Game 32: Neuromancer - Introduction

I like science fiction. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that I love science fiction! Many of my favourite movies sit in the genre on some level, and I’m generally attracted to games that do too. It’s therefore quite strange that I really haven’t read very many science fiction books. The truth is that I’ve not been a massive reader over the course of my life, reading on average only about five or six books a year. That’s definitely increased with my recent discovery of audiobooks, but I’m still only getting through about a book a month. I guess I’m just a sucker for epic fantasy series like George Martin’s Game of Thrones and Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time, and given how many books tend to make up those series and how long each part usually is, it’s no surprise that I haven’t had much time for anything else. You might be wondering why I’m crapping on about books instead of games. The answer is that the 32nd game on the playlist is based on a book by the same name, William Gibson’s Neuromancer, and it’s a book I’ve never read. I’d heard the name numerous times, but didn’t realise how well regarded it is until I started researching today.


Neuromancer (the book) was released in 1984, and is generally considered a seminal work in the cyberpunk genre. It was the first book to win the science fiction “triple crown”, meaning it cleaned up the Nebula Award, the Philip K. Dick Award, and the Hugo Award. It was actually Gibson’s first published novel, and follows a computer hacker named Henry Dorsett Case. After being caught stealing from his employer, Case’s central nervous system was damaged (I assume purposely), leaving him unable to access the global computer network (which strangely enough was called the Matrix). Needless to say he regains his ability to access the network through an underground organisation in exchange for his hacking services. That’s about as far as I was willing to read about the novel, just in case the game closely follows the plot, but from what I can tell it’s only “loosely” based on it. Interestingly, it was American psychologist and writer Timothy Leary, known for his advocacy of psychedelic drugs and for being labelled “the most dangerous man in America” by President Richard Nixon, that held the gaming rights to the novel (there’s also a simulation game named Timothy Leary’s Mind Mirror if you want to check it out). He took the game idea to Interplay around 1987, where producers Brian Fargo and Troy P. Worrell agreed to make it.


You may recognise the name Brian Fargo, particularly if you’re also following the RPG exploits of Chet over at the CRPG Addict. Brian helped design all three games in The Bard’s Tale series (taking over as director for the third one), as well as playing a major role in the design of the classic Wasteland. He also designed three early adventure games (interactive fiction with graphics), with the first two being The Demon’s Forge (1981) and Borrowed Time (1985), and the third one Tass Times in Tonetown (1986). Long time readers will know that I played TTiT back in January last year (it was game 8 on the playlist). It was a very quirky game that I quite enjoyed, but had to rate it harshly due to some technical deficiencies and numerous dead ends. Troy Worrell also worked on that game as a programmer and directed Wasteland alongside Fargo, meaning the two of them had quite a history by the time Neuromancer landed on their desks.


Given the success of Wasteland, it’s not surprising that Fargo and Worrell invited members of the same team back to make Neuromancer. Michael A. Stackpole (a science fiction and fantasy writer) and Bruce J. Balfour came onboard to design the game along with Fargo, while Troy A. Miles took on all programming duties. Also from Wasteland was Charles Weidmann III, who was tasked with creating the graphics and artwork in an attempt to bring Gibson’s world to life. Finally, all sound and music was to be looked after by industry veteran David Warhol (Tass Times in Tonetown, Maniac Mansion and Zak McKracken). Speaking of music, the soundtrack for the game is based on a song by Devo named Some Things Never Change. This track appeared on the 1988 album Total Devo, but instrumental only versions appeared on all versions of Neuromancer (apart form the C-64 version which apparently sampled the real song in the intro). Ilmari has already mentioned that the theme music is annoying and repetitive, so it appears we can blame Devo for that, at least in part.


I really don’t know what to expect when it comes to gameplay, although I do know that Neuromancer is described repeatedly in the manual as a role playing game that involves gaining skills by “implanting chips directly into your brain jack”. Just how much adventure game elements there are is yet to be seen. The manual covers a lot of ground (it’s quite daunting really), so I’ll read it whilst playing rather than prior. I’m under the impression that gameplay is split between traditional adventure sequences and cyberspace, although I have no idea how that plays out. I guess it’s time to find out, and I’ve found a DOS copy and got it working in DOSBox. It looks like I’m going to face the same screenshot issues that made Mean Streets take so long to get through, so this time I’m going to try out Lars-Erik’s suggestion that should allow me to use the ALT-F5 function without it acting as an ENTER. Well, I’m off to jack in (as opposed to jack off), and will report my initial findings soon enough. Who’s joining me?!