Empire of the Over-Mind
Avalon Hill 
1980
- Aka:
- Empire of the Overmind
- Language:
- English
- Authors:
- Gary Bedrosian
- Platforms:
- Apple II, Atari 400/800, PC , TRS-80
- Entered by:
- Alastair, Gunness
- Added:
- 10-05-2010
- Edited:
- 18-08-2015
Synopsis
Plot
Long ago the Over-Mind overthrew King Alcazar and became tyrant of the blue and red planets. However the king escaped and planned revenge. Now, a thousand years later, the king's powerful magic summons you to a different plane of reality, where you are to destroy the menace in the Empire of the Over-Mind.
Notes
Contrary to his earlier adventure games, Empire was written specifically for Avalon Hill.Although never officially released for the PC, Gary Bedrosian ported the game to that platform in 1986 and you can download this version from his own site.
Resources (Upload file)
- Solution
- by Steve Ludlow (original version)
- Map
- by ?
- Hints
- by CCLGamer (1986 version)
- Hints
- by CCLGamer (decoded)
- Further Info:
- Search at Atari 8-bit Forever
- Search at Atari Mania
- Search at Museum of Computer Adventure Game History
[+] Users who have solved this game
[+] Users currently playing this game
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I’m a big fan of Avalon Hill Microcomputer Games and have nearly all of these titles in my game collection. Empire of the Over-mind can’t be 1979 given one primary fact. Avalon Hill in context to computer games first presented offerings to the public for sale at the Origins Gaming Convention on June 27–29 1980 at Chester, Pennsylvania. The first titles to be sold were B-1 Nuclear Bomber, Midway Campaign, North Atlantic Convoy Raider, Nukewar and Planet Miners. The target computer platforms for these original software titles were TRS-80, Apple and Commodore PET. In 1981 Avalon Hill’s Microcomputer Games division released Computer Acquire, Conflict 2500, Computer Major League Baseball, Computer Football Strategy, Empire of the Over-mind, Lords of Karma, Tanktics and Stocks & Bonds. If sources are needed I can provide jpg’s of Avalon Hill game catalogs or point to source references at the Internet Archive.org
Bedrosian himself says that it's from 1979:
http://users.wsg.net/bedrosian/games.htm
... but of course it's possible that AH didn't pick it up for publication until later.
Do you want a year when an author began programming the idea or when it was actually finished/published for a platform that the public could have played?
By all means, the year of release - I just understood his comment that it was released in 1979 but picked up for commercial release later. But you're probably right.
Maybe it's easiest to go straight to the source - I'll see what Mr. Bedrosian has to say.
SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!
I downloaded the PC version of the game now in 2020, and it is different from the TRS-80 Model 1 game I finished in 1983. The 1986 version has mammoths that block the trail to the cliff, and you cannot climb the cliff without having a thin vine. To scare off the mammoths, you need to animate a stick with the golden leaf and dispel the snake when it comes for you. All these things can be found where you start, in the trees beyond the ditch after climbing the boulder and the tree branch. Also climb the thick vine to find more stuff. Sometimes things just lie on the ground. The beginning is very different on the 1986 PC version to force you to use magic from the start.
I always thought the command parser was simplistic compared to the parser for the Infocom games. But I liked the story. I learned to save often, run away, isolate myself and wait. The only way for me to finish, was by using stealth and make a run for it when the coast was clear. Hard game, lots of saving.