Editing Starship Titanic

{{Short description|1998 video game}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2021}}
{{infobox video game
|title=Starship Titanic
|image=Starship Titanic box art.jpg
|developer=[[the Digital Village]]
|publisher=[[Simon & Schuster Interactive]]
|designer=[[Douglas Adams]]<br />Adam Shaikh<br />Emma Westecott
|writer=Douglas Adams<br />Michael Bywater<br />Neil Richards
|composer=[[Wix Wickens]]<br />Douglas Adams
|producer={{plainlist|
*Emma Westecott
*Theodore Barnes}}
|released={{vgrelease|NA|2 April 1998 (PC)|EU|1998 (PC)|NA|25 March 1999 (Mac)}}
|genre=[[graphic adventure game|Graphic adventure]]
|modes=[[single-player video game|Single-player]]
|platforms={{plainlist|
*[[Microsoft Windows]]
*[[Mac OS]]}}
}}

'''''Starship Titanic''''' is an [[adventure game]] developed by [[The Digital Village]] and published by [[Simon & Schuster Interactive]]. It was released in April 1998 for [[Microsoft Windows]] and in March 1999 for [[Macintosh|Apple Macintosh]]. The game takes place on the eponymous starship, which the player is tasked with repairing by locating the missing parts of its control system. The gameplay involves solving puzzles and speaking with the [[Android (robot)|bots]] inside the ship. The game features a [[text parser]] similar to those of [[text adventure games]] with which the player can talk with characters.

Written and designed by ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'' creator [[Douglas Adams]], ''Starship Titanic'' began development in 1996 and took two years to develop. In order to achieve Adams's goal of being able to converse with characters in the game, his company developed a [[natural language processing|language processor]] to interpret players' input and give an appropriate response and recorded over 16 hours of character dialogue. [[Oscar Chichoni]] and Isabel Molina, artists on the film ''[[Restoration (1995 film)|Restoration]]'' (1995), served as the game's production designers and designed the ship's [[Art Deco]] visuals. The game's voice cast includes [[Monty Python]] members [[Terry Jones]] and [[John Cleese]]. A tie-in novel titled ''[[Douglas Adams's Starship Titanic: A Novel]]'' was written by Jones and released in October 1997.

''Starship Titanic'' was released to mixed reviews and was a financial disappointment, although it was nominated for three industry awards and won a [[Software and Information Industry Association#CODiE Awards|Codie award]] in 1999. It was re-released for modern PCs in September 2015 by [[GOG.com]].

== Gameplay ==

[[File:Starship Titanic emblobby.jpg|thumb|left|Screenshot showing the PET interface in the bottom; here, the player speaks with Fentible using the Chat-O-Mat text parser]]
''Starship Titanic'' is a [[graphic adventure game]] played from a [[first-person (video games)|first-person]] perspective. The player moves on the eponymous ship by clicking on locations indicated by the cursor and advancing to the next frame after a blurred transition (although this can be avoided by holding down shift during clicks).{{sfn|Richards|1998|p=44}} The mouse can also be used to pick up and store items in your inventory and interact with onscreen objects.{{sfn|Richards|1998|p=45}} In the beginning of the game, the player is given a device called Personal Electronic Thing (PET), which serves as a toolbar on the bottom of the screen. The PET has five modes: Chat-O-Mat, a [[text parser]] through which the player can talk with characters by inputting text; Personal Baggage, the inventory in which the player can add or withdraw items; Remote Thingummy, a set of functions to interact with objects and locations; Designer Room Numbers, which indicates the player's current location; and Real Life, an options menu with settings and a game save/load system.{{sfn|Richards|1998|p=19-23}}

Much of the gameplay involves solving puzzles by using items with other items or with objects and characters onscreen.<ref name="Kalata">{{cite web
|last1=Kalata
|first1=Kurt
|title=Hardcore Gaming 101: Starship Titanic
|date=13 July 2010
|access-date=30 September 2017
|publisher=Hardcoregaming101.net
|url=https://hardcoregaming101.net/titanic/titanic.htm
|archive-date=24 September 2017
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924090946/http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/titanic/titanic.htm
}}</ref> Another significant aspect of the game involves talking with characters in the game, namely the [[android (robot)|bots]] that work in the ship and a parrot, by inputting prompts in the Chat-O-Mat mode. Additionally to conversation with characters through interpreting of user input, the parser often provides hints or explanations that come in the form of pre-recorded speech, which can help the player in progressing in the game.<ref name="NG" />

The main objective of the game is to locate the missing parts of the ship's broken intelligence system in order to repair the starship. In order to advance within the game, the player must upgrade from the standard third class level to first class and thus gain access to areas that are restricted when the game begins.<ref name="Mac" /><ref name="SydneyReview" /> The game also requires the player to transport items throughout the ship through the Succ-U-Bus, a system of tubes that transfer objects placed in them to other parts of the ship; these tubes can be found in many areas of the ship.<ref name="Kalata" /><ref name="SydneyReview" /> The player also needs to use the parrot to solve certain puzzles.{{sfn
|Richards
|1998
|p=76
}} A talking bomb can be found in the game and unwillingly armed by the player; if that happens, the player has to either disarm it or distract it during countdown to prevent it from exploding.{{sfn
|Richards
|1998
|p=58
}}{{sfn
|Richards
|1998
|p=74
}}

== Plot ==

''Starship Titanic'' begins in the player character's house on [[Earth]], which is partially destroyed when the eponymous cruise ship crash-lands through the roof. Fentible, the "DoorBot", informs the player that the ship and its crew have malfunctioned and needs help to get them back to normal. Once the ship is taken back to space, the player meets Marsinta, the "DeskBot", who makes them a third-class reservation, and Krage, a "BellBot". The player begins the journey as a third-class passenger and thus cannot access many areas of the ship that are reserved for higher class passengers until he or she obtains a second-class promotion and eventually convinces Marsinta to upgrade them to first class after managing to alter her personality.

