8 ms·

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy – 30th Anniversary Edition – Free Play Online

249 points by sep_field 6y ago

klodolph 6y ago
I remember in high school after an argument about games, my friend handed me a disk labeled "good text-based game" with this game on it. I'm sure we didn't have the same taste. "New gamers may not see the appeal" is an understatement. The game takes inaccessibility as a badge of honor, or perhaps a badge of honour. It's not just lateral thinking that you need in order to get through the game... you need to lose, restart, and try again. Douglas Adams's humor (or humour) survives the translation to video game format very well but there's very little else about the game that is enjoyable, unless you are a masochist. I can't remember if I finished the game or not. I do remember getting past the puzzle when you arrive on the Vogon ship. If you are tempted to use a walkthrough to beat the game, just go reread the book instead. If you're interested in interactive fiction, you have 37 years of games to play since HHGTTG came out in 1984, and there are plenty of classics in there. My personal favorite is Galatea, which is itself an unusual game (only one location, many endings), and my "junk food" text game would be Leather Goddesses of Phobos. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is one of my favorite books, but one of my least favorite games. It shows up high in interactive fiction rankings, but I suspect it's largely because some people are massive fans of the books.
- RealityVoid 6y ago
  I once played this game called KGB[1]. That takes 1st place as the most difficult adventure game I played. It was merciless and a mistake from a couple of scenes ago could lead to you dyeing far down the line. Masochistic, but I found the challenge fascinating. Did not manage to finish it though. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KGB_(video_game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KGB_(video_game)
  - lelag 6y ago
    Ah the memories... Indeed KGB was brutal. However, it was also pretty badly balanced because the first half of the game was much more difficult than the second half which made it very frustrating.
- rusk 6y ago
  Sounds like Douglas Adams’ copy protection did it’s job so! He typically published literature along with his games that if you didn’t have made the games frustratingly difficult or even impossible (see bureaucracy). From the description of the disk you gave id say it’s highly likely you didn’t have access to that.
  - duskwuff 6y ago
    Nope. The game just has some really, really obtuse puzzles. Don't pick up the junk mail in the second room? That'll make the Babel Fish puzzle (the one on the Vogon ship) unwinnable. Ate the sandwich in the pub instead of feeding it to the dog? That'll kill you much later in the game. And so on. None of this was hinted at in the "feelies" shipped with the game or in the books; players were expected to figure it out through trial and error. Games in this era were written with the expectation that you'd have to play through them many times to get everything right. It made them last longer (in terms of play time), but also made them incredibly frustrating to play.
    - ghaff 6y ago
      One of the philosophical issues I have with a lot of IF--which I've actually discussed with the author of this game--is that I feel you should, at least in principle, be able to complete a run through in a game in one try rather than having to make essentially random trial and error choices. Unsurprisingly, he didn't really agree. (Which there are a lot of in Hitchhiker's. Although I didn't really complete that many Infocom games in general.)
      - stinkytaco 6y ago
        Did he give a logic for this? I speculate in the case of this game, the developers and Adams wanted you to experience as much of the story (and humor) as possible. Failing was part of the fun. Is that the case or was it the case for other games?
        ghaff 6y ago
- mewse 6y ago
