La Abadía del Crimen

{{Infobox video game

|title = La abadía del crimen

|image = La Abadia del Crimen DOS box art.png

|developer = Opera Soft

|publisher = Opera Soft

|designer = Paco Menéndez

|artist = Juan Delcán

|released = 1987

|genre = Adventure

|modes = Single-player

|platforms = Amstrad CPC, MSX, MS-DOS, ZX Spectrum

}}

La Abadía del Crimen (The Abbey of Crime) is a video game written by Paco Menéndez with graphics made by Juan Delcán and published in 1987 by Opera Soft. It was conceived as a version of Umberto Eco's 1980 book The Name of the Rose. Paco Menéndez and Opera Soft were unable to secure the rights for the name, so the game was released as La abadía del crimen. "The Abbey of the Crime" was the working title of the novel The Name of the Rose.Postscript to The Name of the Rose, 1984, Umberto Eco.

This game is an adventure with isometric graphics. A Franciscan friar, William of Occam (William of Baskerville in the book) and his young novice Adso have to discover the perpetrator of a series of murders in a medieval Italian abbey.

Gameplay

File:La Abadia del Crimen Guillermo Adso y el Abad.jpg

The player controls the movement of the friar Fra William (mistakenly described as a monk in the user manual). The player also has the possibility of controlling the movement of the novice Adso within the same screen in which Fra William is. If the key for controlling the novice is not pressed, he follows Fra William most of the time. The game features other characters representing the monks of the abbey who behave according to programmed artificial intelligence to move throughout the mapping of the abbey and show a series of dialogs shown by written text which is moved along the lower part of the screen.

An extensive mapping of the abbey is represented in a large series of screens with 3D isometric graphics. A series of objects has to be collected in order to successfully complete the game. The action occurs in seven days subdivided in different Canonical hours. The time (day + current hour) is indicated at the bottom left of the screen.

The game starts with the abbot welcoming Fra William and explaining that a monk has disappeared. He also explains to Fra William that he is obligated to obey the orders of the abbot and the rules of the monastery, attend religious services and meals and stay in his cell at night while the research of the crimes is pursued. During the game, the novice Adso would remind players when they have to attend offices and meals, and players can just follow him if they forget the way to the church or the refectory.

If the player disobeys any orders, or is late for services or meals, then their obsequium level, indicated on the bottom right-hand-side of the screen, will drop (obsequium is Latin for subservience or obedience). If the player's obsequium level drops to zero, the abbot will not tolerate their disrespect any longer, and the player is asked to leave the abbey, while missing a prayer office or being caught wandering around at night results in immediate expulsion - both mean that the game is over.

Ports

The game was originally developed for the Amstrad CPC 6128 8-bit platform and ported to other systems: ZX Spectrum, MSX, and MS-DOS. The Amstrad CPC 464 version was different from the 6128 original, since several rooms and decoration were removed to fit the game on the 64K of the 464.

The only ZX Spectrum version is for the 128 platform.

Features

The music played in the game corresponds to the Minuet in G major and the sonata for flute BWV 1033 by Bach, and Crystal Palace from Gwendal. The original PC version also featured "Ave Maria" from Schubert, in a short chorus recording that played through the speaker when the player went to the church.

There is also a form of copy protection: if an illegal copy of the game was detected, then once the player entered the church, instead of "Ave Maria" playing, a voice would cry "¡Pirata!" (Spanish for "pirate") ten times in descending tones before the game crashed.

Reception

The game had a modest commercial success and was never officially released outside of Spain, a country where it came to achieve a cult following.{{cite web|last=Hernández|first=Álvaro|url=https://www.eldiario.es/hojaderouter/La_abadia_del_crimen-Juan_Delcan-Paco_Menendez-videojuego_0_642186348.html|title=Treinta años de 'La abadía del crimen', el Quijote de los videojuegos en España|work=eldiario.es|publisher=Diario de Prensa Digital S.L.|date=May 11, 2017|access-date=2020-07-17|language=es|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200610182155/https://www.eldiario.es/hojaderouter/La_abadia_del_crimen-Juan_Delcan-Paco_Menendez-videojuego_0_642186348.html|archive-date=2020-06-10|url-status=live}} The game is considered one of the perfect ten games for the Spectrum 128 according to Retro Gamer.Spectrum 128 perfect ten games. Retro Gamer 48, pages 64 and 65

The game was referenced on a Spanish postal stamp.

