Labyrinth: The Computer Game

Labyrinth: The Computer Game
Developer(s)	Lucasfilm Games Pack-In-Video (MSX2 version)
Publisher(s)	Activision
Designer(s)	Douglas Adams Christopher Cerf Noah Falstein Stephen Arnold Brenda Laurel Charlie Kellner(technical director and lead programmer) David Fox(production manager and programmer) Kevin Furry(programmer)
Artist(s)	Gary Winnick(character animation and background art) Ken Macklin(character animation) James St. Louis(background art)
Composer(s)	David M. Martin, Jr.(music and Commodore version sound)
Platform(s)	Apple IIe and IIc Commodore 64/128 MSX2
Release date(s)	NA 1986 JP 1987

Labyrinth: The Computer Game is a graphic adventure computer game, inspired by the Jim Henson fantasy film, Labyrinth. The game was developed by Lucasfilm Games (now LucasArts) and published by Activision in 1986 for the Apple IIe and IIc, Commodore 64/128, and MSX2. It was the first adventure game to be developed by the LucasArts development house, and as such it can be seen as a more primitive precursor to the development of the SCUMM game engine. It is also one of the few adventure games made by the company to not use a variation of the SCUMM game engine (the other games being the GrimE-based Grim Fandango and Escape from Monkey Island). The game engine and graphics are very similar to a later work by Lucasfilm Games called Habitat.

Gameplay

Labyrinth: The Computer Game is a menu-driven adventure game, played from a third-person perspective. The game begins by asking the player their name and gender, the game then opens as a text-based adventure. During the text-based portion of the game the player goes to the theater to see the film Labyrinth. The movie starts and an image of Jareth comes on the movie screen, after which the game becomes a graphic adventure.

Development

Before the film Labyrinth came out, Lucasfilm Games was offered the opportunity to do a game based on it. Since the film was produced by Lucasfilm, this wasn't too much of a surprise, except it was the first time Lucasfilm Games actually did a game based on a film.

It was decided that a team would fly to London for a week of brainstorming on the design. There they'd meet with Douglas Adams (who is more famous as the author of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series). Members of the team included Steve Arnold (Lucasfilm Games General Manager), Brenda Laurel (Activision producer), Charlie Kellner (Lucasfilm Games lead programmer), David Fox (Lucasfilm Games designer/project leader), Christopher Cerf (writer, known for his work on Sesame Street and other CTW projects, also a friend of Jim Henson's — the writer/director of the film).

Adams had a good many ideas, many of which made their way into the final game, including the suggestion that the game open as a typical text adventure, a genre still popular at the time. Then, when the player gets into the movie theater playing the film, Labyrinth, the screen fills with David Bowie's image, and the player enters the full color universe of the Labyrinth. From that point on, it's a graphic adventure.

The team came up with a "slot machine" text interface to drive the game, rather than typing text like other adventures of the time. There were two vertical strips of words next to each other. The one on the left had verbs (pick up, give, use, etc.), and the one on the right had nouns (objects in your inventory, objects in the vicinity). You chose a word from each to tell the game what to do.

Adams really liked the word "adumbrate", a rather obscure verb meaning "To prefigure indistinctly; foreshadow". So it ended up on the verb list. This obscure word was used in an even more obscure puzzle at one point in the game — you had to "adumbrate the elephant" when you were stuck in a prison, and an elephant would come and break a hole in the wall, freeing you.

Versions

Labyrinth: The Computer Game also received a Famicom version, but with a completely different design and gameplay.

External links

• Labyrinth at MobyGames
• LucasArts Museum
• LucasArts' 20th anniversary retrospective
• Complete FAQ and Walkthrough