Through backstory in the ship's email system, the player learns that Brobostigon and Scraliontis, two associates of the ship's creator Leovinus, double crossed him and deliberately provoked a "Spontaneous Massive Existence Failure" by hiding the body parts of the ship's humanoid intelligence system Titania in various locations within the ship as well as planting a scuttling bomb, in an effort to destroy the ship and profit from its insurance. However, both men perished in the attempt with the player finding their dead bodies on the ship. After exploring the vessel and solving puzzles, the player eventually finds all of Titania's body parts and awakens her, repairing the sabotaged ship and allowing for it to be navigated. The player then accesses the bridge and navigates the ship back to their home on Earth. Throughout the game, the player meets other bots, including Nobby, the "LiftBot", Fortillian, the "BarBot" and D'Astragaaar, the "Maitre d'Bot". The player also meets a parrot that accompanies them throughout most of the journey.

After returning to Earth, the player gets a message from Leovinus (played by [[Douglas Adams]]) who announces that he has decided to retire on Earth as a fisherman and to find a wife. Depending on if the bomb was disarmed, one of two endings occurs:
*If the bomb wasn't disarmed, the ship takes off and explodes in midair.
*If the bomb was disarmed, the ship simply takes off and the player is informed by Leovinus that, by galactic salvage laws, they now own the ''Starship Titanic''.

== Development ==

[[File:Douglas adams portrait.jpg|thumb|right|''Starship Titanic'' creator [[Douglas Adams]]]]

=== Background ===

[[Douglas Adams]] first imagined the ''Starship Titanic'' in ''[[Life, the Universe and Everything]]'', the third entry in ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'' series, where it is briefly mentioned in the book's 10th chapter. Adams describes the ship—named after the [[Titanic|famous ocean liner]]—as a "majestic and luxurious cruise-liner" that "did not even manage to complete its very first radio message—an [[SOS]]—before undergoing a sudden and gratuitous total existence failure".<ref name="Kotaku">{{cite web
|last1=Packwood
|first1=Lewis
|title=The Secret Douglas Adams RPG People Have Been Playing for 15 Years
|url=https://kotaku.com/the-secret-douglas-adams-rpg-people-have-been-playing-f-1681986562
|work=[[Kotaku]]
|access-date=20 September 2017
|date=27 January 2015
|archive-date=1 October 2017
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171001030937/https://kotaku.com/the-secret-douglas-adams-rpg-people-have-been-playing-f-1681986562
|url-status=live
}}</ref><ref>
{{cite book
|last1=Adams
|first1=Douglas
|title=Life, the Universe and Everything
|date=2005
|publisher=[[Del Rey Books]]
|isbn=0-345-39182-9
|pages=92–93
|chapter=10
|title-link=Life, the Universe and Everything
}}
</ref>

Before making ''Starship Titanic'', Adams had previously served as a designer for [[Infocom]]'s 1984 [[text-based game]] ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (video game)|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'', which was based on his successful science fiction series of the same name,<ref name="CT">
{{cite news
|last=Lynch
|first=Dennis
|date=30 April 1998
|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1998/04/30/hitchhiker-douglas-adams-back-in-space/
|title='Hitchhiker' Douglas Adams Back in Space
|access-date=27 September 2017
|work=[[Chicago Tribune]]
}}
</ref><ref>{{cite web
|url=https://www.engadget.com/2014/03/11/infocoms-hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy-playable-for-free-onl
|title=Infocom's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy playable for free online
|date=11 March 2014
|access-date=27 September 2017
|work=[[Engadget]]
|archive-date=1 October 2017
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171001031034/https://www.engadget.com/2014/03/11/infocoms-hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy-playable-for-free-onl/
|url-status=live
}}</ref> and had been an advocate for "[[new media]]".<ref name="Ind">
{{cite news
|url=https://independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/network-the-starship-titanic-its-only-mission-is-to-make-you-think-1294706.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220524/https://independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/network-the-starship-titanic-its-only-mission-is-to-make-you-think-1294706.html |archive-date=24 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live
|title=Network: The Starship Titanic? Its only mission is to make you think
|date=18 November 1997
|access-date=27 September 2017
|newspaper=[[The Independent]]
}}</ref> Since working with Infocom, Adams had expressed interest in returning to game design, and feared that he was spending too much time by himself writing.<ref name="Sydney">
{{cite news
|last=Harper
|first=Charlotte
|date=25 April 1998
|title=The intergalactic Adams family
|work=Icon
|issue=41
|publisher=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]
|pages=6–7
}}
</ref><ref name="Newsweek" />
He turned to game design again after playing ''[[Myst]]'', which is when he said "the medium had gotten interesting again".<ref name="Sydney" /> However, he thought ''Myst'' was lacking in story and characters.<ref name="LADN">
{{cite news
|last1=Sherry
|first1=Kevin F.
|title=Busy writer gets Pythons to help
|work=[[Los Angeles Daily News]]
|date=18 January 1998
|page=V5
}}
</ref> Commenting on the gameplay of ''Myst'' and its sequel ''[[Riven]]'', Adams said that "nothing really happens, and nobody is there. I thought, let's do something similar but populate the environment with characters you can interact with",<ref name="Newsweek" /> and hoped to combine graphics and a text-based system that allowed for players to converse with characters in the game.<ref name="ST">
{{cite news
|last1=Covert
|first1=Colin
|title=Hitchhiker' takes another galactic trip; Science-fiction author Douglas Adams, in town today, has created an interactive CD-ROM
|work=[[Star Tribune]]
|date=24 April 1998
|page=23E
}}
</ref>

In 1996 Adams co-founded [[The Digital Village]], a company intended to handle his future endeavours in film, print and new media.<ref name="Guardian">
{{cite news
|last=Daoust
|first=Phil
|date=15 January 1998
|title=Take me to your viewer
|department=G2
|work=[[The Guardian]]
|pages=8–9
}}
</ref> Adams first discussed founding the company with [[Robbie Stamp]], a producer at [[Central Independent Television]] in the early 1990s, and they did so along with Stamp's boss at Central, Richard Creasey; literary agent [[Ed Victor]] was also one of the company's founders. [[Ian Charles Stewart]], one of the founders of ''[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]]'', joined the enterprise shortly thereafter.{{sfn
|Webb
|2005
|p=290}} In December 1995, The Digital Village arranged a deal to raise [[seed money|seed capital]] from venture capitalist Alex Catto, who bought 10% of the company's shares for £400,000.{{sfn
|Webb
|2005
|p=291
}} In 1996 [[Simon & Schuster Interactive]] reached a deal with the company to finance ''Starship Titanic'', whose budget was estimated at $2 million.{{sfn
|Webb
|2005
|p=293
}}

