Alice: An Interactive Museum
| Industry | Video games |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Japan |
| Products | Alice: Interactive Museum |
Alice: Interactive Museum is a point-and-click adventure title released in 1991, created by Toshiba-EMI Ltd under the direction of Haruhiko Shono. Drawing inspiration from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, it was among the first games to utilize pre-rendered 3D computer graphics, preceding notable 1993 releases such as The Journeyman Project and Myst. Originally launched for Mac systems, the game was subsequently made available on Windows 3.x and Windows 95. That same year, Shono received the Minister of International Trade and Industry's AVA Multimedia Grand Prix Award in recognition of his work on the project. In 1995, Newsweek introduced the term "cybergame" to characterize innovative titles like Alice and Shono's follow-up, L-Zone. His third creation, Gadget: Invention, Travel, & Adventure, was released in 1993.
Plot
The gameplay centers around navigating a mansion composed of twelve distinct rooms—including spaces such as a gallery, atelier, wine cellar, and photo studio—interconnected through corridors, doors, and hidden passages. Players are tasked with retrieving missing cards from a set of 53 and interpreting the clues inscribed on them. Successfully solving this mystery grants access to The Last Room and leads to the game's finale. The environment features interactive art pieces that offer hints and unexpected elements.
Production
Development of Alice employed tools like MacroMind Director and Ray Dream Designer. The soundtrack was composed by Kazuhiko Katō, while visual design was contributed by artist Kuniyoshi Kaneko. The project is acknowledged for its ambitious integration of artistic expression within software.
Reception
In 1993, Computer Gaming World characterized Alice as an intriguingly peculiar and elusive scavenger hunt, set within a sophisticated and visually rich environment reminiscent of René Magritte's surrealist works. The publication recommended experiencing it as a surrealistic electronic toy rather than a conventional CD-ROM game.
Shono earned recognition as an innovator from both Newsweek and Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry. After the unexpected success of his third release, Gadget: Invention, Travel, & Adventure (1993), both Alice and L-Zone were reintroduced to the American market.