Loom (video game)

Lucasfilm Games

Industry	Video game development
Founded	1982
Founder	George Lucas
Headquarters	United States
Products	Loom (1990), The Secret of Monkey Island, The Dig

Loom is a fantasy-oriented graphic adventure game released in 1990, developed by Lucasfilm Games. The development was overseen by Brian Moriarty, a former Infocom designer renowned for classic interactive fiction works such as Wishbringer (1985), Trinity (1986), and Beyond Zork (1987). This title marked the fourth use of the SCUMM engine and represented the first departure from the verb–object command system introduced with Maniac Mansion.

Gameplay

Unlike other Lucasfilm titles, Loom presents a serious and intricate fantasy storyline alongside an innovative user interface. It breaks away from conventional graphical adventure challenges that typically involve interacting with characters, environments, and objects.

The core gameplay revolves around magical four-note melodies known as "drafts," which the main character Bobbin Threadbare performs on his distaff. Each draft functions as a spell that triggers effects such as "Opening" or "Night Vision." Some drafts can be undone by playing their notes in reverse—for example, "Dye" reverses to "Bleach"—while others like the palindrome "Terror" draft (C–E–E–C) remain unchanged when reversed.

Bobbin acquires new drafts by observing objects that display desired properties; for example, witnessing a blade being sharpened teaches him the "Sharpening" draft. At the outset, Bobbin can only play notes C, D, and E, but as the story advances, he gains access to additional notes, allowing for more complex spells.

Players can select from three difficulty settings that differ in how clearly notes are labeled. The "Standard" mode shows note names on a scale beneath the distaff, whereas the "Expert" mode requires players to rely solely on auditory cues without visual aids. Initially, completing the game on expert mode unlocked an exclusive cutscene, although the subsequent CD-ROM edition provides a shortened version of this scene to all players.

Prologue

The game opens with a 30-minute audio drama that sets the stage for an era known as the Age of the Great Guilds, which began when humanity sought to dominate nature. Taking place in year 8021—likely a far-future Earth—the setting features city-states organized around trades dedicated to preserving knowledge through rigid customs.

The modest Weavers Guild initially mastered fabric weaving before advancing to manipulate "subtle patterns of influence into reality." Accused of practicing "witchcraft," they acquired an island called Loom, named after their emblematic great loom.

Lady Cygna Threadbare, mourning her losses, appeals to the Elders of the Weavers Guild to harness Loom's power to revive their dwindling numbers. The Elders—Atropos, Clothos, and Lachesis, named after the three Fates of Greek mythology—reject her plea, cautioning against assuming godlike powers.

Undeterred, Cygna secretly wields control over Loom and embeds a single gray thread into it, unintentionally creating an infant. As punishment, the Elders cast the "Transcendence" draft upon her, transforming her into a swan and banishing her from the pattern (the name Cygna means swan in Latin). She entrusts her child to Dame Hetchel, who raises him as Bobbin.

Bobbin faces social rejection because his gray thread disturbs the pattern’s harmony. The Elders forbid him from learning guild knowledge until he turns seventeen. Nevertheless, Hetchel covertly instructs him in basic weaving—the starting point of gameplay.

Plot

On his birthday, Bobbin is called before the Elders to decide his destiny. At the Sanctuary, he observes the Elders administering the "Transcendence" potion to Hetchel as punishment for teaching him, but Hetchel unexpectedly transforms back into a swan's egg, leaving the Elders bewildered. Suddenly, a swan crashes through a window and casts "Transcendence" upon the Elders and villagers, turning every Weaver except Bobbin into swans who then vanish through a portal. Alone, Bobbin uses Elder Atropos' distaff to release Hetchel from her egg.

Now a cygnet, Hetchel reveals that the swan who visits Bobbin annually rescues the Weavers from the Third Shadow endangering the world. Determined, Bobbin embarks on a quest to locate the flock, encountering various guilds and challenges along the way. He encounters Bishop Mandible, who aims to gather the Scrying Sphere, Blacksmiths’ swords, Shepherds’ goods, and the Weaver’s distaff to command an undead legion and fulfill ominous prophecies. Mandible uses the "Opening" draft to tear apart reality itself, summoning Chaos—who slays Mandible and raises undead forces bent on Earth's destruction. Bobbin recovers the distaff and mends numerous rifts in the pattern while assisting allies afflicted by Chaos's minions.

During a climactic confrontation on his home island, Chaos uses "Unmaking" to kill Bobbin’s stepmother. However, it is suggested Hetchel might still be saved since "one feather still remained intact." Using the same draft, Bobbin destroys the great Loom. Joined by his mother and fellow Weavers, he learns that half of the world will fall under Chaos’s rule while Weavers will retain control over the other half—offering hope to eventually challenge Chaos anew. Finally, Bobbin casts "Transcendence" on himself and departs with the swan-transformed villagers, leaving his companions uncertain whether he has abandoned them to Chaos or delivered them from it.

Music

The soundtrack incorporates selections from Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, adapted for MIDI by George "The Fat Man" Sanger. Although supporting PC speaker and AdLib sound cards, the initial EGA release did not include built-in Roland MT-32 compatibility. Players had the option to request an additional game disk from Lucasfilm Games enabling MT-32 support; this disk also featured an overture played before the opening cutscene and was subsequently made available as a downloadable patch.

Package contents

The original release contained an audio cassette with a 30-minute audio drama expanding on Loom’s universe and Bobbin's backstory, continuing directly from the game’s narrative. The drama was accompanied by original compositions from Jerry Gerber. Side A was encoded for standard Dolby-B playback; Side B, marked "game music," included the game’s soundtrack. Later editions employed Dolby-S encoding on both sides, representing one of the first commercial cassettes using Dolby-S noise reduction technology.

