Software:Silicon Dreams

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Short description: Trilogy of video games from 1983 to 1985
This page is about the 1980s video game trilogy. For the British video game developer, see Silicon Dreams Studio.
Silicon Dreams
Developer(s)Level 9 Computing
Publisher(s)
Designer(s)Snowball
Nick Austin, Mike Austin and Pete Austin with additional help from Ian Buxton. Art by Tim Noyce
Return to Eden
Nick Austin and Chris Queen with art by Tim Noyce
The Worm in Paradise
Nick Austin, Mike Austin and Pete Austin with art by James Horsler
Platform(s)Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Amstrad PCW, Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Atari ST, BBC Micro, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, Classic Mac OS, MSX, ZX Spectrum
Release1983 (Snowball)
1984 (Return to Eden)
1985 (The Worm in Paradise)
1986 (Silicon Dreams)
Genre(s)Interactive fiction
Mode(s)Single-player

Silicon Dreams is a trilogy of interactive fiction games developed by Level 9 Computing during the 1980s. The first game was Snowball, released during 1983, followed a year later by Return to Eden, and then by The Worm in Paradise during 1985. The next year they were vended together as the first, second and last of the Silicon Dreams.

As with most Level 9 games, the trilogy used an interpreted language termed A-code and was usable in all major types of home computer of the time, on either diskette or cassette. Level 9 self-published each game separately, but the compilation was published by Telecomsoft, which sold it in the United States with the tradename Firebird and in Europe with the tradename Rainbird.[1]

The trilogy is set in a not too-distant future when humans have started colonising space. For the first two instalments the player has the role of Kim Kimberley, an undercover agent, whose goal in Snowball is to save the colonist's spacecraft from crashing into a star, and in Return to Eden to stop the defence system at the destination planet of Eden from destroying the craft. In The Worm in Paradise, the player, with the role of an unnamed citizen of Eden, must travel around the city of Enoch, learn its secrets, earn money and save the planet.

Gameplay

The games use a text parser for entering commands at the "What now?" prompt.[2] The parser can interpret more than a thousand words[3] to control movement or actions. It looks at the command, picking out two or three words it knows, ignoring the order, and tries to guess what is meant.[2] For movement, the usual commands for moving 'NORTH', 'SOUTH', 'EAST' and 'WEST' are available (and their abbreviated forms of 'N', 'S', 'E' and 'W') as well as 'UP' and 'DOWN' ('U' and 'D' respectively) and a number of other directions and 'modes' of movement (like 'JUMP'). For actions, it understands how to pick up objects, opening doors, lighting lamps, as well as dropping objects and wielding them.[2] Additionally, there are commands to invoke 'SAVE' and 'RESTORE' of game positions to cassette tape or floppy disk (for some systems also to RAM), ask for 'HELP', turn off pictures and turn them on again with 'WORDS' and 'PICTURES' respectively, an 'OOPS' command to undo previous commands.[4]

Silicon Dreams can be played as three separate games, but to obtain a maximum score the games must be completed in order, carrying the score from one adventure to the next. Points are not scored for collecting treasures, but rather for doing specific tasks helping to satisfy the goal of the individual game. For Snowball the goal is to get to the main control room and prevent the starship Snowball 9 from crashing into a star. For Return to Eden the goal is to get into the city of Enoch and stop the robots from destroying Snowball 9. And for Worm in Paradise the goal is to find as much information about the city as possible, obtain money, and then become a member of the governing party of Eden, saving the planet in the process.[4]

Setting

The trilogy is set in the future, when the human race is colonizing the stars. A transport network has been developed for the entire Solar System using accelerator chains, and the "Big 5" nations of Earth have initiated a plan to colonise the galaxy. This is known as the Terran Expansionary Phase. It lasted ninety years from 2120 to 2210.

The first major activity was to launch probes into outer space. The probes reported any Earth-sized planet they encountered during their centuries-long voyage. Each probe was followed by a survey ship ten years later. The ship's mission was to map the planet and, if it was habitable, it would signal Earth and then, while waiting for the colonists to arrive, terraform the planet.

