''Amnesia'' is a

text adventure Interactive fiction (IF) is software simulating environments in which players use text Command (computing), commands to control Player character, characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narrati ...

written by

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

author

Thomas M. Disch Thomas Michael Disch (February 2, 1940 – July 4, 2008) was an American science fiction writer and poet. He won the Hugo Award for Best Related Book—previously called "Best Non-Fiction Book"—in 1999. He had two other Hugo nominations and n ...

and programmed by Kevin Bentley. It was published by

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by former Apple Inc., Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry ...

in 1986 for

IBM PC compatible An IBM PC compatible is any personal computer that is hardware- and software-compatible with the IBM Personal Computer (IBM PC) and its subsequent models. Like the original IBM PC, an IBM PC–compatible computer uses an x86-based central p ...

s (as a

self-booting disk A self-booting disk is a floppy disk for home computers or personal computers that loads directly into a standalone application when the system is turned on, bypassing the operating system. This was common, standard, on some computers in the lat ...

) and

Apple II Apple II ("apple Roman numerals, two", stylized as Apple ][) is a series of microcomputers manufactured by Apple Computer, Inc. from 1977 to 1993. The Apple II (original), original Apple II model, which gave the series its name, was designed ...

. A Commodore 64 version was released in 1987. Disch's ironic, rich writing style is in distinct contrast to the functional or tongue-in-cheek tone of most text adventures. Over half of Disch's novel-length manuscript had to be cut from the published version to fit on a 5¼"

floppy disk A floppy disk or floppy diskette (casually referred to as a floppy, a diskette, or a disk) is a type of disk storage composed of a thin and flexible disk of a magnetic storage medium in a square or nearly square plastic enclosure lined with a ...

Gameplay

The game begins as the player's character awakens in a midtown

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

hotel room with absolutely no memory. He has no clothes and no money, and does not even remember what he looks like. The character soon discovers he is engaged to a woman he cannot remember, a strange man is trying to kill him, and the state of

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

wants him for murder. From here, the player must unravel the events in his life that led him to this point. In addition to being a text adventure, the game simulates life in

. Disch's model covered every block and street corner south of 110th Street. A hard-copy map of the streets and subways of Manhattan is included in the packaging. Players move from place to place on foot, and have to reach destinations at the correct time of day to initiate plot developments. Stores open and close at the correct times, street lights turn on, and other aspects of

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

life are simulated. Almost 4000 separate Manhattan locations, including 650 streets, are part of the game.

Development

Programmer Kevin Bentley implemented the game using the King Edward Adventure game authoring system developed by James Terry. Terry's system was written in an

version of the Forth (programming language), Forth programming language named Atila. He brought Atila and King Edward to the IBM PC and Commodore 64 so ''Amnesia'' could run on those systems. The game was acquired and game producer, produced by Don Daglow of Electronic Arts.

Reception

Scorpia (journalist), Scorpia of ''

Computer Gaming World ''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American Video game journalism, computer game magazine that was published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 199 ...

'' described the game as being "too much like a novel", giving as example the need to answer the phone in the hotel room. The review also noted the main character would collapse after an unrealistically short amount of time if he didn't eat or sleep frequently. Charles Ardai called ''Amnesia'' "a brilliant, witty, and intriguing story", however, and stated that "the text is so rich and the story so interesting that one hardly notices that this is probably the least interactive piece of interactive fiction ever made". ''

Compute! ''Compute!'' (), often stylized as ''COMPUTE!'', is an American home computer magazine that was published from 1979 to 1994. Its origins can be traced to 1978 in Len Lindsay's ''PET Gazette'', one of the first magazines for the Commodore PET. ...

'' stated that the combination of Disch's writing and Electronic Arts' software "makes ''Amnesia'' a text adventure well worth exploring".

Legacy

''Amnesia'' is the all-text adventure published by EA. Disch wrote a

screenplay A screenplay, or script, is a written work produced for a film, television show (also known as a '' teleplay''), or video game by screenwriters (cf. ''stage play''). Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of w ...

based on the game's characters and story line and it was optioned to one of the major

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

studios, but the film was never made.

References

External links

*
Link to Disch's full manuscript for ''Amnesia''
at ascii.textfiles.com
''Amnesia'' packaging and artwork for Apple IIC
with a link to Disch's original manuscript * {{DEFAULTSORT:Amnesia (Video Game) 1986 video games 1980s interactive fiction Apple II games Commodore 64 games Electronic Arts games Video games set in New York City Video games set in the United States Video games about amnesia Video games written in Forth Works by Thomas M. Disch Single-player video games