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80s Sim?

10 years ago

Hi, I'm a long time lurker but only recently have I decided to make a storygame. Since, my skill lies in programming I decided to make a sort of 80s Computer Simulator. I want it to be very extensive so I will add as many 80s games as I can in the storygame.

Here's the thing, I do not know to many 80s games; I know the most obvious like ZORK and Adventure but it stops there. So, please tell me your some of your favorite legacy games.

80s Sim?

10 years ago

80s Sim?

10 years ago

Not exactly, obviously I'm not going to implement all of those. I want to be able to see what would appeal the most. Isn't important to appeal to other's likes? But, thanks for link. I was looking for more DOS games for my DOSBOX. smiley

80s Sim?

10 years ago
Ah, I see. Zork and Adventure were two of my favorites, and after those I just started making my own.

There's always Oregon Trail -- EVERYONE knows Oregon Trail!

80s Sim?

10 years ago

If you can remake M.U.L.E. in CYS, This hat is coming off. And then I'll probably eat it or something.

80s Sim?

10 years ago

We'd be here all day if we listed 80s computer game so I'll just to confine it to strictly 80s (and early 90s) graphic adventure/text games since those are more directly related to the CYOA style on this site.

If you're bringing up Zork, you might as well take a look at the whole Infocom line of text games during the 80s. Pretty sure there is a website where you can play them for free and I know there is a "Infocom Lost Treasures" app.

I particularly liked:

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Leather Goddesses of Phobos
The Lurking Horror

If you want graphic adventures, Activision, Sierra and LucasArts are the major companies that come to mind.

Activision came out with a few interesting ones with some odd settings. The two that I remember were Mindshadow which didn't seem weird at first but later had some really anachronistic stuff going on it  (At one point you're on an old style pirate ship, the next you're in a modern style city) and Tass Times in Tone Town which is REALLY a product of its time set mainly in an alternate dimension where everything has a New Wave/Punk style and guitar picks were currency.

For Lucas Arts, Maniac Mansion was the most popular at the time, though Zac McKraken and the Alien Mindbenders was okay. I'm sure you've heard of the Secret of Monkey Island series, but I really thought their Loom game was a setting that had a lot of untapped potential.

The very first one they did though which doesn't really get remembered nowadays was Labyrinth which was very loosely based on the movie. It was sort of unique in that it started out as a regular pure text game, but when you eventually got transported to the Labyrinth it turned into a point and click style, though it had a "text wheel" which was a predecessor of what they would use later in their other games.

For Sierra they had King's, Police, Space, Hero "Quest" series, but I never got into those. The only two major series of theirs that I ever got into was Leisure Suit Larry and the underrated Manhunter series. Some of their single graphic adventure games were cool too. (Rise of the Dragon, Conquests of Camelot, etc.) A lot of Sierra's graphic adventure games seemed to incorporate some action sequences or mini games in them.

And of course there were many others. Uninvited was a good one as far as horror ones go. Farmer's Daughter was a short and much lesser known text game, but it was pretty different from anything else I had played at the time so it stood out to me.

80s Sim?

10 years ago

I'm confused about exactly what you're trying to do:

You want to make an 80s simulator with as many games as possible, but you don't actually know any 80s games? How do you intend to sim something you are unfamiliar with?

Secondly  what do you mean by simulator?  Are you making a CYOA story based on classic adventure games, or are you trying to use CYS to make a literal clone of (for example) Zork?

Cys's editor is not a good choice to attempt to emulate 80s-style adventure games. 

80s Sim?

10 years ago

1. I want to know what would be the best to put in, because with my taste for games I'd "no no no no".

2. I've been called "ludicrous" but I have yet to find out it's meaning.

80s Sim?

10 years ago

If someone calls you ludicrous, it just means they think you're a rap star, don't worry about it.

So is your story not going to be inspired by 80s computer games, but just a story that happens to mention these various games? That seems rather limited.

Or is this some story set in the 80s where some guy gets sucked into his computer and ends up traveling to all these various 80s game worlds and having to deal with them until he can find his way back to the real world?