

1986 · Penguin Software · Adventure
Oo-Topos
After having crashlanded on the planet of Oo-Topos and taken prisoner your goal is to break out of captivity, repair your ship and get away from the hostile planet.
- Released
- 1986
- Platforms
- AmigaApple IIAtari STAtari ST/STECommodore 64Commodore C64/128/MAXMS-DOS
- Genres
- Adventure
- Developers
- Penguin Software
- Publishers
- Penguin Software
- Modes
- Single-player
- Perspective
- Text
- Themes
- Science fiction
- Country
- United States
- Languages
- English
- Time to beat
- 9hwith extras
About
Oo-Topos is an interactive fiction game published by Sentient Software in 1981 for the Apple II. In 1986 it was re-released by Polarware for additional systems and with graphical depictions of scenes described by the game's text. The graphics were designed using Penguin Software's Graphics Magician.
›Story
It's 1995 A.D., Earth time.
An Interstellar Transport carrying power transfusion waste collided with a meteor, scattering its contents towards Earth's Sun. The transfusion waste ist so deadly that all life on Earth will be destroyed unless something is done to save it. But Earth, in a restricted travel zone, has neither the knowledge of nor the technology to cope with such a catastrophe.
Your mission is to deliver the chemical seeds of a protective compound that will render the waste harmless. Your destination is Observation Labport 5V, a seemingly lifeless planet just outside of Eartth's Solar System. From there, the compound can be synthesized and secrectly seeded into the Earth's atmosphere.
During the otherwise routine voyage, however, your ship was ensnared by a tractor beam and forced to land on the planetoid Oo-Topos. Hostile aliens boarded your ship and threw you in a prison cell. You must escape and recover your ship with it's valuable cargo. Life on Earth depends on you.
Keywords
- shoot 'em up
- interactive fiction
- spaceship
- space battle
- single-screen level
- instant kill
Media
The articlegameplay, story, development, reception
Gameplay
The player enters commands on the keyboard to progress. Commands usually involve verbs such as "Go, Get, Put, Shoot, Use, etc." and nouns such as "laser, food, rod, etc." Directions such as "North, South, East, West" are used to move through areas and rooms within the game.
Abbreviations are allowed such as "N, E, W, S." When entering a new area, the text gives a detailed description of the location and any relevant facts that may or may not help with progress. This can include both objects and living beings.
Story
The pilot of a space vessel is carrying important cargo vital to the survival of humanity. The pilot is attacked by space pirates and forced to land on the planet Oo-Topos. After landing the pilot is captured and imprisoned in a fortress on the alien world. The pilot must escape confinement, retrieve the precious cargo taken from the crashed ship and get off Oo-Topos with it in order to save the human race from extinction.
Reception
Dale Archibald reviewed Oo-Topos in Ares Magazine #13 and commented that "Aside from the fact that you can be resurrected, this isn't a particularly unusual game. If mental jigsaw puzzles are your favorite hobby, Oo-Topos should keep you happily occupied for many, many hours."
Legacy
Many years later, Penguin Software released Oo-Topos (with several other games) as freeware.
Also after end of official support, an enthusiast reconstructed a source code variant of the game's engine to port it to modern platforms.
Releases by platformdates and regions as published
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Collections1 collection
Licensing
- Commercial games with available source codeGames with reconstructed source code
Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.
