Get Lamp (2010)

With limited sound, simple graphics, and tiny amounts of computing power, the first games on home computers would hardly raise an eyebrow in the modern era of photorealism and surround ... See full summary »

Director:

Jason Scott Sadofsky

Writer:

Jason Scott Sadofsky

Stars:

Ernest Adams, Scott Adams, Hollywood Anderson

Cast

Credited cast:
Ernest Adams	...	Himself
Scott Adams	...	Himself
Hollywood Anderson	...	Himself
Jim Aspnes	...	Himself
Richard Bartle	...	Himself
Bob Bates	...	Himself
Michael Berlyn	...	Himself
Marc Blank	...	Himself
Ian Bogost	...	Himself
Amy Briggs	...	Herself
Tom Brucker	...	Himself
Mary Ann Buckles	...	Herself
Adam Cadre	...	Himself
David Cornelson	...	Himself
Chris Crawford	...	Himself

Storyline

With limited sound, simple graphics, and tiny amounts of computing power, the first games on home computers would hardly raise an eyebrow in the modern era of photorealism and surround sound. In a world of Quake, Half-Life and Halo, it is expected that a successful game must be loud, fast, and full of blazing life-like action. But in the early 1980s, an entire industry rose over the telling of tales, the solving of intricate puzzles and the art of writing. Like living books, these games described fantastic worlds to their readers, and then invited them to live within them. They were called "computer adventure games", and they used the most powerful graphics processor in the world: the human mind. Rising from side projects at universities and engineering companies, adventure games would describe a place, and then ask what to do next. They presented puzzles, tricks and traps to be overcome. They were filled with suspense, humor and sadness. And they offered a unique type of joy as ...

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Taglines:

Text adventures, in High Definition

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Genres:

Documentary

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 March 2010 (USA)

Box Office

Budget:

$75,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bovine Ignition Systems

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Shot using a Panasonic HVX-200 camera (interviews) and Canon Vixia (caves).

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Soundtracks

"Ice Cave"
(uncredited)
Written by Zoë Blade
Performed by Zoë Blade
Courtesy of Transistor Sounds

User Reviews

Great film on Interactive Fiction and Infocom

This is an excellent documentary for those interested in Interactive Fiction, or old-school text adventure games like Infocom created in the '80s. It is the only documentary on the subject and the director manages to interview many of the luminaries who created this genre. The disk also includes mini-documentaries on Colossal Cave and Infocom as well as a series of shorter interviews that didn't make it into the film. If you ever geeked out to Zork, Deadline or Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy, you will enjoy this film. That said, I am not sure it works for a mainstream audience who are not familiar with this genre.