''James Clavell's Shōgun'' is an interactive fiction

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

written by

Dave Lebling Peter David Lebling (born October 30, 1949) is an interactive fiction game designer ( implementor) and programmer who has worked at various companies, including Infocom and Avid. Life and career He was born in Washington, D.C., grew up in Mary ...

and published by Infocom in 1989. It was released for the Amiga, Apple II,

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, and

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. The game is based on the 1975 novel ''

Shōgun , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamak ...

'' by James Clavell. It is Infocom's thirty-third game.

Plot

The game reproduces many of the novel's scenes, few of which are interconnected in any way. The player assumes the role of

John Blackthorne John Blackthorne is the hero of James Clavell's 1975 novel ''Shōgun'', and is loosely based on the life of the 17th-century English navigator William Adams, who was the first Englishman to visit Japan. The character also appears in the 1980 TV ...

, pilot-major of the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

trading ship ''Erasmus''. During a voyage in the

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in the year 1600, the ''Erasmus'' is shipwrecked in Japan. Blackthorne must survive in a land where every custom is as unfamiliar to him as the language. After learning some of the society's ways, he is drawn into a political struggle between

warlord A warlord is a person who exercises military, economic, and political control over a region in a country without a strong national government; largely because of coercive control over the armed forces. Warlords have existed throughout much of h ...

s and falls in love with a Japanese woman. Eventually, he embraces Japanese life and is honored as a

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

Development

James Clavell contributed little to the design of the game, although he and Dave Lebling met several times. He treated the game as a traditional licensing agreement rather than a collaboration. Consequently, the game contains many scenes from the novel presented

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or made thinly interactive. Dave Lebling has said that he considers ''Shōgun'' the worst game he was ever responsible for overall, although he is proud of several of the ''timing'' puzzles.

Release

The ''Shōgun'' packaging includes two physical objects: a map representing John Blackthorne's "known world" of 1600, and ''The Soul of the Samurai'', a booklet describing the history and significance of samurai swords.

Reception

Dave Arneson David Lance Arneson (; October 1, 1947Minnesota Department of Health. ''Minnesota Birth Index, 1935–2002'' atabase on-line Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2004. – April 7, 2009) was an American game designer best known ...

gave ''Shōgun'' a negative review in '' Computer Gaming World''. He wrote that the linear nature of the game and poor hints contributed to

guess-the-verb This is a glossary of terms common in MUD multiplayer virtual worlds. A–Z See also * Glossary of video game terms References Bib ...

and trial-and-error gameplay, and that the illustrations—while "nice to look at"—did not provide information to play the game. Arneson praised the game's large size, but concluded that ''Shōgun'' was only "mildly interesting" and inferior to ''

Zork Zero ''Zork Zero: The Revenge of Megaboz'' is an interactive fiction computer game, written by Steve Meretzky over nearly 18 months and published by Infocom in 1988. Although it is the ninth and last ''Zork'' game released by Infocom before the company ...

''. Dave Morris reviewed ''James Clavell's Shōgun'' for ''

Games International ''Computer Games Magazine'' was a monthly computer and console gaming print magazine, founded in October 1988 as the United Kingdom publication ''Games International''. During its history, it was known variously as ''Strategy Plus'' (October 19 ...

'' magazine, and gave it 1 star out of 5, and stated that "I would rather have seen this game taking the novel as a springboard for much more open adventure possibilities. As it stands, I can't see who could get anything out of it. Except Infocom and James Clavell, that is."

References

External links

Infocom-if.org entry
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shogun, James Clavell's 1980s interactive fiction Interactive fiction based on works 1989 video games Adventure games Amiga games Apple II games Asian Saga Classic Mac OS games DOS games Infocom games Japan in non-Japanese culture Video games about samurai Video games based on novels Video games developed in the United States Video games set in Japan Adaptations of works by James Clavell