Maupiti Island (game)

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Maupiti Island

Developer(s)	Lankhor
Publisher(s)	Lankhor
Distributor(s)	Lankhor
Designer(s)	Sylvian Bruchon, Dominique Sablons, André Bescond
Release date(s)	1990
Genre(s)	Adventure game
Mode(s)	Single player
Platform(s)	Amiga, Atari ST, PC CGA, EGA, VGA
Media	floppy disks
Input	keyboard, mouse

Maupiti Island is a French computer game created in 1990 by Lankhor. It's a point and click adventure game similar to Mortville Manor, its predecessor. The player impersonates a detective attempting to solve a crime by interacting with various characters and collecting clues while further events unveil a complex plot.

1 The Story
2 Technical Aspects
3 Sequel
4 Screenshots
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] The Story

The story takes place in 1954, Jérôme Lange, the detective already featured in Mortville Manor is on a trip to Japan from Madagascar, when a hurricane forces his boat on anchor in a tiny colonial outpost in the Indian Ocean.

(work in progress, to be continued).

[edit] Technical Aspects

Like Mortville Manor, the game featured mostly static graphics (Dominique Sablons) with ambient digitized sounds (André Bescond), speech synthesis (Béatrice Langlois) and a point and click interface with numerous menus for actions and movements.

Time was simulated, moving around the island or purposely waiting would make it pass. Events as well as the presence of the islanders in various locations occurred according to a timed script. Depending on his actions, the player could either witness bits of the ongoing plot directly, or question the characters later on about the new turn of events. The player could also occasionally find himself in the wrong place at the wrong time, resulting in a virtual period of time unconscious, or a nasty and early end to the game.

Interaction was achieved through a large list of possible actions, both with objects found on the various scenes, and with characters of the plot, whom the player had to question, threatening or bribing them if necessary, so as to learn about their whereabout, their relations with the other inhabitants, or elements of the story. Their attitude toward Jérôme Lange would vary from friendly to hostile, sometimes forcing the hero detective out of Maupiti and causing the game to end.

Coupled with a system that was anything but linear - the player was given complete freedom -, critical parts of the plot that were easy to miss, and a complex story to boot, the player was often left wondering what to do next. Many attempts from scratch were needed to complete the game and fully understand fine details of the plot imagined by Sylvian Bruchon.

[edit] Sequel

Sukiya, also by Lankhor was to be a sequel of Maupiti Island and the adventures of Jérôme Lange started in Mortville Manor, however the game was never released due to difficulties within the company and low sales of the game Black Sect. Sukiya was seemingly in an advanced stage when the decision to interrupt development was made.