Plundered Hearts

Plundered Hearts is an interactive fiction video game created by Amy Briggs and published by Infocom in 1987. Infocom's only game in the romance genre, it was released simultaneously for the Commodore 64, Atari 8-bit family, Atari ST, Amiga, Macintosh, and DOS. It is Infocom's twenty-eighth game.

Plundered Hearts
Developer(s)Infocom
Publisher(s)Infocom
Designer(s)Amy Briggs
EngineZ-machine
Platform(s)Amiga, Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Atari ST, Commodore 64, DOS, Macintosh
ReleaseJuly 30, 1987
Genre(s)Interactive fiction
Mode(s)Single-player

Plot

Plundered Hearts casts the player in a well-defined role. The lead character is a young woman in the late 17th century who has received a letter. Jean Lafond, the governor of the small West Indies island of St. Sinistra, says that the player's father has contracted a "wasting tropical disease". Lafond suggests that his recovery would be greatly helped by the loving presence of his daughter, and sends his ship (the Lafond Deux) to transport her.

As the game begins, the ship is attacked by pirates and the player's character is kidnapped. Eventually the player's character finds that two men are striving for her affections: dashing pirate Nicholas Jamison, and the conniving Jean Lafond. As the intrigue plays out, the lady does not sit idly by and watch the men duel over her; she must help Jamison overcome the evil plans of Lafond so they have a chance to live happily ever after.

Development

As early as 1984 Infocom employees joked about the possibility of a romance text adventure, although The Boston Globe observed that "somehow the moves don't seem appropriate to a computer keyboard".[1] By 1987, the year of Plundered Hearts's release, Infocom no longer rated its games on difficulty level.

Although this was not the only Infocom game designed in an effort to attract female players (see also Moonmist), it is the only game in which the lead character is always female.

Release

The Plundered Hearts package included an "elegant velvet reticule" (pouch) containing the following items:

  1. A 50 guinea banknote from St. Sinistra
  2. A letter from Jean Lafond reporting the illness of the player character's father

Reception

Game reviewers Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser complimented Plundered Hearts in their "The Role of Computers" column in Dragon #128 (1987), citing its "gripping prose, challenging predicaments, and scenes of derring-do".[2] Computer Gaming World said "this might be the perfect gift for your 'significant other' so that she can understand why interactive fiction is so fascinating".[3] Compute! praised Plundered Hearts' writing and said that the game was suitable for both men and women.[4] ANALOG Computing approved of the game's "intrigue, adventure and, yes, romance" but regretted that "most of Infocom's regular audience (presumably male) are likely to forsake this bold new endeavor" because of its genre.[5]

Reviews

References
  1. Dyer, Richard (1984-05-06). "Masters of the Game". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on 1997-06-07.
  2. Lesser, Hartley; Lesser, Patricia; Lesser, Kirk (December 1987). "The Role of Computers". Dragon (128): 92–96.
  3. "Christmas Buyers Guide". Computer Gaming World. No. 41. November 1987. p. 20.
  4. Trunzo, James V. (January 1988). "Plundered Hearts And Nord And Bert Couldn't Make Head Or Tail Of It". Compute!. p. 44. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
  5. Panak, Steve (September 1988). "Panak Strikes". ANALOG Computing. p. 83. Retrieved 30 January 2015.
  6. "ACE Magazine Issue 04". January 1988.
  7. "Commodore Computing International - Vol 06 No 05 (1988-01)(Croftward)(GB)". January 1988.
  8. "ZZap!64 Magazine Issue 033". January 1987.
  9. http://www.kultboy.com/index.php?site=t&id=3711
  10. "Game Reviews P - SPAG".
  11. "CVG Magazine Issue 074". December 1987.
  12. "Commodore User Magazine Issue 52". January 1988.
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