Starship Titanic, an adventure game from 1998 about the most beautiful starship ever that's inhabited by a crew of malfunctioning robots is now on Linux.
In an update posted on Steam yesterday, one of the people from Nightdive Studios noted that the game has been rebuilt to use ScummVM, which itself was recently updated to support Starship Titanic (amongst other titles). It's pleasing to see that Nightdive have now made this official with a Linux build directly on Steam. They even enabled Steam Cloud support, so you can take your saved game with you to other machines.
Hopefully the Linux build will also make its way to GOG!
About the game:
At the heart of our Galaxy, an advanced civilization of which we know nothing had built the biggest, most beautiful starship ever, the Starship Titanic. Majestic and luxurious, its interior resembles a mixture of the Ritz, the Chrysler building, Tutankhamen's tomb and Venice. Starship Titanic is a technological marvel. And it cannot possibly go wrong.
In theory. Seconds into its maiden voyage it crashes into hyperspace, vanishes... and collides with your house.
Bewildered, you find your way aboard, and just as you are gazing at its awe-inspiring interior, the ship takes off again and heads deep into space. You are stranded. But you are not alone...
I remember seeing it in shops, but I never played it myself. I was only around 10 when it was originally released though…hopefully some of you will enjoy a run down memory lane.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Mountain Man Jan 18, 2018
Quoting: Dunc...like Adams's Infocom adventures from the '80s, it's not really all that good.Correct about Starship Titanic. Incorrect about the Infocom text adventures. They're excellent, that is if you enjoy text adventures. They can be a bit of an acquired taste if you weren't of game-playing age when they were among the best games on the market.
Quoting: Mountain ManQuoting: Dunc...like Adams's Infocom adventures from the '80s, it's not really all that good.Correct about Starship Titanic. Incorrect about the Infocom text adventures. They're excellent, that is if you enjoy text adventures. They can be a bit of an acquired taste if you weren't of game-playing age when they were among the best games on the market.
... but I'm not sure Douglas Adams' game was among the better Infocom games. Weren't you supposed to
Spoiler, click me
By the way, googling for the time I found you can legally play it for free now:
http://www.douglasadams.com/creations/infocomjava.html (Doesn't work for me.)
http://iplayif.com
And by the way II: There are at least two new (professional) text adventures for Linux, Thaumistry and Hadean Lands.
Last edited by Eike on 19 January 2018 at 9:04 am UTC
Mountain Man Jan 19, 2018
Quoting: EikeYes, some of the puzzles were not particularly intuitive, especially since Douglas Adams introduced the radical concept that the game could lie to you! But the Infocom games were still a much better showcase for Adams' talents than Starship Titanic.Quoting: Mountain ManQuoting: Dunc...like Adams's Infocom adventures from the '80s, it's not really all that good.Correct about Starship Titanic. Incorrect about the Infocom text adventures. They're excellent, that is if you enjoy text adventures. They can be a bit of an acquired taste if you weren't of game-playing age when they were among the best games on the market.
... but I'm not sure Douglas Adams' game was among the better Infocom games. Weren't you supposed to? This was stupid even by eighties' standards...Spoiler, click me
rescue something like a fly from a dog in the beginning, so you could survive in a miniaturized spaceship attacked by the dog in the end
By the way, googling for the time I found you can legally play it for free now:
http://www.douglasadams.com/creations/infocomjava.html (Doesn't work for me.)
http://iplayif.com
And by the way II: There are at least two new (professional) text adventures for Linux, Thaumistry and Hadean Lands.
Quoting: Mountain ManI was. And I liked text adventures. But, well, Eike's kind of said it for me. Hitchhiker's had some good moments, but as a whole I don't think either game stood up to the best of Adams's or Infocom's work. There's even some debate as to how much of Bureaucracy he actually wrote.Quoting: Dunc...like Adams's Infocom adventures from the '80s, it's not really all that good.Correct about Starship Titanic. Incorrect about the Infocom text adventures. They're excellent, that is if you enjoy text adventures. They can be a bit of an acquired taste if you weren't of game-playing age when they were among the best games on the market.
Quoting: Mountain ManBut the Infocom games were still a much better showcase for Adams' talents than Starship Titanic.Oh, yes. No doubt about that, I'm sure.
It's sad, really. I'm sure he had a really great game in him - he was always so enthused by the possibilities of interactivity - and if he were still around today, he'd probably have the tools and team around him to make it.
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