Also provided was an illustrated journal titled The Book of Patterns, designed as a weaver apprentice’s notebook. This allowed players to document learned drafts and contained descriptions of additional patterns not featured in-game, complete with associated lore. The book advised using pencil since many spells involve randomized musical notes. In original disk versions, it functioned as copy protection by requiring correct note inputs from the book at startup; incorrect entries resulted in either game termination or demo mode activation.

Orson Scott Card

There is a widespread misunderstanding that author Orson Scott Card played a significant role in the creation of Loom simply because his name appears in the credits. Card has clarified that his contribution was limited to offering brief feedback before the game's release, and his credit was included by designer Brian Moriarty. Nevertheless, Card's involvement with Lucasfilm encompassed more extensive participation in titles such as The Secret of Monkey Island, the 1992 "talkie" edition of Loom, and The Dig (1995).

Release history

The initial launch of Loom occurred in May 1990 for DOS, distributed on floppy disk and featuring 16-color EGA visuals. Shortly thereafter, this version was adapted for the Amiga, Atari ST, and Macintosh platforms.

FM Towns

In 1991, Loom was redeveloped specifically for the Japanese FM Towns system and issued on CD-ROM. This edition showcased improved 256-color VGA graphics alongside a newly recorded digital soundtrack. While the core narrative and dialogue were largely preserved, some scenes underwent partial censorship, and certain visual details were omitted. A comparable adaptation was released on the TurboGrafx-CD in 1992, blending elements from both the 16- and 256-color versions to fit the console’s color palette.

Talkie

The 1992 DOS release presented a completely re-recorded digital soundtrack, including a separate CD containing an audio drama and fully voiced dialogue, with many original actors reprising their roles. Due to limitations in CD storage capacity, much of the original dialogue was either condensed or altered, with Orson Scott Card assisting in this process.

Graphically, this version enhanced the FM Towns visuals slightly but incorporated further censorship. Certain features present in the FM Towns edition—such as multiple puzzle resolutions, conversational close-ups, and specific cutscene sequences—were removed. Brian Moriarty regards the FM Towns version as the finest 256-color iteration despite its inconsistencies and censorship.

Availability

Because of licensing constraints involving the now-defunct Mindscape, the DOS CD-ROM edition became unavailable commercially, leaving only the DOS floppy disk release for purchase through LucasArts until 2006. Presently, all versions of Loom can be played across various platforms using the ScummVM virtual machine.

The PC CD-ROM version was reissued on the Steam digital distribution platform for Windows users on July 8, 2009, with compatibility for Mac systems added on May 12, 2010.

Reception

As noted in Rogue Leaders: The Story of LucasArts, while Loom garnered critical acclaim, it "did not achieve sufficient sales to justify sequels."

In a review for Compute!, Orson Scott Card lauded Loom as "a work of storytelling art," emphasizing its flexibility for different gameplay styles. The game received a perfect score of five stars from Dragon. Reviewer Scorpia from Computer Gaming World praised its visuals and gameplay mechanics but criticized its straightforwardness, simple puzzles, and linear progression, expressing a desire for a more grandiose narrative approach. By April 1994, despite its age and brevity, the magazine highlighted that Loom's music-driven interface, storytelling quality, and graphics still impressed new computer gamers.

Theo Clark of Strategy Plus found the storyline compelling and commended the spellcasting system but noted that the protagonist’s inability to die and puzzle simplicity might detract from some players’ experience. He concluded that those approaching it as an interactive video rather than a traditional adventure title would find it rewarding.

Computer Gaming World honored Loom with a Special Award for Artistic Achievement, praising its vibrant colors, captivating special effects, soundtrack, and user interface as elements contributing to its status as "a work of art." It was also nominated for "Adventure Game of the Year," with editors describing it as "an intense entertainment experience" faithful to its creator’s philosophical vision.

In 1996, Computer Gaming World ranked Loom as the 81st greatest computer game ever released. Later in 2011, Adventure Gamers placed it at number 61 among the best adventure games of all time.

Legacy

Sequels

According to Rogue Leaders, although Loom was not originally intended to initiate a series, "Brian Moriarty explored further narrative possibilities" following its release. Two proposed sequels titled Forge and The Fold were planned to focus on Bobbin's companions Rusty Nailbender and Fleece Firmflanks. In a 2006 interview,

Guybrush Threepwood frequently references Bobbin with quips like "I'm Bobbin. Are you my mother?" across various Monkey Island installments including The Curse of Monkey Island (1997). The seagulls originating from Loom receive humorous credits within Monkey Island, Monkey Island 2 (1991), and Day of the Tentacle (1993).

Players have the option to kill the Loom seagull character in both LucasArts’ original 1995 game Full Throttle and its 2017 remake. Additionally, a wooden statue commemorating the "Looming Seagulls" is located at Scumm Bar in Return to Monkey Island.

Within the 256-color remake of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure, there is artwork depicting a scene from Loom. The NES version of Maniac Mansion, released in 1990, includes an easter egg featuring a broken record titled The Soundtrack of Loom.

Sierra On-Line’s 1991 title Space Quest IV parodies critiques aimed at Loom, showcasing a fictional game called "BOOM," described as an easy post-apocalyptic adventure lacking conflict or puzzles.

External links

• Template:MobyGames
• Masterpiece: A Computer Game by LucasArts – ‘’Loom’’
• Interview with Brian Moriarty at ‘’Aventura y CÍA’’
• FM Towns screenshots, unused artwork, and miscellaneous content from ‘’Loom’’ at ATMachine's House of LucasArts and Sierra Oddities