LOOM
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| LOOM {{#if:{{{image|}}}|<tr><td colspan="2" style="text-align: center;">{{{image|}}} | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Lucasfilm Games {{#if:{{{publisher|}}}|<tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Publisher(s)<td>{{{publisher|}}} |
| Release date(s) | 1990 |
| Genre(s) | Adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single player {{#if:{{{ratings|}}}|<tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Rating(s)<td>{{{ratings|}}} |
| Platform(s) | DOS, Mac OS, Amiga, Atari ST, FM Towns, TG16 {{#if:{{{media|}}}|<tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Media<td>{{{media|}}} |
Image:LOOM.png LOOM is a graphical adventure game originally released in 1990 and was both developed and published by Lucasfilm Games (now known as LucasArts). It was the fourth game to use the SCUMM adventure game engine. The project was led by Brian Moriarty, a former Infocom employee and author of some classic text adventures such as Wishbringer (1985), Trinity (1986) and Beyond Zork (1987).
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Gameplay
A departure from earlier (and later) LucasArts adventure games in many senses, LOOM is based on a serious and complex fantasy story. It also had an experimental interface, eschewing the traditional paradigm of graphical adventures, where puzzles usually involve interactions between the game character, the environment, and multiple items the character can take into their possession.
LOOM's gameplay centers instead around magical four-note tunes (drafts) that the protagonist, Bobbin Threadbare, can play on his distaff. Each draft is a spell that has an effect of a certain type, such as "Opening" or "Night Vision". Drafts can be learned by observing an object that possess the qualities of the relevant draft; for example, examining a blade while it was being sharpened would give the player the "Sharpen" draft.
Some drafts, such as "Twisting", can be reversed by playing their notes backwards, while others, such as "Fear", are palindromes and can not be reversed in this manner. The player's abilities increase over the course of the game, with more and more powerful drafts. At first, only the notes C, D and E are provided, but by the end of the game F, G, A, B and C' (high C) are also available.
The game can be played at three difficulty levels, each with slightly different hints. For example; the "Expert" level does not mark the distaff and is played solely by ear. In the original version, the expert player is rewarded with a graphic sequence that does not appear in the two other levels. However, the CD version shows this sequence to all players.
Story
Prologue
- "It was long after the passing of the second shadow, when dragons ruled the twilight sky, and the stars were bright and numerous..."
The events of the game are preceded by a 30 minute audio drama, included with some versions of the game on audiocassette tape. It is established that the Age of the Great Guilds arose when humans once again tried to establish dominion over nature. The world is not defined in relation to ours, but many hold to it happens to a greatly distant future, since the events of the game occur on a date 8004. People banded together to form city-states of a common trade "devoted to the absolute control of knowledge, held together by stern traditions of pride, and of fear". The humble guild of Weavers established themselves as masters of woven fabric, though they eventually transcended the limits of cloth and began to weave "subtle patterns of influence into the very fabric of reality". They were persecuted for these acts of "witchcraft", and purchased an island far off the mainland coast, which they called Loom.
Lady Cygna Threadbare is introduced as a bereaved mother who begs the Elders of the Guild of Weavers to use the power of the Loom to end the suffering of the Weavers. Their numbers are failing and their seed is barren. The Elders, Atropos, Clotho and Lachesis reprimand Cygna telling her that it is not their place to play gods. Cygna, against their threats, secretly assumes control of the Loom and plants one gray thread. She inadvertently draws an (unforeseen) infant out of the loom, incurring the wrath of the Elders. She surrenders the child to Dame Hetchel, the old serving woman, and accepts her fate. The Elders cast the "Transcendence" draft on her, transforming her into a swan and banishing her from the pattern (the waking world, as the weavers call it). Hetchel names the child Bobbin, and cares for him as her own. Bobbin is ostracized from the rest of the Guild. The Elders note that the presence of his gray thread has thrown the pattern into chaos, and the Loom foresees the very unraveling of the pattern, and for these reasons, the Elders ban him from learning the ways of the Guild until a decision can be made on Bobbin's seventeenth birthday. Hetchel however, defies the Elders and secretly teaches him a few basics of weaving. This is where the game begins.
