Search for the Titanic

Lore & Background

The game's concept originated with IntraCorp president Leigh Rothschild, who was fascinated by historical shipwrecks and held a degree in history from the University of Miami. In June 1987, Rothschild conceived the idea for a Titanic game. He contacted Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, with whom his brother Kenneth had previously worked, and obtained the required rights. At the request of Robert Ballard, Intracorp changed the game so that no treasure collecting occurred during gameplay, to set a good example for players and future oceanographers. Coding was handled by Codesmiths programmers Jeff Jones and Sean Puckett, who had a keen interest in the Titanic. The proposal took ten days to produce, and by November 1988 a substantial amount of programming was completed. Puckett drew the maps by hand, and the simulated weather was the most difficult feature to implement. All organisation names in the game were created to avoid coinciding with real-life companies. Ballard's photos were not good enough for digitising in their current format, so Codesmiths sent the slides to a photographic lab to be converted to contact prints, which were then scanned with a special digitising program. The digitised images were resized with dithering applied.

Reader's Guide

Search for the Titanic is notable as an oceanographic simulation game that required the player to build reputation and resources by exploring sunken ships on an expedition to find the Titanic. The player must gain sponsorship with valid reasons, acquire the right equipment, adequate supplies, an ideal vessel, and competent personnel on a limited budget. The game includes 75 shipwrecks, over 100 maps and charts, and 47 ports. Problems during the expedition include crew health decline, bad weather, and running out of supplies and funds. Some shipwrecks feature Spanish treasure and Noah's Ark. The game was shown at multiple trade shows: an Amiga version at Winter CES in January 1989, the IBM PC compatible version at the ACE Game of Show in 1989, and the Commodore 64 version at the European Computer Trade Show in April 1990. Reception was mixed: The Games Machine gave 68%, noting it lacks gameplay and gets boring but may appeal to those seeking something different; Zzap!64 gave 50%, finding graphics and screens uninteresting and gameplay boring; an ST Log reviewer described it as an off-beat adventure with enough detail to consume a computer-bound treasure hunter for hours. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution reviewed the game for its geographical accuracy.

Did You Know?

• At Robert Ballard's request, no treasure collecting occurs during gameplay.
• Ballard's photos were digitised by converting slides to contact prints and scanning them with a special program.