The Hobbit (1982 video game)

The Hobbit
ZX Spectrum cover art
Developer(s)Beam Software
Publisher(s)Melbourne House
Designer(s)Veronika Megler
Philip Mitchell
Platform(s)
Release
Genre(s)Interactive fiction
Mode(s)Single-player

The Hobbit is an illustrated interactive fiction video game released in December 1982[1] for the ZX Spectrum home computer. Based on the 1937 book The Hobbit, by J. R. R. Tolkien, it was developed at Beam Software by Philip Mitchell and Veronika Megler[2][3] and published by Melbourne House. It was converted to the Commodore 64, BBC Micro, Oric, and other home computers.[4] By arrangement with the book publishers, a copy of the book was included with each game sold.

The parser was very advanced for the time and used a subset of English called Inglish.[5][6] When it was released, most adventure games used simple verb-noun parsers (allowing for simple phrases like "get lamp"), but Inglish allowed the player to type advanced sentences such as "ask Gandalf about the curious map then take sword and kill troll with it". The parser was complex and intuitive, introducing pronouns, adverbs ("viciously attack the goblin"), punctuation and prepositions and allowing the player to interact with the game world in ways not previously possible.

  1. ^ a b "News Desk". Popular Computing Weekly. No. 30. Sunshine Publications. 11 November 1982. p. 5. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
  2. ^ Simon Sharwood (18 November 2012). "Author of 80's classic The Hobbit didn't know game was a hit". The Register. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
  3. ^ Tolkien, John Ronald Reuel (September 1987). The Hobbit: User's Guide (PDF) (revised ed.). Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley. p. 2. ISBN 978-0-201-12293-0. OCLC 18003918. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 May 2019. Retrieved 27 July 2024. The program structure was developed as a group effort by Philip Mitchell and Veronica Megler with Alfred Milgrom and Stuart Richie over a period of eighteen months. The Commodore 64, Apple II family, and IBM PC versions were executed by Philip Mitchel [sic?], Gregg Barnett, Peter Beresford, and Gerard Neil. Graphics designed by Russell Comte and Greg Holland and Paul Mitchell. Music composed by Neil Brennan (Commodore 64 version only). Package design by Copenhaver Cumpston. Documentation design by Douglass Scott. Reference card illustration by Ruth Linstromberg.
  4. ^ "Hobbit Ringers". Personal Computer Games (3): 4. February 1984. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  5. ^ Maher, Jimmy (16 November 2012). "The Hobbit". The Digital Antiquarian. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  6. ^ Megler, Veronika (13 March 2014). "Ruminations On "The Hobbit" Fandom". Play It Again. Archived from the original on 10 October 2014. Retrieved 10 October 2014.