Plot
On his seventeenth birthday, Bobbin is summoned by the Elders in order to determine his fate. But after they punish Hetchel with the "Transcendence" draft for educating Bobbin, a swan comes. She casts the "Transcendence" draft on all the village which transforms all the Weavers into swans who leave through a rift in the sky.
Hetchel, who is now a cygnet, says to Bobbin, who stayed behind, that the swan (who visits him every year on his birthday) came to save the Weavers from the Third Shadow that was about to cover the world. Bobbin then moves on to find the flock, and on his way he meets other guilds and several adventures. One of them, a Cleric who is after the Scrying Sphere of the Glassmakers, the Swords of the Ironsmiths and the products of the Shepherds, claims the Weavers' distaff to rule the world with an army of the undead, thus fulfilling the prophecies. Template:Endspoiler
Technical overview
Originally published for DOS on floppy disk with EGA graphics, it was also later released for Amiga, Atari ST, FM Towns and Macintosh. It was re-released on CD-ROM in 1993 with VGA graphics and a full voiceover soundtrack. All of these versions of LOOM can now be played on a variety of different platforms using the ScummVM emulation engine.
The CD version has retouched graphics, greatly-shortened dialogue (much to the fans' dismay) and lacks a number of features found in the floppy version, such as close-ups during dialogues, probably because lip-sync to CD audio was difficult or impossible, yet somewhy deemed a requirement for them. These portraits are present in the game's resource file, however (with the words "Loom sucks" written on one of the faces [1]). The notorious dialogue edits are claimed by many people (including the designers) to be due to a lack CD space, however, there is still plenty of room on the disc, even though the audio is stored as ordinary CD Audio tracks. Most likely, all of this is due to the inexperience of the LucasFilm Games programmers with the CD format — but this is speculation.
A rather persistent and common misconception about the game is that Orson Scott Card either wrote the original dialogue, or rewrote the CD version's, based on the fact that his name appears in the credits. Card says on his website that this is untrue, and that Moriarty put his name into the credits based on a brief conversation they had prior to the release.
Due to a licensing agreement with (now defunct) Mindscape, the full CD-ROM version is no longer available; however, the floppy disk version can be bought from LucasArts and then patched with a download from Home of the Underdogs, an abandonware website.
Music
The original package offered an audio tape with a 30 minute audio drama that explained the nature and history of the LOOM world, and the whereabouts of Bobbin's birth. The game is a direct continuation of the story. The drama was enriched by original music composed by Jerry Gerber. Most of the actors of the audio drama reprised their roles for the CD version of the game.
The majority of in-game music consists of excerpts from the Swan Lake ballet and other works of Tchaikovsky. These are played from the disc on CD versions; other versions have sequenced music. While supporting the PC speaker and AdLib, the original EGA game originally lacked Roland MT-32 support. An addendum included in the package promised it as a downloadable patch, however, and the patch was eventually released.
The package also offered an illustrated notebook, The Book of Patterns, supposedly belonging to apprentice weavers in the game world. Its purpose was to optionally note there the drafts that could be learned, as well as describing some that were not seen in the game, with interesting tales related for each draft. Each description also included a staff and four spaces in which to record the four respective notes of the draft. Due to the random nature of the drafts, however, it is highly advised that any noted drafts would be written in pencil, since their exact threads changed from game to game.
Drafts
Drafts functioned in much the same way magic spells do in traditional adventure games, but with the caveat that Bobbin can use them as often as he pleases, so long as he is in possession of his distaff (for spinning the threads that make up the draft) and the object or creature being affected by the draft is susceptible to it. The great Loom on Loom Island is capable of echoing the last draft spun in its presence, with the sole exception of any drafts Bobbin spins himself, which can help the player commit the necessary notes to memory. There are quite a few drafts Bobbin can learn.
- Opening: either forces an existing gateway between two spaces (opens a locked door, for example, or moves a rock out of a cave entrance it's blocking), or more incredibly, creates a portal through a space in which none existed before (as when Bobbin "opens" the sky early in the game). Can be reversed into the "Closing" draft.
