Maniac Mansion is a 1987 graphic adventure video game developed and
published by Lucasfilm Games. It follows teenage protagonist Dave Miller
as he solves puzzles and attempts to rescue his girlfriend from a mad
scientist. Initially released for the Commodore 64 and Apple II, Maniac
Mansion was Lucasfilm Games' first self-published product. Conceived by
Ron Gilbert and Gary Winnick, it tells a comedic story that draws on
horror film and B-movie clichés. Gilbert developed Maniac Mansion's
innovative point-and-click interface, which became a standard feature in
the genre. To speed up production, he created a game engine called
SCUMM, which was used in many later LucasArts titles. Maniac Mansion was
critically acclaimed for its graphics, cutscenes, animation and humor.
Writer Orson Scott Card praised it as a step toward "computer games
[becoming] a valid storytelling art". The game's success solidified
Lucasfilm as a serious rival to adventure game studios such as Sierra
On-Line.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maniac_Mansion>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1782:
Construction began on the Grand Palace of Bangkok, the official
residence of the King of Thailand.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Palace>
1882:
The Irish civil servants Thomas Henry Burke and Lord Frederick
Cavendish were stabbed to death by members of the radical Irish National
Invincibles as they walked through Phoenix Park in Dublin.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_Park_Murders>
1941:
American entertainer Bob Hope performed the first of his many
shows for the United Service Organizations.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Hope>
1954:
At Oxford's Iffley Road Track, English runner Roger Bannister
became the first person to run the mile in under four minutes.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four-minute_mile>
2010:
Major stock indexes in the United States dropped nearly 9% and
rebounded very quickly, exacerbated by high-frequency traders using
algorithms which have since been outlawed.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Flash_Crash>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
titfer:
(Cockney rhyming slang) A hat.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/titfer>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
There's an ocean of darkness and I drown in the night till I come
through the darkness to the ocean of light, for the light is forever and
the light it is free, "And I walk in the glory of the light," said he.
--Sydney Carter
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sydney_Carter>