{"id":97,"date":"2007-03-26T21:35:02","date_gmt":"2007-03-27T02:35:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wurb.com\/stack\/archives\/97"},"modified":"2016-06-05T17:56:59","modified_gmt":"2016-06-06T00:56:59","slug":"time-zone-dirt-quest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wurb.com\/stack\/archives\/97","title":{"rendered":"Time Zone: Dirt Quest"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.wurb.com\/stack\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/time_zone-caesar-1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.wurb.com\/stack\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/time_zone-caesar-1-300x206.png\" alt=\"time_zone-caesar\" width=\"300\" height=\"206\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-3331\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.wurb.com\/stack\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/time_zone-caesar-1-300x206.png 300w, https:\/\/www.wurb.com\/stack\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/time_zone-caesar-1.png 560w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>Without a doubt, the one game I know that was most influenced by <em>Time Zone<\/em> is Legend Entertainment&#8217;s <em>Timequest<\/em>, a 1991 graphic adventure by Infocom alumnus Bob Bates.  Whether the influence is direct or indirect, I don&#8217;t know.  But <em>Time Zone<\/em> and <em>Timequest<\/em> share an overall structure, based on a grid of location\/time period combinations, as well as a few specific scenes: both games contain run-ins with Robin Hood, Cleopatra, and Julius Caesar.  The encounter with Caesar in particular reminded me of <em>Timequest<\/em>: in both games, you get an audience with him through a victory in the arena.  What you <em>do<\/em> with that audience differs, however.  In <em>Timequest<\/em> you need to be on hand to prevent an assassination attempt &#8212; not because you want Caesar to live, but because history requires him to be assassinated <em>later<\/em>.  Whereas in <em>Time Zone<\/em>, you need to borrow his ladder. <span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_97_1('footnote_plugin_reference_97_1_1');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_97_1('footnote_plugin_reference_97_1_1');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_97_1_1\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">1<\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_97_1_1\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">That is, steal it.<\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_97_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_97_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top right', relative: true, offset: [10, 10], });<\/script><\/p>\n<p>This is a common adventure game device: heroic efforts to obtain mundane household items.  <em>Timequest<\/em> isn&#8217;t completely innocent of this particular crime against mimesis either.  What makes it particularly absurd in this game is that you actually have the option of visiting your home in the present whenever you like.  There, realistically, you would have easier ways to obtain a ladder (and a canteen, and a flashlight&#8230;)  It&#8217;s just one of those adventure game things, stemming from the genre&#8217;s origins.  In a cave crawl, it makes a certain amount of sense: if you&#8217;re trapped in the Dungeons of Doom, you have to make do with whatever tools you can find <em>in situ<\/em>, and a ladder could be a major find.  Likewise for various other settings: desert islands, post-apocalyptic ruins, and in general the sort of isolated and solitary environments that adventures have always found most comfortable.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s a common enough syndrome that it really should have a name, but it doesn&#8217;t seem to have one.  I suggest &#8220;dirt quest&#8221;: questing after something that is, or should be, as common as dirt in the game&#8217;s milieu.<\/p>\n<div class=\"speaker-mute footnotes_reference_container\"> <div class=\"footnote_container_prepare\"><p><span role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" class=\"footnote_reference_container_label pointer\" onclick=\"footnote_expand_collapse_reference_container_97_1();\">&#x202F;<\/span><span role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" class=\"footnote_reference_container_collapse_button\" style=\"display: none;\" onclick=\"footnote_expand_collapse_reference_container_97_1();\">[<a id=\"footnote_reference_container_collapse_button_97_1\">+<\/a>]<\/span><\/p><\/div> <div id=\"footnote_references_container_97_1\" style=\"\"><table class=\"footnotes_table footnote-reference-container\"><caption class=\"accessibility\">References<\/caption> <tbody> \r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_97_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_97_1_1');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_97_1_1\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8593;<\/span>1<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">That is, steal it.<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n <\/tbody> <\/table> <\/div><\/div><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> function footnote_expand_reference_container_97_1() { jQuery('#footnote_references_container_97_1').show(); jQuery('#footnote_reference_container_collapse_button_97_1').text('\u2212'); } function footnote_collapse_reference_container_97_1() { jQuery('#footnote_references_container_97_1').hide(); jQuery('#footnote_reference_container_collapse_button_97_1').text('+'); } function footnote_expand_collapse_reference_container_97_1() { if (jQuery('#footnote_references_container_97_1').is(':hidden')) { footnote_expand_reference_container_97_1(); } else { footnote_collapse_reference_container_97_1(); } } function footnote_moveToReference_97_1(p_str_TargetID) { footnote_expand_reference_container_97_1(); var l_obj_Target = jQuery('#' + p_str_TargetID); if (l_obj_Target.length) { jQuery( 'html, body' ).delay( 0 ); jQuery('html, body').animate({ scrollTop: l_obj_Target.offset().top - window.innerHeight * 0.2 }, 380); } } function footnote_moveToAnchor_97_1(p_str_TargetID) { footnote_expand_reference_container_97_1(); var l_obj_Target = jQuery('#' + p_str_TargetID); if (l_obj_Target.length) { jQuery( 'html, body' ).delay( 0 ); jQuery('html, body').animate({ scrollTop: l_obj_Target.offset().top - window.innerHeight * 0.2 }, 380); } }<\/script>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Without a doubt, the one game I know that was most influenced by Time Zone is Legend Entertainment&#8217;s Timequest, a 1991 graphic adventure by Infocom alumnus Bob Bates. Whether the influence is direct or indirect, I don&#8217;t know. But Time Zone and Timequest share an overall structure, based on a grid of location\/time period combinations, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[89,90,112],"class_list":["post-97","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventure","tag-roberta-williams","tag-time-zone","tag-timequest"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wurb.com\/stack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wurb.com\/stack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wurb.com\/stack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wurb.com\/stack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wurb.com\/stack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.wurb.com\/stack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3332,"href":"https:\/\/www.wurb.com\/stack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97\/revisions\/3332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wurb.com\/stack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wurb.com\/stack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wurb.com\/stack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}