Infocom pt. 2: Electric Boogaloo

  Blog Post #3

Infocom + Playing The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

So, we talked a little bit about Infocom in my last blog post, but I really want to continue discussing its influence and importance in the world of interactive fiction. More specifically, I want to talk about one of the bigger/more popular games that Infocom put out: the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

There were a handful of games that Infocom put out that were a hit, and this game was definitely one of them. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was based on a book series by the same creator, Douglas Adams. In the game, you play in a universe where the world is going to end in twelve minutes and your house is about to be demolished. You somehow make your way into space where you find that your friend, Ford, is a journalistic alien whose been researching Earth for The Hitchhiker's Guide of the Galaxy (which I guess is some extraterrestrial newspaper?). Basically, space chaos ensues and your objective quickly becomes trying to get to this legendary planet called Magrathea. 

Infocom, with the growth of their company and rising popularity in their games, continued to do things to push the envelope of what was expected of game (especially online video game) companies. With this, came the development of 'feelies'. Feelies were props or novelty items about the game shipped out to the players that had to do specifically with the game they purchased. It helped players connect with the games and added an element of excitement to opening the game. 

Some of the things that The Hitchhiker's Guide of the Galaxy's feelie package included:

• A small plastic pouch with cotton ball to represent the 'pocket fluff' from the first scene
• A button with "Don't Panic!" written on it
• Order for destruction of Arthur Dent's house
• Peril Sensitive Sunglasses (a pair of opaque black cardboard "sunglasses"

This was actually one of my favorite games to play so far! The story felt more developed and intriguing - it made me want to keep going. With other games we've explored in class, they were cool but I felt like it was a drag to try and play through them (especially without walkthroughs). For this game, I rarely depended on a walkthrough (although I did have to refer to it when wormholes kept opening up from me 'wasting turns').

Watch me play The Hitchhiker's Guide of the Galaxy below (You might have to run flash):