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Infidel (computer game)
Encyclopedia
Infidel is an interactive fiction
computer game published by Infocom
in 1983. It was written by Michael Berlyn
and was the first in the "Tales of Adventure" line. Due to Infocom
's virtual Z-Machine
, it was ported to a wide variety of popular computing systems of the day, including the Apple II
and Commodore 64
. It is Infocom's tenth game.
that her archeologist father never found. Egotistical and greedy for fame, the assistant tells Rose that he's capable of taking the job and decides to cut out Craige altogether.
In 1916, Dr. Ellington came into possession of a 5000-year-old fragment of pottery covered with hieroglyphics. (Conveniently for the text-only game, these runes look strangely like ASCII
characters.) After years of painstaking research, Ellington managed to decipher a portion of the text, which indicated the general location of a pyramid that no one had heard of before. He managed to organize a modest expedition to the area in 1920, but found nothing before he died except a small block of limestone bearing the same style of hieroglyphics. According to the partial translation he made, the new fragment spoke of a queen and great riches. When Howard Carter
discovered King Tut
's tomb a few years later, Dr. Ellington's widow figured that someone had found the pyramid her husband had been looking for. She stowed the papers and artifacts away and forgot all about them. Rose found them in the early 1980s after her mother's death and did some preliminary fact-checking. The pyramid indicated by her father's papers is nowhere near Tut's. In fact, no pyramids have ever been discovered in the area Dr. Ellington was investigating. Rose is by no means a rich woman—she only wants someone to give her father the recognition he deserves—so it'll be a modest expedition. But it sure sounds like the perfect chance for an opportunistic soldier-of-fortune to make a big name for himself.
It soon becomes apparent that this adventuring stuff is harder than it looks. The "navigation box", a gadget that seems to be a crude forerunner of a Global Positioning System
unit, is irreparably damaged. A new one is ordered, since locating the pyramid is impossible without it, but weeks slip by waiting for the delivery. The food supplies spoil. The locals recruited to dig are becoming increasingly discontent and demand more money. Terrified of losing control, the would-be adventurer commands the men to continue digging aimlessly, even trying to browbeat them into laboring on a holy day.
As the game begins, the player awakens to realize that he has been drugged by his men, who have stolen most of the equipment and abandoned the camp. All the food and water are gone, and the player has no idea how to get back to civilization. He may very well have been left to die in the barren desert. But the navigation box finally arrives, convincing him that everything will work out as long as he can find the pyramid! Once he does, of course, there is the small matter of the traps the Egyptians set to protect their treasures from plunderers like him...
After the player manages to survive through numerous challenges, many reminiscent of the challenges faced by Indiana Jones
in Raiders of the Lost Ark, he collects several artifacts, presumably of great value. At the very end of the game, he finds the ultimate artifact of the pyramid. However, as he reaches for it, the pyramid collapses around him and the game ends.
Many players felt robbed by this unhappy ending, even for such a greedy and prideful character. However, it is possible to complete the game with a perfect score, return to the entrance of the pyramid, and quit the game. Although there is no ending screen to congratulate the player on a job well done, some consider this player-fashioned ending a more rewarding one.
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 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 1983. It was 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 was the first in the "Tales of Adventure" line. Due to 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....
's virtual Z-Machine
Z-machine
The Z-machine is a virtual machine that was developed by Joel Berez and Marc Blank in 1979 and used by Infocom for its text adventure games. Infocom compiled game code to files containing Z-machine instructions , and could therefore port all its text adventures to a new platform simply by writing a...
, it was ported to a wide variety of popular computing systems of the day, including 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...
and 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...
. It is Infocom's tenth game.
Plot
Among the feelies in the package are several documents that set up the backstory quite nicely. The player's character is a self-styled adventurer and fortune hunter. He's bitter because he thinks his boss, Craige, should treat him as a partner instead of an assistant. A call comes in while Craige is out checking equipment: a woman, Rose Ellington, wants to sponsor an expedition to discover the pyramidPyramid
A pyramid is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge at a single point. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilateral, or any polygon shape, meaning that a pyramid has at least three triangular surfaces...
that her archeologist father never found. Egotistical and greedy for fame, the assistant tells Rose that he's capable of taking the job and decides to cut out Craige altogether.