  The thing that still baffles me is that Infocom released H2G2 as a “Standard” difficulty game, akin to Planetfall, when I’d argue that it’s one of their most difficult games. Maybe not quite as brain-bending as something like Suspended (which had you simultaneously controlling a half dozen different characters each with different senses and abilities while also solving puzzles all under a tight time limit; it actually came with a paper map and character tokens to help you remember where everybody was), but I’d certainly put H2G2 right up there with Starcross (sold as ‘Expert’ difficulty) in terms of its brutal puzzles. And it was notably more cruel, in terms of minor mistakes early on not being telegraphed as mistakes, but making victory impossible much, much later in the game. For folks with an interest, I second the recommendation of Galatea as a fascinating example and especially as a technical feat in terms of its flexible conversation systems. Still to this day probably the only IF game which has its challenges contained almost entirely in a regular conversation, rather than in using objects on other objects. Or for folks entirely new to modern interactive fiction but who are interested in dipping their toes in, I’d perhaps recommend they try Photopia[0] as a good first game; it’s super newbie-friendly and has very few puzzles, while still telling a compelling story. (link is to a “play in the browser” version of the game, but a Google search will link to a downloadable version if you prefer that. Expect it to take under two hours to play through.) [0]: http://adamcadre.ac/if/photopia.html http://adamcadre.ac/if/photopia.html
  - bbarnett 6y ago
    Suspended was, to me, one of the coolest games ever. Back in the day, on my C64, as a young teenager, I ended up with a pirated copy of it. I had no map, instructions, and it made it even more incredible / awesome. I was at that age where you can actually feel your brain 'expanding', where you can feel your capability to handle complex logic and math problems growing. And Suspended made me really, really think. At the time, I thought it was immense fun. I wonder if any teenager today, would ever even try to get into it, or, would ever enjoy it.
- soneca 6y ago
  I played it now for the first time ever for about 40 minutes and I agree. It is just trial and error until you get it right by chance. It is just annoying without any logic behind it. I read the tips after the 40 minutes and it confirmed that trial, error and restart is how it is supposed to be played. No fun at all. I am from the point and click adventure era and thank they evolved the gameplay. Not only graphically, but logically. I am also in favor of “you can’t die” mechanic of Lucas Arts.
sep_field 6y ago
I loved this as a kid and am excited to be able to play it again. They let you create an account to save your progress.
newobj 6y ago
I caught the babelfish.
- steverb 6y ago
  I actually had a T-shirt in the 80's that said "I got the Babel Fish". Bought it out of the back of some computer magazine(maybe Compute!)? The original game came with some very cool props that I wish I still had. Peril Sensitive Sunglasses (Do not wear while driving.), A microscopic space fleet in a plastic bag, some lint, and a "Don't Panic" button.
sep_field 6y ago
information about the sequel that was never finished: https://waxy.org/2008/04/milliways_infocoms_unreleased_sequel_to_hitchhikers_guide_to_the_galax/ https://waxy.org/2008/04/milliways_infocoms_unreleased_seque...
sep_field 6y ago
some cool articles with more rare pictures and info about the game: https://www.filfre.net/2013/11/hitchhiking-the-galaxy-infocom-style/ https://www.filfre.net/2013/11/hitchhiking-the-galaxy-infoco... https://www.filfre.net/2013/11/the-computerized-hitchhikers/ https://www.filfre.net/2013/11/the-computerized-hitchhikers/
m1kal 6y ago
The game is great. And really hard. I got stuck on the ship for hours, then I got bored and never came back to the game. But someday in the future I will finish it (without cheating)!
- mattowen_uk 6y ago
  I'm thinking you got stuck where I did. I also refuse to cheat, and every so often fire up the original in DOSbox and have another go. One day I'll crack it. (No, I am NOT asking HN for help; I am just musing out loud)
