''Nine Princes in Amber'' is an

interactive fiction 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 ...

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

with graphics. The game was published by

Telarium Telarium Corporation (formerly Trillium) was a brand owned by Spinnaker Software. The brand was launched in 1984 and Spinnaker was sold in 1994. The headquarters were located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. The President of Telarium was C. Da ...

, a subsidiary of

Spinnaker Software Spinnaker Software Corporation was an American software and video game company. Founded in 1982 by Bill Bowman and C. David Seuss, it was known primarily for its line of non-curriculum based educational software, which was a major seller during ...

, in 1985. The game is based upon the

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

novels ''

Nine Princes in Amber ''Nine Princes in Amber'' is a fantasy novel by American writer Roger Zelazny, the first in the ''Chronicles of Amber'' series. It was first published in 1970, and later spawned a computer game of the same name. The first (Doubleday hardcover) ...

'' and '' The Guns of Avalon'' by

Roger Zelazny Roger Joseph Zelazny (May 13, 1937 – June 14, 1995) was an American fantasy and science fiction writer known for his short stories and novels, best known for '' The Chronicles of Amber''. He won the Nebula Award three times (out of 14 nominatio ...

Gameplay

The single-player adventure is controlled via typed keyboard commands. Words and sentences are entered in a

text parser {{Refimprove, date=August 2007 In adventure games, a text parser takes typed input (a command) from the player and simplifies it to something the game can understand. Usually, words with the same meaning are turned into the same word (e.g. "take" a ...

. The player uses action commands (e.g. take, sit) and communication commands (e.g. ask, demand, hug) for the interaction with

non-player character A non-player character (NPC) is a character in a game that is not controlled by a player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaster (or referee) rather than by a ...

s. There are 40 different possible solutions to end the game.

Plot

The plot takes place in a fictional fantasy world. The player prince Corwin is the son of King Oberon, who rules the kingdom of Amber. Corwin wants to become king, but his eight brothers, especially his brother Eric, are also interested in the throne of Amber. Prince Corwin must escape assassination attempts and intrigues enacted by his siblings, and yet must forge alliances with some of his siblings to become the reigning king of Amber.

Development

The adventure has static 2d graphics, a theme song and sound effects. It was implemented for the

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in ...

DOS DOS (, ) is a family of disk-based operating systems for IBM PC compatible computers. The DOS family primarily consists of IBM PC DOS and a rebranded version, Microsoft's MS-DOS, both of which were introduced in 1981. Later compatible syste ...

Atari ST Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the company's Atari 8-bit computers, 8-bit computers. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985, and was widely available i ...

MSX2 MSX is a standardized home computer architecture, announced by ASCII Corporation on June 16, 1983. It was initially conceived by Microsoft as a product for the Eastern sector, and jointly marketed by Kazuhiko Nishi, the director at ASCII Cor ...

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 ...

. The MSX2 version is a translation into Spanish ("Nueve Principes en Amber") with new illustrations. The game is based upon the fantasy novels ''

'' (Doubleday (publisher), Doubleday 1970) and '' The Guns of Avalon'' (Doubleday 1972) by

. It was developed by a group of 20 people at Spinnaker Software and published by Telarium (1985). The design, writing, and game coding was done by Andrea Bird.

Reception

In 1986, a German reviewer called ''Nine Princes in Amber'' a precious adventure ("Edel-Adventure"). He praised the intelligent writing, the suspenseful storyline and the text parser. In 2006, a study about the history of interactive fiction maintained, that on the one hand, Nine Princes in Amber "is not a bad game – in fact, it is one of Telarium’s best, and working out the conversational 'puzzles' can actually be oddly satisfying at times", but on the other hand, the authors "seemed to be aiming so much higher." They wanted to create a very ambitious gameplay. Due to hardware constraints in the 1980s and general limitations of character interaction in interactive fiction, they were not able to actualize this aim completely. In 1987, ''

Antic Alphanumeric Television Interface Controller (ANTIC) is an LSI ASIC dedicated to generating 2D computer graphics to be shown on a television screen or computer display. Under the direction of Jay Miner, the chip was designed in 1977–1978 b ...

'' stated that the game had "uneven plot pacing and content ranging from the exciting to the banal". The magazine criticized the

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manch ...

from 8-bit computers not fully using the Atari ST's more powerful graphics and sound, and "substandard"

. The reviewer described the game as "essentially a computerized '

Classics Illustrated ''Classics Illustrated'' is an American comic book/magazine series featuring adaptations of literary classics such as '' Les Misérables'', ''Moby-Dick'', ''Hamlet'', and '' The Iliad''. Created by Albert Kanter, the series began publication ...

' adaptation of the books rather than an adventure game in the

Infocom Infocom, Inc., was an American software company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that produced numerous works of interactive fiction. They also produced a business application, a relational database called ''Cornerstone (software), Cornerston ...

or even

Scott Adams Scott Raymond Adams (born June 8, 1957) is an American author and cartoonist. He is the creator of the ''Dilbert'' comic strip and the author of several nonfiction works of business, commentary, and satire. Adams worked in various corporate r ...

tradition", stating that he finished it in "about two (interrupted) hours". After completing the game, he found that reloading

saved game A saved game (also called a game save, savegame, savefile, save point, or simply save) is a piece of digitally stored information about the progress of a player in a video game. From the earliest games in the 1970s onward, game platform hardw ...

s to see another of the 40 endings was interesting. The reviewer concluded "this game comes up short. It's simply not interesting or well-executed enough to be recommended", suggesting that readers buy '' The Pawn'' instead.

More reviews

* ''

Casus Belli A (; ) is an act or an event that either provokes or is used to justify a war. A ''casus belli'' involves direct offenses or threats against the nation declaring the war, whereas a ' involves offenses or threats against its ally—usually one bou ...

'' #37 (April 1987)

References

External links

*
''Nine Princes in Amber''
at Museum of Computer Adventure Game History * * * {{Telarium 1980s interactive fiction 1985 video games Apple II games Atari ST games Commodore 64 games DOS games Interactive fiction based on works MSX2 games Single-player video games Telarium games Video games based on novels Video games developed in the United States