Development of the game began Summer 1996.{{sfn
|Webb
|2005
|p=298
}} Around 40 people worked on the game's development.<ref name="Sydney"/>

===Writing===
The story was created by Adams, who wrote the game's script with [[Michael Bywater]]<ref name="Sydney" /> and Neil Richards.{{sfn
|Richards
|1998
|p=7
}}<ref name=Credits>
''Starship Titanic'' final credits
</ref> Additional dialogue was written by [[D. A. Barham]].<ref name=Credits /> Adams's inspiration for the game—particularly the objective of upgrading from third to first-class—came from an experience with airline ticketing personnel, where he was told he would be given an upgrade from economy-class tickets upon checking in for his flight, but found out upon arrival that the upgrade had not been arranged; he said the idea is based on the premise that "everyone wants a free upgrade in life".<ref name="Ind" /><ref>
{{cite news
|title=Games Evolve From Shoot-'Em-Ups; Computer and Media Giants Zap Away Over the $17 Billion Industry
|work=[[International Herald Tribune]]
|date=16 February 1998
|page=11
}}
</ref> Adams had devised a story concept to add an additional gameplay element where players would be able to enter the ship's data system as a "full realtime, flyable environment" and control how information flows through the vessel, but the idea was abandoned because, according to Adams, it was "a bridge too far".<ref name="Edge">
{{cite magazine
|title=Interview with Douglas Adams
|magazine=[[Edge (magazine)|Edge]]
|date=April 1998
|issue=57
|pages=24–26
}}
</ref>

Adams aimed to develop a text parser-based [[dialogue system]] as opposed to the drop-down conversation menus of contemporary adventure games, in which player have limited dialogue options.<ref name="Edge" /><ref name="Wired98" /> The text parser includes over 30,000 words and 16 hours of dialogue recorded by voice actors.<ref name="Newsweek" /> According to Adams, over 10,000 lines of dialogue were recorded for the game.<ref name="Sydney" /> In order to make conversations with characters convincing, The Digital Village's Jason Williams and Richard Millican created a language processor called SpookiTalk, which was based on VelociText, a software developed by Linda Watson of Virtus Corporation.<ref name=Credits />{{sfn
|Richards
|1998
|p=71
}} Producer Emma Westecott thought the processor was preferable as common [[text-to-speech]] programs "made the voices sound cold and distant". Douglas Adams claimed that they made "all of your characters sound like semi-concussed Norwegians".<ref>{{cite news
|url=https://avclub.com/douglas-adams-1798207882
|title=Douglas Adams
|last=Phipps
|first=Keith
|work=The A.V. Club
|access-date=2018-05-08
|language=en-US
|archive-date=23 June 2020
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200623065447/https://www.avclub.com/douglas-adams-1798207882
|url-status=live
}}</ref> The bots in the game understood around 500 words of vocabulary and were capable of conversing with the player as well as each other. According to Westecott, the developers' intention was "getting into characters" and cited games such as ''Myst'' and ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'' as contemporary games that lacked "proper interaction" with human characters.<ref name="CrRv">
{{cite magazine
|last1=Faber
|first1=Liz
|title=Starship enterprise
|magazine=[[Creative Review]]
|date=December 1997
|volume=17
|pages=46–47
}}
</ref> Williams and Millican modified VelociText into SpookiTalk in order to improve recognition of complicated sentence forms from players, as well as reducing repeated responses, and retaining a character's memory of an object or topic as a conversation progresses.{{sfn
|Richards
|1998
|p=71
}}{{sfn
|Richards
|1998
|p=72}}{{sfn
|Richards
|1998
|p=73
}} Additional dialogue support was done by linguist Renata Henkes.{{sfn
|Richards
|1998
|p=101
}}<ref name=Credits />

===Design===
The futuristic, [[Art Deco]] visuals were designed by [[Oscar Chichoni]] and Isabel Molina, who also worked on the 1995 [[Academy Award|Oscar]]-winning film ''[[Restoration (1995 film)|Restoration]]''.<ref name="LATimes">
{{cite news
|last=Glaser
|first=Mark
|date=4 May 1998
|title=A Flight to Remember
|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]
|pages=F1, F13
}}
</ref><ref name="EW">{{cite magazine
|url=https://ew.com/article/1998/05/08/starship-titanic
|last=Harlan
|first=Megan
|title=Starship Titanic
|magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]]
|date=8 May 1998
|access-date=23 September 2017
|archive-date=30 September 2017
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170930222655/http://ew.com/article/1998/05/08/starship-titanic/
|url-status=live
}}</ref> Chichoni drew the initial sketches of the ship on a flight to Los Angeles on the day he and Molina joined the project.{{sfn
|Richards
|1998
|p=61
}} Adams described the ship's interior design as a mixture of the [[The Ritz Hotel, London|Ritz Hotel]], the [[Chrysler Building]], [[KV62|Tutankhamun's tomb]] and [[Venice]].<ref name="Newsweek">
{{cite magazine
|last1=Stone
|first1=Brad
|title=The unsinkable starship
|magazine=[[Newsweek]]
|date=13 April 1998
|volume=131
|issue=15
|pages=78–79}}
</ref> In order to make the design of the ship similar to Art Deco, Molina and Chichoni drew inspiration from 1950s American electrical appliances and [[modern architecture]]; to design the ship's external shape, they also drew from bones and dinosaur skeletons.{{sfn
|Richards
|1998
|p=77
}}