This is the second part of the phase. The survey ship mined materials from asteroids and used them to build a robot factory in space — a process that could take decades. The resulting robots built more space factories that in turn produced better robots. They also built large satellite dishes to collect data sent from Earth containing the latest technological advances. Then terraforming was performed. The robots landed on the planet and built cities while also launching more probes and survey ships further into space.

Once Earth received news of a habitable planet, the third and final part was done. Ten giant passenger discs, each carrying two hundred thousand colonists in stasis, were towed into space. Next came the engine unit, which was linked to the front of the discs, and then the colony ship was completed and ready to go.

During the 2190s fifty colony ships were launched from the EEC's Ceres base, among them the Snowball 9, which carried the first colonists for planet Eden on the Eridani A system. For the next three years, the accelerator chains beyond Pluto fired ten-ton blocks of ammonia ice at the travelling ship. The Snowball 9 caught the ice blocks with hooks and piled it around the passenger discs, forming a hollow shell that would cover most of the ship and would serve as a shield until it was needed to fuel the fusion engines on the later part of the trip. This ice shell gave the Snowball series its name.

After receiving the last ice block, the crew put the ship in autopilot and went to hibernate with the passengers, leaving the ship's maintenance to robots. Except for a brief period of activity to start deceleration, the crew slept for most of the trip, awaking one year before reaching Eden. The plan was to continue deceleration while consuming the last of the ice shell, and then put the ship in orbit around the planet, delivering the passengers down by gliders that would be retrieved by hooks to be reused.

Kim Kimberley

The protagonist of the two first instalments, Kim Kimberley, is a tall, athletic, intelligent woman with brown eyes and fair hair. She was born and raised at Hampstead Crèche, which was closed when she was thirteen years old due to violations of the Android Protection Acts. She finished her education at the Milton Keynes School of Life in Malta, then returned to England for National Service. She started doing standard security work with the occasional surveillance of subversive members of society, but ended working as a counter-espionage agent. Whilst in her mid-twenties, Kim accepted to travel undercover on the Snowball 9 to be there as the last resort for the worst-case scenario.

Snowball

Commodore 64 screen copy of Snowball as it appears in the expanded version of Silicon Dreams.

Plot

As the Snowball 9 approaches Eden, something goes wrong. A crew member murders her shipmates, destroys the communication system and sets the ship on a collision course with the sun. The robots, being little more than automata, continue their everyday operations oblivious to the danger but the ship's computer, capable of thinking, awakens Kim Kimberley before the deranged crew member destroys it. She exits her modified stasis chamber with the goal of finding a way to reach the control room and avert disaster.

Development

Snowball was originally released during 1983 as the company's fourth adventure game using the A-Code system.[1] Nick, Mike, and Pete Austin headed development. Though Level 9's previous games featured a fantasy theme, the Austin brothers chose a science fiction theme.[5] The original release used version 1 of this system[6] and was initially released for the BBC Micro, ZX Spectrum, and Nascom,[7] but was later followed by versions for the Commodore 64, Camputers Lynx, Oric-1, Atari 8-bit computers[8] as well as for the Memotech MTX, Amstrad CPC, Enterprise and MSX.[9] It is noteworthy for including over seven thousand locations. To achieve this sixty-eight hundred locations on the passenger disks form a colour-coded maze with minimal descriptions.[5][10]

In an interview for Sinclair User, Chris Bourne asked, "Is the androgynous Kim a man or woman?" Pete Austin pointed out that "there's a credit at the end for the design of 'Ms Kimberley's costume,'" but also admitted that Kim Kimberley was "a deliberately unisex name."[5][11] The debate came to an end with the release of Return to Eden, where it was made more explicit that Kim was not a man, because the surviving crew members confuse her with the woman who tried to destroy the ship.

