Deadline (1982 video game)

Deadline is an interactive fiction detective video game published by Infocom in 1982. Written by Marc Blank, it was Infocom's third game. It was released for the Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Atari 8-bit family, Commodore 64, IBM PC (as a self-booting disk), Osborne 1, TRS-80, and later for the Amiga and Atari ST. Deadline was Infocom's first mystery game, their first non-Zork game, and the game that started their tradition of feelies. The number of NPCs, the independence of their behavior from the player's actions, and the parser's complexity were considered revolutionary at the time of the game's release. Also innovative was its use of "feelies"; physical documents that came with the game to help the player solve the mystery, resulting in its more expensive cost relative to other text adventures of the time. The player's character in Deadline is an unnamed police detective, summoned to a sprawling Connecticut estate to investigate the apparent suicide of wealthy industrialist Marshall Robner. The suspects, who walk around the estate pursuing their own agendas during your investigation, are: Leslie Robner, the victim's wife George Robner, the victim's son Mr. McNabb, the gardener Mrs. Rourke, the housekeeper Mr. Baxter, Robner's business partner Ms. Dunbar, Robner's secretary New commands were implemented to suit the game's detective theme: the player can or even any of the suspects at any time. A well-timed accusation can cause an unnerved suspect to reveal previously concealed information. For an arrest to stick, however, the player must possess hard evidence of the three basics: motive, method, and opportunity. Without these, the game ends with a description of why the presumed culprit was released. The standard and commands are present, but the player can also objects or ask the invaluable Sgt. Duffy to them. There are only two ways for the player to die, but Infocom gave Deadline a difficulty rating of "Expert", largely due to the abundance of evidence and false leads to be sorted out within a short timespan.