# Help me identify a text-based computer game **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 24, 2015, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-text-based-computer-game/720746 "2015-05-24T21:25:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dr.Girlfriend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.girlfriend/32/193_2.png) [@Dr.Girlfriend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Girlfriend)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2015, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-text-based-computer-game/720746/1 "2015-05-24T21:25:00Z")
I don’t know what made me think of this game, but now it’s bugging me. It would’ve been a mid 80’s Apple IIc game. This was a sci-fi game, set on some sort of space station. The space station had different colored corridors, and as you moved around the station you would come to intersections of the different corridors. You’d get options like go left down white corridor, go right down white corridor, or go straight on red corridor. I remember one of the win conditions was you had to sabotage a tractor beam and escape from the station. There were no graphics, just text commands. My Google searches have come up with plenty of text based games but nothing that sounds familiar. It could have been part of a game bundle that came with the Apple IIc when we bought it. Sound familiar to anyone? ---
**Author:** ![Galwegian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galwegian/32/3426_2.png) [@Galwegian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galwegian)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2015, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-text-based-computer-game/720746/2 "2015-05-24T22:03:51Z")
I think this is Starcross from Infocom. The coloured corridors sound right, but I don’t remember the tractor beam. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-text-based-computer-game/720746/3 "2015-05-25T01:02:57Z")
I don’t remember the colors, but I have been looking for a sci-fi themed text adventure as well. Mine was also on a space station, or a crashed ship perhaps. “Looks like a storm’s a brewin” was a phrase I remember from it. You aren’t looking for the same one, are you? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-text-based-computer-game/720746/4 "2015-05-25T01:10:34Z")
Note: I believe mine came on a Big Blue Disk from the mid-80’s, which were only PC compatible. That may rule out that we are looking for the same game. ---
**Author:** ![TPWombat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbce88/32.png) [@TPWombat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TPWombat)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-text-based-computer-game/720746/5 "2015-05-25T09:16:05Z")
Could it have been Snowball, 1st of the Silicon Dreams trilogy by Level 9 computing? [Link to youtube playthrough](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI4b_hmO8IA) ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Girlfriend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.girlfriend/32/193_2.png) [@Dr.Girlfriend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Girlfriend)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-text-based-computer-game/720746/6 "2015-05-25T19:44:47Z")
I don’t think it’s Starcross or Snowball. Starcross seems close, but there was definitely a tractor beam. I remember now that there was something or someone you had to find on the station and escape the station with it/them. If you tried to escape without disabling the tractor beam your ship would blow up. And there was a time limit. I would get lost in the corridors and run out of time. There were no graphics at all, so that makes me think it wasn’t Snowball. I don’t remember the “storm’s a brewing”, but it was a long time ago. ---
**Author:** ![twynn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/db5fbb/32.png) [@twynn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twynn)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2016, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-text-based-computer-game/720746/7 "2016-06-17T04:51:46Z")
The one I remember you were in a space station. Initially trapped in a room. You could interact with different robots that gave different types of information. It would describe a ramp as a wedge or a different description depending on the robot you were using. There was a robot that could “see” but its eyes werent working and one of the things you needed to do was fix it. In one part of the station there was an explosion and part of you job was a hydroponics station. You had to fix the explosion portion then figure out how to escape. I cannot for the life of me remember the name of this game. I played it in 86 along with zork i believe. If anyone can remember the name that would be awesome. thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2016, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-text-based-computer-game/720746/8 "2016-06-17T05:22:15Z")
> [@twynn](#): > > The one I remember you were in a space station. Initially trapped in a room. You could interact with different robots that gave different types of information. It would describe a ramp as a wedge or a different description depending on the robot you were using. There was a robot that could “see” but its eyes werent working and one of the things you needed to do was fix it. In one part of the station there was an explosion and part of you job was a hydroponics station. You had to fix the explosion portion then figure out how to escape. I cannot for the life of me remember the name of this game. I played it in 86 along with zork i believe. If anyone can remember the name that would be awesome. thanks. I never finished it, but I’m pretty sure you’re talking about [Suspended](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspended). ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2016, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-text-based-computer-game/720746/9 "2016-06-18T03:23:41Z")
> [@Johnny\_Angel](#): > > I never finished it, but I’m pretty sure you’re talking about [Suspended](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspended). I never played this game, but from **twynn** ’s description it sounded like a game discussed in Nick Montfort’s book _[Twisty Little Passages: An Approach to Interactive Fiction](https://books.google.com/books?id=XiJFORKEm0oC)_. I just checked Google Books and Montfort was indeed writing about _Suspended_. Since I’m in here, does anyone else remember a text game where you were stranded on a deserted island and had to find a number of treasures hidden there and then IIRC signal to a ship? My family had this game in the late '80s. None of us ever managed to find all the treasures. I’m pretty sure this was a shareware game so it may not have been well known even to text adventure enthusiasts. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2024, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-text-based-computer-game/720746/10 "2024-03-17T21:02:32Z")
@Dr.Girlfriend Just after high school (2014) I read about the one of the oldest Star Wars video games on [starwars.com](http://starwars.com), and it mentioned an unlicensed Apple II game. Can’t find the article now, but I ended up finding the game on the Internet Archive. You may be interested in the feature set: - ✔ Ship stuck on space station. - ✔ Time limit. - ✔ May rescue prisoners. - ✔ Must sabotage a tractor beam to escape. - ✔ No graphics, just text commands. - ✔ Color coded corridors Per the listing the game is called _Star Wars_, copyright 1979 Donald Brown (later of Eamon fame). You can play it online here: > **[cple Apple-oids - Outpost - Star Blaster - Star Wars - Taxman : Free...](https://archive.org/details/a2_cple_Apple_oids_Outpost_Star_Blaster_Star_Wars_Taxman)** > > cple Apple-oids - Outpost - Star Blaster - Star Wars - Taxman That’s an Apple //e emulator, however since the source code is BASIC and dated 1979 it was probably written for the original Apple ][. If you die, type “RUN” to start over. I made a high score of 142. [![Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/Vy5iBAc.png "imgur.com") ](https://imgur.com/Vy5iBAc) And here’s the map I made: [https://imgur.com/opCX96d](https://imgur.com/opCX96d) ~Max ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2024, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-text-based-computer-game/720746/11 "2024-03-18T12:58:09Z")
This zombie thread is making me want to dig out my “Lost Treasures of Infocom” set and start playing again. It had “Starcross” and “Suspended” and a couple of other space-themed games (“Stationfall”, “Planetfall”, and of course the Hitchhikers Guide game). I think I started a couple of them a loooong time ago but never got very far. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2024, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-text-based-computer-game/720746/12 "2024-03-18T13:10:35Z")
Enjoy every Infocom game: [https://eblong.com/infocom/](https://eblong.com/infocom/) ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Girlfriend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.girlfriend/32/193_2.png) [@Dr.Girlfriend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Girlfriend)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2024, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-text-based-computer-game/720746/13 "2024-03-18T23:03:36Z")
Thank you! This was it! I will have to check out the emulator when I have some more time. Apparently I remembered more of the game when I originally posted this question. 🤣