Return to Eden

Commodore 64 screenshot of Return to Eden

Plot

With the Snowball 9 orbiting Eden, the surviving crew members put Kim on trial. The only evidence against her is the "mempak" from the control room, which shows her as the hijacker rather than the saviour. Despite the fact that the recording is damaged and thus is unreliable, they sentence her to death. About to be thrown into space, Kim manages to escape aboard a "stratoglider" and an hour later, lands on Eden. At this point the game starts.

The first thing the player must do is find a shelter for Kim, because a few moves into the game the Snowball 9 crew use the ship's engine to try to burn her down. The native robots take this as proof that the Snowball 9 is not the ship they were expecting but a hostile alien craft they must destroy. The objective is to contact the robots before time ends for the Snowball 9 and everyone aboard it.

Development

Unlike its predecessor, Return to Eden only had about two hundred and fifty locations,[12] but it was Level 9's first game to feature graphics.[5] Other adventure games had included graphics before, but version 2 of the A-Code system allowed Level 9 to encode location graphics into as little as forty bytes. This size made it possible to add graphics to every location of the game for all formats with more than 32 K RAM.[7] The user could choose not to display them and play the game in text-only mode. It was released for the same platforms as its predecessor.[13]

The game's first cover depicted a robot fighting a monster plant in Enoch. The robot resembled a comic book character, so to avoid legal troubles, Level 9 commissioned Godfrey Dowson to do a new cover. Dowson's illustration depicted another robot in the jungle looking towards Enoch. They liked the second cover so much, they hired Dowson to do artwork for the re-release of their old games as well as for their future titles.[14]

Pete Austin commented on the game: "It's an alien theme park gone wild. The Eden universe is more like Larry Niven's future space", and "intended as a comment on superpower intervention in the Third World."[5]

The Worm in Paradise

Main article: Software:The Worm in Paradise

The trilogy

Silicon Dreams was the second title published by Telecomsoft, the first being Jewels of Darkness,[1] in a four-game publishing deal signed by Level 9 during April 1986.[15] This deal gave Level 9 (which was often referred to as "British Infocom"[16]) an opportunity to revise their previous titles and add support for the 16-bit market as well as a possible entry into the potential lucrative US market.[17] Subsequently, the trilogy was released for a total of twelve platforms, leaving out the BBC Micro and Enterprise compared to The Worm in Paradise, but adding support for the Apple II, Amiga, Amstrad PCW, Atari ST, BM PC MS-DOS and Mac.[4] All the games were updated to version 3 of the A-Code system[1] with updated text and new graphics for inclusion in the release of the Silicon Dreams trilogy in 1986[18] with expanded, text-only versions for some releases.[19]

The "Rainbird" release came in a 215 x 153 x 27 mm cardboard box while the "Firebird" release came in a 227 x 163 x 30 mm black, plastic box. Both featured a 150 x 210 mm, 68-page booklet with loading instructions, a guide to playing the game and Peter McBride's novella Eden Song which served as an introduction to The Worm in Paradise.[1] The novella was also used as a copy protection device, from which, upon restore of a saved game, the player had to enter a word from a page and line reference.[19]

Level 9 never released a version of the trilogy for the Sinclair QL.

Reception

The games were released individually and generally received good initial reviews.[5] Snowball won the Best Text-only Adventure prize at Crash 1984 Readers Awards,[20] Return to Eden received a 90% score in Sinclair Programs,[21] and The Worm in Paradise was rated a Your Sinclair Megagame[22] and a Sinclair User Classic.[23]

When the trilogy was released it received unanimously good reviews from the ZX Spectrum press. Sinclair User gave it a Sinclair User Classic, terming it an "unqualified success for Level 9 and Rainbird."[24] Your Sinclair awarded a Your Sinclair Mega Game,[25] and ZX Computing a Monster Hit.[19] The Commodore 64 magazine Zzap!64 gave it a 90% score which awarded it with a Zzap!64 Sizzler.[26] However, some reviews found the graphics "truly abysmal. Blotchy, often unrecognisable...simple in design..."[19] while others called it "smidgens better than those added to Jewel of Darkness, possibly even two smidgens, and are far from being the disappointment."[25]

