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The 7th Guest

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The 7th Guest
Cover art for the CD-ROM version of the game
Developer(s)Trilobyte
Publisher(s)Virgin Games
Designer(s)Rob Landeros, Graeme Devine
Platform(s)PC (MS-DOS, Windows), Philips CD-i, Macintosh
Release1992
Genre(s)Puzzle
Mode(s)Single player

The 7th Guest, published in 1992 by Virgin Games, is a video-based puzzle computer game, not unlike The Fool's Errand and predating Myst. It was one of the first computer video games to be released only on CD-ROM. Seventh Guest is a horror story told from the unfolding perspective of the player, as an amnesiac. The game received a great amount of press attention for making live action video clips a core part of its gameplay, for its unprecedentedly large amount of pre-rendered 3D graphics, and for its adult content. In addition, the game was very successful, with over two million copies sold, and is widely-regarded as a killer app that accelerated the sales of CD-ROM drives.

Gameplay

The game is played by wandering the mansion, solving logic puzzles and watching videos that further the story. The main antagonist, Stauf, is an ever-present menace, taunting the player with clues, mocking the player as they fail his puzzles ("We'll all be dead by the time you solve this!"), and expressing displeasure when the player succeeds ("Don't think you'll be so lucky next time!").

One of Stauf's many puzzles: This one requires Ego to close all of the skeletons in the coffins. When one coffin is selected, that one, and all its adjacent ones, open or close.

A moderately complex plot of manipulation and sin is played out by actors through film clips as you progress between rooms by solving twenty-one puzzles of shifting nature and increasing difficulty. The first puzzles most players encounter is either one where players must select the right interconnected letters inside the lens of a telescope to form a coherent sentence; or a relatively simple cake puzzle, where the player has to divide the cake evenly into six pieces, each containing the same number of decorations. Other puzzles include mazes, chess problems, logical deductions, Simon-style pattern-matching, word manipulations, and even an extremely difficult game of Infection similar to Reversi that utilizes an AI (and would later go on to make an encore appearance in the sequel). For players who need help or simply cannot solve a particular puzzle, there is a hint book in the library of the house. The first two times the book is consulted about a puzzle, the book gives clues about how to solve the puzzle; on the third time, the book simply completes the puzzle for the player so that the player can proceed through the game. Although the game's manual states that there may be consequences for using the hint book, the hint book can be used without penalty for all but the final puzzle.

The 7th Guest was the first game for the PC platform to be available only on CD-ROM, since it was too large to be distributed on floppy disks: it came on 2 CDs. Removing some of the large movies and videos wasn't an option as they were essential to the gameplay. This game, along with LucasArts' Star Wars: Rebel Assault and Brøderbund's Myst, helped promote the adoption of CD drives, which were not yet common.

Story

Old Man Stauf built a house, and filled it with his toys.
Six guests were invited one night, their screams the only noise.
Blood inside the library, blood right up the hall.
Dripping down the attic stairs; hey, guests, try not to fall.
Nobody came out that night, not one was ever seen,
But Old Man Stauf is waiting there: crazy, sick and mean.

The story revolves around a man named Henry Stauf. Stauf was a no one; like so many during the Great Depression, he had no money, and became a simple drifter and thief. But one night, in the town of Harley-on-the-Hudson, he murdered a helpless woman on the way home from choir practice, beating her on the head with a hammer, so as to steal her purse. He was forced to sink even lower, truly a pathetic wretch. But, as he was sleeping later that night, he had a dream, a vision, of a doll so beautiful that he had to make it for himself. And he did, working without rest, until it was indistinguishable from the one in his dream. Afterwards, he went to a bar in town. The owner saw the doll and said his daughter would love it, and Stauf offered it to him. In return, the owner offered Stauf food and a place to stay.

That night, Stauf had another vision, and another, and another, and continued to build these toys just as he saw them, continually selling them for a tidy profit. Soon enough, he was able to open up a shop, because every child in the town and outside of it wanted a Stauf toy. "A Stauf toy is a toy for life," they said, and "no two are alike." Stauf's toymaking empire reached its zenith, however, when a mysterious virus started killing the children. Doctors did all they could, but nothing could be done to save them. Meanwhile, Stauf, acting upon one last vision, built for himself a large mansion; a strange mansion, one that frightened people.

