The Witness (1983 video game)
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| The Witness | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Infocom |
| Publisher(s) | Infocom |
| Designer(s) | Stu Galley[1] |
| Engine | Z-machine |
| Platform(s) | Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Amstrad PCW, Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, TRS-80, TI-99/4A, Mac |
| Release | Release 13: May 24, 1983
Release 18: September 10, 1983 |
| Genre(s) | Adventure, Interactive fiction |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
The Witness is an interactive fiction video game published by Infocom in 1983. Like Infocom's earlier title Deadline, it is a murder mystery. The Witness was written in the ZIL language for the Z-machine, which allowed it to be released simultaneously on many systems. It is Infocom's seventh game.
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The game takes place in Cabeza Plana, a quiet and fictional (the name is Spanish for "Flathead", from Zork mythology) suburb of Los Angeles, California in February 1938.
Freeman Linder, a local millionaire, has begged the police for protection from a man named Stiles. The player's character is a detective assigned one evening to check out the wealthy man's claims: is Linder seriously in danger or just another rich eccentric? Before the player can decide, a window explodes and Linder collapses, dead.
The case of possible harassment has just become a murder, with the player as the only witness. With the help of Sgt. Duffy (last seen in Deadline), the player has until sunrise to solve the mystery. Motive, method, and opportunity must all be established to secure a solid arrest and the optimal ending. There are two ways for the player to die.[2]
Development
Enjoying playing Deadline more than Zork, Stu Galley decided to write another mystery game as its counterpart; while Deadline is set in the eastern United States on a summer day, Witness is set in the West Coast at night. For authenticity, he obtained a 1930s Sears catalog and researched contemporary slang; the radio plays the programs that aired on the day the game occurs in.[3]
Release
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Included in each package of The Witness were the following supplementary items, or feelies:
- Virginia Linder's suicide note addressed to her daughter Monica
- A telegram from Freeman Linder pleading for protection from Stiles
- A matchbook from The Brass Lantern Chinese restaurant
- A February 1938 issue of the fictional magazine National Detective Gazette
- Two pages of a real issue of the Santa Ana newspaper The Register, with two articles added about Virginia and Freeman Linder