Wasteland

Apple II version

The original version of this game, for the Apple II, used a clever technical trick, effectively virtualizing the huge game world onto four disk sides. Only the part of the world the player was currently capable of interacting with was actually in memory at any given time, and the rest was stored on disk. The division across disks corresponded to geographical boundaries on the world map, so there was no problem with data straddling disk boundaries.

The game shipped on both sides of two disks, completely write-protected. To play, you copied all four disk sides to your own writable floppies, and then booted off of the copy of disk 1.

Cancelled sequel

Interplay had planned a sequel called Meantime that was due in 1989 for the Apple II. Source code was virtually completed but when the Apple II market died. It was then deamed too expensive to re-write the code to the IBM.

The sequel involved the idea of time-travel and recruiting various important historic figures (think Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure). For more information on Meantime, read "Fallout Bible issue 8" interview with Bill Dugan.

Later, Interplay attempted to revive the game once more, but Electronic Arts held rights to the title. The game evolved into what we know today as Fallout, a spiritual succesor to Wasteland that, except for some minor references, is set in a different universe.

A proper sequel would not be made until Wasteland 2 in 2014, by which time the IP was acquired by Brian Fargo's company inXile Entertainment.

Credits

The credits listed in this entry are a hybrid; the IBM credits have been added and overlaid on the Apple credits to make a complete MobyGames IBM PC entry.

Cover

The original packaging contained a photo of the seven main developers dressed in Wasteland gear. This photo, in silhouette, is on the cover of the manual and Survival Guide. (see the Covers section).

Development

Some of the mappers on Wasteland were brought on as summertime employees for Interplay and now have careers in the game industry.

Engine

The game engine used for Wasteland was also used in the pseudo-sequel, Fountain of Dreams.

Manual

Wasteland was released with a book of text paragraphs. Specific encounters would refer players to a paragraph number for a verbose description of what was occurring. To keep players from scanning the book for clues, there were two full versions of the major story. One was the actual plot of the game and the other was a decoy involving the major settings and characters but with an entirely different explanation for the events. After completing the game, you could skim through the book and get a second (albeit cheesy) story.

Packaging

Wasteland originally came out in the classic album-square EA box for the C-64 - later versions were in the more traditional small box packaging.

References

• There are references to the game designers and their previous games in Wasteland. The two most common are the obvious spell references to The Bard's Tale in the occult shop in Needles, and the character Faran Brygo in Vegas (obviously taken from Brian Fargo). Another obvious one is an arm patch worn by a 'Pistolero' -- it's the old Interplay logo. Finally, the room in Vegas with the Proton Ax has the initials "A.P." (for the developer Alan Pavlish) as a wall design.
• The makers of Wasteland hid their own version of the Red Ryder 200-shot Carbine Action Air Rifle in the town of Highpool. You can "seek out" and battle (and kill the disappointingly weak) Red Ryder and claim his Red Ryder Gun for your very own.

Awards

• Computer Gaming World
  • October 1988 (Issue #52) - Adventure Game of the Year
  • February 1993 (Issue #103) – Introduced into the Hall of Fame
  • November 1996 (15th anniversary issue) - #9 in the “150 Best Games of All Time” list
  • November 1996 (15th anniversary issue) – #9 Most Memorable Game Villain (Scorpitron)

Information also contributed by Adam Baratz, ClydeFrog, DreamWeaver, LepricahnsGold, Mirrorshades2k, PCGamer77, RedRyder, rstevenson, weregamer and woods01.