Adams, Chichoni and Molina gave detailed briefings for the animators for each environment and character in the game.{{sfn
|Richards
|1998
|p=60
}} Modeling and animation for the 30 environments and 10 characters was done on [[Softimage 3D]], version 3.5. Most environments were done separately. However, the center of the ship in particular also included other environments as it connects the first and second class canals, the top of the well and the central well; Darren Blencowe was responsible for modeling the ship's center.<ref name="Graphics">
{{cite magazine
|last1=Coco
|first1=Donna
|title=Starship Titanic
|magazine=Computer Graphics World
|date=October 1997
|volume=20
|issue=10
|pages=17–18
}}
</ref> A total of six 3D artists worked on the game.<ref name="CrRv" /> Rendering was done on [[Mental Ray]]; in order to complete the rendering in time, the team's systems administrator wrote a [[Perl]]-based software to control all rendering jobs for up to 20 processors working 24 hours a day.{{sfn
|Richards
|1998
|p=61
}} In order to animate the parrot, Philip Dubree, one of the team's animators, visited pet shops and studied macaws for inspiration. Dubree created a skeleton and modeled the wings and feathers, later adjoining the body. He also scanned photos of macaw features and used [[Photoshop]] to incorporate those in the parrot's textures.<ref name="Graphics"/> In order to create Titania's statue at the Top of the Well, animator John Attard built the 3D model as a refractive metallic structure and texturized it with streaks of oxidation on her face; Attard used the [[Statue of Liberty]] as a visual reference.{{sfn
|Richards
|1998
|p=60
}}

Programming was done on The Digital Village's own developed engine, Lifeboat.<ref name="CrRv" /> The engine was developed by programmers Sean Solle and Rik Heywood, who joined the company in January 1997.{{sfn
|Richards
|1998
|p=100
}} Their intention when developing Lifeboat was allowing simultaneous work on different parts of the game, facilitating game test runs and unifying the work of coders and 3D animators. The engine went live on 14 February 1997. To keep within a data budget of 1.8 gigabytes, the team used the [[MP3]] sound format to compress the 16 hours of speech and dialogue, and compressed movies and cutscenes with [[Indeo]]. The final set of the game CDs were burned 400 days after the first build of Lifeboat.{{sfn
|Richards
|1998
|p=101
}}

===Sound===

[[File:Terry Jones.jpg|thumb|[[Terry Jones]] voiced the parrot and wrote the tie-in novel]]

Sound designer John Whitehall, who was in charge of the company's sound studio during the recording process, worked with Adams on creating the sound for the game. Whitehall and Adams had previously collaborated in the radio version of ''Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' for the [[BBC]], where Whitehall was a studio manager. The voice cast included actors Laurel Lefkow, Quint Boa, [[Dermot Crowley]] and [[Jonathan Kydd (actor)|Jonathan Kydd]], who voiced the bot characters in the game.{{sfn
|Richards
|1998
|p=88
}} [[Monty Python]] members [[Terry Jones]] and [[John Cleese]] also lent their voices to characters in the game. Jones, a longtime friend of Adams, provided the voice of the parrot,<ref name="NYT">
{{cite news
|last1=Herz
|first1=J.C.
|title=GAME THEORY; From Hitchhiker Spoofs to Starship Titanic
|url=https://nytimes.com/1998/04/09/technology/game-theory-from-hitchhiker-spoofs-to-starship-titanic.html
|access-date=21 September 2017
|work=[[The New York Times]]
|date=9 April 1998}}
</ref> while Cleese (who is credited as "Kim Bread")<ref name=Credits /> voiced the bomb.<ref name="PCMag">
{{cite magazine
|last1=Cruickshank
|first1=Alex
|title=Starship Titanic: a Douglas Adams oddity
|magazine=[[PC Magazine (British magazine)|PC Magazine UK]]
|date=July 1998
|issue=7
|page=403
}}
</ref> Actor [[Philip Pope]] was also involved, having voiced the Mâitre d'Bot.{{sfn
|Richards
|1998
|p=88
}} Adams himself also did voice acting for the game,<ref name="Kotaku" /> voicing the Succ-U-Bus<ref name="Edge" /> and Leovinus.<ref name=Credits />

The ambient music for the game was composed by [[Paul Wickens]], who is also a member of [[Paul McCartney]]'s touring band.<ref name="Newsweek" /> Adams and Wickens were acquainted from school, but lost touch until Adams saw him performing with McCartney.{{sfn
|Richards
|1998
|p=88
}} Adams also wrote additional soundtrack himself, including the music in the Music Room puzzle, which was based on a tune he had written on the guitar years earlier.{{sfn
|Richards
|1998
|p=89
}}

== Novel ==
<!--
{{split portions|existing=y|sections=y|portions=this section|Douglas Adams' Starship Titanic: A Novel|discuss={{TALKPAGENAME}}#novel_merge|date=June 2020}}
-->
{{main|Douglas Adams's Starship Titanic: A Novel}}
A 1997 novelisation was written by Terry Jones as part of his involvement with the game development, the spinoff planned alongside the game. An audiobook version was also released, followed by an e-book version ten years later, and a radio dramatisation over twenty years later.

==Release==
In May 1996, [[Simon & Schuster Interactive]] announced a deal to co-publish ''Starship Titanic'' with The Digital Village.<ref name="PRN1">{{cite web
|title=Simon & Schuster Announces Multimedia Deal with Bestselling Science-Fiction Author Douglas Adams
|url=https://thefreelibrary.com/SIMON+%26+SCHUSTER+ANNOUNCES+MULTIMEDIA+DEAL+WITH+BESTSELLING+SCIENCE-+...-a018276158
|access-date=21 September 2017
|publisher=[[PR Newswire]]
|date=13 May 1996
|archive-date=1 October 2017
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171001031200/https://www.thefreelibrary.com/SIMON%20%26%20SCHUSTER%20ANNOUNCES%20MULTIMEDIA%20DEAL%20WITH%20BESTSELLING%20SCIENCE-%20...-a018276158
}}</ref> Simon & Schuster presented the game along with 11 other projects at [[E3]] 1997.<ref>{{cite web
|title=Simon & Schuster Interactive unveils 12 new products at E3
|url=https://thefreelibrary.com/Simon+%26+Schuster+Interactive+unveils+12+new+products+at+E3-a019478242
|access-date=29 September 2017
|publisher=[[Business Wire]]
|date=5 June 1997
|archive-date=1 October 2017
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171001030909/https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Simon%20%26%20Schuster%20Interactive%20unveils%2012%20new%20products%20at%20E3-a019478242
}}</ref> Release was originally slated for September 1997,{{sfn
|Webb
|2005
|p=298}} but was postponed for December 1997 in time for the U.S. Christmas season.{{sfn
|Webb
|2005
|p=305
}} However, the game was delayed again, and in January 1998 Adams said the game "should be ready by March".<ref name="LADN" />

