Indiana Jones and His Desktop Adventures

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Indiana Jones and His Desktop Adventures
Indiana Jones and His Desktop Adventures Coverart.png
The boxart for Indiana Jones and His Desktop Adventures features a still of Indiana Jones from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Developer(s) LucasArts
Publisher(s) LucasArts
Director(s) Hal Barwood
Designer(s) Hal Barwood
Wayne Cline
Paul D. LeFevre
Tom Payne
Programmer(s) Paul D. LeFevre
Artist(s) Tom Payne
Writer(s) Hal Barwood
Wayne Cline
Composer(s) Clint Bajakian
Platforms Windows 3.x, Apple Macintosh
Release date(s) April 1996[1]
Genre(s) Adventure
Mode(s) Single player

Indiana Jones and his Desktop Adventures is a 1996 computer game. Desktop Adventures was made to run in a windowed form on the desktop to limit memory use and allow the player to perform other tasks. This game was the first Desktop Adventures game, and was followed by Star Wars: Yoda Stories in 1997.

A demo version of the game was later released at Download.com.[2]

Plot

The game is set in mid-1930s Middle America with a variety of characters, puzzles, and outcomes. The plot, size, and direction of each game are randomly generated at the start, with locations and items being different every time, though each storyline has a pre-scripted resolution.

Gameplay

Indiana Jones and His Desktop Adventures gameplay. Note the top-down view along with the directional arrows and round health meter in the lower right.

The playing area is displayed from an overhead perspective. The player-controlled Indiana Jones is limited to orthogonal movement, which is controlled with the arrow keys or with the mouse. The mouse is also used for other actions, such as managing inventory and using weapons. There is limited audio and no speech, with characters speaking with speech bubbles. After winning, the player can continue to explore the setting.

Reception

GameSpot reviewed the game as having low-quality visuals and audio but being possibly useful for passing time.[3] Billboard magazine mentioned the game's randomly generated environment and its target audience of "gamers on the go."[4]

Influence

Although Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine was a direct sequel to Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, elements from Desktop Adventures found their way into the next game:

  • The round health meter, in addition to being used for health, was also used for the breath, puncture and Aetherium threshold meters.
  • Health herbs, can be found growing throughout the game, as well as the new venom kit and health kit.
  • Scorpions, spiders, snakes and the odd jaguar were introduced in Infernal Machine, along with wolves, monkeys, sharks and piranha. All could be killed with the exception of jaguars, wolves and monkeys. LucasArts was told by one of the play testers they did not like the idea of killing them, so LucasArts changed the programming slightly so those animals would run away at the sound of gun fire, giving the player time to get away from them. Their dying animation was not removed from the game, so they could still be killed with explosives.

References

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External links

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