He wasn't heard from again for quite some time, until one day, invitations were sent out to six individuals inviting them to stay at the Stauf mansion for the night, with the promise of granting them their hearts' greatest desire...

The game begins inside the house some time after the night of the "party", and puts players in the shoes of an unexplained protagonist known only as "Ego." Ego himself doesn't appear to know why he's there, or who he is, but as he explores the house, he witnesses ghostly reenactments of that fateful night so long ago, solving the same puzzles that the guests had to solve, as he tries to piece everything together.

Template:Spoiler

File:7thGuestLabPuzzle.JPG
The player must play a game of Ataxx with the Game AI known as "Stauf".

After eating dinner, the guests read personalized messages from Stauf to them. He has arranged for them to play a "game." Throughout the house, there are puzzles and clues that show them what must be done to win, and subsequently, gain their greatest desire. All that Stauf is willing to tell them is that it involves another guest who hasn't arrived yet. As the guests explore the house, discerning its secrets, making alliances, and breaking them just as quickly, they all experience terrifying illusions that begin to put them all on edge. The seventh guest is revealed to be Tad, a young boy who snuck into the house after being dared by his friends. Furthermore, they learn that Stauf wants one of them to bring Tad to him so that he can steal his soul. All of the toys that Stauf sold during his heyday were the source of the virus, and all of the children's souls are imprisoned inside of them. However, it was required that Stauf collect a certain number of souls, and so he brought the guests to his house so that they might bring Tad to him.

Four guests, Brian, Martine, Julia, and Edward, want to bring Tad to Stauf, caring more about their desires than Tad's life. But the other two guests, Edward's wife Elinor and Hamilton, wish to save Tad's life, and fight to protect him. As the night wears on, all the guests except Julia end up killing each other, and she eagerly takes Tad to the attic face to face with Stauf. Instead of granting her wish, Stauf regurgitates a pool of acid, which rapidly consumes a crying Julia. Stauf then grows a long, snakelike tongue which wraps around Tad, pulling him closer and closer. As he watches this, Ego realizes that he is Tad, and that he has seen all of this before, countless times, trying to save himself, but always failing, never beating Stauf, always forgetting everything he had learned, stuck in some sort of purgatory. But this time, he successfully fights off Stauf, saving Tad's (and his) life. Failing to gain the last soul, Stauf turns into a skeleton, and tentacles rise out of a fiery pit that's formed beneath him and drag him down into the blazing inferno. Tad thanks Ego for saving them, and Ego steps into a large ball of light that has formed in the room. The light fades, and the credits roll.

Themes

The game presents many interesting concepts from a storytelling prospect, one of which being its unorthodox presentation of the afterlife. Rather than being forced to relive the events of one's life in a never-ending cycle, as some interpretations of Hell have suggested, in this game you are "doomed" to observe what you've done, with the only challenge to figure out how this all applies to you, trying to "save yourself", and forgetting everything you've learned and starting the process all over again upon failing. Since the events of this game chronicle the time where Ego/Tad finally succeeds, it is unknown just how long he has been stuck in this continuous loop. And it is unknown if Ego/Tad actually changes the events of the past or simply resolves his own unfinished business.

It is unknown if all the other guests are themselves stuck in a cycle of reliving the events of that night, but in the sequel, The 11th Hour, the protagonist of the game, Carl Denning, discovers the ghosts of the four evil guests still trapped in the house. Some, like Julia, seem to know exactly what is going on, while others, like Martine, are in an incredibly confused state. Elinor and Hamilton are not seen at all, suggesting that because they were pure of heart, they are not bound to the house.

While not actually stated in the game, it is heavily implied that Stauf made a pact with the Devil, in which he would gather the souls of the neighboring children in return for power and riches. The fact that he did not begin to get visions of toys to build until after he had murdered someone shows that the devil was only willing to give power to someone desperate (and evil) enough to kill for his way. Apparently, by the time of the events of T7G, Stauf had begun to turn into a demon himself, which might explain why he needed the guests to bring him Tad rather than doing it himself; there may be some kind of rule that agents of Satan are not allowed to interfere directly with humans. But by failing to retrieve Tad's soul, he loses his own, and looks to be damned to Hell. But it can be assumed that he managed to make a new deal, because he returns once again in The 11th Hour, this time most likely as a full demon.

