Planetfall

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Planetfall
Planetfall cover art
Developer(s) Infocom
Publisher(s) Infocom
Designer(s) Steve Meretzky
Engine ZIL
Release date(s) Release 20: July 8, 1983
Release 26: October 14, 1983
Release 29: January 18, 1984
Release 37: October 3, 1985
Solid Gold: May 31, 1988
Genre(s) Interactive fiction
Mode(s) Single player
Platform(s) Amiga, Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, TRS-80, TI-99/4A, Macintosh
Media 3½" or 5¼" disk
System requirements No special requirements
Input Keyboard

Planetfall is a science fiction interactive fiction computer game written by Steve Meretzky and published by Infocom in 1983. Like most Infocom games, thanks to the portable Z-machine, it was released for several platforms simultaneously. The original release included versions for the PC (both as a booter and for DOS) and Apple II. The Atari ST and Commodore 64 versions were released in 1985. Although Planetfall was Meretzky's first title, it proved one of his most popular works and a best-seller for Infocom; it was one of five top-selling titles to be re-released in Solid Gold versions including in-game hints. Planetfall utilizes the Z-machine originally developed for the Zork franchise and was added as a bonus to the "Zork Anthology".

The name Planetfall is a portmanteau of planet and landfall.

Contents

[edit] Plot

The game starts with the user assuming the role of a lowly Ensign Seventh Class on the S.P.S. Feinstein, a starship of the Stellar Patrol. Overbearing superior Ensign First Class Blather assigns the player to mop decks, not exactly the glorious adventures promised by the recruiters on Gallium. But a sudden series of explosions aboard the ship sends the player scrambling for an escape pod, which eventually crash-lands on a nearby planet. There are signs of civilization, but curiously no traces of the beings that once lived there. Eventually encountering a helpful but childlike robot named Floyd, the player must unravel the mysteries of the single deserted structure on the planet, Resida, and find a way to get back home. As the fate of the planet's former inhabitants becomes clearer, a time limit also imposes itself.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The adventurer doesn't remain on S.P.S. Feinstein for long. Talking to the alien ambassador and performing the required task of scrubbing the floor don't accomplish much. Wandering to other parts of the ship merits demerits from Blather and an ultimately fatal run-in with the Brig unless the player returns to work. Soon, an explosion occurs and an escape pod door opens. The pod safety netting breaks the player's fall and an escape kit is produced, which proves critical to survival. With great exertion, the adventurer swims out of the pod and climbs up to a mysterious deserted base.

By putting together various clues, slowly the player realizes that the nearly-uninhabited island is in fact one of the last remaining landmasses on a planet on the verge of destruction. A deadly plague for which no cure existed threatened to kill off all inhabitants of the world. The inhabitants initiated a planetwide project to place everyone under suspended animation while automated systems of robots and computers worked towards finding a cure. Once the cure was found, the inhabitants could be revived.

By the time the player arrives, it is clear that the project is on the edge of success, but the planet itself is on the verge of destruction. The planetary orbit has decayed, leading to massive global warming and an enormous rise in the oceanic levels. Meteorites bombard the planet with ferocious intensity. And the project to find a cure for the plague is itself threatened by the failure of the main computer and repair systems.

Early on in the game, the player finds what at first appears to be the only remaining inhabitant of the island: Floyd, a childish yet endearing robot. Floyd is perhaps the most memorable character in the entire canon of interactive fiction. He is both a constant source of comic relief (e.g. "Oh, boy! Are we going to try something dangerous?" when a player saves the game in his presence), and also critical in advancing the plotline. Once Floyd realizes that the aptly-named ProjCon repair robot Achilles is non-functional, and that the Project is close to completion, he performs the ultimate sacrifice and gives his life to retrieve the vital Miniaturization Card from the Biolab. As Floyd lays dying, the player sings the "Ballad of the Starcrossed Miner" to him (itself an allusion to the earlier Infocom game Starcross). The death of Floyd is often cited as the most emotionally poignant moment in interactive fiction.

