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Eureka! (computer game)
Encyclopedia
Eureka! is a video game for the Commodore 64
and ZX Spectrum
computers, developed by Ian Livingstone
and published by Domark
in 1984.
Eureka! is a text adventure set in Europe
an history. It consists of five parts, each of which has to be loaded and played separately. The first four parts can be played in any order, but the fifth part can only be played after all the other parts have been completed.
The parts are:
At the start of Modern Caribbean, the game asks questions from each of the first four parts. You have to answer every question correctly to start the fifth part of the game.
The plots in Eureka! are somewhat cliché
d and the parser is very simplistic, usually limited to one verb and one object per command. Some rooms in the game have pictures representing them and sometime small animations.
Unusually for text adventures, Eureka! maintains RPG
-style hit points for your character. These hit points are lowered when your character is injured or raised when he gets something to eat. If the hit points reach 0, your character dies.
Another feature of the game, was the rooms that had a time limit, which meant the player had to act quickly to complete a task or to quickly exit the area.
When the game was originally published, Domark promised a prize of £
25,000 to the first player to solve the entire game before December 31, 1985. The prize was eventually won by Matthew Woodley, a teenager from the UK.
The main text adventure was also accompanied by "arcade game
" versions of the five parts. These were very simple affairs, where your character ran around a Pac-Man
-style maze
avoiding enemies. Apart from the maze layout and the graphics, all five parts were pretty much identical.
At the start of Arthurian Britain the wind blows a theme from Franz Liszt
's Les Préludes.
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 ZX Spectrum
ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd...
computers, developed by Ian Livingstone
Ian Livingstone
Ian Livingstone OBE is an English fantasy author and entrepreneur. He is a co-writer of the first Fighting Fantasy gamebook, The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, and co-founder of Games Workshop....
and published by Domark
Domark
Domark Software was a video games software house based in the United Kingdom. The name was derived from the given names of its founders, Dominic Wheatley and Mark Strachan...
in 1984.
Eureka! is a text adventure set in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an history. It consists of five parts, each of which has to be loaded and played separately. The first four parts can be played in any order, but the fifth part can only be played after all the other parts have been completed.
The parts are:
- Prehistoric Europe: Set in a valley somewhere in the Jurassic period. You have to escape from the valley and avoid hungry dinosaurDinosaurDinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
s. - Ancient Rome: Set in ancient RomeAncient RomeAncient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
somewhere around the 1st or 2nd century BC. You have to escape from slaverySlaverySlavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
and win a horse race at the Circus MaximusCircus MaximusThe Circus Maximus is an ancient Roman chariot racing stadium and mass entertainment venue located in Rome, Italy. Situated in the valley between the Aventine and Palatine hills, it was the first and largest stadium in ancient Rome and its later Empire...
. - Arthurian Britain: Set in medieval BritainEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
during King ArthurKing ArthurKing Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...
's time. You have to foil the evil MordredMordredMordred or Modred is a character in the Arthurian legend, known as a notorious traitor who fought King Arthur at the Battle of Camlann, where he was killed and Arthur fatally wounded. Tradition varies on his relationship to Arthur, but he is best known today as Arthur's illegitimate son by his...
's plans. - Wartime Germany: Set in GermanyGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
during World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. You have to escape a prisoner of warPrisoner of warA prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
camp back to your own country. - Modern Caribbean: Set in the CaribbeanCaribbeanThe Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
in the 1980s. You finally confront your nemesis in his island-based stronghold and have to stop him from conquering the world.
At the start of Modern Caribbean, the game asks questions from each of the first four parts. You have to answer every question correctly to start the fifth part of the game.
The plots in Eureka! are somewhat cliché
Cliché
A cliché or cliche is an expression, idea, or element of an artistic work which has been overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect, especially when at some earlier time it was considered meaningful or novel. In phraseology, the term has taken on a more technical meaning,...
d and the parser is very simplistic, usually limited to one verb and one object per command. Some rooms in the game have pictures representing them and sometime small animations.
Unusually for text adventures, Eureka! maintains RPG
Role-playing video game
Role-playing video games are a video game genre with origins in pen-and-paper role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons, using much of the same terminology, settings and game mechanics. The player in RPGs controls one character, or several adventuring party members, fulfilling one or many quests...
-style hit points for your character. These hit points are lowered when your character is injured or raised when he gets something to eat. If the hit points reach 0, your character dies.
Another feature of the game, was the rooms that had a time limit, which meant the player had to act quickly to complete a task or to quickly exit the area.
When the game was originally published, Domark promised a prize of £
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
25,000 to the first player to solve the entire game before December 31, 1985. The prize was eventually won by Matthew Woodley, a teenager from the UK.
The main text adventure was also accompanied by "arcade game
Arcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
" versions of the five parts. These were very simple affairs, where your character ran around a Pac-Man
Pac-Man
is an arcade game developed by Namco and licensed for distribution in the United States by Midway, first released in Japan on May 22, 1980. Immensely popular from its original release to the present day, Pac-Man is considered one of the classics of the medium, virtually synonymous with video games,...
-style maze
Maze
A maze is a tour puzzle in the form of a complex branching passage through which the solver must find a route. In everyday speech, both maze and labyrinth denote a complex and confusing series of pathways, but technically the maze is distinguished from the labyrinth, as the labyrinth has a single...
avoiding enemies. Apart from the maze layout and the graphics, all five parts were pretty much identical.
At the start of Arthurian Britain the wind blows a theme from Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...
's Les Préludes.