Cast and Characters

  • Henry Stauf (actor Robert Hirschboeck)- The owner of the mansion in which the game takes place. Stauf was a homeless drifter who became a successful toymaker after a series of visions showed him the toys he would create, but the people of Harley know nothing of his past. They only know him as the eccentric old man who makes marvelous toys for their children and became a hugely successful "rags to riches" story.
  • Ego (voice of Michael Mish)- The player's character, a disembodied consciousness that moves through the house solving puzzles and observing the events of that mysterious night at Stauf's house as they unfolded long ago. The entire game takes place in first-person view through Ego's eyes. Ego does not know how he came to the house, or why, he only knows that there is a reason for him to be there that he hasn't figured out yet.
  • Tad (actor Douglas Knapp) - A boy who lives next door to the Stauf mansion. On the night of the party he enters the house on a dare by climbing in through a window, then discovers that he can't get out again. He spends most of the game dodging Stauf's guests while he tries to find a way to escape the house.
  • Martine Burden (Guest one) (actress Debra Ritz Mason)- Young, pretty, and ambitious, Martine was once named Miss Harley-on-the-Hudson, but she hated the small town and left as soon as she had the chance. Now she is back after her wealthy boyfriend dumped her. She is immediately attracted to the older Edward Knox, whose desires for wealth and a new life away from Elinor are quite compatible with her own desires for power and status. The player does not necessarily see her die; the last time she is seen, she's in the bathtub, when suddenly, she's pulled underwater, and a long, drawn-out scream is heard.
  • Edward and Elinor Knox (Guests two and three) (actors Larry Roher and Jolene Patrick)- An older, married couple. Elinor is a decent woman who still loves her husband and seems to want to help the boy, Tad, as much as she can. Edward is having severe financial difficulties, and he shows little love or concern for his wife, instead teaming up with the younger Martine Burden to try and solve the mystery. His greatest desire is to start over with a new life, a full bank account, and no marriage tying him down. Her desire is also to start over again, but with Edward still at her side. Hamilton kills him by snapping his neck, in order to save Tad. The player does not see Elinor get killed, but the last time she's seen, her head is attached to the body of a mannequin, pitifully calling out for help.
  • Julia Heine (Guest four) (actress Julia Tucker)- An older woman, and quite vain. She is unhappy with her life, and recently lost her job at the bank due to a quickly developing drinking problem. Her heart's desire is to be young and beautiful again, when she felt like she could take on the world. Julia succeeds in bringing Tad to Stauf, but instead of granting her wish, Stauf mercilessly kills her.
  • Brian Dutton (Guest five) (actor Michael Pocaro)- A middle-aged man who walks with a cane, Brian owns a shop in Harley-on-the-Hudson, and has sold goods to Stauf. Brian admires the way Stauf had grown wealthy and the way he had solved his own problems, and his greatest desire is to be as successful as Stauf, but he is also haunted by memories of seeing his brother fall through thin ice and drown when he was a child. Brian is killed by Edward while they fight over Tad, getting stabbed repeatedly in the chest with his own knife.
  • Hamilton Temple (Guest six) (actor Ted Lawson)- A professional stage magician nearing the end of his career, he is a kindly man who also tries to help Tad, and he gets along well with Elinor Knox. His greatest desire is to know if there is such a thing as real magic, and if there is, can Stauf give him the ability to use it? After trying to convince Tad to trust him, Hamilton is strangled to death by Julia.

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Production Team

  • Graeme Devine Lead Programmer, Designer and Founder
  • Rob Landeros Art Director and Founder
  • Dave Luehmann Producer
  • Robert Stein III Lead Artist / Animator, Design
  • Gene Bodio freelance 3D artist
  • Alan Iglasias freelance 3D artist
  • Matthew Costello freelance Writer
  • George "The Fat Man" Sanger Music

The Music of The 7th Guest

The second disc of the CD-ROM set included a very large single audio track playable on any regular CD player. In total, the track was almost a half an hour long and it included both the in-game music, composed by already leading video game musician George "The Fat Man" Sanger, and two live music recordings: "The Game", whose melody in various permutations and stylistic variations became the background music for most of the game (as well as the theme for a piano puzzle) and whose lyrics were based on Stauf's twisted plot, and "Skeletons in My Closet", a jazzy tune with a female lead voice which was the ending-credits theme. A few years later, Sanger independently released an album titled 7/11, which was a little over an hour long and contained all the music from T7G (this time, on separate tracks) as well as its sequel, The 11th Hour.