In 1916, Dr. Ellington came into possession of a 5000-year-old fragment of pottery covered with hieroglyphics. (Conveniently for the text-only game, these runes look strangely like ASCII
ASCII
The American Standard Code for Information Interchange is a character-encoding scheme based on the ordering of the English alphabet. ASCII codes represent text in computers, communications equipment, and other devices that use text...
characters.) After years of painstaking research, Ellington managed to decipher a portion of the text, which indicated the general location of a pyramid that no one had heard of before. He managed to organize a modest expedition to the area in 1920, but found nothing before he died except a small block of limestone bearing the same style of hieroglyphics. According to the partial translation he made, the new fragment spoke of a queen and great riches. When Howard Carter
Howard Carter
Howard Carter may refer to:* Howard Carter , English archaeologist who discovered Tutankhamun's tomb* Howard Carter , American basketball player...
discovered King Tut
Tutankhamun
Tutankhamun , Egyptian , ; approx. 1341 BC – 1323 BC) was an Egyptian pharaoh of the 18th dynasty , during the period of Egyptian history known as the New Kingdom...
's tomb a few years later, Dr. Ellington's widow figured that someone had found the pyramid her husband had been looking for. She stowed the papers and artifacts away and forgot all about them. Rose found them in the early 1980s after her mother's death and did some preliminary fact-checking. The pyramid indicated by her father's papers is nowhere near Tut's. In fact, no pyramids have ever been discovered in the area Dr. Ellington was investigating. Rose is by no means a rich woman—she only wants someone to give her father the recognition he deserves—so it'll be a modest expedition. But it sure sounds like the perfect chance for an opportunistic soldier-of-fortune to make a big name for himself.
It soon becomes apparent that this adventuring stuff is harder than it looks. The "navigation box", a gadget that seems to be a crude forerunner of a Global Positioning System
Global Positioning System
The Global Positioning System is a space-based global navigation satellite system that provides location and time information in all weather, anywhere on or near the Earth, where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites...
unit, is irreparably damaged. A new one is ordered, since locating the pyramid is impossible without it, but weeks slip by waiting for the delivery. The food supplies spoil. The locals recruited to dig are becoming increasingly discontent and demand more money. Terrified of losing control, the would-be adventurer commands the men to continue digging aimlessly, even trying to browbeat them into laboring on a holy day.
As the game begins, the player awakens to realize that he has been drugged by his men, who have stolen most of the equipment and abandoned the camp. All the food and water are gone, and the player has no idea how to get back to civilization. He may very well have been left to die in the barren desert. But the navigation box finally arrives, convincing him that everything will work out as long as he can find the pyramid! Once he does, of course, there is the small matter of the traps the Egyptians set to protect their treasures from plunderers like him...
After the player manages to survive through numerous challenges, many reminiscent of the challenges faced by Indiana Jones
Indiana Jones
Colonel Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr., Ph.D. is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Indiana Jones franchise. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg created the character in homage to the action heroes of 1930s film serials...
in Raiders of the Lost Ark, he collects several artifacts, presumably of great value. At the very end of the game, he finds the ultimate artifact of the pyramid. However, as he reaches for it, the pyramid collapses around him and the game ends.
Many players felt robbed by this unhappy ending, even for such a greedy and prideful character. However, it is possible to complete the game with a perfect score, return to the entrance of the pyramid, and quit the game. Although there is no ending screen to congratulate the player on a job well done, some consider this player-fashioned ending a more rewarding one.
Feelies
Although the inclusion of feelies, or extra items in the game's package, was a relatively new concept at the time of Infidels release, a rich array of documents was provided:- An "Expedition Log" kept by the player's character in the weeks before the game's beginning
- An envelope containing a letter, written to Rose Ellingsworth by the player's character just before the game's beginning
- A "rubbing" and partial translation of Dr. Ellington's limestone fragment from 1920
- A roughly sketched map of the excavation area