The adventurer then uses the Miniaturization Booth to access malfunctioning Relay Station #384 and repairs the main computer by removing an offending speck of dust with a laser. After defeating a giant microbe, the adventurer is informed that the primary Miniaturization Booth is malfunctioning and is rerouted to the Auxiliary Booth. Unfortunately, this puts a room full of mutants between the player and the endgame.

With a biomask and the help of the Laboratory's poison gas system, the player makes it through the Biolab but emerges with the mutants on his tail. However, the adventurer makes it to the Cryo-Elevator which is hidden behind a mural. The elevator takes the adventurer to a secret room where the survivors of the infection were cryogenically frozen, just as the entire facility staff is reanimated by the antidote discovered by the ProjCon Computer. The adventurer is proclaimed a hero, Floyd is repaired, and Blather is demoted. All in all, it is a happy ending.

This can't all be accomplished in just one day. The adventurer must sleep in a Dormitory each night and eat when nature calls. Taking more than a few days causes the adventurer to succumb to the infection which apparently has ravaged the facility unless the antidote is obtained at the underground site. But even taking the antidote only buys a little time as the planet's water level is rising. To achieve the optimum ending, the adventurer also must repair the three Planetary systems: the Communications System, the Planetary Defense System, and the Course Control System.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Feelies

Beginning with 1982's Deadline, Infocom included extra novelty items with their packaged games called feelies. Included with Planetfall was:

  • A Stellar Patrol "Special Assignment Task Force" ID card (about the size and shape of a credit card)
  • 3 interstellar postcards
  • A Stellar Patrol recruiting manual, "Today's Stellar Patrol: Boldly Going Where Angels Fear to Tread"
  • A short diary kept by the player's character (in the Solid Gold release, an in-game object included in the player's starting inventory rather than the packaging)

The level of main character backstory contained in the feelies is a noted departure from the AFGNCAAP endemic to the other games in the Zork genre.

[edit] Notes

Planetfall was designated in Infocom's rating system as a "Standard" difficulty game.

Whereas in traditional Zork games the battery power of the lantern is the limiting factor, Planetfall replaced this element with the somewhat more realistic requirement that the player sleep and eat regularly. The requirement that the adventurer complete the puzzles while returning to the dormitory each night makes the game more difficult, in a way, than the infinite-day format of Zork. Inaccessible dark areas were added to taunt fans of the original Zork games. The only moveable light source, the famous lantern, is in the Radiation Lab, and thus the adventurer dies before even having a chance to see if it works.

The concept of a NPC sidekick (Floyd) was also new for Infocom games. Floyd would follow the player from location to location and interaction with him was required in order to complete the game.

Reaction to Floyd's in-game death was hailed at the time as a telling sign of the emotional power of Infocom's games. Many players, it was widely reported, wept openly at the scene of Floyd's "death". Apparently, it was previously unthinkable that "a simple game" could move people to such a degree.

The success of this game inspired a novel of the same name and a sequel called Stationfall. The 1987 sequel once again incorporated a revived Floyd, but in a slightly less prominent role. Stationfall was much more grim in tone than Planetfall, and did not sell as well as the more light-hearted original.

There are some striking similarities between the concepts of Planetfall (1983) and Space Quest (1986): The protagonist is a space janitor; his ship is destroyed/disabled and he must escape; he crash lands on an alien world and must find a way to escape; and the tone of the game is more humorous than serious.

In the mid-1990s, Activision (which purchased Infocom), had planned on making a graphical sequel called Planetfall: The Search for Floyd[1] or Planetfall 2: Floyd's Next Thing[2], but it was canceled. It promised a "refined storyline by Star Trek: Next Generation" screenwriters.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Screenshots from Planetfall: The Search for Floyd from the INFOCOM Homepage (unofficial fansite)
  2. ^ Page with a mock-up of the cover for Planetfall 2 from the Ye Olde Infocomme Shopoe

[edit] Easter Eggs

The locked door in the Rec Area can be opened with the combination found in the lab uniform. This area can also be accessed by the teleportation booths. However, the item in this room is not critical to completing the game. Many players speculated that the room contained a paddleball set, but this item does not exist outside of the victory scene, when the adventurer is presented with such a set.

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../p/l/a/Planetfall.html"