Stardock Systems

AVARICE
developed
by
Continuous Software Systems


Foreward

About ten years ago, adventure games such as Infocom's Planetfall and Zork allowed 
us to enter a virtual world.  Admittedly, in those days, you could only interact with the
 game through a text interface.  You would type "Pick up the orange" and it would get 
an orange that was in a room.  You could, to a limited degree, interact with that world.  
I remember playing Planetfall for weeks and imagining what the world looked like and
feeling like I was really there.


As time went on, game companies abandoned the text adventure as graphical games 
became the vogue.  But something got lost -- the feeling that you were there.  That you 
could taste, touch, and really manipulate objects in that world.  To me, virtual reality 
meant I was in a "virtual" world where I could do things as if I was there.  While this 
concept may seem like common sense, the label "virtual reality" seems to be spread 
pretty easily.  In an age where games have increasingly become a bunch of nice artwork 
and videos being thrown onto the screen with little interaction with the world, it might 
seem that game companies have forgotten about true adventure and true virtual reality.

However, with the introduction of Avarice, a return to true virtual reality exists.   
Early beta testers of Avarice have labled it "A Myst Killer".  But Avarice's scope goes 
well beyond Myst.  In Avarice, you are in a real 3D world.  You can pick up objects, 
manipulate objects in ways the authors may not have considered, and truly interact with 
the world.  

For example, in Avarice you could pick up an orange, peel the orange, break the orange 
into pieces, step on the pieces and squeeze other pieces into orange juice or whatever.  
The beauty of this is that Avarice is a 100% visual game.  You actually see the orange 
(in true 24bit photographic color detail).  You actually see the crushed orange or the 
pieces of it.  You can put those pieces on a table and see the pieces in their actual size 
on the table and its size will depend on how far away you are from the table.

Perhaps you read this and say "No way! No one's ever done that before!" or "That's 
impossible! PC technology isn't there yet!"  I include with this file snapshots of the 
upcoming Avarice Preview in which you see what I am talking about.

But it gets better than that.  There are people in the Avarice world and you can talk to 
them -- have real conversations from that.  The people in Avarice will talk to each other 
and how you talk to them may affect those conversations.  In other words, they are 
dynamically controlled people.  And like the orange, they are in full 24bit color detail.

Of course, Avarice takes place in a fully rendered 24bit color world with an advanced AI 
so that its graphics are stunning.  It offers a full digitized musical score with mood 
changes depending on the situation you are in.

The trick to this is partly the improvement in computer gaming technology and partly 
because of the availability of advanced operating systems such as OS/2 Warp which 
allows us to create a dynamic virtual world and still have good performance.

I think you'll find that Avarice may perhaps be the first adventure game where you feel 
like you're really there in a way that you can visually see, touch, and interact with this 
world. 

Bradley Wardell
President
Stardock Systems, Inc.
Avarice Info on: http://oeonline.com/~stardock/avarice.html

Background

Your mysterious uncle has sent you a letter.  You did not even know you had an uncle 
until you received the letter.  He has invited you to his estate to talk to him.  As it turns 
out, your uncle is an extremely wealthy man.  When you arrive to his island, you discover 
that he has disappeared.  There are several other people there and none have any idea 
where he has gone.  However, there is a rumor that there is great wealth hidden within 
the house and they begin searching for it.  You begin searching the house for clues for his 
disappearance, or perhaps maybe to find the treasure as well.  One thing is for certain, 
you are about to embark on an adventure whose conclusion you will never guess!


Brief
Avarice is a virtual reality adventure/mystery game set about 20 years from now...

Specifications
Full Multimedia support (sound, music, etc.)
24bit graphics support
Multithreaded artificial intelligence engine
Multithreaded dynamic world engine
Super-High Resolution Available.


Requirements
OS/2 Warp 3.0 or later
SVGA 256 color support (hi-color even better)
Double Speed CD ROM
486DX
Supports 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x1024, and higher...
8 Megabytes of ram
Mouse

Availability
Avarice will come in two forms: Avarice Preview and Avarice itself.





Avarice Preview
So that players can get a taste of what is to come, the Avarice preview is a full game 
in itself.  The Avarice world is somewhat smaller and it will not have as many features 
as the full version of Avarice but it costs a lot less and will be out a lot sooner.  It will 
come with a $30 off coupon for the full version (which will be $59.95). (note, if you are 
already in the beta program for Avarice you will receive the preview automatically).  The 
Full version will be a different adventure (different puzzles and a different ending) so 
you will be able to play both as if you were receiving two games for a very low price.
Price: $29.95 from Stardock Systems.
Release: November 20.

Avarice
Shortly after Christmas, the full version of Avarice become available.  The Avarice world 
will be much larger with much more depth placed on the story, all new puzzles, new 
endings, and many updates to the Avarice technology. (Note.  If you're already in the 
beta program, you get this automatically).

Price: $59.95
Availability: February 5, 1996.
Avarice Order Form.


Name: ____________________________________________________


Address: ___________________________________________________


City/State/Zip/Country: _________________________________________


Which Product:

[ ] Avarice PREVIEW $29.95 + $5 shipping/handling ($10 if outside USA/Canada)
    (comes with a $30 coupon towards the full version). (Release Date: Nov '95)

[ ] Avarice Full Version $59.95 + $7 shipping/handling ($14 if outside USA/Canada)
    (Release Date: Feb '96)


Payment:
[VISA][Mastercard][Check]

If CC: #_____________________________ expires _____________

If Check: Make out to Stardock and send to:
Stardock Systems
7977B Ronda Drive
Canton Mi 48187

Stardock Systems
TEL: 313/453-0328
FAX: 313/453-1480
Email: stardock95@aol.com
WWW: http://oeonline.com/~stardock/