| The year was 1985. PC games were almost non | | | | in the game, if you can call them graphics, occur |
| existent. The personal computer itself was in its | | | | whenever the aftershocks hit. The screen shakes |
| infant stages. The amount of memory you had in | | | | a bit. |
| a PC was about 64K. PC games? Certainly there | | | | The game, in spite of it being pretty bare bones, |
| weren't any PC games back then even worth | | | | was very hard. The number of puzzles you had |
| playing, not with that kind of memory. Well, | | | | to solve and items you had to get were |
| actually there was. If you had yourself a Radio | | | | numerous to say the least. Many times you would |
| Shack TRS 80, there was a game so popular that | | | | have to backtrack to a place you had been to |
| people who owned these computers couldn't stop | | | | before to pick up an item that only appears after |
| playing it. The game was called "San Francisco | | | | you got another item or another aftershock hits. |
| Earthquake - 1906". | | | | For example. There is one part of the game |
| The game was to take place around the time of | | | | where you reach a pile of rubble. You search |
| the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906. But | | | | through it but don't find anything. So you move |
| the game itself was not really about the | | | | on. Later on during the game, another aftershock |
| earthquake. Oh yes, it happens during the game, | | | | hits. If you think enough to go back to the pile of |
| which only makes things that more difficult, but | | | | rubble, you will see that it had been disturbed and |
| the main objective is to find your wife who has | | | | if you look closely enough you will now find an |
| been kidnapped. | | | | item that you didn't see before. |
| Played entirely in text mode, no graphics, you | | | | You had to really think outside the box to play |
| awake to find a note by your bedside that your | | | | this game. There was no instruction manual and |
| wife has been kidnapped. You then receive a | | | | no clue book. For those of you who are |
| phone call with a ransom demand. Suddenly there | | | | programmers, you can figure out where |
| is a terrible shaking and it hits. You're now in the | | | | everything is. The game was written in a |
| middle of the worst earthquake in San Francisco | | | | combination of BASIC and Assembler Language. |
| history and your wife has been kidnapped. What a | | | | By printing out the source and object files, if you |
| way to start the day. | | | | can read this stuff, you can figure out exactly the |
| The game is played by issuing commands to the | | | | order for every item you need to find and where |
| computer such as look, get, north, south, east, | | | | they are found. |
| west (to move around) open, close, inventory and | | | | The game was a real challenge. And while it didn't |
| a number of other commands. There is a very | | | | have all the bells and whistles of the modern day |
| limited help function that basically gives you the list | | | | PC games, it was far from boring. |
| of commands that you can use. The only graphics | | | | |