<!--
	Title: (Things To Come) Deadline: An Interlogic Mystery
	Source: Softline, v1(4)
	Date: March 1982
	Transcription by Steve Derby
-->

<img class="float-right" src="/public/img/articles/softline-deadline-an-interlogic-mystery/deadline-packaging.jpg" alt="Deadline cover">

Arthur Conan Doyle loved logic, delighted in deduction,
and created a character who took these pleasures of
the mind to the ultimate, all in the service of good. The
means was the solving of mysterious crimes; the medium
was the short story; the result was a new genre of fiction
that would sell more words than any other save the bible:
the mystery. The immortal vehicle for Doyle's expression
was Sherlock Holmes.

In years to come, generations hooked on computer mysteries
may well look back to Marc Blank and Dave Lebling
with the same respect that mystery novel readers have for
Doyle; these two have created the first wholly interactive
mystery for the computer. And it's dynamite.

Before you ever insert the disk, you're likely to be totally
enthralled by *Deadline*, the first episode in a planned series
of Interlogic Mysteries from Infocom, which is Blank and
Lebling. You know these two from *Zork* and *Zork II*; no
lightweights.

**Fingerprints and Fine Print.** Deadline is an honest to
goodness murder mystery, in which you are Sherlock
Holmes, Hercule Poirot, Jane Marple, Nero Wolfe, Mike
Hammer, Adam Dalgliesh — take your pick. It arrives in
packaging unlike any software package preceding it. The
disk comes in a dossier file, full of documentary evidence —
establishing your beginning point in the mystery.

Opening the dossier reveals an introductory letter to
you — the chief inspector — from the victim's attorney. An
apparent suicide, businessman and philanthropist Marshall
Robner had been under extreme stress because of the failing
fortunes of his twenty-five-year-old company. His partner
was urging a merger with a larger, stronger firm. In addition,
Robner was constantly worried about his ne'er-do-well son
George; he had spoken to the attorney very recently about
drawing up a new will, a task that was to have been consummated
this week.

Other documents are a lab report, an official police photograph
of the victim as found, an envelope of tablets found
near the body, a medical examiner's report, suspects' fingerprints,
and transcripts of interviews with each of the
people vitally concerned with Robner, most of whom were
present in the house at the time of death.

Also included is the *Deadline* Inspector's Casebook. This
is the documentation for the game, but never does it step
out of character. As in *Zork*, you can use full sentences with
*Deadline*; in fact, the vocabulary is greatly expanded. The
casebook explains how to interrogate witnesses and suspects,
how to accuse, how to make transcripts of conversations
and documents you find — you can print out any
segment of your game playing or all of it. It tells you how
to have things analyzed in the police lab (Sergeant Duffy
is never far away) and how to handle evidence. You can
examine carefully, a time-consuming process, or wait for
things, and if something goes on within the range of your
senses while you're so occupied, you have the option to
quit examining or waiting and deal with the event of the
moment.

**The Time for Crime.** You have just twelve hours to solve
the mystery. A clock is constantly on screen letting you
know just where you are. Time is important: you need to
he in particular places at particular times. At the outset,
you know of only one of these; the will reading is set for
noon. As you play, you'll learn that other characters are
going about their business despite your presence. Sometimes,
you'll want to be privy to that business. Sometimes,
you won't care.

For example, at a certain time, the housekeeper makes
her rounds. If you haven't gotten to a particular place before
her, you'll never see an important piece of evidence,
because she'll take it away — quite innocently. On the other
hand, at a certain point, the deceased's secretary goes into
her bathroom to brush her hair. You could care less. But
the delight is that she does it, that everyone is doing something
all the time, regardless of you.

Of course, certain things you may choose to do will
change others' behavior; but, until you do such things, the
people of *Deadline* pay little attention to you.

There are many endings possible in the *Deadline* case,
hut only one ending reflects the perfect solution, the one
in which all the pieces fit. You may even make the appropriate
arrest and still achieve a less than perfect ending
because some stone is unturned. When you do solve it all,
you're offered an authors' summary of the progression of
events.

At worst, a second murder occurs — yours. Next to that
in bad endings is a second murder that isn't yours. Short
of these, you can elicit cool thanks for what help you did
give or you can get yourself fired. It all depends on you.

**The Perfect Setup.** *Deadline* incorporates all the finesse
in programming we've come to expect from Infocom. Saving
is simple and quick with accommodation for eight different
saves; it does require a separate disk and it will take
advantage of two disk drives if you have them. One is no
problem though.

During play, you can repeat a command by typing merely
"," again, and you can use the escape-I, J, K, and M to
retrace something you've written before if you want to
change it just a bit.

The logic is impeccable, as is the progression of events
you are capable of setting in motion. You must set certain
ones in motion to win.

Appealing is the idea of a free evening in which you're
comfortably ensconced in an overstuffed wing chair before
a flickering fire, sipping fine wine and tasting the rare
essence of Conan Doyle. Hercule Poirot liked the notion
so much that he chose this setting as the one from which
to solve many of his cases.

But better still is the pleasure of sitting on the edge of
your computer-desk chair unraveling the mystery yourself.
This is the pleasure of *Deadline*. Stake out a spot at your
dealer's door before opening on the day this package is
expected to arrive; you'll want to be first in your neighborhood
to meet *Deadline*.