The game was eventually released on 2 April 1998 for PC,<ref>{{cite magazine
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050502210210/http://cdmag.com/articles/011/020/starship_titanic.html
|url=https://cdmag.com:80/articles/011/020/starship_titanic.html
|title=Another Titanic to arrive this week
|last1=Ocampo
|first1=Jason
|magazine=[[Computer Games Magazine|Computer Games Strategy Plus]]
|archive-date=2 May 2005
|date=30 March 1998
|access-date=17 July 2021
}}</ref>{{sfn
|Webb
|2005
|p=306}} and had an official launch at a New York City event, at [[550 Madison Avenue]], on 20 April 1998.<ref>{{cite magazine
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050406185748/http://cdmag.com/articles/011/084/starship_titanic_launch_party.html
|url=https://cdmag.com:80/articles/011/084/starship_titanic_launch_party.html
|title=Surviving the Starship Titanic Launch Party
|last1=Altman
|first1=John
|magazine=[[Computer Games Magazine|Computer Games Strategy Plus]]
|archive-date=6 April 2005
|date=21 April 1998
|access-date=17 July 2021
}}</ref><ref name="Wired98">
{{cite magazine
|last1=Kushner
|first1=David
|title=Starship Titanic Sails into Computer Gaming|magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]]
|date=16 April 1998
|access-date=29 September 2017
|url=https://wired.com/1998/04/starship-titanic-sails-into-computer-gaming
}}
</ref> Simon & Schuster made an initial April distribution of 200,000 copies to be shipped to 13 countries through seven international publishers.<ref>
{{cite news
|title=Douglas Adams' Starship Titanic Lands at Retailers in the U.S.
|publisher=[[Business Wire]]
|date=3 April 1998
}}
</ref><ref>{{cite news
|title=Digital L.A.: Humorist returns to computer games without a hitch
|url=https://thefreelibrary.com/DIGITAL+L.A.+%3A+HUMORIST+RETURNS+TO+COMPUTER+GAMES+WITHOUT+A+HITCH-a083824404
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171001031116/https://www.thefreelibrary.com/DIGITAL+L.A.+%3A+HUMORIST+RETURNS+TO+COMPUTER+GAMES+WITHOUT+A+HITCH-a083824404
|url-status=dead
|archive-date=1 October 2017
|access-date=27 September 2017
|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Daily News]]
|date=4 June 1998
}}</ref> Zablac Entertainment secured the publishing rights in the United Kingdom, while NBG EDV Handels & Verlags AG acquired the rights in German, R&P Electronic Media did so in the Netherlands and Benelux territories, and HILAD in Australia and New Zealand.<ref>
{{cite news
|title=Douglas Adams' Starship Titanic to Release in the U.S. On April 2
|publisher=[[Business Wire]]
|date=30 March 1998
}}
</ref> [[Apple, Inc.]] announced on 8 July 1998 that ''Starship Titanic'', along with many other games, would be released for Macintosh computers in the future.<ref>
{{cite news
|title=Flood of Application Software Announced for Macintosh
|agency=[[PR Newswire]]
|date=8 July 1998}}
</ref> The game was released for the Mac on 15 March 1999.<ref>
{{cite news
|title=A New Titanic Sets Sails On Macs March 15
|publisher=[[Business Wire]]
|date=3 March 1999
}}
</ref><ref>{{cite magazine
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050406183155/http://cdmag.com/articles/018/146/st_mac.html
|url=https://cdmag.com:80/articles/018/146/st_mac.html
|title=Douglas Adams Starship Titanic for the Mac ships
|last1=Fudge
|first1=James
|magazine=[[Computer Games Magazine|Computer Games Strategy Plus]]
|archive-date=6 April 2005
|date=25 March 1999
|access-date=17 July 2021
}}</ref> [[Sonopress]] developed a DVD version of the game, which was released in the UK in May 1999.<ref>
{{cite news
|title=Sonopress launches DVD-5 version of the Starship Titanic
|work=One to One
|publisher=[[UBM plc]]
|date=1 June 1999
|page=9
}}
</ref><ref>
{{cite news
|title=Sonopress launch "Starship Titanic" on DVD
|publisher=M2 Presswire
|date=26 April 1999
}}
</ref>

Sales for the game were financially disappointing.
{{sfn
|Webb
|2005
|p=306
}} Simon & Schuster marketing VP Walter Walker estimated that the game had sold over 60,000 copies by the end of April, far below the expected number of 200,000.<ref>
{{cite news
|title=Starship Titanic Hit by Price Point Iceberg, But Not Sunk Yet
|publisher=Multimedia Wire
|volume=5
|issue=170
|date=2 September 1998
}}
</ref> In the United States, it sold 41,524 copies and earned $1,841,429 by July;<ref name=pcdata1998>
{{cite magazine
|author=Staff
|title=Letters; Mys-Adventures
|date=November 1998
|issue=172
|magazine=[[Computer Gaming World]]
|page=34
}}
</ref> sales in that country rose to 150,000 copies by August 1999.<ref>
{{cite news
|title=Simon & Schuster Interactive Looks to Mob Gamers
|work=Multimedia Wire
|date=25 August 1999
}}
</ref> According to the company's creative director Jeff Siegel, a DVD version of the game "did not really sell" despite being an alternative to the three-CD original release.<ref>
{{cite news
|title=Now Showing on DVD-ROM: Not Much
|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]
|last1=Pegoraro
|first1=Rob
|date=11 August 2001
|page=E1
}}
</ref> According to Douglas Adams biographer Nick Webb, The Digital Village CEO Robbie Stamp sold the rights of ''Starship Titanic'' and all associated intellectual property to [[Thomas Hoegh]]'s Arts Alliance in September 1998.{{sfn
|Webb
|2005
|p=307
}}

