Imogen (game)
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Imogen is a computer game released in 1986, originally only for the BBC Micro. It was written by Michael St Aubyn and published by Micro Power. It was reissued as the lead game of Superior Software / Acornsoft's Play It Again Sam 5 compilation in 1987 when it was also converted for the Acorn Electron. It is a platform game featuring puzzles.
The player took the role of a wizard — named Imogen (usually a female name) — who, according the backstory, lost his mind and forgot his identity as a result of transforming himself into a dragon to save his town from another dragon. He is placed into a dungeon within a mountain and in order to escape he must utilize magic and puzzle-solving abilities he was previously aware of as his former self. The upshot is that he will only be free once he is back to his old, sane self and no longer a danger to the townsfolk.
The game featured sixteen levels which are played in a random order. To complete a level, Imogen needs to obtain a crystal which will warp him to the next level or, after all sixteen have been completed, to the outside world, thus completing the game. The crystals are always placed somewhere inaccessible at the outset of the level, and obtaining the crystals requires some lateral thinking on behalf of the player.
Imogen himself is able to transform into three different forms, each with an ability unavailable to the other two;
- His natural form as a human wizard, which can use various objects he picks up along the way (which are as varied as a revolver, watering can and tulip bulb.)
- A cat, which can leap long distances
- A monkey, which can climb ropes
Each level requires transforming back and forth between the forms to complete it. It is impossible for the player to actually die during the game, but the challenge lies in only having a limited number of transformations, which means the player must plan ahead. Changing back and forth between the forms unnecessarily may result in Imogen still stuck within the dungeon with no more transformations left. In such a case, restarting the game is required, although the game did offer codes after the completion of each level. Entering them on the menu screen enabled the player to partly take up where they previously left off. This was at a time when the ability to save games was rare on computers.
A freeware remake for Windows was made in 2003 (see below.)
