Saturday, November 30, 2024

Game 532: Idol of Monterey (1985)

 
"Tough. There isn't any."
        
Idol of Monterey
United States
MicroSPARC (developer and publisher)
Released 1985 for Apple II
Date Started: 27 November 2024
Date Ended: 27 November 2024
Total Hours: 2
Difficulty: Easy-Very Easy (1.5/5)
Final Rating: (to come later)
Ranking at time of posting: (to come later) 
      
Idol of Monterey isn't an RPG by my definitions, but it took me less than a couple of hours to master and win it, so what the hell. Here's a full (if short) entry. I didn't play The Great Ultizurkian Underland this week because it requires a numberpad, and I didn't have it with me for most of the week.
   
Monterey is a simple game that has your unnamed character wander a single randomized 30 x 15 screen looking for treasure in general and the titular idol specifically. You start with 3000 "strength points," which are basically just hit points, and as you acquire treasure, you amass "treasure points." When the game ends, it tallies your defeated foes and collected treasure and gives you a final score.
 
Starting on a fresh map.
        
Every square has a random chance of five things:
    
  1. Nothing
  2. An unguarded treasure
  3. A treasure guarded by a monster
  4. A whisper on the wind that tells you the direction of the idol
  5. A trap
       
Zowie!, indeed.
       
About 50% of the squares have #3. When you encounter a monster, the game tells you what treasure it's guarding. You can fight, bribe, or run. If you fight, you have to spend a number of strength points against the enemy. If you don't spend enough, you die. Through trial and error (the game plays quickly), I figured out the minimum number of points, in increments of 25, necessary to beat each foe:
   
  • Cyclops (50)
  • Harpy (100)
  • Troll (125)
  • Griffin (175)
  • Goblin (200)
       
That's pretty much the definition of "death."
      
  • Minotaur (200)
  • Skeleton (200)
  • Wyvern (325)
 
Defeating a wyvern.
      
  • Basilisk (375)
  • Dragon (500)
   
Since you have a limited pool of strength (although slain enemies occasionally deliver a strength potion), you naturally want to get to the idol as quickly as possible. Whether you find the idol or not, the game ends when you die, quit, or walk off the screen. The last option is the only way that you can preserve the treasure that you found and gain points for it.
     
Final statistics for a winning game.
     
The idol is guarded by a dragon. If you make it off the map with it, the game says that "the dwarves declare you their hero," which must refer to a backstory that perhaps accompanied the game, though it's impossible to imagine a game this simple having a "manual."
     
       
Five more notes:
   
  • Monsters occasionally guard "treasure eaters" instead of treasure. If you slay the monster, the treasure eater takes some of your treasure points.
  • Bribing never worked for me. Enemies just took the money and I had to fight them anyway.
  • The idol can spawn in areas completely closed off from the rest of the map by trees (X), which you cannot pass.
  • The game asks if you want sound at the beginning and then, as far as I can tell, has no sound.
  • As you move across the screen, the game replaces periods, indicating open spaces, with colons, indicating that you've been there.
         
The idol in this game is in the closed-off area of the northwest.
      
There isn't a lot of fun to be had here, nor challenge, and the game thus earns a 6 on the GIMLET, with 1s in a few categories.
    
The game is credited to a Glenn Archer, who also wrote a version of Concentration (1984) for SoftSide magazine. It was published by MicroSPARC of Lincoln, Massachusetts, which is more famous for publishing Nibble magazine from 1980 to 1992. They released a dozen simple software titles during that period. The only version of the game that I could find came on a compilation disk that the company published in 1986; other games included Will 'O the Wisp (1980), a text adventure; Castle Riche (1984), a graphical adventure; and Adventure Construction Set (1985), a writer of simple text adventures.
    
I don't know what to make of the title. My best guess is that the author was going for something along the lines of "Maltese falcon." The only other mention of the phrase that I can find occurs in the May, June, and October 1947 issues of Guernsey Breeders' Journal, in which a bull named "Don's Idol of Monterey" is said to be owned by Howard J. White (1884-1963) of Monterey Farm in Middletown, Delaware. His son, Howard J. White Jr. (1920-2010) earned a PhD in chemistry from Princeton University and was the executive secretary of the International Association for the Properties of Water and Steam. Man, there's an international association for everything.
 
 

19 comments:

  1. It seems that the game is derived from Monster Combat, although with a victory condition and not just aiming for the maximum score.

    Neither is really an RPG, but at least in the advanced version of Monster Combat there were spells, and on the map there were inns and castles.

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    1. Wasn't there just another Monster Combat variation with 1987's Foresta? For the limited fun it seems to provide, it's surprising how long this concept from 1980 (itself modifying even older ideas) was built upon.

      Apparently, Idol of Monterey was first published as a type-in game in Nibble magazine in April 1985 (based on this index entry) before being sold as part of different game compilations like the one Chet mentions, this other Nibble Software one or even as late as 1989 in the UK.

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    2. Monster Combat does not reach the extreme of Hunt the Wumpus, but I have found versions on really obscure platforms (I have preferred not to even try to emulate them and you will not see them on my website). I suppose that in this case it has less to do with the quality of the game (having to choose how much strength to spend in a fight as a bet doesn't seem like fun to me) than with the ease with which many authors took published code listings and modified it to create their own games.

      In some cases the resulting game was different enough to be considered new, but in others it was clearly plagiarism. In idol of Monterey the truth is that the changes are small, and to make matters worse it seems to be based on the most primitive version of the original game, which by then was more than obsolete, so trying to sell it as your own would not seem ethical to me.

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  2. This was a fun little short read and I like that you take time with this type of games.
    Aprichiate your devotion:)

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  3. "The game asks if you want sound at the beginning and then, as far as I can tell, has no sound."
    this seems like a blessing given the sounds of a lot of early games!

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    1. What, you don't want to hear another sawtooth rendition of a public domain song, probably Camptown Races this time? You uncultured swine! The sound is simply to die for, and one always loves the addition of a chorus of the local wildlife screaming in pain. There's simply no other way to play a game.

      Delete
  4. "...was the executive secretary of the International Association for the Properties of Water and Steam. Man, there's an international association for everything."

    Yes, but the IAPWS is the only association worth belonging to.

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    Replies
    1. I just want to know if they have a newsletter I can subscribe to.

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  5. Is this the lowest scored game?

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    Replies
    1. AlphabeticalAnonymousDecember 1, 2024 at 9:36 PM

      No, that title goes to Ultimuh, which scored 3. But this one does seem to tie for fifth-lowest score, which is still nothing to sneeze at!

      If you view this site in Desktop mode you'll see a link at right to an online spreadsheet with "all game rankings," which you can browse at your leisure.

      Delete
    2. I wonder what the lowest rated game that doesn't seem like it's questionably a RPG is? (which is different from lowest rated game since Ultimuh barely qualifies as that, let alone a RPG)

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    3. Thanks, I was on my handy so it was hard to look at the spreadsheet.

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    4. The lowest rated game that is unquestionably an RPG would be one that doesn't get a "0" in "Character Creation and Development." Currently, it's Richard Garriott's first Dungeons & Dragons.

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  6. Having once resided in Monterey (CA), the very thought of tramping around a sleepy tourist town fighting monsters and finding idols to impress a bunch of dwarves strikes me as hilariously incongruous.

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    Replies
    1. I spent an evening in Monterey CA fighting monsters and finding idols... Then the mushrooms wore off.

      Delete

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