Indiana Jones and His Desktop Adventures

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Indiana Jones and His Desktop Adventures
The boxart for Indiana Jones and His Desktop Adventures features a still of Indiana Jones from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Developer(s)	LucasArts
Publisher(s)	LucasArts
Platform(s)	Windows 3.x, Apple Macintosh
Release date(s)	April 1996[1]
Genre(s)	Adventure
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: Everyone (E) OFLC: General (G)
Media	Floppy Disk
System requirements	Windows 3.1 and up, IBM and 100% compatible computers, 486/33 or faster CPU, 8MB RAM, PCI graphics card.

Indiana Jones and his Desktop Adventures is a 1996 computer game. Desktop adventures is made to run in a windowed form on the desktop to use the least amount of memory possible and still allows the player to perform other on screen tasks. This game is the first Desktop Adventures game, and was followed by Star Wars: Yoda Stories in 1997.

Plot

This game is set in mid-1930s Middle America with motley characters, challenging puzzles, and a huge variety of outcomes. Each game averages 30 minutes. The plot, size, and direction of each game are randomly generated at the start, with locations and items being different every time.

Gameplay

The playing area is displayed from an overhead perspective that is divided into many invisible squares within which Indy can only move between squares but one square at a time.

To control Indy the Up, Down, Left, Right arrow keys are used or by holding down the left mouse button and moving the mouse can control Indy and to shoot is the right mouse click button.

To change weapons it used the classic drag and drop system into a box between the health meter and map arrows. The health meter turns through green, yellow, red, and black as Indy's health deteriorates.

The green arrows to the left of the health meter indicate if Indy can travel any further off this side of the screen (the arrows going grey when he can't).

The various characters that speak to Indy during the game use a simple white speech balloon to display their text which uses just as simple scrolls and close buttons on the right hand side of the balloon to view the speech.

A few seconds after the winning screen at the end of the game comes up, clicking on the picture will take you back into the game leaving you free to explore around the game. For the most part, there is little else to do except kill any remaining enemies and restart the demo quest, although you can return to Marcus and receive congratulations on a job well done. Also, during this continued play, Indy cannot be killed, even when the health meter is completely black.

The Map

Every World in the game also contains a map that is often the first item that needs to be found. This map shows the screen areas where puzzles are and if they have been solved or not. It can also provide clues to puzzles yet unsolved. By discovering certain special stones it is possible to fast travel across the world by clicking on these 'stones' on the map. There are many different icons for the map as well :

• Dark and Light Squares - The dark square indicates a yet unexplored area of the map, a light square is an explored area, and an empty light square means there is nothing of interest in this particular area.

• Red Cross - This cross is basically a "You Are Here" for Indy.

• Puzzle Piece - The puzzles piece comes in two variants, un-shaded and shaded. The un-shaded ones indicate that the puzzle hasn't been solved yet and clicking on it will offer a clue of what needs to be done to solve it, the shaded puzzle piece indicates that the puzzle is "Solved!"

• Shaded Circle - This is Indy's basic starting point. It is the safest point in the world as well and the centre of it.

• Doorway - The big doors represent travel from one area of the map to another. By going to a square with one door you can instantly travel to the other door, possibly to reach a puzzle or your final goal.

• Cross-Hair - The cross-hair is a marking for the special stones Indy can use to fast travel around the game by clicking on a different one on the map. Strangely (and especially in smaller "worlds"), only one cross-hair location may be generated, rendering it useless.

• Hatched "Wall" - This basically means something is obstructing your path that you need to find a way around. Clicking on it will give you a clue how to do so. The wall will appear with a gap in it once you have solved how to get past it.

• Star - This is your goal, your final test. Get to here, solve the puzzle and you finish the World ready to start a new one.

Weapons

Over the course of the games the player picks up several different weapons:

• Whip - Indy's whip is usually the first weapon you get in the game, damage-wise it's probably the least effective weapon in the game but it's still a staple of the Indiana Jones series. It is also necessary for the completion of some puzzles.

• Gun - With the exception of fighting the two Thugees in Temple Of Doom Indy is very rarely seen without a gun of some kind. It is the most effective weapon for dispatching enemies.

• Machete - A slightly out of place weapon for Indiana Jones (taking into account this game was made before Infernal Machine, and Emperor's Tomb) but at close range this weapon is fast and effective for getting rid of the nasty bugs, bandits and Nazis. It does, however, seem to be only marginally more powerful than the whip, and the whip has the advantage of being able to attack around obstacles and even through walls. Indiana Jones and His Desktop Adventures is the first Indiana Jones video game title to feature the machete as a usable weapon.

• Bow & Arrow - Usually found on Natives or on their land this weapon is great for striking from a distance to dispatch Indy's foes.

