User:Auric/Mindwheel
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| Mindwheel | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Robert Pinsky for Synapse Software |
| Publisher(s) | Brøderbund Software |
| Designer(s) | Steve Hales, Mataga |
| Platform(s) | Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Atari ST, Commodore 64, DOS |
| Release |
|
| Genre(s) | Adventure, interactive fiction |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Mindwheel is a 1984 text adventure game created by Robert Pinsky for Synapse Software.
Plot
[edit]The premise of the plot is that the player is a "Mind Adventurer", who is asked to journey back through the minds of four deceased people, in order to find the "Wheel of Wisdom", to rescue the planet from its current predicament.
Copy Protection
[edit]Copy protection required players to enter a word from the user manual, a hardback book of novella length by Robert Pisky.
Technology
[edit]The game retailed for US$39.95 (equivalent to $113 in 2023) on a 48K disk (2 drives required) for the Atari and C-64, and US$44.95 (equivalent to $127 in 2023) for Macintosh. Room for 8 saves. [1]: 11
The game ran on the Atari 130XE and used the extra RAM feature.[2]: 76
The game used the BTZ ("Better Than Zork") engine, which had been developed in 1982 by Synapse programmers Cathryn Mataga (then William) and Steve Hales. This engine's parser understood about 1200 [3] or 1500 words.[4]: 33
Reviews
[edit]The game received critical acclaim.
References
[edit]- ^ Shay Addams (March 1985). "Mindwheel". QuestBusters: The Adventurer's Journal. Vol. 2, no. 3. pp. 1, 3, 11.
- ^ Harvey Bernstein (Nov 1985). "Mindwheel". Antic Magazine. Vol. 4, no. 07 (New Communications). pp. 75–76.
- ^ Maher, Jimmy (2014-12-04). "Bookware's Sunset". The Digital Antiquarian. Retrieved 2022-11-01.
- ^ Arthur Leyenberger (Dec 1985). "Mindwheel". Analog Computing Magazine. No. 37 (Telecommunications Holiday). pp. 33–34.
- Creative Computing 1985 09 RSL p78
- Commodore MicroComputer Issue 39 Gary Fields p32
- Portland Atari Club 1985 10 Steve Billings
- Happy.Computer.SH.03: 1.Spiele-Sonderheft p31 (in German)
- Kosek, Steven (July 21, 1985). "Poet Robert Pinsky goes hi-tech to give electronic novel a whirl", Chicago Tribune, p. 33
- Pinsky, Robert (Neal)." Contemporary Poets. Gale. 2001. Retrieved May 21, 2014 from HighBeam Research: http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-3401600586.html Archived 2014-06-29 at the Wayback Machine