The ZX Spectrum version was placed fourth in September[27] and third in October 1987[28] of the Your Sinclair adventure charts.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Schmidt, Miron; Schulz, Manuel (1999-01-25). "Level 9 Fact Sheet". The Interactive Fiction Archive. http://ftp.ifarchive.org/if-archive/level9/info/Level9_Facts.txt. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Level 9 Computing (1983). "Snowball instructions". FTP server. ftp://ftp.worldofspectrum.org/pub/sinclair/games-info/s/Snowball.txt. [dead ftp link] (To view documents see Help:FTP)
  3. ↑ Medley, Sue (September 1989). "Silicon Dreams review" (TXT). SynTax (2). http://www.syntax2000.co.uk/issues/02/silirev.asc.txt. Retrieved 2008-07-20. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Silicon Dreams: Loading Instructions and Gameplay Guide". Level 9 Computing. 1986. https://archive.org/stream/SiliconDreamsRainbird/Silicon_Dreams_Rainbird_djvu.txt. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Rigby, Paul (December 2008). "Company Profile: Level 9". Retro Gamer (Imagine Publishing) (57): 24–25. 
  6. ↑ Jensen, Henrik. "Level 9" (in da). http://users.cybercity.dk/~bse16410/adv/level9/le9main.htm. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Hewison, Richard (July 2004). "The Next Level - part 1". Retro Gamer (Live Publishing) (6): 53–57. 
  8. ↑ "Level 9 advertisement" (JPEG). Micro Adventurer (Sunshine Books) (1): 2. November 1983. http://www.worldofspectrum.org/showmag.cgi?mag=MicroAdventurer/Issue01/Pages/MicroAdventurer0100002.jpg. Retrieved 2008-07-26. 
  9. ↑ "Level 9 advertisement" (JPEG). Micro Adventurer (Sunshine Books) (17): 2. March 1985. http://www.worldofspectrum.org/showmag.cgi?mag=MicroAdventurer/Issue17/Pages/MicroAdventurer1700002.jpg. Retrieved 2008-07-26. 
  10. ↑ Granade, Stephen. "History of Interactive Fiction: Level 9". Brass Lantern. http://brasslantern.org/community/history/level9.html. 
  11. ↑ Bourne, Chris (May 1985). "Hit Squad: On the level". Sinclair User (38): 60–62. http://www.sincuser.f9.co.uk/038/htsquad.htm. Retrieved 2007-10-08. 
  12. ↑ Price, Richard (January 1985). "Spectrum Software Scene: Snowbound in Eden". Sinclair User (34): 50. http://www.sincuser.f9.co.uk/034/sftwre.htm. Retrieved 2007-10-08. 
  13. ↑ Meier, Stefan; Persson, Hans. "Level 9 Computing". Adventureland. http://adventure.if-legends.org/Level_9_Computing.html. 
  14. ↑ Hewison, Richard. "Level 9: Past masters of the adventure game". http://ifguide.if-legends.org/essays/Level-9.html. 
  15. ↑ "News". CRASH (50): 8. March 1988. http://www.crashonline.org.uk/50/news.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-15. 
  16. ↑ Maher, Jimmy (2006-07-10). "Chapter 6: The Rest of Commercial IF". Let's Tell a Story Together (A History of Interactive Fiction). http://home.grandecom.net/~maher/if-book/if-6.htm. 
