Star Saga
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Star Saga is a series of floppy-based computer games which combine a computerized game arbiter with hefty sections of printed text. Released in an era before the availability of the CD-ROM format, the titles make up for the limited storage available at the time by using print to attempt to tell a rich story. In essence, the designers endeavored to blend aspects of paper gamebooks with the complexity of a computer role-playing game. Versions of the games were released for MS-DOS and for the Apple II series of computers.
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[edit] Games
Star Saga: One - Beyond The Boundary, released in 1988, was the first in a short-lived series of science fiction adventure/role-playing games by Masterplay Publishing. The game series was designed by Andrew C. Greenberg (co-creator of Wizardry), Rick Dutton, Walter Freitag, and Michael Massimilla.
The second title, Star Saga: Two - The Clathran Menace was the sequel, released in 1989. In this title, a gigantic armada of alien ships scours the galaxy, seeking to eliminate the human race. Players must explore the reaches of space, seeking to uncover technology with which to oppose this threat.
Star Saga is based loosely on the Rekon pen & paper role-playing system.
[edit] Description
As well as the computer software (which acts as a "game master" or moderator for the game), Star Saga ships with a large color fold-out map, six colored tokens that players use to move around the map, and thirteen booklets containing 888 passages of text. Due to the high volume of text, the oversized game box weighs in at over 3 pounds.
At the beginning of the game, up to six players choose which character to play as from six sealed character profiles. Both single and multiplayer hotseat options are available, with players interacting both directly (e.g., by trading goods) and indirectly with one another over the course of the game. Each character has a different background story and motivating goals, and players are encouraged to keep these secret from each other. All players begin with a non-upgraded starship which can move between points on the galactic map.
When playing Star Saga, each player physically plots his or her moves on the map, then enters these movements and other desired actions into the Star Saga computer program. In response to the entered commands, the program determines the results, updates the character's statistics and inventory, and directs the player to read one or more text passages from the accompanying booklets. Upon reading the section(s), the player discovers the consequences of his or her actions, as well as any new information which has been gleaned. In some cases, the actual results of a turn will be quite different from those planned, due to events such as interception by hostile forces. Although the large amount of reading slows gameplay, the text is broken out into multiple booklets so that players can (usually) be simultaneously reading from separate sources. Over a number of turns, each player slowly progresses through the game, discovering what lies at each unlabeled planet on the map and otherwise uncovering the mysteries of the galaxy.
The game master software, while lacking any sort of graphical display, is nonetheless relatively advanced for the time period. The software carefully maintains the game state, keeping players honest and preventing them from attempting invalid moves. Between plotting turns, players can use the software to view information about their current status, such as their hand-held items or the contents of their ship's cargo holds. If one player is not available for a play session (since a game cannot generally be played in one sitting), his or her character can be placed in "suspended animation" while the remaining players continue to play.
Although the central game plot is itself somewhat linear (particularly in the second title), players are generally free to move back and forth between worlds, trade various goods as desired, and otherwise explore the game's various sub-plots. Additionally, certain elements (e.g., which planet is which on the map) are randomized between games, in order to increase replay value.
[edit] Trivia
- Andrew C. Greenberg has said that, of the various games he worked on, Star Saga was the one he is the most proud of -- much more so than his commercially more successful Wizardry games.
- Although Star Saga was to be released as a trilogy, Masterplay went out of business before the third game was released, leaving only Star Saga: One - Beyond the Boundary and Star Saga: Two - The Clathran Menace.
- Copies of the games are rare (likely due to the large size of the game box and game elements), but one can sometimes find them on eBay or similar sites.