Legacy

=Port=

Microsoft Windows version from the original MS-DOS version with 256 colour graphics and translations.{{cite web|url=http://www.abadiadelcrimen.com/ |title=Remake de la Abadía del Crimen |accessdate=2016-07-23 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160721173443/http://www.abadiadelcrimen.com/ |archivedate=2016-07-21}}
MSX2 version from the original MSX version adding a 16-colour palette and load/save from the disk.{{Cite web|url=http://msxcartridgeshop.com/VientoSur/abadia/|title=La Abadía del Crimen - Remake MSX2}}
Amstrad PCW version from the original Amstrad CPC version.{{cite web|url=http://habisoft.com/abadia/ |title=La Abadía del Crimen (PCW) |accessdate=2013-01-29 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150424113627/http://www.habisoft.com/abadia/ |archivedate=2015-04-24}}

=Remakes=

Game Boy Advance version{{Cite web |url=http://www.emulatronia.com/parcial/P_A_C_O.zip |title=Parcial |access-date=2016-04-02 |archive-date=2016-03-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160314081204/http://www.emulatronia.com/parcial/P_A_C_O.zip |url-status=dead}}
J2ME commercial version
A complete disassembly of the original Z80 code for the Amstrad CPC and a rewrite of it in C++ was made by Manuel Abadia (Vigasoco project).{{cite web|url=http://www.abadiadelcrimen.com/vigasoco.html |title=Vigasoco |accessdate=2007-05-23 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070626043313/http://www.abadiadelcrimen.com/vigasoco.html |archivedate=2007-06-26}}
There is a Simple DirectMedia Layer (SDL) port of Vigasoco that runs on Linux-x86, Linux-PowerPC (PS3), PS2, Windows XP, Mac OS X, Dreamcast, Google Native Client and WebAssembly.{{cite web|url=https://sites.google.com/site/vigasocosdl/ |title=VigasocoSDL |accessdate=2013-12-05 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141024105414/https://sites.google.com/site/vigasocosdl/ |archivedate=2014-10-24}}
VigasocoSDL patches to run on RG350 (Anbernic), and Android.{{Cite web|url=https://github.com/Samuel85/Abbey|title=Abbey|website=GitHub|date=20 September 2021}}
Vigasoco is translated to Java and GWT and runs on web browsers.{{Cite web|url=https://github.com/ibaca/la-abadia-del-crimen|title=La abadía del crimen|website=GitHub|date=4 August 2021}}
Several ports were based on disassembly of the original.
Swift version to run on iOS devices.{{Cite web|url=https://github.com/jabadiagm/Abadia_IOS|title=Abadia_iOS|website=GitHub|date=4 August 2021}}
Visual Basic (unfinished){{Cite web|url=https://github.com/jabadiagm/AbadiaVb|title = AbadiaVb|website = GitHub|date = 4 August 2021}}
VB.net{{Cite web|url=https://github.com/jabadiagm/Abadia.net|title=Abadia.net|website=GitHub|date=4 August 2021}}
Java version{{cite web|url=http://www.abadiadelcrimen.com/guillian/java/ |title=La Abadía del Crimen |accessdate=2010-03-17 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323083750/http://abadiadelcrimen.com/guillian/java/ |archivedate=2010-03-23}}
The Abbey of Crime Extensum, extended J2SE edition, available for free on Steam.{{cite web|url=http://abadiadelcrimenextensum.com/ |title=La Abadía del Crimen Extensum |accessdate=2016-04-02 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160405133746/http://www.abadiadelcrimenextensum.com/ |archivedate=2016-04-05}}

References

External links

[https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/47/ZX-Spectrum/La_Abadia_del_Crimen La abadía del crimen] at Spectrum Computing
[http://abadiadelcrimen.com Remake for PC] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070510122933/http://www.abadiadelcrimen.com/ |date=10 May 2007}} {{in lang|es}}

Category:1987 video games

Category:Action-adventure games

Category:Amstrad CPC games

Category:Amstrad PCW games

Category:Browser games

Category:DOS games

Category:Europe-exclusive video games

Category:Game Boy Advance games

Category:Linux games

Category:MSX games

Category:MSX2 games

Category:The Name of the Rose