- Dyeing: changes the color of something into another; as powerful as the Weaver's current skill level. In the game, Bobbin hasn't yet mastered this draft, and is only able to change objects to be a green color he greatly dislikes. Can be reversed into the "Bleaching"/"Color Reverting" draft.
- Emptying: totally removes a substance from within its parent vessel. Works between something as small as a chalice to as large as a pool of water ... possibly even an ocean if the Weaver was skilled enough, although this is only theory. Can be reversed into the "Filling" draft.
- Straw Into Gold: transforms common straw into gold, just like the popular Rumplestiltskin fairy tale. Can be reversed into the "Gold Into Straw" draft.
- Night Vision: allows the Weaver spinning it to see in the dark. This is not permanent, and needs in be recast in other dark places the weaver visits. Irreversible.
- Twisting: causes an object to become twisted like a corkscrew. Can be reversed into the "Untwisting" draft, which is its primary use in the game.
- Terror: instills an intense fright in its target, which is entirely subjective to whomever it is affecting -- one man might see the effect as a mighty dragon, while another might see himself surrounded by flames. Irreversible.
- Healing: completely restores its target to perfect health, to the point that resurrection (if the soul of the person is still connected with his body) itself is possible. Irreversible.
- Sharpening: enhances an edged weapon's blade. Can be reversed into the "Blunting" draft.
- Reflection: causes the caster and the target to switch forms. The draft is cancelled when someone is harmed.
- Shaping: transforms the target. Can be reversed into the "Shape Restoring" draft.
- Unmaking: completely destroys and annihilates its target. Irreversible, even by the Healing draft.
- Transcendence: transforms its target into a being of great importance. Typically, the form assumed is that of a swan, although Hetchel is transformed by the draft into a scrawny cygnet so that she can assist Bobbin in his role as the Loom Child.
References
Image:LOOM advertisement in Monkey Island.jpg
Typical for LucasArts, some later games like The Secret of Monkey Island referenced the LOOM characters and storyline. For example, inside the "Scumm Bar" in The Secret of Monkey Island, there is a character from LOOM (Cobb, the assistant of the Cleric, who wants to know what Bobbin looks like under his hood) dressed as a pirate with a badge on his shirt that says "Ask me about LOOM", who will happily divulge marketing information when so asked. Later, after taking a nasty blow to the head, one of the things the player, as Guybrush Threepwood, can say is "I'm Bobbin, are you my mother?" This is a reference to the main character of LOOM, Bobbin Threadbare. In the third game in the series, Guybrush will sarcastically introduce himself as Bobbin Threadbare when captured by the main villain.
In Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure, a painting in the German castle features a beach as appears in a scenery of LOOM. This is out of the ordinary since references are usually done for earlier games, not upcoming ones.
A broken record found in the fan remake Maniac Mansion Deluxe is labeled as the "LOOM Soundtrack". When the player puts it on, they can hear the Introduction music of the game.
Space Quest IV features a computer store where Roger Wilco can browse in many real-life games parodies. One of them is "Morian Brianarty's" BOOM, advertised as "the easiest game ever; no commands, no inventory, no puzzles, no characters, no plot" et al.
Trivia
- Two sequels were planned, titled Forge and The Fold, starring Bobbin's friends Rusty Nailbender and Fleece Firmflanks. These sequels would wrap up open plot-threads and bring closure to the open ending of the original game, with Chaos eventually being defeated. However, LOOM's original development team were now all working on other projects, and as Lucasfilm Games was a small company at that time, no one else could be found to do it; hence, they were cancelled.
- 'Cygna' is the feminine form of swan in Latin.
- The names of the Elders of the Guild of Weavers are borrowed from Greek mythology's three Fates, who measured life on a thread, except that Clotho's name is spelled "Clothos" in LOOM; note also that contrary to the mythology where all Fates are old women, in the game Atropos is a man.
- The drafts of "Opening" and "Transcendence" are the only two that are not randomly generated and never change, since they are heard in the audio drama and so integral to the storyline.