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	Title: (Come Cast a Spell With Me) Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Leads an Invasion of the Pros
	Author: Roe Adams
	Source: Computer Gaming World, v5(1)
	Date: January 1985
	Transcription by Steve Derby
-->

<img class="float-left" src="/public/img/articles/cgw-hhgttg-review/cast-a-spell-logo.png" alt="Come Cast a Spell With Me logo">

We welcome our new Adventure Game Editor, Roe Adams, to the pages of CGW. "Come
Cast a Spell With Me" is just one of the contributions Roe will be bringing to our readers.

In 1984 companies and machines fell by the wayside with incredible regularity.
Some to thunderous applause, others with silent tears. In retrospect, however, one of
the most significant trends to enter the microcomputer field in 1984 was the debut
of top fiction writers into adventure game designing. In the past, even the best adventure
games have been written by ordinary people (well, not counting Michael Berlyn,
who is, after all, hardly ordinary).

The craft of adventure game designing apparently has matured sufficiently to entice
some of the finest science fiction and fantasy writers to take a fling with a computer.
Alas, for most of these authors, who shall mercifully remain anonymous, the results
can only be described as flops. In some cases, the big-name author contributed only
their illustrious name or perhaps a cursory wave of their hand over the scenario design
in benediction. Other authors were totally mesmerized by computer jargon and surrendered
their talent to the whims of third rate programmers. The resultant quality of
these type of efforts has been mediocre to abysmal. There really is no adequate
substitution for original thinking, clear concepts, and masterful writing. Putting the
name Maserati on a K-car fools only the advertising people.

The two authors who really delved deep into this new and somewhat mysterious
realm of computer adventure games have succeeded with excellent results: Michael
Crichton's AMAZON, published by Tellurium (a.k.a. Trillium, a.k.a. Spinnaker
Software), and Douglas Adams' HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY, published
by Infocom (a.k.a. Grues Unlimited Industrious).

Crichton is famous for writing THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN, and THE TERMINAL
MAN. The entire hi-res adventure game construct is Crichton's from start to finish.
He worked closely with the programmer and the graphics illustrator to ensure that
none of the story nuances were sacrificed. The cohesive manner in which the game's
storyline unfolds reflects Crichton's skill as a writer.

AMAZON is also notable for its use, if sparingly, of beautiful scrolling animation.
The fantastic opening, which scans a massacred jungle campsite, completely
rivets the player. It is so good, that when the game proceeds to the regular static screens,
it is quite a wrench and a lingering feeling of loss. Similar rare animation treats await
the player at strategic spots in the scenario.

The game also represents a new break through in the genre: A book will be published
based upon the scenario, instead of the other way around. AMAZON proves
what Crichton has been quoted as saying, "This is the future of fiction, and it is fun."

<blockquote style="text-align: center; font-family: var(--article-sidebar); font-size: 1.5em">
One of the most significant trends... in 1984 was the debut of top
fiction writers into adventure designing
</blockquote>

Douglas Adams, who emphatically denies being solely responsible for all of
British humor, has approached his undertaking in an entirely different manner. He
sought out the industry's premier adventure game house, Infocom, and suggested a collaboration
to bring forth the computerized version of his international bestseller,
HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY. This book has been a gigantic hit in
book format, television and radio shows, and a not-so-soon to-be-released motion
picture.

Infocom's illustrious grandmasters of game design, Marc Blank and Dave Lebling,
were however busy with other pursuits. Blank was last seen doing death defying
loop the loops in the Grand Canyon, and Lebling was hanging around the Hart Mansion
looking SUSPECT. So, Infocom's hottest second generation game designer,
Steve Meretzky (Planetfall and Sorcerer) got the awesome privilege of working with the
hyperfamous Douglas Adams.

Actually, Meretzky was partly chosen because he is so unflappable and stoic and
not prone to awe or hyperness. He can handle highly volatile humor for long periods
of time without self-destructing. Who else within Infocom's vast corporate (or is it now
Empire-wide) headquarters could have countered Douglas Adams' infamous
multicolored bright ties so effectively and casually? Meretzky's use of differently patterned
1950's Ugly American Hawaiian Dress Shirts was rumored to be responsible
for Adams inventing the peril-sensitive sunglasses (a sample is enclosed with the
game). Watching them work together is inspiring, as they thrust and parry
understatements. Brilliant non sequiturs follow jabs of incongruities. In half an hour
Meretzky and Adams have generated an entire year's worth of outlines for Gallagher.

The game unfolds with all the majestic splendor of Douglas Adams' irreverent
humor, lovingly expounded in great detail. In other words, at first, it is VERY slow going
for the veteran adventure game player. That unfortunate aspect is balanced by the
fact that for any novice wouldbe Douglas Adams fan who has miraculously missed
touching any of the four books, seeing the BBC television series, hearing the radio
show, or tasting the unreleased movie, the beginning of the scenario is highly odorous.
A fast perusal of the first hundred or so pages of the HITCHHIKER book will be
decidedly helpful in grasping the full significance of the mud, the pub, and the
babel fish.

Rumors are circulating that several important people within the industry cannot
(snicker, snicker!!!) even get out of HITCHHIKER'S first room! Seems to be a game
whose players rise to their own level of incompetency. Now that is quite a break
through in design!

The segment that has the babel fish puzzle also marks a significant shift in game
play. Over a breakfast of poached Bugblatter on toast, Douglas Adams confided that the
scenario design was pear shaped: "Just as the player gets comfortable in the narrow
neck, the bottom drops out!" From there on, the adventurer is in for a non-stop roller
coaster of laughs and delicious puzzles.

The range of puzzles is from novice to expert with mast of them falling into the
standard-advanced category. Unlike other authors, Douglas got far into the core of the
game design and worked on the puzzle constructs. So great was the depth of collaboration
between Adams and Meretzky, that it is impossible even for them to decide who
conjured up which puzzles. The scope is certainly impressive. Try to cheer up Marvin,
the manic-depressant robot; search yourself for a small bit of intelligence; fillet
a babel fish; balance a platter of hor d'oeuvres; swim up a pillar of water; take
a screening test; or play Jonah. Does all this sound impossible? Well, no, it is only
improbable!

HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY will undoubtedly be voted as the best
adventure game of either 1984 or 1985, with an honorable mention for its highly imaginative
graphics. Douglas turned down hi-res graphics, animation, laser disk, and
plasma screens as being too staid to fully convey the brilliance of the scenes in the
game. Only Infocom's famous slogan, "Here's MUD(DLE) in your eye!" would
serve as the perfect foil for Douglas's delicate hues and cries.

When he was asked whether he would consider doing a sequel to this game (after
all, he has three other books lying around collecting royalties), Douglas responded, "I
feel the need to branch out into new vistas of creative work, and to explore new frontiers.
I would really like to do another computer adventure, but on a different topic."
The interview ended when I, not so innocently, suggested, "How about Dr. Who?"
Note: Douglas Adams was the script editor for many reincarnations of the long running
British Dr. Who television show.
