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Adventure International

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Adventure International
Company typePrivate
IndustryVideo games
Founded1979
FounderScott Adams, Alexis Adams
Defunct1986
FateFiled for bankruptcy; rights returned to founder Scott Adams
Headquarters
Longwood, Florida
,
United States
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Scott Adams (founder)
ProductsAdventure games, graphic adventure games, licensed games
Number of employees
50 (1983–1984)

Adventure International was a US-based video game publisher active between 1979 and 1986, established by Scott and Alexis Adams. The company was a trailblazer in bringing the adventure game genre to microcomputers, adapting the concept from the mainframe classic Colossal Cave Adventure.

History

After the success of Adams' initial text adventure, Adventureland, Adventure International maintained a release schedule of roughly two games per year. Their early portfolio consisted of original titles across genres such as fantasy, horror, and science fiction, with later projects often developed through partnerships.

In 1980, five of their games were converted for the VIC-20 platform. Despite early doubts about sales due to the absence of graphical elements, these titles became the best-selling cartridges for that system. By 1983, the company had grown to a workforce of 40 employees and was based in Longwood, Florida.

Adventure International broadened its offerings to include licensed properties with releases like Buckaroo Banzai (1984) and the Questprobe series, which featured Marvel Comics superheroes such as The Incredible Hulk and Spider-Man.

The firm introduced Scott Adams Graphic Adventures in 1982 for platforms such as the Apple II, while continuing to provide text-only versions for less capable machines like the VIC-20 and TI 99/4A. Nevertheless, their graphic adventures fell behind competitors like The Hobbit, resulting in a swift decline in market presence. Around 1983–1984, at its height, Adventure International employed approximately 50 staff members and published works from over 300 independent developers.

The company operated out of Sabal Point in Longwood, Florida, and maintained a retail outlet located in Sweetwater Oaks.

In 1986, Adventure International filed for bankruptcy. The rights to its games initially transferred to creditors before eventually returning to Scott Adams, who subsequently reissued them as shareware titles.

In Europe, "Adventure International" served as a trading name for Adventure Soft; some games released under this label were unrelated to the American company.

Scott Adams Adventure games

Scott Adams created twelve original adventure titles including:[1]

These adventures were created using an internal adventure editor. The original two-word command parser debuted on the Radio Shack TRS-80 before being adapted to numerous other platforms. The source code for Adventureland was published in SoftSide magazine in 1980, while Pirate Adventure appeared in BYTE magazine that same year with additional notes in 1981. This openness allowed others to study the engine’s design, influencing interpreter projects like Brian Howarth's Mysterious Adventures series.[2][3][4]Cite error: The opening <ref> tag is malformed or has a bad name

For the TI 99/4A system, versions required the Adventure Command Module cartridge and were distributed on disk or cassette.[5] Subsequent SAGA editions incorporated graphics produced on Apple II hardware, mainly crafted by in-house artist Kem McNair.

Additional titles

External links

  1. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Analog
  2. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named adams_softside
  3. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named adams_byte
  4. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named byte198104
  5. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named derushakemp19820412
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