Computer Game Questions

[Logan Geen]

For those who own the game Titanic: Adventure Out of Time (an all time favorite, I must confess) I have a few questions:
1) Why Third Officer Morrow? And it does seem like Morrow was a senior officer. Did Pitmans family deny the right to have the name used?
2) How accurate were the computer generated images of Scotland Road, the boiler rooms, engine rooms and-particularly-the cargo holds. I know the layout of these areas was simplified but I'm curious as to whether the areas shown are more or less historically correct.
3) Semi-game related: During the middle of the night would it have been easier to move from one part of the ship to another (since the game eliminated barriers it made it a tad too easy but I thought it might have been easier at nigth).
4) Were the characters in the game based on real people (and why were the real people always just out of reach-over your shoulder yet you never see them)-Leyland Trask, for example, was he based on a real person?
5) A slight goofup: the collapsible lifeboats are shown on the roof early in the game but vanish during the actual sinking. The sinking, btw, while shown in fast motion was very impressive.
All in all I loved the game and still enjoy playing it. Any comments, questions or answers are welcome here! Hope the thread is popular.
Logan

 

[Michael Shetina]

1) From my understanding, they did not want to use real people, they di not want to have to be so accurate.
2) Very innacurate. The holds were more like the Titanic film.
3) No, I dont think that barriers could be put down for immigration reasons.
4) No,
5) Wow, I never noticed it.

 

[Brandon Whited]

Logan,

I have always wondered the same thing about why Morrow was used instead of Pitman. I figured his family just didn't approve of the use of his name, so they created a character instead.

I noticed those Engelhardts up on the roof, as well. Since it took me forever to figure out how to beat the game, I used to simply walk around and look at all the small details incorporated into the ship's design.

Did you happen to notice that the ship strikes the iceberg ten minutes early?


Cheers,

-B.W.

 

[Trent Pheifer]

I got the special version of this game, with a happy ending.....The games time is frozen, so the time never leaves like 10:30 so it never sinks, but I can still go around and do tasks, But I take it some tasks are time related, b/c I have run out of tasks to do. Has anyone else had this problem?

-Trent

 

[Logan Geen]

About the cargo holds-all ships must have looked alike, since I remember reading that the holds on the Queen Mary resemble whats shown in the movie. I enjoyed how the game wove some true or supposedly true elements of the saga-ie the Rubayiat, the diamond necklace, an onboard psychic, cardsharp, etc-and made such a fantastic story out of it all. Another error-Titanic's wireless room did NOT have direct access to the boat deck.

 

[Joshua Gulch]

Trent,
I have the same problem, no matter what I do my watch never progresses past 9:30-ish. It's rather frustrating.

Josh.

 

[Brandon Whited]

Trent and Josh,

You have to perform certain tasks before the time progresses. You get the notebook, the time moves forward, and so on. It took me forever to figure out it isn't like real time.


Cheers,

-B.W.

 

[Brandon Whited]

Try this link; it will tell you how to perform all the tasks, and that should make the time pass for you. Warning: Avoid this site if you are trying to beat the game on your own!

http://www.barracuda-gssm.com/titanic/support.htm


Cheers,

-B.W.

 

[Kritina Johnston]

You'll notice the time moving MUCH faster after you find Isador Strauss's cufflink...at least I did.

It moved faster than I wanted it to, anyway.

 

[Joshua Gulch]

Thanks for the info, Brandon and Kritina. Methinks I ought to drag the game out and have another go at it. It's been a while.

I found the binoculars... is that good?

Josh.

 

[Don Tweed]

I have the book, Hints and Solutions, to this game. Have looked into it but want to solve on my own!!
Defusing the bomb is tough!!!!
Logan, answer to question #4: Maybe the Rev. Trout was taken from Edwina Troutt?
-Don

 

[Connie Hedges]

What is it that starts the clock count down for the sinking? Is it one action or the order things are done?

 

[Daniel Odysseus]

The clock starts at 1:05 and it counts down until 2:05 when the last boat leaves, then it goes back to 2:00 once the lifeboats are all gone. Then you just wait...

Anyone find the sinking a little disappointing? I mean, you only get an hour of it... Also, the decks are all empty, and you're practically forced to get on a lifeboat; none of that "I'm gonna die" drama... I wanted to hang onto the stern, like in the movie, but when I got to the poop deck entrance in the 2nd class stairs, the crew guy said no. I think that's disappointing...

