Wonderland (adventure game)

Wonderland
Developer(s) Magnetic Scrolls
Publisher(s) Virgin Games
Designer(s) David Bishop
Platform(s) MS-DOS, Acorn Archimedes, Amiga, Atari ST [1]
Release date(s) 1990
Genre(s) Interactive fiction
Mode(s) Single player
Distribution Floppy disk

Wonderland is a computer text-driven adventure game developed by Magnetic Scrolls and published in 1990 by Virgin Games.

Plot

Wonderland is based on Lewis Carroll's classic children's book Alice in Wonderland, with the player taking on the role of Alice. It does not involve anything from that book's sequel, Through the Looking-Glass.

Gameplay

With this game, Magnetic Scrolls introduced a bespoke windowing system dubbed "Magnetic Windows". The player's inventory, the location's graphic, the map and so on are all in separate windows that can be moved and resized independently. (A similar system is used in unrelated adventure games like Deja Vu.) The developers stated they believed it would make the game more accessible, giving it a much wider appeal.

Development

Development began in December 1987, when David Bishop pitched the concept to Scrolls' Anita Sinclair. Bishop would become project manager.

Reception

Computer Gaming World favorably reviewed the game's graphics and interface, describing it as "a satisfying romp through Wonderland ... fun stuff to play".[2] ACE gave the IBM PC version a score of 910 out of 1000, praising the puzzles, interface (if used with a mouse) and the graphics, with the lack of sound being a negative point.

References

  1. Stefan Meier, "Magnetic Scrolls Fact Sheet", 2009
  2. Scorpia (August 1991). "Scorpion's View". Computer Gaming World. p. 32. Retrieved 18 November 2013.

External links