The Ultimate Haunted House

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Gahan Wilson's The Ultimate Haunted House

Developer(s)	Byron Preiss Multimedia
Publisher(s)	Microsoft Home
Designer(s)	Gahan Wilson
Engine	Macromedia
Release date(s)	1994
Genre(s)	Adventure game
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	Ages 8 - 12
Platform(s)	Macintosh, Microsoft Windows
Media	CD (1)
Input	Mouse

Gahan Wilson's The Ultimate Haunted House is a computer adventure game published by Byron Preiss Multimedia and directed by Judson Rosebush. The game is designed by Walt Freitag and Barbara Lanza and published in 1994. The game places the player in the middle of a bizarrely humorous and eerie haunted house populated by Wilson's wacky characters. The player must explore 13 rooms and find 13 hidden keys before 13 hours on the mystery clock run out.

Game play consists of interacting with the a cast of ghoulish residents who populate the house and move about it, and in collecting and exchanging an inventory of items with them. All of the main characters, as well as the house itself, contain artificial personalities that react to the actions of the player; the moody characters and the opportunity to explore the house in any order creates infinite replayability. Dozens of activities and puzzles embedded in the game also have consequences. These activities include a monster assembly lab, monster movies in the screening room, cooking a concoction in the kitchen, composing an organ tune, and other traditional puzzle games adapted to the computer. The game contains many clever voices and the opening tune "Monster Mash".

The following is a block of promotion copy for the game:

Come join the cast of characters in Gahan Wilson's The Ultimate Haunted House. Enjoy wandering through the 13 mysterious rooms and participating in wacky activities. You will meet weird characters and maybe even make one yourself. Try baking with your favorite disgusting ingredients in the kitchen and visit the dancing cockroaches in the bathroom. Take a break and watch TV or one of the movies. But don't forget to find the 13 keys and escape... or you may be trapped in the house forever!

A cast of characters populate the house and make appearances throughout in the game. These include Frankenstein, a vampiress, a two-headed monster, a mad scientist, and a kid (transported there by the mad scientist's lab ray). Gahan Wilson is a ghost in the game, but there are two Gahans: one good, one evil, and deciphering which is which is one of the elements of game play. The thirteen rooms include a menagerie, kitchen, foyer, torture chamber, the monster lab, the screening room, the game room, a library, an attic, a bathroom, a basement hallway, a music room, and an art gallery. There are also a variety of monsters whose interaction with the player is limited to placing curses upon them.

1 The Characters
2 Playing the Game
3 Guided tour
4 Game Credits

[edit] The Characters

These are the mobile inhabitants residing inside the house that the player can talk to and swap items with. Although nice to begin with--bad choices may lead to meeting all of them--none are to be completely trusted. Voiced by: Dennis Daniel

Gahan Wilson

The house's deceased owner. Named after the game's conceptual artist. His first appearance is in the foyer as he gives you your mission. He may appear evil or good at times depending on the current affect "formula 428" has had on him. He wants the scroll of 13 o'clock really badly--but both Gahan's have a different use for the item. Be careful.

Byron Price

A child transported into the house using the ray in the Monster Lab by Doctor Synthesis. Named after the game's publishing company's founder. He is a fragile child that does not want to see disgusting things or else he feels faint. You should not trust his hands with a dart--hurting himself in this manner may take away his innocent personality. He prefers toys and musical instruments to play with. It is lucky to have him around as he often warns you if a monster may shortly enter the room.

Countess Vena Cava

The vampiress resides inside the house to avoid the sun. Although, named after veins she strongly dislikes vain people--this is what causes her disliking of mirrors--so it is a bad idea to give them to her, as she will break them and leave the bad luck for you to take! She prefers body parts, sources of blood and musical instruments to dance to. She is most cooperative during the day but more vicious at night as feasting time is drawing closer.

Doctor Synthesis

On the run from the law, this mad scientist resides in the Monster Lab with his clumsy assistant Igor. Named after the chemistry term, this rather aggressive character prefers body parts, and useful inventions for his daily needs and experiments. His theory is that if you damage or disrupt the house, it becomes angry and dangerous. He really dislikes children.

Frankenstein

Based on and named after the classic fictional character, Frankenstein is a rather innocent creature if you create him. But if Evil Gahan creates him, he's not so cooperative. He prefers forms of electricity and a lower order life blob as far as items go. However, breakable items are strictly not to be given to him or else he may break out into a rage. To create him, you need to assemble him in the monster lab along with a brain, heart, jar of blood and a clockworks.

Herbert and Chauncey

This double-headed monster carries double the appetite. Acting as the house's second garbage disposal after the living bin in the kitchen, they eat almost all of your items. Mostly disgusting filth and body parts. Very talkative and vocal creatures- they may also taunt you with self-composed songs.

The Monsters These are the mobile inhabitants in the house that remain silent until they attack. Mostly appearing at night, your bad choices may awaken them.

The Blob

The result of home cooking gone bad. Overusing or abusing the cooking pot in the Kitchen may result in the creation of this monster. Once awakened, it may also hide in the chest in the Attic, ready to attack a helpless victim.

The Claw Creature

Not much is known about this mysterious monster. Other than--if you see it, you better be seeing the door to the next room instantly.

