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. David Seuss, the founder and CEO of Spinnaker Software.

History

C. David Seuss founded Trillium Corporation as a subsidiary of Spinnaker Software, the company that he was already the CEO and founder of. Within the first year of its foundation the original name, Trillium, was changed to Telarium due to legal issues presented by a book publisher. Telarium exclusively released adventure games with the exception of Shadowkeep, which was a role-playing game. The games were based on books, and the development of each game led to cooperation between the software developers and the authors. The first author who was consulted was the famous science fiction novelist, Michael Crichton, who collaborated on the development of Telarium's Amazon game, which was loosely based on Crichton's book Congo.

Adventure games

Telarium published eight

adventure game An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and/or Puzzle video game, puzzle-solving. The Video game genres, genre's focus on story allows it to draw ...

s. The games belonged to the genre of

interactive fiction '' Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, is 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, either in the ...

with graphics. One game (Shadowkeep) was also a

role-playing video game A role-playing video game (commonly referred to as simply a role-playing game or RPG, as well as a computer role-playing game or CRPG) is a video game genre where the player controls the actions of a character (or several party members) immers ...

. They were based on works of literature in the

literary genres A literary genre is a category of literature. Genres may be determined by literary technique, setting tone, tone, Content (media), content, or length (especially for fiction). They generally move from more abstract, encompassing classes, which a ...

of science fiction, fantasy, crime fiction and legal drama. Often they were developed in cooperation with established writers. The game development was a part of Spinnakers marketing strategy in the adventure game market in the 1980s: Adventure games by Telarium were targeted at grown-up players, while those by

Windham Classics Windham Classics Corporation was a subsidiary of Spinnaker Software. The corporation was founded in 1984 and went defunct circa 1985/86 or later. The headquarters were in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. Adventure games Windham Classics publishe ...

–another Spinnaker subsidiary–were targeted at children. The development was managed by

Seth Godin Seth W. Godin is an American author and former dot com business executive. Background After leaving Spinnaker in 1986, he used $20,000 in savings to found Seth Godin Productions, primarily a book packaging business, out of a studio apartment in ...

. *'' Amazon'', 1984 (written by

Michael Crichton John Michael Crichton (; October 23, 1942 – November 4, 2008) was an American author and filmmaker. His books have sold over 200 million copies worldwide, and over a dozen have been adapted into films. His literary works heavily feature tech ...

, partly based upon his novel

Congo Congo or The Congo may refer to either of two countries that border the Congo River in central Africa: * Democratic Republic of the Congo, the larger country to the southeast, capital Kinshasa, formerly known as Zaire, sometimes referred to a ...

) *'' Fahrenheit 451'', 1984 (developed in cooperation with Ray Bradbury and based upon his science fiction novel Fahrenheit 451. Bradbury contributed a sequel to the game) *'' Rendezvous with Rama'', 1984 (developed in cooperation with

Arthur C. Clarke Sir Arthur Charles Clarke (16 December 191719 March 2008) was an English science-fiction writer, science writer, futurist, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host. He co-wrote the screenplay for the 1968 film '' 2001: A Spac ...

and based upon his science fiction novel Rendezvous with Rama. Clarke contributed a different ending to the game) *''

Dragonworld ''Dragonworld'' is a 1994 American direct-to-video family fantasy film directed by Ted Nicolaou. It is the third film to be released by Moonbeam Entertainment, the family video division of Full Moon Entertainment. Plot Set in modern times, a you ...

'', 1984 (written by Byron Preiss and Michael Reaves, based upon their fantasy novel ''Dragonworld'') *''

Shadowkeep Shadowkeep are an English heavy metal band formed in Guildford in 1999 by guitarists Chris Allen (ex-Intense and Sire) and Nikki Robson (also formerly of Sire). History Early recordings In October 1999, Shadowkeep recorded their debut ...

'', 1984 (first video game to be

novelised A novelization (or novelisation) is a derivative novel that adapts the story of a work created for another medium, such as a film, TV series, stage play, comic book or video game. Film novelizations were particularly popular before the advent ...

: Shadowkeep, Warner Books 1984 by Alan Dean Foster). *'' Perry Mason: The Case of the Mandarin Murder'', 1985 (based upon the fictional defense attorney Perry Mason, authored by Erle Stanley Gardner) *''

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) ...

'' (based upon the fantasy novels ''

'' and ''

The Guns of Avalon ''The Guns of Avalon'' is fantasy novel by American writer Roger Zelazny, the second book in the '' Chronicles of Amber'' series. The book continues straight from the previous volume, ''Nine Princes in Amber'', although it includes a recapitulati ...

'' by Roger Zelazny) *''

The Scoop The Scoop is an outdoor amphitheatre situated on the south side of the River Thames near Tower Bridge in London, located next to City Hall, providing seating for approximately 800 people. Designed by Townshend Landscape Architects, it is a venue ...

'', written 1986 and rerelased by Spinnaker Software 1989 (based upon the detective serials The Scoop and Behind the Screen by

Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictiona ...

''et al.'') Two more adventure games were announced, but not published (''Starman Jones'', based on a science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein, and ''The Great Adventure'', based on a science fiction novel by Philip Jose Farmer).

Reception

The Telarium adventures received critical acclaim. They were praised for the prime quality text, the detailed graphics and the interactive opportunities. The cooperation with famous writers like Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke and Michael Crichton was accentuated as a special feature of Telarium.William V. Costanzo: ''The electronic Text: Learning to write, read and reason with computers''. Educational Technology Publications 1989, Chapter ''A brief History of Interactive Fiction'', p.67f.

Notes

External links

Telarium
at

MobyGames MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes nearly 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms. The site is supported by banner ads and a small ...

TrilliumTelarium
at ''Museum of Computer Adventure Game History'' by Howard Feldman

at ''The Interactive Fiction Collector's Guide'' by Manuel Schulz

at ''Adventureland'' by Hans Persson and Stefan Meier {{Telarium 1984 establishments in Massachusetts 1987 disestablishments in Massachusetts American brands American companies established in 1984 American companies disestablished in 1987 Companies based in Cambridge, Massachusetts Defunct companies based in Massachusetts Defunct video game companies of the United States Video game companies established in 1984 Video game companies disestablished in 1987 Video game development companies Video game publishing brands