Treasure Island (computer game)

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The title screen from the Commodore Plus/4 version of the game

The first gameplay screen, taken from the Commodore Plus/4 version of the game

Treasure Island was a computer game made in the mid-1980s, based on the book by Robert Louis Stevenson. In the game, the player takes on the role of Jim Hawkins (the protagonist of the book), and has to battle through hordes of pirates before a final showdown with Long John Silver. The game view did not scroll, but used a flip-screen style, as was popular in the 1980s.

[edit] Gameplay

None of the pirates moved around, but some of them would throw a cutlass at Jim if he moved in range. The pirate in question did not lose his cutlass if he does so - he always had another to use himself. A pirate would very rarely throw more than one cutlass. If Jim was hit by a cutlass thrown at him, or if he touched a pirate, he would lose a life and start again from the beginning of the screen. However, if he moved out of the way in time, the cutlass would land on the ground, and he would be able to throw it at a pirate of his choosing to kill him. A killed pirate disappeared, thus allowing Jim to pass.

At the start of the game, Jim had just escaped the stockade. He was unarmed, and had only one possible exit to the next screen, to the right. Here he would find a throwing pirate, whom he could trick into throwing a cutlass, and thus obtain it for himself. However, it would be foolhardy to kill that same pirate with it, since that pirate was not blocking access to anything. Instead, the player should find a pirate who was blocking access to an exit (or perhaps a power-up) and kill him with it, thus advancing progress through the game. This strategic rationing of cutlasses (i.e. knowing where to pick them up and where to use them) in order to progress around the island was a major gameplay element.

[edit] Credits

The programming was done by Greg Duddle, and the music was rendered by David Whittaker [1]. The version for the Commodore 64 and MSX was released in 1984, and the Commodore Plus/4 version was from 1985.