- stinkytaco 6y ago
  There was a (pretty amusing) hint book included and it is also with the online version. I think cheating was likely encouraged. You should read the hint book anyway, once you are done if you do not want to cheat.
dfabulich 6y ago
This game is delightful, but not enough people know that this game also has a great hintbook, the "Invisiclues" (which you can find in various places all over the internet). Did you know that Douglas Adams also contributed to the Invisiclues? Even if you've already beaten the game, you may enjoy skimming over them; they're quite funny. That's a lucky thing, too, because I think the general consensus among even expert players of interactive fiction is that this game doesn't really provide enough clues to help you solve some of its puzzles (especially the final puzzle); it doesn't "play fair." And that's the other great thing about Invisiclues: you don't have to spoil the whole game. You can just look at one hint at a time until you have enough information to solve the puzzle you're currently working on.
- rendall 6y ago
  The "no tea" puzzle was one I could not complete without help. The rest were hard, but doable
  - rendall 6y ago
    The one with the ... was it the fucking sandwich?... If you ate it, you only found out you could not complete the game much, much later? I played the entire game again from the beginning because of that
    - seltzar 6y ago
      believe you had to feed the sandwich to the dog ?
- stinkytaco 6y ago
  The original hints are included with this game, near the bottom of the description.
anigbrowl 6y ago
If you liked Vogon poetry, you may also enjoy Adams' other game, Bureaucracy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bureaucracy_(video_game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bureaucracy_(video_game)
arp242 6y ago
I played this game for a bit a while ago after buying it on gog.com; I encountered some AI-driven bomb voiced by John Cleese that threatened to blow itself up if I kept touching it. This was funny, so I kept touching it of course. Then I was dead. For some reason I never went back to it after that :-/ I think this was around the time I ditched my Windows desktop and I can't really be arsed with Wine.
- dfabulich 6y ago
  That's a different game! You're thinking of Starship Titanic.
  - arp242 6y ago
    You are completely right. I was wondering why I couldn't find it face palm.
  - moritonal 6y ago
    A game which, if you manage to complete contains what can only be described best as Duglas Adam's obituary, otherwise found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZ7MFbDU56s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZ7MFbDU56s
- unixhero 6y ago
  Steam on Linux does all that for you now. Just enable compstability in the settings menu.
  - arp242 6y ago
    Dealing with Steam is even more of a pain than dealing with Wine.
    - unixhero 6y ago
      No.
tacocataco 6y ago
The OG UK show is on Hulu right now. Just watched it last week.
code_duck 6y ago
Oh my! We spent a fair bit of time playing this on my friend's PCjr in 1986 or so. My main problem with text adventures was interface discovery. What precise verb or noun is the parser looking for? The first one I recall playing was Adventure for Logo on the C64. Don Hopkins has a great writeup about it here: https://donhopkins.medium.com/logo-adventure-for-c64-terrapin-logo-4c684a240b53 https://donhopkins.medium.com/logo-adventure-for-c64-terrapi... This article would have blown my mind and changed my world when I was 6. After Adventure, I always wanted to write my own text adventures. The first programs I wrote in c64 basic when I was 6-10 attempted to accomplish this, but I had very little concept of how to write a parser.
matthewfelgate 6y ago
This is a great game but not many people know that The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy is also a book.
- dsr_ 6y ago
  I'm going to assume that this is sarcasm, because: 1. All of the books made it to the bestseller lists 2. The radio series on BBC was a cultural phenomenon 3. Douglas Adams is the canonical author for "can anyone write an SF comedy which is funny?"
