| The Prisoner | |
|---|---|
Cover art |
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| Developer(s) | David Mullich |
| Publisher(s) | Edu-Ware |
| Platform(s) | Apple II |
| Release date(s) |
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| Genre(s) | Adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Media/distribution | 5¼" disk |
| System requirements | |
The Prisoner is a 1980 Apple II computer game produced by Edu-Ware. The game was loosely based upon the 1960s television series The Prisoner and incorporates the show's themes about the loss of individuality in a technological and controlling society. The player assumes the role of a presumed intelligence agent who has resigned his job for reasons known only to himself and then is abducted to an isolated island community that seems designed to be his own personal prison. The island's authorities will go to any means—coercion, propaganda, disorientation, allegory and frustration—to learn why their prisoner has resigned, and every character, location and supposed escape route appears to be part of a grand deception to get players off their guard and reveal the three-digit code that represents the prisoner's reason for resigning. The game occasionally broke the fourth wall by acknowledging that the player was playing a game.
Considered unique among games of this sort, The Prisoner was reportedly used as a training tool for Central Intelligence Agency agents.[1]
In 1982, Edu-Ware released a remake, Prisoner 2, with color and improved graphics (all high-resolution now) as well as additional game elements that satirized other adventure games.
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The game's documentation described Edu-Ware's view that the Prisoner television series was "a political and social statement concerning the problem of keeping one's individuality and personal freedom in a technological society... [which] is a collective prison and each one of us is, in fact, a prisoner." With the year 1984 ominously being only five years away from the game's publication, Edu-Ware believed that many of the issues raised in the 1969 television series were still just as relevant and that it seemed "appropriate that a show concerned with the theme of loss of individuality and influence over their own lives should inspire a game to be played on a computer."
The game was reportedly not officially licensed, with the documentation claiming that "it is not meant to be an adaption of the television series" (although its packaging used the same logo as the series), so a number of changes were made to distance the game from a few of the more recognizable Prisoner elements while preserving its spirit and message:
The game begins with the player being told that # has resigned his job for reasons known only to himself. The player is given a three-digit number, which signifies #'s reasons for resigning. The player is warned never to reveal this number, for the game later attempts at numerous times to trick the player into revealing or responding to the number, which will cause the player to lose the game. The player is then taken to an airport, where he is asked to select from a number of island destinations (e.g., Hawaii) to travel to. Regardless of his choice, he is taken to The Island.
The game's designer, David Mullich, incorporated elements of Franz Kafka's The Castle into the Island. In fact, #'s home on the Island is called the Castle. It takes the form of a randomly generated maze from which the player must escape, although pressing the computer's escape key will allow him to instantly escape the maze. There is no other way of escaping because the maze will repeat itself indefinitely until the escape key is pressed.
After leaving the Castle, the player can explore the twenty homes, shops and service buildings there, trying to find clues as to how to escape. Only four of these structures are displayed on the screen at any one time, and in the center of the group is a Free Information display providing information of little value, with the exception of a running tally of how many credit units the player has in the bank. Each of the buildings offer different gameplay experiences, although some of the buildings require the player to own certain possessions before entering, are rearranged each time # is sent back to the Castle, may disappear from the game periodically, or cannot be entered because of special game events:
Very few of the above locations provide any sort of instruction to the player as to how to proceed. This is particularly the case with locations such as the Cat and Mouse Bar and Great Chair
Throughout these scenarios, game utilizes several different graphic styles. The game is usually presented in a "top-down" view mode, with abstract representations of the different homes and businesses, while the player is represented by the # sign. Several segments of the game make use of all-text screens with limited animations (as much as the Apple was able to execute with text); other segments of the game used the Apple's low-resolution and high-resolution graphics modes.
At any point during these various scenarios, the game might try to trick the player into revealing the three-digit number. One of the most nefarious of these tricks was a simulated game crash which included the error message "Syntax error in line ###" where the line number was the player's resignation code. The significance of this is that this was a commonly seen error message in the Apple II's BASIC programming language; out of pure habit, the next step most users would take at this point would be to investigate the erroneous line to try and correct the error, using the command "List ###" where ### once again is the line number. Typing the game's three-digit code at any time resulted in the game being lost, and that included typing the line into the BASIC command as, unknown to the player, the game was still running. Ironically, as the game was difficult to beat, being able to list the program from within the game was one way to ultimately solve and win the game by the means of reading and analyzing the program and deducing a solution. However, such a solution was entirely within the spirit of the game, as the game's clues and ultimate solution sometimes broke the fourth wall with an acknowledgement that the player was playing a computer game.
In addition, there were times where the player could hit the escape key (by accident or on purpose), and the message "Such thoughts are punishable" would appear screen and the game returned # to the starting point in The Castle (though the game itself does not restart). However, sometimes pressing the escape key does help the player in a particular situation, since the game rules are constantly in flux, in a purposeful attempt to frustrate the player.
| Prisoner 2 | |
|---|---|
Cover art |
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| Developer(s) | Edu-Ware |
| Publisher(s) | Edu-Ware |
| Designer(s) | David Mullich (designer) |
| Platform(s) | Apple II, Atari 8-bit, IBM PC |
| Release date(s) |
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| Genre(s) | Adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Media/distribution | 5¼" disk |
| System requirements | |
In 1982, Edu-Ware released a second version of the game titled Prisoner 2, with color and improved graphics (all high-resolution now) that replaced the original version's top down perspective with a first-person view. Although sometimes considered a sequel due to its title, the game was in fact essentially the same as the first Prisoner game, with a few revisions (as well as the new graphics).
In addition to the graphical improvements, there are design changes, several of which referenced to other games:
Another nod to the video game industry is the newspaper headline that reads "ZONING COMMISSION WILL NOT BUDGE TO ALLOW PINBALL IN BARS", a reference to Bill Budge, creator of Pinball Construction Set.
The Prisoner was very popular among the gaming press. Peelings II magazine awarded the game an A+, its highest rating, and noted that if only the game had featured high-resolution graphics, it would have been a candidate for its Game of the Year Award.[2] According to Softalk, "What puts this game head and shoulders above other adventures is that while the player is seeking the information needed to escape from the Island, the computer is actively seeking the information that will make the player lose the game. The dual challenges of learning about the Island while avoiding the subtle and not-so-subtle traps laid by the computer make the game both interesting and exciting".[3] The Prisoner was also popular among gamers, who voted it the third most popular adventure game of 1981 in the annual Softalk reader poll.,[4] while Prisoner 2 was voted the fourth most popular fantasy game in the 1982 poll.[5]