The Gorilla

A rather upset beast. Making much noise or shocking the gorilla in the Menagerie with your electrical prod may lead to a jail break and a game of cat and mouse later.

The Hangman

'It's just a game' should not be your attitude when playing Hangman in the Game Room. Constant abuse towards the host of the game may lead to his revenge.

The Shark

Swimming on land isn't a problem for this creature. It prefers to swim around the victim before attacking shortly later. Polluting the grown fish in the fish tank inside the Menagerie will lead to Jaws music being played sooner or later.

The Zombie

The deceased creature walks again throughout the house. It is best not to open the coffin at times in the Wreck Room or else you may disturb its rest. Once awakened, it may also hide in the trunk in the Attic, ready to attack a helpless victim (possibly you).

[edit] Playing the Game

Move around the House by clicking the entrance to each room. Some entrances are obvious, and some are concealed.

Interact with the house as much as possible by clicking anything and by dragging movable objects to characters and objects in each room.

Drag items in your carpetbag to characters and things to see if they will take them. Try giving them several items: you may get something back. It can take more than one item to get an item in return. Don't be afraid to use up items. (You'll find or get more later.)

It's good to give characters something from your bag, or click them to get advice. When you give away an item you may get something in return. If you don't, keep trying. Though the items that characters want will change from game to game, the characters' personalities stay the same. Learn what makes them angry, and what gets them to give you things.

Some monsters will try to get you. Learn to recognize them, and run away!

When you find items you can drag, try to drag them into your bag. The bag will appear in every room. Anything you put inside will stay in the bag and can be dragged out and used anywhere.

Put items in places where they might be useful.

Some things you can drag are room items, which won't go into the carpet bag. You can use them in the room where they appear, but you can't take them with you.

[edit] Carpetbag

The carpetbag is where you store items as you move between rooms. Items in your inventory can be cycled through and removed from the bag to be used with another object in the room.

[edit] Rewards

If you find all 13 keys in time, you earn a cartoon, a sound or a screen saver that can be exported to your hard drive. You can only claim your reward right after you win. If you choose not to claim it, click Exit. To export your reward to your hard drive, click Get Reward from the Winning Game screen. A Save File dialog box will appear. Choose a place on your hard drive and save your reward. You can open cartoons from within your Microsoft Windows graphics program. Screen savers and sounds should be saved in the Microsoft Windows subdirectory. To set up a screen saver, open the Desktop dialog box from the Control Panel in Microsoft Windows. The Ultimate Haunted House screen savers will be listed in the screen saver drop-down list box with a prefix "HH". To use the sound, open the sound dialog box from the Control Panel in Windows.

[edit] Curses

In situations when you would normally die before 13 o'clock, you are spared but left with a curse. When you are cursed, you hear an evil laugh and the cursor turns into a skull and crossbones. There are many types of curses.

Blackout Curse

Everything in the house becomes a very dark brown colour except for eyes and the clock.

Butterfingers Curse

All items being carried will move in an opposite direction.

Crazy Colours Curse

All the colours of the house are replaced with random colours every couple of seconds. The house hopes to irritate you with this.

Item Thief Curse

All items dropped on the ground slide offscreen and disappear.

Jungle Fever Curse

All sounds from the house are deafened and replaced with wild jungle screams not unlike Tarzan.

Loss of Time Curse

An hour passes by instantly.

[edit] Winning the Game

The object of the game is to escape from the Haunted House. To do this, you need to collect all 13 keys and put them back in their keyholes before the clock strikes 13. During the game, it shows how much time has passed. On every hour the clock will strike and the pointer will turn briefly into a clock. If the clock strikes 13 o'clock before you find the 13 keys, you lose the game. If you find all the keys before 13 o'clock, you will win and get a reward.

[edit] Guided tour

A) The Game Room Click the noose to play hangman. Click the canvas to make a cartoon face. Save it with the Photo Button. Play tic-tac-toe by clicking the window. Pull the arm on the coffin to play the slot machine.

B) The Screening Room Click any TV button to turn it on. Click the TV screen to turn it off. Click the Magic Mirror to see Monster Movie Trailers. Pull down the projector screen and click a film can.

C) The Gallery Play the mysterious slider puzzle. Find the Hall of Cartoons to see more of Gahan Wilson's macabre humor.

D) The Attic See what's in the trunk. But don't stay too long, or it may be hard to leave.

E) The Library Drag books (including ones from other rooms) to the table. Read them for hints and recipes.

F) The Music Room Throw things out of the window. Look in the case. Change the organ stops and play a tune.

G) The Foyer Contains the clock with its buttons. See the house change as the ghosts and flames grow.

H) The Menagerie Feed the fish and watch it grow, or click the gorilla to wake him.

I) The Kitchen Cook a stew with your favourite disgusting ingredients. Drag the rolling pin to items on the cutting board, or throw things in the garbage.

J) The Monster Lab Make a monster with body parts from the drawers and complete it with eyes and brains from Igor's tray. When you use all the right parts, click the animator ray to make it dance.

K) The Basement Hall The hall takes you to the rooms downstairs.

L) The Bathroom Mix up formulas in the bathroom sink. Find the dancing cockroaches and give them things.

M) The Wreck Room Squash things in the compactor. One of the library books tells what else you can do there.