Cutthroats (computer game)
Encyclopedia
For the 1999 Windows game of the same name see Cutthroats: Terror on the High Seas
Cutthroats is an interactive fiction
computer game written by Michael Berlyn
and Jerry Wolper and was published by Infocom
in 1984. Like the majority of Infocom's games, it was released for most of the popular computer platforms of the time, such as the Apple II
, DOS
, Commodore 64
and several other platforms. It is Infocom's thirteenth game.
The player's character is a skilled diver scraping to make ends meet. One night, an old shipmate named Hevlin barges in with a map indicating the locations of two previously undiscovered shipwreck
s. Flashing between excitement and paranoia
, Hevlin abruptly leaves, asking the player to safekeep the map. Naturally, the old sailor is murdered as he practically steps from the doorway; someone obviously wants this map quite badly.
As the player attempts to mount a perilous dive for sunken treasure, several characters offer their help. Some of them can be trusted and some can not. Failure to tell the difference between the two can result in an "untimely accident". Successfully making positive contact with the right characters is the only way the player can advance to the actual shipwrecks. Once the dive begins the player must locate and retrieve the treasure from that wreck to complete the game.
Each time the game is played, either the São Vera or the Leviathan is randomly chosen as the wreck to be explored. The other two locations contain no treasure and are red herring
s.
Cutthroats is an interactive fiction
Interactive fiction
Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, describes software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives and as video games. In common usage, the term refers to text...
computer game written by Michael Berlyn
Michael Berlyn
Michael Berlyn is an American computer game designer and writer. He is best known as an Implementor at Infocom, part of the text adventure game design team....
and Jerry Wolper and was published by Infocom
Infocom
Infocom was a software company, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that produced numerous works of interactive fiction. They also produced one notable business application, a relational database called Cornerstone....
in 1984. Like the majority of Infocom's games, it was released for most of the popular computer platforms of the time, such as the Apple II
Apple II
The Apple II is an 8-bit home computer, one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products, designed primarily by Steve Wozniak, manufactured by Apple Computer and introduced in 1977...
, DOS
DOS
DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...
, Commodore 64
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
and several other platforms. It is Infocom's thirteenth game.
Plot
The game takes place in and around the fictional Hardscrabble Island. For centuries, Hardscrabble was a thriving seaport, but the local fishing industry died out in the 1920s. Most of the area's remaining population is an assortment of hard-luck types and people of questionable ethics.The player's character is a skilled diver scraping to make ends meet. One night, an old shipmate named Hevlin barges in with a map indicating the locations of two previously undiscovered shipwreck
Shipwreck
A shipwreck is what remains of a ship that has wrecked, either sunk or beached. Whatever the cause, a sunken ship or a wrecked ship is a physical example of the event: this explains why the two concepts are often overlapping in English....
s. Flashing between excitement and paranoia
Paranoia
Paranoia [] is a thought process believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of irrationality and delusion. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy concerning a perceived threat towards oneself...
, Hevlin abruptly leaves, asking the player to safekeep the map. Naturally, the old sailor is murdered as he practically steps from the doorway; someone obviously wants this map quite badly.
As the player attempts to mount a perilous dive for sunken treasure, several characters offer their help. Some of them can be trusted and some can not. Failure to tell the difference between the two can result in an "untimely accident". Successfully making positive contact with the right characters is the only way the player can advance to the actual shipwrecks. Once the dive begins the player must locate and retrieve the treasure from that wreck to complete the game.
Each time the game is played, either the São Vera or the Leviathan is randomly chosen as the wreck to be explored. The other two locations contain no treasure and are red herring
Red herring (plot device)
Red herring is an idiomatic expression referring to the rhetorical or literary tactic of diverting attention away from an item of significance...
s.
Feelies
Each package of Cutthroats contained the following extra items, which Infocom called "feelies":- True Tales of Adventure, a fictional magazine catering to self-styled adventurers
- Four Shipwrecks off Hardscrabble Island, a fictional book "published" by the Hardscrabble Harbor Historical Society with information on the wrecks of São Vera, H.M.S. Intrangisent, The Fianna and S.S. Leviathan.
- A dive map indicating the locations and depths of the above four ships
- A "supplemental price list" from Outfitters International featuring a tide table. As the equipment available does not appear in list form or in any other reference within the game, the player requires the price list packaged with the game for a successful dive.