''The Serpent's Star'' is an

interactive fiction '' Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, is software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives, either in the ...

game with graphics. It was developed by Ultrasoft and published by Broderbund for the

Apple II The Apple II (stylized as ) is an 8-bit home computer and one of the world's first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products. It was designed primarily by Steve Wozniak; Jerry Manock developed the design of Apple II's foam-m ...

in 1983 as the sequel to '' The Mask of the Sun''. Ports followed for the

Atari 8-bit computers The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced by Atari, Inc. in 1979 as the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The series was successively upgraded to Atari 1200XL , Atari 600XL, Atari 800XL, Atari 65XE, Atari 130XE, Atari 800XE, ...

(1984) and

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...

(1985).

Gameplay

The game takes place in Tibet. The player named ''Mac Steele'' is an archaeologist, who tries to find a valuable diamond called "The Serpent's Star". He needs 13 scrolls, which provide advice to the diamond's hideout in the town of ''Kara-Koram''. Therefore, Mac Steele has to travel through Tibet, to solve a lot of puzzles and to meet other

non-player character A non-player character (NPC), or non-playable character, is any character in a game that is not controlled by a player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaster o ...

s, e.g. Buddhist monks. The single-player adventure is controlled via typed keyboard commands. Words and simple sentences are entered in a text parser.

Reception

'' Softline'' stated, "if you liked ''Mask of the Sun'', you'll probably like ''Serpent's Star''. Most of us did".'' Antic'' called it "a good, challenging game". A reviewer for German magazine ''Happy Computer'' praised the thrilling, atmospheric storyline, the complexity of the riddles, and the graphics.Heinrich Lenhardt: ''Der Drachenstern'', ''Happy Computer'' 4/1985, p.142f. (German)

References

External links

Museum of Computer Adventure Game History
{{DEFAULTSORT:Serpent's Star, the 1983 video games Adventure games Apple II games Atari 8-bit computer games Broderbund games Commodore 64 games Single-player video games Ultrasoft games Video games developed in the United States