The game's Windows version was re-released for modern PCs on [[digital distribution in video games|digital download]] by [[GOG.com]] on 17 September 2015.<ref name="Verge">
{{cite web
|last1=Webster
|first1=Andrew
|title=You can finally play Douglas Adams' Starship Titanic on a modern PC
|url=https://theverge.com/2015/9/17/9345237/starship-titanic-douglas-adams-gog-release
|website=[[The Verge]]
|access-date=21 September 2017
|date=17 September 2015
}}
</ref><ref name="Escapist">{{cite magazine
|last1=Lemon
|first1=Marshall
|title=Douglas Adams' Starship Titanic Crashes into GOG
|url=https://escapistmagazine.com/news/view/142463-Douglas-Adams-Adventure-Game-Starship-Titanic-Is-On-GOG
|access-date=21 September 2017
|magazine=[[The Escapist (magazine)|The Escapist]]
|date=17 September 2015
|archive-date=1 October 2017
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171001030846/http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/142463-Douglas-Adams-Adventure-Game-Starship-Titanic-Is-On-GOG
}}</ref>

== Reception ==

{{video game reviews
|GR=63.79%<ref name="GameRankings">{{cite web
|title=Starship Titanic for PC - GameRankings
|url=https://gamerankings.com/pc/198798-starship-titanic/index.html
|access-date=28 September 2017
|archive-date=1 October 2017
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171001031114/http://www.gamerankings.com/pc/198798-starship-titanic/index.html
|url-status=live
}}</ref><br />
{{small|(score based on 19 reviews)}}
|AdvGamers={{rating|2|5}}
|PCGUS=64%
|CGW={{Rating|2.5|5}}
|PCZone=91%
|PCPP=71%
|GSpot=7.1/10
|IGN=4.9/10
|rev1=''[[Computer Games Magazine|Computer Games Strategy Plus]]''
|rev1Score={{rating|3.5|5}}
|NGen={{Rating|4|5}}<ref name="NG"/>
|rev3=[[Adventure Classic Gaming]]
|rev3Score={{rating|4|5}}
|rev5=''[[GamePro#PC Games|PC Games]]''
|rev5Score=B+
<ref name=pcgamesrev>{{cite web
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990902021002/http://games.net/pcgames/articles/0,1034,3235,00.html?CHANNEL=pcgames&AD_SECTION=review
|url=https://games.net:80/pcgames/articles/0,1034,3235,00.html?CHANNEL=pcgames&AD_SECTION=review
|title=''Starship Titanic'' Review
|date=3 August 1998
|author=Brenesal, Barry
|work=[[GamePro#PC Games|PC Games]]
|archive-date=2 September 1999
|access-date=17 July 2021
}}</ref>
|rev6=''[[MacAddict]]''
|rev6Score="Freakin' Awesome!"<ref name=macaddict>{{cite web
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010627144209/http://macaddict.com/issues/9907/rev.ss.titanic.html
|url=https://macaddict.com:80/issues/9907/rev.ss.titanic.html
|title=''Starship Titanic''
|date=July 1999
|author=Dixon, Mike
|archive-date=27 June 2001
|work=[[MacAddict]]
|access-date=17 July 2021
}}</ref>
}}

''Starship Titanic'' received generally mixed reviews. Review aggregator [[GameRankings]] gives the game a score of 63.79% based on 19 reviews in the website.<ref name="GameRankings" /> [[Charles Ardai]] of ''[[Computer Gaming World]]'' gave the game two and a half stars out of five, praising the graphics and visuals as "gorgeous", but criticizing the playability, the bots' responses in the text parser, and ultimately thought that the game is "just not very funny".<ref name="CGW">
{{cite magazine
|last1=Ardai
|first1=Charles
|author-link1=Charles Ardai
|title=Lost in space
|magazine=[[Computer Gaming World]]
|date=September 1998
|issue=17
|pages=236–237
}}
</ref> [[Adventure Gamers]]'s Evan Dickens similarly praised the graphics and "beautiful" animation, but criticized the navigation and the parser, writing that the bots "won't understand or respond correctly to a single thing [the player asks]", and called it an "antiquated keyword-recognition system". He also described the puzzles as "contrived and unnecessary".<ref name="AG">{{cite web
|title=Starship Titanic Review
|last1=Dickens
|first1=Evan
|url=https://adventuregamers.com/articles/view/17460
|publisher=[[Adventure Gamers]]
|date=20 May 2002
|access-date=28 September 2017
|archive-date=20 August 2017
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170820074227/https://adventuregamers.com/articles/view/17460
|url-status=live
}}</ref> [[IGN]] reviewer Chris Buckman gave the game a 4.9/10 score, criticizing the lack of a backstory, the movement sequences and navigation, and the obscurity of the puzzles.<ref>{{cite web
|last1=Buckman
|first1=Chris
|title=Starship Titanic Review
|url=https://ign.com/articles/1998/09/01/starship-titanic
|website=[[IGN]]
|access-date=6 October 2017
|date=31 August 1998
|archive-date=7 October 2017
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171007033756/http://www.ign.com/articles/1998/09/01/starship-titanic
|url-status=live
}}</ref>