  17. ↑ Hewison, Richard (August 2004). "The Next Level - part 2". Retro Gamer (Live Publishing) (7): 59–63. 
  18. ↑ Gerrard, Mike (May 1987). "YS Adventures: Silicon Dreams". Your Sinclair (15): 58. http://www.ysrnry.co.uk/articles/silicondreams.htm. Retrieved 2007-10-08. 
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 Sweasey, Peter (March 1987). "Mindplay: Silicon Dreams" (JPEG). ZX Computing (8703): 90. http://www.worldofspectrum.org/showmag.cgi?mag=ZXComputing/Issue8703/Pages/ZXComputing870300078.jpg. Retrieved 2008-07-25. 
  20. ↑ "Crash Readers Awards 1984". Crash (12): 94–105. Christmas 1984. http://www.crashonline.org.uk/12/awards.htm. Retrieved 2008-07-25. 
  21. ↑ Sinclair Programs staff (February 1985). "Soft Focus: Return to Eden review" (JPEG). Sinclair Programs (EMAP) (8502): 14. http://www.worldofspectrum.org/showmag.cgi?mag=SinclairPrograms/Issue8502/Pages/SinclairPrograms850200014.jpg. Retrieved 2008-07-24. 
  22. ↑ Wilson, John (February 1986). "Beast of Eden" (JPEG). Your Sinclair (2): 80–81. http://www.worldofspectrum.org/showmag.cgi?mag=YourSinclair/Issue02/Pages/YourSinclair0200080.jpg. Retrieved 2008-07-25. 
  23. ↑ Price, Richard (March 1986). "Adventure review: Worm in Paradise". Sinclair User (48): 70–71. http://www.sincuser.f9.co.uk/048/worminp.htm. Retrieved 2008-07-25. 
  24. ↑ Rook, Gary (February 1987). "Adventure review: Silicon Dreams" (JPEG). Sinclair User (59). http://www.worldofspectrum.org/showmag.cgi?mag=SinclairUser/Issue059/Pages/SinclairUser05900090.jpg. Retrieved 2008-07-25. 
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 Gerrard, Mike (March 1987). "YS Adventures: Silicon Dreams" (JPEG). Your Sinclair (15): 58. http://www.worldofspectrum.org/showmag.cgi?mag=YourSinclair/Issue15/Pages/YourSinclair1500058.jpg. Retrieved 2008-07-25. 
  26. ↑ Zzap!64 staff "White Wizard" (February 1987). "Zzap!64 adventure: Silicon Dreams review" (JPEG). Zzap!64 (Newsfield Publications) (22): 44. http://www.zzap64.co.uk/cgi-bin/displaypage.pl?issue=22&page=44. Retrieved 2008-07-25. 
  27. ↑ "Street Life" (JPEG). Your Sinclair (21): 34. September 1987. http://www.worldofspectrum.org/showmag.cgi?mag=YourSinclair/Issue21/Pages/YourSinclair2100034.jpg. Retrieved 2008-09-06. 
  28. ↑ "Street Life" (JPEG). Your Sinclair (22): 66. October 1987. http://www.worldofspectrum.org/showmag.cgi?mag=YourSinclair/Issue22/Pages/YourSinclair2200066.jpg. Retrieved 2008-09-06. 
  • MobyGames is a commercial database website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes over 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms.[1] Founded in 1999, ownership of the site has changed hands several times. It has been owned by Atari SA since 2022.