• Spear - This is more of a double weapon. At close range it has the same effect as the machete and at a distance the same as the bow. Unfortunately this doesn't mean double the damage.

• Aztec Sword - In certain episodes you have to find this weapon in order to complete your quest. It is the most powerful close range weapon in the game, but unfortunately very rare.

Enemies

The enemies remain mostly consistent throughout the game but they range between animals and people. The humans are generally the least dangerous--even those who attack with guns. Snakes and especially jaguars can be far more dangerous.

• Nazis - Indy's most rival foes return to try and stop him completing his quests. More often than not the Nazis will have guns and shoot Indy at close range in an enclosed area but beware larger open spaces because they can shoot from a distance as well.

• Bandits - Found in Mexico, these sombrero wearing bad guys are basically the same as the Nazis. Mostly carrying guns they'll shoot Indy at close range but still deal damage from a distance as well.

• Natives - Often around temples there will be native hunters and warriors looking out for intruders trespassing into their sacred ground. These guys are fast which makes them hard to shoot and they wield spears that can be hard to dodge.

• Snakes - "Why did it have to be snakes?" The one animal that ever brings fear to Indy, these slithery creatures are fast and can deal damage quickly if they come near you, but can be dealt with easily with a quick burst from the gun or crack from the whip.

• Spiders - A little bigger than normal spiders compared to Indy on screen but don't let their size worry you. Like snakes at closer range they can deal quite a bit of damage but can be dispatched easily from afar.

• Scorpions - They might not poison you with venom that slowly works your health down but they can still deal some significant damage. Like most of the "smaller" creatures in the game they can be dispatched quite easily.

• Jaguars - These big cats prowl around the open desolate and jungle areas of Mexico. Unfortunately Indy is at the top of their attack list. These fast animals can be difficult to get away from and probably deal the most damage out of all of the creatures in the game when up close. The best advice if you encounter one is to hastily make some distance, turn, shoot, hastily make more distance and repeat.

Health Items

Dangerous encounters reduce health points, which can be restored with health items from the local vendor or that are found throughout the areas of Mexico:

• Health Kits - Health kits can often been found in cabinets or in/under crates or boxes. These restore a whole circle of Indy's health making them the most sought after health item.

• Bananas - Often high up in the trees, bananas can be found on the ground or are sold by a local vendor. They restore a small bit of Indy's health.

• Yerba Buena - A local wild plant life native to the Mexican area where Indy's adventure takes place, this is most often purchased from the local vendor, and it can also be found lying around the jungle sometimes.

• Tequila - Not exactly a health item, in fact quite the opposite, this can sometimes be found in the local bar, and exchanged for Yerba Buena from the local herbalist.

Current Availability

As LucasArts no longer sells this game (and has not done so for a long time), it is generally considered abandonware, but there are still a few copies floating around on EBay and shops. The game was originally released on a 3 1/2 Inch floppy diskette so use on modern day computers can be difficult. However it is possible (with the use of a floppy drive or an external floppy drive) to burn the disk's content onto a CD and use it that way.

In 1999 a Desktop Adventures fansite had Zip files for both Indiana Jones and Yoda Stories full game downloads for free but the site owner eventually abandoned the site and the downloads subsequently got lost. The full version is fairly rare but is downloadable at the Indy's Desktop Fansite ^[1]. The demo is more commonly found at many places.

Influence

Although Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine was a direct sequel to Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, elements from Desktop Adventures found their way into the next game :

• The round health meter that changes colours ranging green, yellow, red, black as Indy's health deteriorates, this round meter was also used for the design of the breath, puncture and Aetherium threshold meter.
• Health herbs, in small and large varieties, can be found growing throughout the game, also there was the introduction of a Venom-Kit and the Health Kit (although a health kit like the one in Desktop Adventures could be found after much searching in the Castle area of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure LucasArts had produced in 1989).
• Scorpions, Spiders, Snakes and the odd Jaguar were introduced in Infernal Machine along with Wolves, Monkeys, Sharks and Piranha. All could be killed with the exception of the Jaguars, Wolves and Monkeys when LucasArts was told by one of the play testers that even though these animals posed a threat they did not like the idea of killing them, LucasArts thus changed the programming slightly so that these animals would run away at the sound of gun fire giving the player time to get away from them. However their dying "animation" was not actually removed from the game so with a carefully placed Satchel Charge, Hand Grenade or Rocket they can still be killed.

References

External links

• Indiana Beau
• GameSpot review by Editorial staff
• Adventure Classic Gaming review
• Demo at Download.com
• TheRaider.net review
• Indiana Jones and His Desktop Adventures at MobyGames