Moonmist
Encyclopedia
Moonmist is an interactive fiction
computer game implemented by Stu Galley
and published by Infocom
in 1986. By using Infocom's portable
Z-machine
, the game was released simultaneously for many popular platforms, including the IBM PC
, Apple II
, Amiga
, Atari ST
and Commodore 64
. It is Infocom's twenty-second game.
Also unique to Moonmist is a built-in timer. The game must be completed by 6:00 am the following day or the game ends without a resolution. It is also possible to die in a few rare instances, though the focus of the game remains on exploration and deduction.
Tamara Lynd: The detective's friend from back in the United States. She becomes affianced to Lord Jack Tresyllian and requests your help when her life is threatened on multiple occasions by the spectral "White Lady."
Lord Jack Tresyllian: The prim and proper lord of Tresyllian manor, engaged to Tamara Lynd. He is the nephew and heir of Lord Lionel Tresyllian, although it is revealed (albeit indirectly) that he was not the late-Lord's favorite choice as an heir.
Bolitho: The middle-aged butler of Tresyllian Castle who has served three generations of the family. He is at once reserved and obedient, yet a very reliable source of information about the castle, ghost, and other guests.
Dr. Nicholas Wendish: The grizzled yet highly intelligent head of a speciality medical clinic that treated Lord Jack's former fiance, Deirdre and her grandfather. Both died under questionable circumstances.
Sir Ian Fordyce: A member of Her Majesty's Coldstream Guard and a physically imposing figure. Little is revealed about Ian except that he is an archetypical English gentleman who would do anything that he perceived as his duty to the Crown.
Vivien Pentreath: An aloof, somewhat cold artist who is a friend of Lord Jack's and Deirdre. This relationship has cooled, however, after Deirdre's apparent suicide; she thinks Jack heartless for proposing to Tamara so soon after Deirdre's death.
Montague Hyde: A successful antiquities dealer and former associate of Lord Lionel Tresyllian. As Lord Lionel was a famed explorer who brought back many rare artifacts from his travels, it was Montague Hyde who brokered the sale of those items to private buyers. He is searching for the last hidden artifact that Lord Lionel brought back with him to England before his death.
Lady Iris Vane: A London socialite who is at once beautiful and extremely flirtatious. Her association with the Tresyllian family is unclear, though she seems to have many powerful connections.
Lord Lionel Tresyllian: The late lord of Tresyllian Castle. In life he was a celebrated explorer who supported the family coffers through the sale of rare artifacts he would uncover during his travels. It is the anniversary of his birthday that the characters of Moonmist have gathered to celebrate. It is rumored that he had hidden one final object of great value somewhere in the castle before he died.
Deirdre: Lord Jack's former fiance. Her life ended tragically when she allegedly jumped or fell into a deep well in the basement of Tresyllian Castle. Her body was never found.
Agnes: The maid of Tresyllian Castle. She never appears in the game except in the form of a letter she writes to Lord Jack announcing her resignation.
The White Lady: The legendary Ghost of Cornwall, the White Lady's origins are said to be that of the wife of a former Lord Tresyllian who walled her up alive for an imagined bout of infidelity. Her spirit is said to seek vengeance against all who dwell in the castle, with special attention to the Lady of the manor.
), Infocom bundled extra items in with each game package. These objects were referred to as feelies. The feelies for Moonmist were:
Interactive fiction
Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, describes software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives and as video games. In common usage, the term refers to text...
computer game implemented by Stu Galley
Stu Galley
Stu Galley is an American developer of interactive fiction who was an Implementor at Infocom. He also served as corporate clerk from incorporation in 1979 to merging with Activision in 1986. He wrote three of Infocom's original interactive fiction titles, The Witness , Seastalker and Moonmist...
and published by Infocom
Infocom
Infocom was a software company, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that produced numerous works of interactive fiction. They also produced one notable business application, a relational database called Cornerstone....
in 1986. By using Infocom's portable
Porting
In computer science, porting is the process of adapting software so that an executable program can be created for a computing environment that is different from the one for which it was originally designed...
Z-machine
Z-machine
The Z-machine is a virtual machine that was developed by Joel Berez and Marc Blank in 1979 and used by Infocom for its text adventure games. Infocom compiled game code to files containing Z-machine instructions , and could therefore port all its text adventures to a new platform simply by writing a...
, the game was released simultaneously for many popular platforms, including the IBM PC
IBM PC compatible
IBM PC compatible computers are those generally similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT. Such computers used to be referred to as PC clones, or IBM clones since they almost exactly duplicated all the significant features of the PC architecture, facilitated by various manufacturers' ability to...
, Apple II
Apple II
The Apple II is an 8-bit home computer, one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products, designed primarily by Steve Wozniak, manufactured by Apple Computer and introduced in 1977...
, Amiga
Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
, Atari ST
Atari ST
The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was released by Atari Corporation in 1985 and commercially available from that summer into the early 1990s. The "ST" officially stands for "Sixteen/Thirty-two", which referred to the Motorola 68000's 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals...
and Commodore 64
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
. It is Infocom's twenty-second game.
