Amnesia (Computer Game)

'Thomas M. Disch's Amnesia' is a text adventure computer game created by Cognetics Corporation, written by award-winning writer Thomas M. Disch, and programmed by Charles Kreitzberg and Kevin Bentley. The game was acquired and produced by Don Daglow and published by Electronic Arts in 1986 for the Commodore 64, Apple II and PC systems.

Related Topics:
Text adventure - Computer game - Cognetics Corporation - Thomas M. Disch - Charles Kreitzberg - Kevin Bentley - Don Daglow - Electronic Arts - 1986 - Commodore 64 - Apple II - PC

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The game's major innovation was that in addition to being a text adventure it was also a sim game: the action took place in a model of the streets of Disch's Manhattan that covered every block and street corner south of 110th Street. Players moved from place to place on foot, and had to reach destinations at the correct time of day to initiate plot developments. Stores opened and closed at the correct times, street lights went on, and other aspects of New York life were simulated.

Related Topics:
Sim game - Manhattan - New York

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Amnesia also featured the ironic, rich writing style of Disch himself, in distinct contrast to the functional or tongue-in-cheek tone of most text adventures. Disch is the only major writer to create an entirely original feature-length piece of interactive fiction. Sadly, over half of the original text Disch created for the game had to be cut from the published version due to the storage limitations of the then-current 5.25" floppy disk technology.

Related Topics:
Interactive fiction - Floppy disk

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One of the last major text-based games published by a major games company other than Infocom, Amnesia is also the only text adventure ever published by EA. Although highly praised upon its release for its writing style, the game was only a moderate success. The category was subsequently pushed off the shelves by graphic adventures, as publishers concluded that more powerful computers and monitors made text-only games obsolete. As evidence of this, Activision ceased all production of text adventures from its Infocom line in 1989, and later tried to extend the Infocom franchises with a high-budget graphical game, Return to Zork, (1993).

Related Topics:
Infocom - Graphic adventures - Computers - Monitors - Activision - 1989 - Return to Zork - 1993

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Disch also wrote a screenplay based on the game's characters and story line and it was optioned to one of the major Hollywood studios, but the film was never made.

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