Writing for ''[[PC Gamer US]]'', Stephen Poole called ''Starship Titanic'' "an uninspiring and ultimately tedious adventure." He criticized the parser as unhelpful and thought there are few characters to interact with, although he praised the puzzles as "involved and challenging" and compared them to those of classic adventure games.<ref name="PCG">{{cite journal
|title=Starship Titanic
|url=https://pcgamer.com:80/reviews/125.html
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000305215208/http://pcgamer.com/reviews/125.html
|archive-date=5 March 2000
|date=July 1998
|last1=Poole
|first1=Stephen
|journal=[[PC Gamer US]]
|access-date=17 July 2021
}}</ref> David Wildgoose of ''[[PC Powerplay]]'' gave the game a 71% rating, writing that the parser is "a refreshing change to the predictable keyword or menu conversation systems" of most contemporary games, and praised the difficulty of the puzzles. However, Wildgoose thought the game was "a bit of a disappointment", believing that it should have been longer and expected it to be funnier.<ref name="PCPP">
{{cite journal
|last1=Wildgoose
|first1=David
|title=Starship Titanic
|journal=[[PC Powerplay]]
|date=May 1998
|issue=24
|pages=80–81
}}
</ref> In a review for ''[[Computer Games Strategy Plus]]'', Cindy Yans gave the game three and a half stars out of five. She also criticized the parser for failing to understand context in conversations, and called the navigation and item usage "cumbersome"; however, she praised Adams's humor, the animations and graphics.<ref name=cgm>{{cite web
|title=Starship Titanic
|url=https://cdmag.com:80/articles/011/131/starship_titanic_review.html
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050406185351/http://cdmag.com/articles/011/131/starship_titanic_review.html
|archive-date=6 April 2005
|date=5 May 1998
|author=Yans, Cindy
|work=[[Computer Games Magazine|Computer Games Strategy Plus]]
|access-date=17 July 2021
}}</ref> [[CNN]]'s Brad Morris praised the game overall, but compared its graphics unfavorably to contemporary games such as ''[[Riven]]'' and ''[[Zork Nemesis]]'', and said that "it is not a revolution in this genre".<ref name="CNN">{{cite web
|title=Review: "Starship Titanic" doesn't sink, but it's no blockbuster either
|url=http://cnn.com/TECH/computing/9805/22/starship_titanic_review
|access-date=29 September 2017
|publisher=[[CNN]]
|date=22 May 1998
|archive-date=15 April 2021
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415171414/http://www.cnn.com/TECH/computing/9805/22/starship_titanic_review/
}}</ref> Stuart Clarke of ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' praised the graphics and the game overall, but said players will "do much scratching of the head and aimless wandering in circles before the mysteries of the Titanic are solved".<ref name="SydneyReview">
{{cite news
|last=Clarke
|first=Stuart
|date=25 April 1998
|title=Polly's found a cracker
|issue=41
|work=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]
|page=7
}}
</ref> [[GameSpot]]'s Ron Dulin gave the game a 7.1 score, criticizing the lack of a story but praising the humor, graphics and the presence of a text parser as "a nice nod to the days of old".<ref>{{cite web
|last1=Dulin
|first1=Ron
|title=Starship Titanic Review
|url=https://gamespot.com/reviews/starship-titanic-review/1900-2533215
|date=21 April 1998
|access-date=1 October 2017
|website=[[GameSpot]]
|archive-date=1 October 2017
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171001121900/https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/starship-titanic-review/1900-2533215/
|url-status=live
}}</ref>

''[[Next Generation (magazine)|Next Generation]]'' praised the text parser and wrote that as the game progresses, "it's impossible to get anywhere" without asking the bots questions, adding that "the humor of the answers alone makes it worth asking questions".<ref name="NG">
{{cite journal
|title=Starship Titanic
|journal=[[Next Generation (magazine)|Next Generation]]
|date=July 1998
|issue=43
|volume=4
|pages=110–111
}}
</ref> Paul Presley of ''[[PC Zone]]'' gave the game a score of 91%, praising its atmosphere as "totally absorbing" and commended it for its humor and presentation as well.<ref>
{{cite journal
|last1=Presley
|first1=Paul
|title=Starship Titanic
|journal=[[PC Zone]]
|date=May 1998
|issue=63
|pages=95–96
}}
</ref> Alex Cruickshank of ''[[PC Magazine]]'' called it a "pleasantly entertaining adventure" and praised the graphics, gameplay and puzzles.<ref name="PCMag" /> Reviewing the Mac version, Mike Dixon of ''[[MacLife|MacAddict]]'' gave it a positive review, praising the graphics, the recorded dialogue and the humor, whilst giving minor criticism to the interface.<ref name="Mac">
{{cite journal
|last1=Dixon
|first1=Mike
|title=Starship Titanic
|journal=[[MacLife|MacAddict]]
|date=July 1999
|volume=4
|issue=7
|page=72
}}
</ref> ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]'''s Megan Harlan gave the game an A, praising the parser and the ability to converse with the bots, as well as their responses.<ref name="EW" /> In a ''[[Computer Shopper (US magazine)|Computer Shopper]]'' review, [[Jim Freund]] wrote the game "provides many hours of enjoyable game play" and suggested that it might be "a milestone in the annals of interactive fiction".<ref name="CShopper">
{{cite journal
|last1=Freund
|first1=Jim
|title=Starship Titanic
|journal=[[Computer Shopper (US magazine)|Computer Shopper]]
|date=1 September 1998
|volume=18
|issue=9
|page=288
}}
</ref> Writing for ''[[USA Today]]'', Jeffrey Adam Young rated it three and a half stars out of four, calling it a "hilarious blend of Monty Pythonesque humor and zany wordplay in a sci-fi setting" and praising it for its characters and script.<ref>
{{cite news
|last1=Young
|first1=Jeffrey Adam
|title='Starship' sails on word power
|work=[[USA Today]]
|date=5 May 1998
|page=8D
}}
</ref> ''[[New York Daily News]]'' reviewer Kenneth Li gave the game three and a half stars out of four, calling it "breathtaking" and praising the storyline; however, he offered minor criticism towards repetitive replies in the text parser.<ref name="NYDN">{{cite news
|title=Raise the Starship Titanic
|url=https://nydailynews.com/archives/money/raise-starship-titanic-article-1.790995
|access-date=29 September 2017
|newspaper=[[New York Daily News|Daily News]]
|location=New York
|date=26 April 1998
|archive-date=1 October 2017
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171001030850/http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/money/raise-starship-titanic-article-1.790995
|url-status=dead
}}</ref> Joe Brussel of ''[[Adventure Classic Gaming]]'' rated the game four stars out of five, writing that the puzzles are "entertaining but not too hard" and praised the voice acting and graphics, although he wrote the story is "a little shortsighted".<ref>
{{cite web
|last1=Brussel|first1=Joe|title=Starship Titanic|url=https://adventureclassicgaming.com/index.php/site/reviews/104
|publisher=[[Adventure Classic Gaming]]|access-date=6 October 2017|date=8 July 1997}}
</ref>