  - thorin 6y ago
    Without a doubt, if it wasn't for Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett and even Neil Gaimen probably would have struggled to get published (and lots of other copycats).
    - sep_field 6y ago
      What has Gaiman wrote that is funny? I've read a few of his things but all serious-business graphic novels.
      - 7BF1F429 6y ago
        His novels -- American Gods, Graveyard Book, et al. -- are in the same vein of clever and British humo[u]r as Adams'. Whether they are funny or not will depend on the reader.
      - lproven 6y ago
        What? Really? Well, for a start, the hilarious _Good Omens: the Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, witch._ Co-written with Terry Pratchett, also a great radio serial and a wonderful TV series from about 3 years ago. Secondly, multiple superb novels, such as _Stardust_ and _Coraline_, both adapted into successful feature films; _Neverwhere_, a low-budget British TV series; and _American Gods_, a huge, big-budget TV series. Everything he has written has a rich vein of humour. Even perhaps the most tragic of the Sandman series, _Death: The Sound of her Wings_. "You keep doing that, you know what you're going to get? "FAT PIGEONS!"
unixhero 6y ago
The most insane puzzle is the airlock stuff on the VOGON ship. I actually lost interest because the game is too fleeting and strictly impossible sans walkthrough.
codingdave 6y ago
I loved this game, for the same reason other people hated it - to complete it you had to have made the right moves, grabbing the right items, even having the right timing on the ship to finish the puzzles. To complete it without any type of help or walkthrough meant experiencing it like "Groundhog Day", playing through many, many times, trying new things each time. It got to the point that I could whip through the early puzzles in a few minutes, and then spend all my time going through the odd dream-like sequences on the ship, getting the tea made, etc. I never did finish the last puzzle of the game and get the door open, but I read later it also was a timing problem where you had to have completed all the earlier puzzles before Marvin came by to open the door. In any case, I really did enjoy it as a kid.
acomjean 6y ago
I don’t remember this one. But Douglas Adams was involved in another adventure game with “stunning” graphics called starship titanic. I got a good way through and the characters were fun (some Monty python voices..) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starship_Titanic https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starship_Titanic Wonder how it holds up.
- tjr 6y ago
  I excitedly bought that game when it came out, only to find that it wouldn't run on my Windows NT 4 system. Never got to play it.
  - TrueGeek 6y ago
    It's on Steam now
  - etiam 6y ago
    It may not be too late for that. https://www.gog.com/game/starship_titanic https://www.gog.com/game/starship_titanic https://store.steampowered.com/app/467290/Starship_Titanic/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/467290/Starship_Titanic/ Looks like it's being maintained.
    - tjr 6y ago
      Wow! Thank you!
      - etiam 6y ago
        My pleasure. Enjoy! ;)
- shimfish 6y ago
  One of the Starship Titanic developers is also the person who converted this Hitchhikers game to run on the BBC servers.
- stinkytaco 6y ago
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
zvr 6y ago
Amazing game, bringing back lots of memories. The complete source is at https://github.com/historicalsource/hitchhikersguide https://github.com/historicalsource/hitchhikersguide
csours 6y ago
I remember spending so much time just typing things in. I played this game long before I could touch type.
feydaykyn 6y ago
The "Eaten by a grue" podcast had been on a mission to replay all Infocom games for 2 years now. The co-hosts are very funny and you do not need to play the games to enjoy listening to them, try it! Here is the one dedicated to The Hitchhiker Guide: https://monsterfeet.com/grue/notes/16 https://monsterfeet.com/grue/notes/16

