Silicon Dreams
A trilogy of interactive fiction set in humanity's space colonization future.
Silicon Dreams is a trilogy of interactive fiction games developed by Level 9 Computing during the 1980s. It consists of Snowball (1983), Return to Eden (1984), and The Worm in Paradise (1985), later compiled and published by Telecomsoft, which sold it in the United States with the tradename Firebird and in Europe with the tradename Rainbird. The trilogy is notable for its science fiction setting, its use of the A-code interpreted language, and its innovative scoring system that carries over between games.
Quick Facts
- Title
- Silicon Dreams
- Developer
- Level 9 Computing
- Publisher
- NA · Firebird · EU · Rainbird
- Released
- 1983 (Snowball) / 1984 (Return to Eden) / 1985 (The Worm in Paradise) / 1986 (Silicon Dreams)
- Genre
- Interactive fiction
- Modes
- Single-player
- Platforms
- Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Amstrad PCW, Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Atari ST, BBC Micro, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, Classic Mac OS, MSX, ZX Spectrum
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
The Silicon Dreams trilogy is set in a not-too-distant future when humans have started colonizing space. The first two games cast the player as Kim Kimberley, an undercover agent, who in Snowball must save the colonists' spacecraft from crashing into a star, and in Return to Eden must stop the planet Eden's defense system from destroying the craft. In The Worm in Paradise, the player takes the role of an unnamed citizen of Eden, traveling the city of Enoch to learn secrets, earn money, and save the planet. The games use a text parser that interprets over a thousand words, accepting commands at a 'What now?' prompt, and support movement in cardinal directions, up/down, and actions like picking up objects, opening doors, and saving/restoring game positions.
Reader's Guide
The Silicon Dreams trilogy represents a significant entry in 1980s interactive fiction, particularly for its technical and narrative ambition. Level 9 Computing, often referred to as 'British Infocom,' developed the games using their A-code interpreted language, making them playable on all major home computers of the era via diskette or cassette. The trilogy's scoring system is distinctive: points are earned not for collecting treasures but for completing specific tasks that advance the goal of each game, and to achieve a maximum score the games must be played in order, carrying the score forward. The compilation was published by Telecomsoft, marking the second title in a four-game deal signed in April 1986, which allowed Level 9 to revise the games, add support for 16-bit platforms, and enter the US market. The trilogy was released for twelve platforms, including the Apple II, Amiga, Atari ST, and IBM PC MS-DOS, with all games updated to version 3 of the A-code system and featuring new graphics.
Did You Know?
- Snowball includes over 7,000 locations, with 6,800 on the passenger disks forming a color-coded maze.
- The protagonist Kim Kimberley's gender was initially ambiguous; Pete Austin noted the name was 'deliberately unisex,' and the debate ended with Return to Eden.
- The games use an interpreted language called A-code, allowing them to run on all major home computers of the time.
More in Video Games of the 1980s, Part 1 1-24
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