Captive

To free Trill, the droids visit a number of bases on several planets. On each base, the droids locate space probes, which provide the locations of subsequent bases. In addition to collecting probes, the droids also have to blow up the generators of the base which power the force field of the prison station, and then find the exit before the base collapses.

Controlled by the prisoner/player, the droids are firstly found in a spaceship in distant space (an interface using vector graphics), until ordered to land with a capsule on a planet. On each planet, the droids have to first locate the entrance to the base, then enter and explore 'dungeons' containing various puzzles and alien and robotic enemies.

Trill, the main character, is judged guilty (indicted for a crime he did not commit) and ordered in a space cryogenic prison for 250 years. 248 years later, he awakes, but without the memory of who he is, where he is and why he was imprisoned.

In the corner of his cell, which had doubled as a store-room, the prisoner finds a "briefcase computer" which gives him control over a group of four droids on a space ship. Now he must use these droids to find and free himself.

Antony Crowther used an algorithm that generates each planet and base, including its inhabitants, using a single numerical "seed" on the game disk - a trick which enabled him to have 65,535 levels in the game without having to store the details of each level individually (only one base is "active" in any given saved game, since each base must be "destroyed" before moving on).

The game was known as "Federation War" while in development, but a reader of ACE magazine came up with the name Captive in a competition.

Amiga Format reviewed Captive in 1990, and gave it a score of 91%. Zzap! also gave the game a 91% score in 1991, saying:

As a true RPG it has many of the drawbacks that Dungeon Master had (very little interaction, fictional combat etc). However, the gameworld is well designed, the plot and the opponents are imaginative and the puzzles are challenging with many thrills and spills to keep you on the edge of your chair.