Also, historically in-acurate, aside from not being pressed back from the boats, the last boat is launched on the starboard side from the middle. Shouldn't it have been Collapsible D, port side forward? Also, all of the hallways, in first, second and third class were all wrong.

Also, one more thing... Are the maps correct, aside from the fact there are no barriers? The third class rooms seem a little out-of-place on Scotland Road...

-D.O.

 

[Brandon Whited]

Much of the restraint and inaccuracy we see in the game came about because of budget issues. I agree, though, the sinking was disappointing. I locked myself away in my room literally for five hours one day and played the game until I finally won. I imagined the sinking being spectacular; it happened and I was like, "That's it!?"


Cheers,

-B.W.

 

[Brian R Peterson]

Hi Logan!

I love the game myself, however the ship itself is not well represented, and there are a ton of inaccuracies I would be glad to share with you later, but for now I will focus on your questions.

1. The use of Morrow in place of Pitman for Third Officer I do not think deals with naming rights etc. I think Cyberflix wanted to keep all characters fictional as no actual passengers or crew were rendered. As for Morrow's dominant personality, being the only officer depicted anywhere in the game, I guess he had to seem like an authoritarian, the Titanic is a rather big ship to man by yourself after all

An interesting side note for your goofs and inaccuracies list however is the fact that Morrow, a Third Officer equivalent in rank to a Navy Junior Lieutenant, is donning the uniform of a Captain!

2. A. The computer generated renderings of Scotland Road are more or less correct in decor, not so much accuracy. Scotland Road was a long stretch of plain hallway with exposed pipes and bare floors, it is unlikely that this area was carpeted as the game depicts. Towards the areas housing Third Class passengers may have been paneled in white pine as this was known to have been done elsewhere in Third Class on the ship but otherwise unknown.

B. The boiler rooms are depicted as they probably would have looked on the ship, judging from period photographs from other ships. The only lacking details are that the massive uptakes venting the boilers are not shown, nor are the watertight doors in between compartments, the game's use of the "battleship doors" as I call them replaces what would have been the watertight doors on the actual ship.

C. The depiction of the Main and Turbine Engine Rooms is shoddy at best. For starters the Turbine Engine Room was located behind the Main Engine Room, not in front of it, so you would enter the Main Engine Room through Boiler Room No. 1, not the Turbine Engine Room. As for the detail of the engines, these leave a lot to be desired. If you have seen photos of the engines being built you can clearly see the crankshaft, flywheel, connecting rods and other intricate machinery that is lacking in the game. It is also very dark and cavernous in these areas, these areas would have been well lit so the engineers and mechanics could see the engine components in case trouble developed. Another flaw, besides lack of crew in this area, is that the engines make sounds like they are running yet nothing on them moves, very disappointing. A point of interest - for equipment and equipment rooms only being a few months old at the time the Maiden Voyage, they sure have accumulated a lot of rust (years worth from the looks of it) haven't they?

C. The cargo holds are based on speculations as to what Titanic's holds would have looked like based on other period ships, there is no way of knowing what is accurate and what is not in this area for lack of description and photographic evidence.

3. Aside from the physical barriers (i.e. sliding iron gates) separating Third from Second and First Class areas, there really was no impeded access on the Titanic. In reality you would not have been able to go in between the classes because of the restraints, though it is likely there were only velvet ropes blocking off Second from First Class. Nor would you be able to access the Orlop and Tank Decks due to locked doors and crew only stairways. In any event movement about the ship in the night would have been just as easy as in the day.

4. As for the characters of the game, they are completely fictional and did not exist, they were merely there for the plot, however lame it was.

5. In animation it is easy for such details to be overlooked, I too noticed this when the ship was sinking. Another thing I noticed was how A-Deck is pitch dark in the game during the sinking process if you try to use it, it would have been lit up bright and teeming with activity in reality. Another annoying feature is the A and B Deck Grand Staircase entrance/exit doors no longer work once the ship is sinking. I also wish they would have added more people on the Boat Deck during the sinking, and not placed them all in a straight line as they have, but we cant have everything now can we?

Best Regards

Brian