249 points by sep_field 6y ago

I remember in high school after an argument about games, my friend handed me a disk labeled "good text-based game" with this game on it. I'm sure we didn't have the same taste. "New gamers may not see the appeal" is an understatement. The game takes inaccessibility as a badge of honor, or perhaps a badge of honour. It's not just lateral thinking that you need in order to get through the game... you need to lose, restart, and try again. Douglas Adams's humor (or humour) survives the translation to video game format very well but there's very little else about the game that is enjoyable, unless you are a masochist. I can't remember if I finished the game or not. I do remember getting past the puzzle when you arrive on the Vogon ship. If you are tempted to use a walkthrough to beat the game, just go reread the book instead. If you're interested in interactive fiction, you have 37 years of games to play since HHGTTG came out in 1984, and there are plenty of classics in there. My personal favorite is Galatea, which is itself an unusual game (only one location, many endings), and my "junk food" text game would be Leather Goddesses of Phobos. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is one of my favorite books, but one of my least favorite games. It shows up high in interactive fiction rankings, but I suspect it's largely because some people are massive fans of the books.

RealityVoid 6y ago
I once played this game called KGB[1]. That takes 1st place as the most difficult adventure game I played. It was merciless and a mistake from a couple of scenes ago could lead to you dyeing far down the line. Masochistic, but I found the challenge fascinating. Did not manage to finish it though. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KGB_(video_game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KGB_(video_game)
- lelag 6y ago
  Ah the memories... Indeed KGB was brutal. However, it was also pretty badly balanced because the first half of the game was much more difficult than the second half which made it very frustrating.
rusk 6y ago
Sounds like Douglas Adams’ copy protection did it’s job so! He typically published literature along with his games that if you didn’t have made the games frustratingly difficult or even impossible (see bureaucracy). From the description of the disk you gave id say it’s highly likely you didn’t have access to that.
- duskwuff 6y ago
  Nope. The game just has some really, really obtuse puzzles. Don't pick up the junk mail in the second room? That'll make the Babel Fish puzzle (the one on the Vogon ship) unwinnable. Ate the sandwich in the pub instead of feeding it to the dog? That'll kill you much later in the game. And so on. None of this was hinted at in the "feelies" shipped with the game or in the books; players were expected to figure it out through trial and error. Games in this era were written with the expectation that you'd have to play through them many times to get everything right. It made them last longer (in terms of play time), but also made them incredibly frustrating to play.
  - ghaff 6y ago
    One of the philosophical issues I have with a lot of IF--which I've actually discussed with the author of this game--is that I feel you should, at least in principle, be able to complete a run through in a game in one try rather than having to make essentially random trial and error choices. Unsurprisingly, he didn't really agree. (Which there are a lot of in Hitchhiker's. Although I didn't really complete that many Infocom games in general.)
    - stinkytaco 6y ago
      Did he give a logic for this? I speculate in the case of this game, the developers and Adams wanted you to experience as much of the story (and humor) as possible. Failing was part of the fun. Is that the case or was it the case for other games?
      - ghaff 6y ago
mewse 6y ago
The thing that still baffles me is that Infocom released H2G2 as a “Standard” difficulty game, akin to Planetfall, when I’d argue that it’s one of their most difficult games. Maybe not quite as brain-bending as something like Suspended (which had you simultaneously controlling a half dozen different characters each with different senses and abilities while also solving puzzles all under a tight time limit; it actually came with a paper map and character tokens to help you remember where everybody was), but I’d certainly put H2G2 right up there with Starcross (sold as ‘Expert’ difficulty) in terms of its brutal puzzles. And it was notably more cruel, in terms of minor mistakes early on not being telegraphed as mistakes, but making victory impossible much, much later in the game. For folks with an interest, I second the recommendation of Galatea as a fascinating example and especially as a technical feat in terms of its flexible conversation systems. Still to this day probably the only IF game which has its challenges contained almost entirely in a regular conversation, rather than in using objects on other objects. Or for folks entirely new to modern interactive fiction but who are interested in dipping their toes in, I’d perhaps recommend they try Photopia[0] as a good first game; it’s super newbie-friendly and has very few puzzles, while still telling a compelling story. (link is to a “play in the browser” version of the game, but a Google search will link to a downloadable version if you prefer that. Expect it to take under two hours to play through.) [0]: http://adamcadre.ac/if/photopia.html http://adamcadre.ac/if/photopia.html
- bbarnett 6y ago
  Suspended was, to me, one of the coolest games ever. Back in the day, on my C64, as a young teenager, I ended up with a pirated copy of it. I had no map, instructions, and it made it even more incredible / awesome. I was at that age where you can actually feel your brain 'expanding', where you can feel your capability to handle complex logic and math problems growing. And Suspended made me really, really think. At the time, I thought it was immense fun. I wonder if any teenager today, would ever even try to get into it, or, would ever enjoy it.
soneca 6y ago
I played it now for the first time ever for about 40 minutes and I agree. It is just trial and error until you get it right by chance. It is just annoying without any logic behind it. I read the tips after the 40 minutes and it confirmed that trial, error and restart is how it is supposed to be played. No fun at all. I am from the point and click adventure era and thank they evolved the gameplay. Not only graphically, but logically. I am also in favor of “you can’t die” mechanic of Lucas Arts.

sep_field 6y ago

I loved this as a kid and am excited to be able to play it again. They let you create an account to save your progress.

newobj 6y ago

I caught the babelfish.

steverb 6y ago
I actually had a T-shirt in the 80's that said "I got the Babel Fish". Bought it out of the back of some computer magazine(maybe Compute!)? The original game came with some very cool props that I wish I still had. Peril Sensitive Sunglasses (Do not wear while driving.), A microscopic space fleet in a plastic bag, some lint, and a "Don't Panic" button.

