Moonmist: Difference between revisions
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==Plot== |
==Plot== |
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The player's character is a young detective, asked by friend Tamara Lynd to investigate her new home of Tresyllian Castle in [[Cornwall, England]]. Tamara has recently become engaged to the castle's lord, Jack Tresyllian. She was very happy until she began seeing what appeared to be The White Lady, a ghost who has allegedly haunted the castle for centuries. As if seeing a ghost wasn't nerve- |
The player's character is a young detective, asked by friend Tamara Lynd to investigate her new home of Tresyllian Castle in [[Cornwall, England]]. Tamara has recently become engaged to the castle's lord, Jack Tresyllian. She was very happy until she began seeing what appeared to be The White Lady, a ghost who has allegedly haunted the castle for centuries. As if seeing a ghost wasn't nerve-racking enough, she's also begun to fear for her life. Is Tamara's imagination just overly excited from living in a large old castle, or is someone really trying to kill her? And if her life is in danger, is it from a ghost or someone using it as a disguise? |
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==Feelies== |
==Feelies== |
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Revision as of 19:10, 2 July 2008
| Moonmist | |
|---|---|
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| Developer(s) | Infocom |
| Publisher(s) | Infocom |
| Designer(s) | Stu Galley |
| Engine | ZIL |
| Platform(s) | Amiga, Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Atari ST, Commodore 64, DOS, TRS-80, TI-99/4A, Macintosh |
| Release | Release 4: September 18, 1986 Release 9: October 22, 1986 |
| Genre(s) | Interactive fiction |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
Moonmist is an interactive fiction computer game implemented by Stu Galley and published by Infocom in 1986. By using Infocom's portable Z-machine, the game was released simultaneously for many popular platforms, including the IBM PC, Apple II, Atari ST and Commodore 64. It is Infocom's twenty-second game.
Plot
The player's character is a young detective, asked by friend Tamara Lynd to investigate her new home of Tresyllian Castle in Cornwall, England. Tamara has recently become engaged to the castle's lord, Jack Tresyllian. She was very happy until she began seeing what appeared to be The White Lady, a ghost who has allegedly haunted the castle for centuries. As if seeing a ghost wasn't nerve-racking enough, she's also begun to fear for her life. Is Tamara's imagination just overly excited from living in a large old castle, or is someone really trying to kill her? And if her life is in danger, is it from a ghost or someone using it as a disguise?
Feelies
To add to players' immersion in the story (as well as a means of copy prevention), Infocom bundled extra items in with each game package. These objects were referred to as feelies. The feelies for Moonmist were:
- A book, The Legendary Ghosts of Cornwall written by Lady Lisbeth Norris, which includes a page dedicated to "The White Lady of Tresyllian Castle"
- Two letters from Tamara Lynd to the player; one explaining Tamara's engagement to Lord Jack Tresyllian and her moving to the castle, and one begging the player to investigate the "White Lady"
- A Visitor's Guide to Tresyllian Castle, a tourist-type brochure providing a history and rough maps
- An iron-on logo of the game's title
Notes
Infocom marketed Moonmist as an "Introductory" level game.
The book included with the package, Legendary Ghosts of Cornwall, had a stamp indicating it had been checked out from the Festeron Town Library. (Festeron was the setting of Wishbringer, another game aimed towards younger or less experienced players.)
The Tresyllian coat of arms as shown on the cover of the visitor's guide bears the motto "Quaerite et Invenietis". This is a Latin phrase that is usually translated as "Seek and ye shall find". The visitor's guide also lists the castle as being in the fictional "Frobzance Cove" in Cornwall. ("Frob" is a word in MIT slang, and appears as a prefix for invented words throughout many of Infocom's works. Here it is most likely playing on 'Penzance Cove', the backdrop of the famous comic opera Pirates of Penzance.)
There are actually four different plot lines in Moonmist, depending on the player's choice of favorite color at the start of the game. This choice determines the identity of the culprit, as well as the locations and identities of the clues and treasure. This variation makes Moonmist more replayable than most text adventures.
Tagline
A ghostly mystery.