know this stuff inside out.

[zx1]

I've only ever played HRH never got past the scene with someone driving a lawnmower. I always died at that point. It was quite amusing at the time but half the characters are now dead.

[8BitAG]

Serious comment: I don't think many of these games got a lot of attention, so I wonder how meaningfully people can vote.

Perhaps not from people who frequent these forums, but 8th Day were a big disrupter of the adventure market back in the day and they're probably one of the bigger "professional" mail-order only text adventure labels. I'm guessing their early titles probably sold 1,000+ each.

[equinox]

Perhaps not from people who frequent these forums, but 8th Day were a big disrupter of the adventure market back in the day and they're probably one of the bigger "professional" mail-order only text adventure labels. I'm guessing their early titles probably sold 1,000+ each.

Truth, now I wonder if the (any-platform) adventure site does the same thread that we do.

Earlier I took some notes to the local library and worked on them -- part of it was program code, but part of it was that "Domdaniel" game and I've made half a map now. I'll upload it later. -- Indeed it doesn't seem to be a fully working game, because the guy wrote 100 room descriptions and ran out of RAM, THAT IS WHAT I RECKON.
I did a good funny text adventure in the early 2000s (Teacher Feature: you can tell that I wrote it while still at school, but it is funny) that I might like to port to the Speccy (hell even CP/M) but I doubt it would fit, and I really wouldn't like to trim the text, it would be IMPAIRING THE ARTWORK. What you gonna do in a text adventure other than text. If I make a shitey version then I'll enter it into CSSCGC, reluctantly.

Then I went to the pub, oh no!

got kciked out of the pub

[AlanWardrobe]

I once worked with the author of Faerie and Cuddles, amongst others. In an IT department. The topic of the Spectrum just came up in the chatter and their eyes lit up. Talked about the experience and some of the controversy and publicity that surrounded the label. They brought in a scrapbook with loads of reviews and news bits and some of the tabloid coverage. It was a memorable experience to read through it. They said it was very exciting for that period and for a little while it seemed like it would work but the sales dried up and it wasn't sustainable as a career.

[zx1]

A Faerie 2 was planned but either unfinished or never released.