The in-game music had conventions similar to Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, wherein each guest was assigned a musical theme; where Peter and Wolf used instrumental changes for its characters, The 7th Guest, conversely, used stylistic variations on the melody of Sanger's "The Game". Where two characters interact in the story, the styles are fused, counterpointed, or even sounded simultaneously and when tension abounds, the characters' themes are reflected thusly.

The birth of a company

The 7th Guest was the brainchild of game designer/graphic artist Rob Landeros[1], and a Virgin MasterTronics programmer, Graeme Devine. When Landeros and Devine presented their idea for the game, they were promptly "fired" so that they could start their own company, Trilobyte, dedicated solely to the development of this game. They originally intended to create the movements through the mansion using video. 3D graphics and animation were introduced to the title early in '91 when Robert Stein III[2] joined the team. Trilobyte developed the game and went on to produce the sequel, with Landeros as game designer and Devine as the lead programmer. Unfortunately, The 11th Hour had trouble overcoming some technical hurdles and was late to market. Despite high presales due to the success and popularity of The 7th Guest, the sequel sold much less than the expected sales numbers. This was due to several factors: the game was designed for DOS when Windows 95 was already available and popular, causing many people to call in frustration trying to get the game to work; inferior puzzles compared to The 7th Guest; and the music was MIDI and not WAV.

Rob Landeros developed a game called TLC, Tender Loving Care but, to the dismay of Devine (who found out about its content well into development), had a considerable amount of adult themes. The founders split up before TLC could be released. The interactive game was subsequently published by Aftermath Media. Before Trilobyte's demise they released two additional game titles, Clandestiny and Uncle Henry's Playhouse, the latter a comical twist of Henry Stauf's devious puzzles.[1]

Legacy

An official third installment was started at Trilobyte, but was never completed due to the demise of the company. Rob Landeros also attempted to create an official third installment, titled The 7th Guest Part III: The Collector, in which the user does not return to the Stauf Mansion, but is instead taken to a musem in which Henry Stauf, now known as "Doktor Stauf", is the curator. The game was to be developed by Lunny Interactive[3]. For a time, they had a working demonstration available for public viewing. However, the demonstration has since been taken down, and the project is assumed to be dead.

An unofficial third installment is in development as of this writing (Sept. 2006), titled The 7th Guest Part III: The 13th Doll [4]. It is being developed by fans of the original series, who became tired of waiting for an official third installment. The developers are spread out across the globe, but most are based out of Europe and the United States. When completed, the game will be available free of charge to the public.

Awards

The 7th Guest won the following awards:

Trivia

  • The creators came up with the idea for the game after watching an episode of Twin Peaks in an airport bar. The initial idea was to create a game based on the show.[citation needed]
  • Although released for DOS first, it was later ported for Windows. The versions are not identical, however, since the Windows version had several changes made to some puzzles, making them easier. [citation needed] The CD-i version also differed from the DOS and Windows versions; one difference was the elimination of a word puzzle in the kitchen pantry that was present in the other versions.[citation needed]
  • The idea of a mad toymaker using his creation to wreak havoc bears a resemblance to that of Halloween III.
  • A second sequel was planned and partially developed, but was canceled before completion. Footage and ideas from this sequel were reused and ultimately became the DVD interactive movie Tender Loving Care, starring John Hurt.
  • The antagonist's last name, "Stauf", is an anagram for "Faust", representing the Faustian deal Mr. Stauf made when he committed an evil deed and rose to great fame and fortune in exchange.
  • Copies of The 7th Guest make frequent appearances throughout its sequel. A CD jewel case of T7G is one of the necessary treasure-hunt items; several large T7G boxes are visible in various states of decay on shelves throughout the mansion; and the character Samantha is seen playing the actual game, although in this particular case, the game is functioning within The 11th Hour as footage from a series of security cameras Samantha is using to keep an eye on the Stauf mansion.
  • The game's POV footage of walking through the house was originally planned as live-action video in a practical set, but the idea was abandoned after pre-rendered 3D sequences proved feasible and more cost-effective [2].

References

  1. ^ "Haunted Glory: The Rise and Fall of Trilobyte" article from GameSpot with details of the making of The 7th Guest and The 11th Hour
  2. ^ Demaria, Rusel (1993-11-15). The 7th Guest: The Official Strategy Guide.
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