Features

Edits and submissions to the site (including screenshots, box art, developer information, game summaries, and more) go through a verification process of fact-checking by volunteer "approvers".[2] This lengthy approval process after submission can range from minutes to days or months.[3] The most commonly used sources are the video game's website, packaging, and credit screens. There is a published standard for game information and copy-editing.[4] A ranking system allows users to earn points for contributing accurate information.[5]

Registered users can rate and review games. Users can create private or public "have" and "want" lists, which can generate a list of games available for trade with other registered users. The site contains an integrated forum. Each listed game can have its own sub-forum.

History

Logo used until March 2014

MobyGames was founded on March 1, 1999, by Jim Leonard and Brian Hirt, and joined by David Berk 18 months later, the three of which had been friends since high school.[6][7] Leonard had the idea of sharing information about computer games with a larger audience. The database began with information about games for IBM PC compatibles, relying on the founders' personal collections. Eventually, the site was opened up to allow general users to contribute information.[5] In a 2003 interview, Berk emphasized MobyGames' dedication to taking video games more seriously than broader society and to preserving games for their important cultural influence.[5]

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount.[8] This was announced to the community post factum , and the site's interface was given an unpopular redesign.[7] A few major contributors left, refusing to do volunteer work for a commercial website.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025} On December 18, 2013, MobyGames was acquired by Jeremiah Freyholtz, owner of Blue Flame Labs (a San Francisco-based game and web development company) and VGBoxArt (a site for fan-made video game box art).[9] Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel,[10] and for the next eight years, the site was run by Freyholtz and Independent Games Festival organizer Simon Carless.[7]

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million.[11] The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager.[12][13][14] Over the next year, the financial boost given by Atari led to a rework of the site being built from scratch with a new backend codebase, as well as updates improving the mobile and desktop user interface.[1] This was accomplished by investing in full-time development of the site instead of its previously part-time development.[15]

In 2024, MobyGames began offering a paid "Pro" membership option for the site to generate additional revenue.[16] Previously, the site had generated income exclusively through banner ads and (from March 2014 onward) a small number of patrons via the Patreon website.[17]

See also

  • IGDB – game database used by Twitch for its search and discovery functions

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sheehan, Gavin (2023-02-22). "Atari Relaunches The Fully Rebuilt & Optimized MobyGames Website". https://bleedingcool.com/games/atari-relaunches-the-fully-rebuilt-optimized-mobygames-website/. 
  2. ↑ Litchfield, Ted (2021-11-26). "Zombie company Atari to devour MobyGames". https://www.pcgamer.com/zombie-company-atari-to-devour-mobygames/. 
  3. ↑ "MobyGames FAQ: Emails Answered § When will my submission be approved?". Blue Flame Labs. 30 March 2014. http://www.mobygames.com/info/faq7#g1. 
  4. ↑ "The MobyGames Standards and Practices". Blue Flame Labs. 6 January 2016. http://www.mobygames.com/info/standards. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Miller, Stanley A. (2003-04-22). "People's choice awards honor favorite Web sites". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 
  6. ↑ "20 Years of MobyGames" (in en). 2019-02-28. https://trixter.oldskool.org/2019/02/28/20-years-of-mobygames/. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Plunkett, Luke (2022-03-10). "Atari Buys MobyGames For $1.5 Million". https://kotaku.com/mobygames-retro-credits-database-imdb-atari-freyholtz-b-1848638521. 
  8. ↑ "Report: MobyGames Acquired By GameFly Media". Gamasutra. 2011-02-07. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/report-mobygames-acquired-by-gamefly-media. 
  9. ↑ Corriea, Alexa Ray (December 31, 2013). "MobyGames purchased from GameFly, improvements planned". http://www.polygon.com/2013/12/31/5261414/mobygames-purchased-from-gamefly-improvements-planned. 
  10. ↑ Wawro, Alex (31 December 2013). "Game dev database MobyGames getting some TLC under new owner". Gamasutra. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/game-dev-database-mobygames-getting-some-tlc-under-new-owner. 
  11. ↑ "Atari invests in Anstream, may buy MobyGames". November 24, 2021. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-11-24-atari-invests-in-anstream-may-buy-mobygames. 
  12. ↑ Rousseau, Jeffrey (2022-03-09). "Atari purchases Moby Games". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/atari-purchases-moby-games. 
  13. ↑ "Atari Completes MobyGames Acquisition, Details Plans for the Site's Continued Support". March 8, 2022. https://www.atari.com/atari-completes-mobygames-acquisition-details-plans-for-the-sites-continued-support/. 
  14. ↑ "Atari has acquired game database MobyGames for $1.5 million" (in en-GB). 2022-03-09. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/atari-has-acquired-game-database-mobygames-for-1-5-million/. 
  15. ↑ Stanton, Rich (2022-03-10). "Atari buys videogame database MobyGames for $1.5 million". https://www.pcgamer.com/atari-buys-videogame-database-mobygames-for-dollar15-million/. 
  16. ↑ Harris, John (2024-03-09). "MobyGames Offering “Pro” Membership". https://setsideb.com/mobygames-offering-pro-membership/. 
  17. ↑ "MobyGames on Patreon". http://www.patreon.com/mobygames. 
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