<!--
	Title: Two Exciting New Products
	Source: The New Zork Times, v3(4)
	Date: Fall 1984
	Transcription by Steve Derby
-->

## Infocom Introduces Suspect™

> **You’re not sure who’s who. But one thing is certain -—
> someone is dead. And now they’re pointing fingers
> at you.**

In *Suspect*, Infocom's newest mystery game, you'll attend a
murderously grand party that you'll never forget.

The butler is dressed in a gorilla suit. Scores of outrageously
costumed dancers waltz and two-step elegantly in the grand ballroom.
A masked bartender mixes tasty and potent drinks. All around you are the
cream of society –- senators, blueblooded gentry, power brokers, and
the idle rich – dressed as no one has seen them before. Someone has
come as a vampire; someone else as a short, cuddly robot; someone has
even come dressed as a peanut butter sandwich! What a party!

If you walk around the mansion, you'll be impressed by the richness
everywhere. The Sitting Room, the Library, the Morning Room, the Sun
Room –- all are impeccably furnished, bespeaking the wealth and
fine taste of the owners. But the most striking thing you'll see here
tonight is not the crystal chandelier, nor the valuable oriental rug, nor the
spectacularly-clad partygoers.

<figure class="float-right-half">
	<img src="/public/img/articles/nzt-two-exciting-new-products/suspect-packaging.jpg" alt="Suspect packaging">
	<figcaption>All this and more are tastefully tucked into every *Suspect* package.</figcaption>
</figure>

A dead body will be found here tonight, at this party. Strangled, curiously,
with a piece of your costume. You don't know who the murderer
is – you suspect everyone -– but one thing is certain.

*You* are the prime suspect!

In *Suspect*, you are a newspaper reporter and an old friend of Veronica
Ashcroft, the party's hostess. You looked forward to this Hallowe'en
bash and to rubbing elbows with the movers and shakers of
Maryland's hunt country. Little did you know that you would also be
framed for a murder you didn't commit!

Like *Deadline™* and *The Witness™* (Infocom's other games in the
mystery genre), you'll have lots of clues and false leads to wade
through, and alibis and denials to consider. In *Suspect*, though, you're
not the detective (assisted by the able Sergeant Duffy) looking for the
killer. Instead, you're the police's number-one suspect, and you've got
to prove your innocence to Duffy and his boss to stay out of prison.

In every *Suspect* package comes a story disk, the booklet *Murder and
Modern Manners* (describing murder etiquette), your party invitation, your
costume receipt, a note from your editor, an article from *The Maryland
Countryside* (a tony magazine for the upper class), and a business card
with a suspicious message on it.

*Suspect* was written by Dave Lebling, author of *Starcross™* and
co-author of *Zork® I*, *Zork II*, *Zork III*, and *Enchanter™*. It is an
advanced-level game and will sell for $44.95 on most systems.

## Don't Panic!

> **Now you can see the universe the safe, sure, money-saving way with
> THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY™**

Here at Infocom, it would ordinarily not be too surprising for some
random hanger-on, crackpot, or sychophant to get past the Guardians
of Zork and venture forth with the magic words "I have this great idea
for a game...."

Such gratuitous input would generally not be parsed by the gate
keepers who make the decisions around here.

However, if the proposition came from someone with a little writing
experience -– say, with the authorship of some funny books selling in
the millions -– then this would be quite a different story, indeed.

And so it was when Douglas Adams, who for years had smiled
upon Infocom's work, put out a transatlantic feeler, as it were, to
take the pulse of the giant in interactive fiction. The diagnosis was very
favorable. Dr. Marc Blank, the company's vice president, assigned
implementor S. Eric Meretzky to act as midwife for a brand new creation:
Infocom's *The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy*, which is based only
loosely on the novel of the same title.

<figure class="float-left-half">
	<figcaption>All this and more are tastefully tucked into every *Hitchhiker’s Guide* package.</figcaption>
	<img src="/public/img/articles/nzt-two-exciting-new-products/hhgttg-packaging.jpg" alt="Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy packaging">
</figure>

With the teaming up of "bestselling author" Adams and "awardwinning
game designer" Meretzky (*Planetfall™*, *Sorcerer™*) you would
expect, well, at least a halfway decent game, wouldn't you? (See
Footnote.)

Actually, if this hilarious and doomsday vision of the future were
to come to pass, who knows? A *Hitchhiker's Guide* disk might
improbably be recovered among the space junk by some alien race.
These beings, besides possibly recognizing themselves in the story,
would (if the disk would still boot) discover humans to have been highly
skilled in the interactive arts; and, contingent on the physiology to do
so, they would laugh.

The *Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy* is the first Infocom story in
which the player assumes the (rather indistinct) role of a fictional character,
with the mellifluous name of Arthur Dent. But since you are the
author of Arthur's actions, your decisions dictate the movement of
the story.

In the beginning, Arthur (the player) must overcome bewildering
circumstances -– which have encroached on his pastoral home in
England's West Country – to escape his doomed home and, in turn, his
doomed Earth. Up to this point the story line will be similar to that in
the *Hitchhiker's* novel.

Henceforth, you'll encounter characters and locations from the
book appearing in a variety of misadventures written by Adams
expressly for this game. For instance, in the novel there is one fanciful item
of great utility which, however, in the game can be obtained only by
maddeningly humorous Rube Goldberg methods.

In exploring virgin parts of the galaxy, accessing the actual
Hitchhiker's Guide will be essential. The Guide, an electronic device
similar in appearance to a large calculator, is consulted to enlighten
its user on a wide variety of topics ranging from the Ravenous Bugblatter
Beast of Traal to pocket fluff.

Throughout your knocking about the galaxy, it is as if the unique
persona of Adams were lurking in the nether regions of disk accessing,
anticipating your every move and miscue, and delivering the appropriate
rejoinder.

The game packaging provides a number of items to assist the galactic
hitchhiker. A pair of peril-sensitive sunglasses warns you of impending
doom. Copies of the demolition orders for your house and planet
Earth remind you why you're out there in the first place. You're given
a piece of fluff and a microscopic space fleet, as well as the Megadodo
Publications sales brochure for the latest model of the actual Hitchhiker's
Guide. And in case things get out of hand, there's a Don't Panic
button.

The front of The *Hitchhiker's Guide* package says it's a standard-level
game; as such, it will sell for $39.95 on most systems.

<hr>

(Footnote: To say the least.... Here we illustrate just two of the features
new to Infocom games, first appearing in *The Hitchhiker's Guide* game.
The first is the occurrence of footnotes – accessed by typing
FOOTNOTE (number) – -sprinkled throughout the story to enlighten,
clarify, amuse. The second is the player's ability to respond to the
sometimes rhetorical questions posed by the narrative, as seen
above.)

<hr>

*Zork* is a registered trademark of Infocom, Inc. *Enchanter*, *Sorcerer*,
*Starcross*, *Suspended*, *Planetfall*, *Deadline*, *The Witness*, *Suspect*, *Infidel*,
*Seastalker*, *Cutthroats* and *InvisiClues* are trademarks of Infocom, Inc.
*The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy* is a trademark of Douglas Adams.