Plot
The player's character is a young detective, asked by friend Tamara Lynd to investigate her new home of Tresyllian Castle in Cornwall, England. Tamara has recently become engaged to the castle's lord, Jack Tresyllian. She was very happy until she began seeing what appeared to be The White Lady, a ghost who has allegedly haunted the castle for centuries. As if seeing a ghost wasn't nerve-racking enough, she's also begun to fear for her life. Is Tamara's imagination just overly excited from living in a large old castle, or is someone really trying to kill her? And if her life is in danger, is it from a ghost or someone using it as a disguise?Gameplay
The actual game is divided into several quests depending on the player's answer to the question "what is your favorite color?" As such, the game contains a red, blue, yellow and green quest, each with a separate criminal and treasure to locate. Interaction is made through the standard text commands typical of the genre.Also unique to Moonmist is a built-in timer. The game must be completed by 6:00 am the following day or the game ends without a resolution. It is also possible to die in a few rare instances, though the focus of the game remains on exploration and deduction.
Characters
Detective (Named by Player): A friend of Tamara Lynd and the persona assumed by the player.Tamara Lynd: The detective's friend from back in the United States. She becomes affianced to Lord Jack Tresyllian and requests your help when her life is threatened on multiple occasions by the spectral "White Lady."
Lord Jack Tresyllian: The prim and proper lord of Tresyllian manor, engaged to Tamara Lynd. He is the nephew and heir of Lord Lionel Tresyllian, although it is revealed (albeit indirectly) that he was not the late-Lord's favorite choice as an heir.
Bolitho: The middle-aged butler of Tresyllian Castle who has served three generations of the family. He is at once reserved and obedient, yet a very reliable source of information about the castle, ghost, and other guests.
Dr. Nicholas Wendish: The grizzled yet highly intelligent head of a speciality medical clinic that treated Lord Jack's former fiance, Deirdre and her grandfather. Both died under questionable circumstances.
Sir Ian Fordyce: A member of Her Majesty's Coldstream Guard and a physically imposing figure. Little is revealed about Ian except that he is an archetypical English gentleman who would do anything that he perceived as his duty to the Crown.
Vivien Pentreath: An aloof, somewhat cold artist who is a friend of Lord Jack's and Deirdre. This relationship has cooled, however, after Deirdre's apparent suicide; she thinks Jack heartless for proposing to Tamara so soon after Deirdre's death.
Montague Hyde: A successful antiquities dealer and former associate of Lord Lionel Tresyllian. As Lord Lionel was a famed explorer who brought back many rare artifacts from his travels, it was Montague Hyde who brokered the sale of those items to private buyers. He is searching for the last hidden artifact that Lord Lionel brought back with him to England before his death.
Lady Iris Vane: A London socialite who is at once beautiful and extremely flirtatious. Her association with the Tresyllian family is unclear, though she seems to have many powerful connections.
Lord Lionel Tresyllian: The late lord of Tresyllian Castle. In life he was a celebrated explorer who supported the family coffers through the sale of rare artifacts he would uncover during his travels. It is the anniversary of his birthday that the characters of Moonmist have gathered to celebrate. It is rumored that he had hidden one final object of great value somewhere in the castle before he died.
Deirdre: Lord Jack's former fiance. Her life ended tragically when she allegedly jumped or fell into a deep well in the basement of Tresyllian Castle. Her body was never found.
Agnes: The maid of Tresyllian Castle. She never appears in the game except in the form of a letter she writes to Lord Jack announcing her resignation.
The White Lady: The legendary Ghost of Cornwall, the White Lady's origins are said to be that of the wife of a former Lord Tresyllian who walled her up alive for an imagined bout of infidelity. Her spirit is said to seek vengeance against all who dwell in the castle, with special attention to the Lady of the manor.
Feelies
To add to players' immersion in the story (as well as a means of copy protectionCopy protection
Copy protection, also known as content protection, copy obstruction, copy prevention and copy restriction, refer to techniques used for preventing the reproduction of software, films, music, and other media, usually for copyright reasons.- Terminology :Media corporations have always used the term...
), Infocom bundled extra items in with each game package. These objects were referred to as feelies. The feelies for Moonmist were:
- A book, The Legendary Ghosts of Cornwall written by Lady Lisbeth Norris, which includes a page dedicated to "The White Lady of Tresyllian Castle"
- Two letters from Tamara Lynd to the player; one explaining Tamara's engagement to Lord Jack Tresyllian and her moving to the castle, and one begging the player to investigate the "White Lady"
- A Visitor's Guide to Tresyllian Castle, a tourist-type brochure providing a history and rough maps
- An iron-onIron-onIron-on transfers are images that can be imprinted on fabric. They are frequently used to print onto T-shirts.On one side is paper, and on the other is the image that will be transferred in reverse. After placing it on the fabric and either running over the fabric side with an iron or pressing...
logo of the game's title