Island of Secrets

Usborne Publishing 1984

Language:: English
Authors:: Jenny Tyler, Les Howarth
Systems:: BASIC
Platforms:: Apple II, BBC/Electron , C64/128 , Spectrum, TRS-80 , VIC20
Genres:: Type-in
Related:: 1: Haunted House, 2: Mystery of Silver Mountain, The, 3: Island of Secrets, 4: Micro Puzzle, 5: Rendezvous
Entered by:: Alastair, Gunness, iamaran, Strident
Added:: 16-09-2010
Edited:: 30-05-2021

Synopsis

Plot

In the dim and distant past the Ancients built The Pyramid and established communication with the Sky People. It was even agreed that one or two Earthlings should visit Sky Land. As it turned out only Omegan, youngest son of the most influential of the Ancients, visited Sky Land.

Shortly after Omegan arrived conflict began between the Sky People and the Outer Ones. Sky messengers came down to The Pyramid and gave each of the Ancients a secret object, telling them to hide the objects carefully. It had become obvious to the Sky People that a great war was inevitable and the war would darken the Earth. They sent Omegan back to Earth with a mission, when the war was over Omegan was to collect the secret objects and release the power within those objects, this would restore the Earth to normal. They also gave him the Cloak of Entropy which they said was essential for releasing the power of the objects and, because the task was too long for one person's lifetime, they also gave him the secret for prolonging his life.

With the war over, Omegan set out on his task but he soon realised the immense difficulty of the job; he did not know what he was looking for, or where to look, or even how many things he had to find. He also began to realise the enormous power of the Cloak, with its help he built a castle on an island and assembled the equipment for extending his life. Believing the task to be impossible, he stayed on his Island of Secrets and declared that the Cloak was his.

That was all a long time ago, but the land is still in darkness and Omegan still lives.

No-one would think that Alphan would take on the task of returning the Earth to normal. He may be intelligent and wise, but surely he is too slight and gentle to wrestle with the will of Omegan, so what that he has the map left to him by his explorer grandfather?

Notes

Island of Secrets may be found as a type-in game in the book of the same name (pp. 20–29), a free PDF of this book is available for download from Usborne Publishing (scroll to near the middle of the page).

As well as the listing the book contains an illustrated background story to the adventure. Some of the illustrations contain information that may aide the adventurer.

From the blurb on the back of the book:
"Island Of Secrets is one of the first two books in a series marking the beginning of a completely new kind of adventure game. They each contain an exciting adventure program for you to type into your computer. As you play the game on the computer, the imaginary world of the game is vividly recreated in colourful pictures in the book and you can find clues hidden in the pictures to help you.

An adventure game takes you into a different world where you have to pit your wits against magical forces, evil creatures and powerful tyrants. The books give thorough instructions on how to play and hints on what to do if you get stuck."

The programs are written in a standard BASIC and there are conversions listed to make them suitable for the Commodore 64, expanded VIC 20, TRS-80 Colour Computer (32K), Apple II, BBC (32K), Electron and 48K Spectrum.

Jim Gerrie has created a version of the game for the TRS-80 MC-10.