Throughout the history of gaming, we have seen many titles making waves before their time. From pioneers like pong that captivated audiences with its simple yet revolutionary design to modern hits like Elden Ring Continuing to capture the heart and soul of adventure gaming with immersive worlds, the video game industry is one of continuous evolution. However, there is one game whose legacy stretches back to the historic careers of two of the game industry’s most prominent pioneers. That game is from 1976 Colossal cave adventure.
Originally created by William Crowther and later by Don Woods, Colossal Cave Adventure is a text-based game that spawned a whole genre of adventure games. From titles like villain until Zork, the influence of this humble text adventure left a lasting legacy. However, two of the most notable people Colossal Cave Adventure influenced are none other than Sierra On-Line founders Ken and Roberta Williams.
After selling Sierra On-Line and being out of game development for nearly three decades, we learned in March that Ken and Roberta would be making their big return to video games by going back to their roots. Of Colossal Cave 3D Adventurethe duo plans to keep what made the original title so special, and reimagine it with 3D graphics and virtual reality compatibility.
Part One: Keeping and Remembering the Original Colossal Cave Adventure
Prior to the game’s fall launch for Meta Quest 2 and PC, we at Mega Visions had the chance to speak directly with Ken and Roberta. The two video game legends told how their return to game development story began and where that journey is now.
In part one of our miniseries you can learn all about how the original Adventure started their career. In addition, you can also find out where to play the original game itself and how important it is to keep it.
Starting an original Adventure
Mega visions: Ken, Roberta, thank you both for talking about your upcoming 3D remake of Colossal Cave Adventure. I understand that the original 1975 game sparked your interest in games. Can you tell us a bit about how that started?—from playing that game to developing your own?
Roberta: Yes, well that was a long time ago. It was early 1980. The reason I played this game—it wasn’t called Colossal Cave yet it was called Adventure—and I just had a baby. And I wasn’t working at the time. Ken was a programming manager at some company, but he also did some contract programming in the evenings.
So he had a TRS-80 that he took home to work at night. He also worked nights for a children’s hospital in Los Angeles. And not with the TRS-80, but he brought home a Teletime machine. It’s like a modem; it was a way to log into the IBM mainframe at the children’s hospital over the phone lines.
Ken Williams makes a life-changing discovery
Roberta: He found that there were some games on their mainframe, and one of them was: Coming. Well, what’s that? So he clicked on it and he saw that he was standing at the end of a road in front of a small building and surrounded by a forest. And then it said, “Type in a word or two to communicate, and I’ll walk you through.”
So he did, and he started going through it. Then he called me. He said, “Hey, come over here! This looks pretty interesting. Let’s see what this is.” So we both started playing it together for a while, and soon I kind of pushed him out of the way and said, “Well, let me do this.” And I started playing it.
And then he says, “Well, you can do this during the day while I’m at work.” So I did, and I played it for a long time. At this point I don’t know how long. I’d say it was at least a few weeks, maybe a month. I was playing this constantly.
So I’ve come to the end. I played through it enough to get to 350 points, which was the original number of points. I felt really good about that and wanted to play with it more.
But there were none like it. There were some very basic text adventure games at the time, but they were nothing like this game. Well, I got so attached to this, so addicted to this thing that it felt very strange to me that I would be so attracted to it.
Origins: How a Colossal Cavern Inspired a Colossal Game Development Company
Roberta: I thought in my mind that I couldn’t be the only one who was like this. There must be others like me. I mean, this is not common for me. So I thought, “You know what? I’m going to try to design my own game because this is fun.”
I had a lot of fun with it, and I had an idea. It turned out to be mystery house. So I just sat down. I had this big, huge piece of 3×2″ paper and I just started drawing, drawing and mapping on it and putting ideas together. It became my game mystery house.
Then I had to persuade Ken to program it for me. We had an Apple 2. We spent money for Christmas of 1979 and got an Apple 2. And we found out that this game was actually on the Apple 2 and it was sold by Microsoft. And it was also sold by Apple.
They each had their own copy of this game. a wash Apple’s Adventureand a wash Microsoft Adventure. Well, that was about it. That was really the beginning of adventure gaming. That’s what this game was about. Will Crowther and Don Woods developed this game and it really established the genre.
But it also shaped my career, because it tempted me to do this job. And then with Sierra On-Line, Ken and I partnered up and we released mystery house. Then we continued with Wizard and the princess. Then I think I did Mission Asteroidand then it just went on.
And that’s the start. That’s the importance of Colossal Cave. Later it was called Colossal Cave. I don’t know exactly when.
The importance of preserving the original Colossal Cave Adventure
Mega visions: As someone who advocates for game preservation, I think it’s really cool that you included the original Colossal Cave Adventure on your website.
Can you explain the importance of making it easy for people to experience the original game first hand while waiting for your new version of it? And what advice would you have for a new player who has never played a text-based game to get started?
Roberta: Oh boy, I’d just say I’d find it really interesting for people to do that. I think by doing that they will be amazed at what a great game it is. It is certainly not for the modern world.
When I played it, there were no computer games. Literally, there weren’t any. Well I think there were football games with X’s and O’s—the X’s from one team and the O’s from another, and you could move them and do soccer strategy. They were also turn based.
So it was much easier to get sucked into this game because there was a story and you were reading it, and it was easier to get sucked into it. In today’s world it will be harder to get people to do it. How to get them I would say go in with an open mind. Know that you are entering an old-fashioned text game.
Give it some time. Don’t immediately decide that this is horrible; give it some time. I would give it at least an hour, even a few hours, before you give up.
It’s such a great game. I really think you’d be surprised if you gave it a few hours to get sucked into it. Not everyone, but there are those who will be surprised that they will get sucked into it.
Roberta Williams rekindles her spirit for adventure
Roberta: It gets better and better the further you get into it, and you start to see how much depth there is in the design of this game. When I started to dig into it and get back into it, knowing that I had to translate this game for graphics and VR, I really had to get back into it. I had to understand every nuance and angle of it. Oh, so much, so much.
It was almost like a hole and digging for gold. You dig down, and further and further you find more about it. From my point of view, as a designer to have to translate it, as opposed to a player, it’s amazing how deep this game is. How much is it.
As a player you will also find out if you stick to it. And you will appreciate it. I think if you play it with our graphics, you’ll appreciate it a lot more.
Colossal Cave – Reimagined by Roberta Williams travel this fall!
Colossal Cave – Reimagined by Roberta Williams is developed and published by Cygnus Entertainment. It is launching for PC and Meta Quest 2.
You can also play the original Colossal Cave Adventure free on the official Cygnus Entertainment website. You can experience the game that started it all today with the fully embedded text game!
What do you think of Colossal Cave? Are you excited to see the game being reimagined by Ken and Roberta Williams? Have you played the original text adventure? As always, share your thoughts with us in the comments!
And stay tuned as we publish more of the interview for our series, so you can learn even more about Ken and Roberta Williams’ journey back to game development!
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