2013-03-02
Here I am already, starting off what I announced only yesterday with an excellent game from 1983: Murder on the Zinderneuf. Behind this title hides a Cluedo inspired murder mystery which holds the distinction of not just adapting a board game environment, but using the capabilities available to computer games in innovative ways, such as having characters wandering around the 'board' freely in real time. Even after 30 years, Zinderneuf has undoubtedly stood the test of time!
Its designer, Paul Reiche, was also responsible for Archon, a similarly original take on chess, and later (with his new company Toys for Bob) followed that up with a science fiction variant of the same idea called StarControl – a series primarily remembered for its groundbreaking second part which pushed the definitions of player freedom in epicly scaled games. At the dawn of the so-called 'multimedia' age, he came up with The Horde, which employed some deliciously quirky humour, but it did not do quite as well in the gameplay department anymore.
Mr Creosote