sep_field 6y ago

information about the sequel that was never finished: https://waxy.org/2008/04/milliways_infocoms_unreleased_sequel_to_hitchhikers_guide_to_the_galax/ https://waxy.org/2008/04/milliways_infocoms_unreleased_seque...

sep_field 6y ago

some cool articles with more rare pictures and info about the game: https://www.filfre.net/2013/11/hitchhiking-the-galaxy-infocom-style/ https://www.filfre.net/2013/11/hitchhiking-the-galaxy-infoco... https://www.filfre.net/2013/11/the-computerized-hitchhikers/ https://www.filfre.net/2013/11/the-computerized-hitchhikers/

m1kal 6y ago

The game is great. And really hard. I got stuck on the ship for hours, then I got bored and never came back to the game. But someday in the future I will finish it (without cheating)!

mattowen_uk 6y ago
I'm thinking you got stuck where I did. I also refuse to cheat, and every so often fire up the original in DOSbox and have another go. One day I'll crack it. (No, I am NOT asking HN for help; I am just musing out loud)
stinkytaco 6y ago
There was a (pretty amusing) hint book included and it is also with the online version. I think cheating was likely encouraged. You should read the hint book anyway, once you are done if you do not want to cheat.

dfabulich 6y ago

This game is delightful, but not enough people know that this game also has a great hintbook, the "Invisiclues" (which you can find in various places all over the internet). Did you know that Douglas Adams also contributed to the Invisiclues? Even if you've already beaten the game, you may enjoy skimming over them; they're quite funny. That's a lucky thing, too, because I think the general consensus among even expert players of interactive fiction is that this game doesn't really provide enough clues to help you solve some of its puzzles (especially the final puzzle); it doesn't "play fair." And that's the other great thing about Invisiclues: you don't have to spoil the whole game. You can just look at one hint at a time until you have enough information to solve the puzzle you're currently working on.

rendall 6y ago
The "no tea" puzzle was one I could not complete without help. The rest were hard, but doable
- rendall 6y ago
  The one with the ... was it the fucking sandwich?... If you ate it, you only found out you could not complete the game much, much later? I played the entire game again from the beginning because of that
  - seltzar 6y ago
    believe you had to feed the sandwich to the dog ?
stinkytaco 6y ago
The original hints are included with this game, near the bottom of the description.

anigbrowl 6y ago

If you liked Vogon poetry, you may also enjoy Adams' other game, Bureaucracy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bureaucracy_(video_game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bureaucracy_(video_game)

arp242 6y ago

I played this game for a bit a while ago after buying it on gog.com; I encountered some AI-driven bomb voiced by John Cleese that threatened to blow itself up if I kept touching it. This was funny, so I kept touching it of course. Then I was dead. For some reason I never went back to it after that :-/ I think this was around the time I ditched my Windows desktop and I can't really be arsed with Wine.

dfabulich 6y ago
That's a different game! You're thinking of Starship Titanic.
- arp242 6y ago
  You are completely right. I was wondering why I couldn't find it face palm.
- moritonal 6y ago
  A game which, if you manage to complete contains what can only be described best as Duglas Adam's obituary, otherwise found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZ7MFbDU56s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZ7MFbDU56s
unixhero 6y ago
Steam on Linux does all that for you now. Just enable compstability in the settings menu.
- arp242 6y ago
  Dealing with Steam is even more of a pain than dealing with Wine.
  - unixhero 6y ago
    No.

tacocataco 6y ago

The OG UK show is on Hulu right now. Just watched it last week.

code_duck 6y ago

Oh my! We spent a fair bit of time playing this on my friend's PCjr in 1986 or so. My main problem with text adventures was interface discovery. What precise verb or noun is the parser looking for? The first one I recall playing was Adventure for Logo on the C64. Don Hopkins has a great writeup about it here: https://donhopkins.medium.com/logo-adventure-for-c64-terrapin-logo-4c684a240b53 https://donhopkins.medium.com/logo-adventure-for-c64-terrapi... This article would have blown my mind and changed my world when I was 6. After Adventure, I always wanted to write my own text adventures. The first programs I wrote in c64 basic when I was 6-10 attempted to accomplish this, but I had very little concept of how to write a parser.