The game received two nominations for the [[BAFTA Interactive Awards]] in the categories of Comedy and Interactive Treatment in October 1998,<ref>
{{cite news
|last1=Oldfield
|first1=Andy
|title=Bytes
|work=[[The Independent]]
|date=19 October 1998
|page=12
}}
</ref> and was nominated for [[D.I.C.E. Award for Adventure Game of the Year|PC Adventure Game of the Year]] at the [[2nd Annual Interactive Achievement Awards]].<ref name="Computer1999">{{cite web |title=Second Interactive Achievement Awards - Computer |url=http://www.interactive.org/iaa/finalists_pc.html |website=Interactive.org |publisher=Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences |access-date=28 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19991104003923/http://www.interactive.org/iaa/finalists_pc.html |archive-date=November 4, 1999}}</ref> Likewise, the editors of ''[[EP Daily|The Electric Playground]]'' nominated ''Starship Titanic'' for their 1998 "Best Adventure Game" award, which ultimately went to ''[[Grim Fandango]]''.<ref name=blister1998>{{cite web
|title=The Blister Award: The Best of 1998
|url=http://old.elecplay.com/feature/best98/index.shtml
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000816071253/http://old.elecplay.com/feature/best98/index.shtml
|archive-date=16 August 2000
|date=16 February 1999
|author=Staff
|work=[[EP Daily|The Electric Playground]]
|access-date=31 January 2019
}}</ref> However, it was given a [[Software and Information Industry Association#CODiE Awards|Codie award]] in 1999 for "Best New Adventure/Role Playing Game" by the Software and Information Industry Association.<ref name="BW">{{cite web
|title=Codie Award Winning "Douglas Adams Starship Titanic" Ships for the Mac
|url=https://thefreelibrary.com/Codie+Award+Winning+%22Douglas+Adams+Starship+Titanic%22+Ships+for+the...-a054202369
|access-date=27 September 2017
|date=25 March 1999
|publisher=[[Business Wire]]
|archive-date=1 October 2017
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171001030912/https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Codie+Award+Winning+%22Douglas+Adams+Starship+Titanic%22+Ships+for+the...-a054202369
}}</ref>

== Legacy ==

In a 2015 article, ''[[Kotaku]]'' contributor Lewis Packwood wrote that "perhaps the ''Starship Titanic'''s most enduring legacy" is a forum in the older version of the game's official website, which was developed by The Digital Village's web developer Yoz Grahame. The starship's fictional construction company [http://starlightlines.com/ Star-Struct Inc.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140101232534/http://starlightlines.com/ |date=1 January 2014 }}, "a wholly-owned subsidiary" of the fictional travel agency [http://www.starshiptitanic.com/prelaunch/index.html Starlight Lines Corp.], contained an "employee forum" that became popular months after it was created, entirely through user-generated content. Users role-played as fictional employees and characters in the ship, and created scenarios, storylines and in-jokes that developed over years. After The Digital Village closed, Grahame hosted the website himself and kept the domain alive.<ref>{{cite web 
|last1=Packwood 
|first1=Lewis 
|title=The Secret Douglas Adams RPG People Have Been Playing for 15 Years 
|url=https://kotaku.com/the-secret-douglas-adams-rpg-people-have-been-playing-f-1681986562 
|website=Kotaku 
|access-date=8 December 2021 
|date=27 January 2015 
|archive-date=28 October 2021 
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211028121101/https://kotaku.com/the-secret-douglas-adams-rpg-people-have-been-playing-f-1681986562 
|url-status=live 
}}</ref>

Shortly after ''Starship Titanic'', The Digital Village (which was renamed to h2g2) developed an online guide based on ''Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' called [[h2g2]], which became a [[BBC]] domain after the company shut down in 2001.<ref>
{{cite magazine
|title=A Hitch in Time
|last1=Schenkel
|first1=Jennifer L.
|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]
|volume=156
|issue=6
|date=7 August 2000
|pages=38–39}}</ref><ref>
{{cite news
|title=Douglas Adams
|work=[[Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]]
|date=13 May 2001
|page=7A
}}
</ref><ref>
{{cite news
|title='Hitchhiker's Guide' Makes Leap From Fiction to Fact
|last1=Niles
|first1=Robert
|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]
|page=T5
|date=26 April 2001
}}
</ref>
In 2011, the BBC sold h2g2 to Not Panicking Ltd.<ref>{{cite web 
|author=((H2G2 Editors)) 
|title=H2G2 Leaving The BBC Soon! 
|url=https://h2g2.com/entry/A86945827 
|website=H2G2 
|access-date=8 December 2021 
|date=23 August 2011 
|archive-date=8 December 2021 
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211208213325/https://h2g2.com/entry/A86945827 
|url-status=live 
}}</ref>

== References ==

===Citations===
{{reflist}}

===Bibliography===
{{refbegin}}
*{{cite book
|last1=Richards
|first1=Neil
|title=''Starship Titanic: The Official Strategy Guide''
|year=1998
|publisher=[[Three Rivers Press]]
|isbn=0-609-80147-3
|edition=1st
}}
*{{cite book
|last1=Webb
|first1=Nick
|title=''Wish You Were Here: The Official Biography of Douglas Adams''
|year=2005
|publisher=[[Ballantine Books]]
|isbn=0-345-47650-6
|edition=1st American
|url-access=registration
|url=https://archive.org/details/wishyouwerehereo00webb
}}
{{refend}}

== External links ==

*{{official website|http://starshiptitanic.com}}
*{{moby game|id=/starship-titanic|name=''Starship Titanic''}}

{{the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy}}
{{Douglas Adams}}

[[Category:1990s interactive fiction]]
[[Category:1998 video games]]
[[Category:Adventure games set in space]]
[[Category:Adventure games]]
[[Category:Classic Mac OS games]]
[[Category:Fictional spacecraft]]
[[Category:First-person adventure games]]
[[Category:The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]
[[Category:Novels based on video games]]
[[Category:Point-and-click adventure games]]
[[Category:R&P Electronic Media games]]
[[Category:ScummVM-supported games]]
[[Category:Simon & Schuster Interactive games]]
[[Category:Single-player video games]]
[[Category:Video games by Douglas Adams]]
[[Category:Video games developed in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Windows games]]
[[Category:Zablac Entertainment games]]