A Mind Forever Voyaging
| A Mind Forever Voyaging | |
|---|---|
Cover art
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| Developer(s) | Infocom |
| Publisher(s) | Infocom, Activision (Commodore 128 version) |
| Designer(s) | Steve Meretzky |
| Engine | ZIL |
| Platform(s) | Amiga, Apple II, Atari ST, Commodore 128, MS-DOS, Macintosh |
| Release date(s) |
Release 77: August 14, 1985 Release 79: November 22, 1985 |
| Genre(s) | Interactive fiction |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Release 77: August 14, 1985
A Mind Forever Voyaging (AMFV) is a 1985 interactive fiction game designed and implemented by Steve Meretzky and published by Infocom. The name is taken from book three of The Prelude by William Wordsworth:
The antechapel where the statue stood
Of Newton with his prism and silent face,
The marble index of a mind for ever
AMFV was not a conventional Infocom adventure, having only a single puzzle near the end of the game. Unlike most other Infocom titles, particularly those written by Steve Meretzky, the game had a serious tone and a political theme, attributes which the company would revisit with the following year's Trinity. The game is among Infocom's most respected titles, although it was not a commercial success. It was also the first of the "Interactive Fiction Plus" line, meaning that AMFV had greater memory requirements, unlike earlier Infocom games that used a less advanced version of the company's Z-machine interpreter. It is Infocom's seventeenth game. The game was explicitly intended as a polemical critique of Ronald Reagan's political policies.
The player controls PRISM, the world's first sentient computer, in the year 2031. The economy of the United States of North America (USNA) is failing. Great numbers of youths are turning to "Joybooths" (a device which directly stimulates the sensory input of the brain) and committing suicide by overstimulation. A new arms race involving nuclear weapons no larger than the size of a common pack of cigarettes threatens to turn the USNA into a police state. Unaware that it is a sophisticated computer, PRISM has been living for 11 years (in real-world time; 20 years have passed within the simulation) as an ordinary human, "Perry Simm." Dr. Abraham Perelman, PRISM's "father", informs Perry of his true nature and gently brings him from simulation mode into reality. Perelman explains that he has awakened PRISM so a vital mission can be performed: running a simulation of a revitalization plan (dubbed the Plan for Renewed National Purpose), sponsored by Senator Richard Ryder. The plan calls for "renewed national purpose" through de-regulation of government and industry, military conscription, a unilateral approach to diplomatic relations, trade protectionism, and a return to traditional and fundamental values. While in simulation mode, Perry is able to record experiences in a buffer which will be analyzed to evaluate the success of the plan. If Perry "dies" in the simulation, it is not catastrophic; the simulation can simply be reset and reentered.
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