matthewfelgate 6y ago

This is a great game but not many people know that The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy is also a book.

dsr_ 6y ago
I'm going to assume that this is sarcasm, because: 1. All of the books made it to the bestseller lists 2. The radio series on BBC was a cultural phenomenon 3. Douglas Adams is the canonical author for "can anyone write an SF comedy which is funny?"
- thorin 6y ago
  Without a doubt, if it wasn't for Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett and even Neil Gaimen probably would have struggled to get published (and lots of other copycats).
  - sep_field 6y ago
    What has Gaiman wrote that is funny? I've read a few of his things but all serious-business graphic novels.
    - 7BF1F429 6y ago
      His novels -- American Gods, Graveyard Book, et al. -- are in the same vein of clever and British humo[u]r as Adams'. Whether they are funny or not will depend on the reader.
    - lproven 6y ago
      What? Really? Well, for a start, the hilarious _Good Omens: the Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, witch._ Co-written with Terry Pratchett, also a great radio serial and a wonderful TV series from about 3 years ago. Secondly, multiple superb novels, such as _Stardust_ and _Coraline_, both adapted into successful feature films; _Neverwhere_, a low-budget British TV series; and _American Gods_, a huge, big-budget TV series. Everything he has written has a rich vein of humour. Even perhaps the most tragic of the Sandman series, _Death: The Sound of her Wings_. "You keep doing that, you know what you're going to get? "FAT PIGEONS!"

unixhero 6y ago

The most insane puzzle is the airlock stuff on the VOGON ship. I actually lost interest because the game is too fleeting and strictly impossible sans walkthrough.

codingdave 6y ago

I loved this game, for the same reason other people hated it - to complete it you had to have made the right moves, grabbing the right items, even having the right timing on the ship to finish the puzzles. To complete it without any type of help or walkthrough meant experiencing it like "Groundhog Day", playing through many, many times, trying new things each time. It got to the point that I could whip through the early puzzles in a few minutes, and then spend all my time going through the odd dream-like sequences on the ship, getting the tea made, etc. I never did finish the last puzzle of the game and get the door open, but I read later it also was a timing problem where you had to have completed all the earlier puzzles before Marvin came by to open the door. In any case, I really did enjoy it as a kid.

acomjean 6y ago

I don’t remember this one. But Douglas Adams was involved in another adventure game with “stunning” graphics called starship titanic. I got a good way through and the characters were fun (some Monty python voices..) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starship_Titanic https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starship_Titanic Wonder how it holds up.

tjr 6y ago
I excitedly bought that game when it came out, only to find that it wouldn't run on my Windows NT 4 system. Never got to play it.
- TrueGeek 6y ago
  It's on Steam now
- etiam 6y ago
  It may not be too late for that. https://www.gog.com/game/starship_titanic https://www.gog.com/game/starship_titanic https://store.steampowered.com/app/467290/Starship_Titanic/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/467290/Starship_Titanic/ Looks like it's being maintained.
  - tjr 6y ago
    Wow! Thank you!
    - etiam 6y ago
      My pleasure. Enjoy! ;)
shimfish 6y ago
One of the Starship Titanic developers is also the person who converted this Hitchhikers game to run on the BBC servers.
stinkytaco 6y ago

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

zvr 6y ago

Amazing game, bringing back lots of memories. The complete source is at https://github.com/historicalsource/hitchhikersguide https://github.com/historicalsource/hitchhikersguide

csours 6y ago

I remember spending so much time just typing things in. I played this game long before I could touch type.

feydaykyn 6y ago

The "Eaten by a grue" podcast had been on a mission to replay all Infocom games for 2 years now. The co-hosts are very funny and you do not need to play the games to enjoy listening to them, try it! Here is the one dedicated to The Hitchhiker Guide: https://monsterfeet.com/grue/notes/16 https://monsterfeet.com/grue/notes/16