History

Oo-Topos was originally published by Sentient Software in 1981 as a text only adventure game. The 1987 re-release added graphical depictions of scenes described by the game's text, which were designed using Penguin Software

Penguin Software

Penguin Software was a video game publisher from Geneva, Illinois that produced graphics software and games for the Apple II, Macintosh, IBM, Commodore 64, Amiga, Atari 8-bit, and Atari ST computers...

's in-house software tool Graphics Magician.

Plot summary

You are the pilot of a space vessel that is carrying important cargo vital to the survival of humanity. You are attacked by space pirates and forced to land on the planet Oo-Topos. After landing you are captured and imprisoned in a fortress on the alien world.

The game begins as you awaken in a cell of the fortress belonging to your captors. You must escape your confinement, retrieve the precious cargo taken from your crashed ship, and get off Oo-Topos with it in order to save the human race from extinction.

Gameplay

As a text adventure game, you input commands to progress. Commands usually involved verbs such as "Go, Get, Put, Shoot, Use, etc." and nouns such as "laser, food, rod, etc." Also, you typed in directions such as "North, South, East, West" to move through areas and rooms within the game. Abbreviations were allowed such as "N, E, W, S."

When entering a new area, the text would give a detailed description of your location and any relevant facts that may or may not help with your progress. This can include objects, living beings, and things.

The drawn in graphics overlaid the text. When actions were performed on objects that were allowed to be manipulated, such as being retrieved, inserted, or dropped. The objects then would appear on screen as manipulated or placed such that it could be retrieved later.

Another feature of the drawn in graphics was after commands were executed some real-time actions were drawn in such as a bright light flash from a laser gun or wearing goggles to "darkened" a room.

Compatible platforms

The 1987 release of Oo-topos supported the Apple II, Commodore 64, Atari ST, Macintosh, and PC.