Stationfall

What a trotting trip! Since your incredible heroics in Planetfall, where you risked life and limb to save the planet Resida, things have hardly changed at all. Sure, you were promoted to Lieutenant First Class, but this only meant that your dull life of cleaning grotch cages was replaced by an equally dull life of paperwork. Now you've got another assignment tailor-made for a grotchbrain: pilot a spacetruck to a nearby station to pick up a load of trivial forms. Trot and double trot!

But all is not lost. By a happy twist of fate, your companion for the journey is your old pal Floyd! That's right, it's the same mischievous little robot, crayons and paddleball at the ready, who was your helpful buddy in Planetfall.

Getting to the space station is easy. But once there, you find it strangely deserted. Even the seedy space village surrounding the station is missing its ragtag tenants. A spooky alien ship carrying only an empty pedestal rests in a docking bay. An ostrich and an Arcturian balloon creature are found, abandoned but in perfect health. The commander's log describes the mysterious breakdown of machinery, demonstrated by a roving hull-welder who seems bent on your destruction. And finally even Floyd begins acting oddly...

Steve Meretzky, whose interactive fiction successes include The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Leather Goddesses of Phobos, won a Best Computer Software Designer award for Planetfall. Infocom fans, consistently rating Planetfall among their favorite computer games, have been begging for a sequel. Even if you've never played Planetfall, you will enjoy Stationfall: the puzzles will challenge your intellect, the humor will keep you laughing, and Floyd will win your heart.

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Back of box cover

Stationfall

Floyd returns in boffoid sequel to Planetfall

When the results came in from the recent Status Line poll, high on the list of favorite Infocom games was Steve Meretzky's Planetfall. We weren't surprised. Planetfall has long been popular with interactive fiction fans. And Floyd, your mischievous robot companion in the game, easily takes the prize for best-loved Infocom character.

Planetfall is also a favorite of reviewers and critics. Meretzky won a Best Computer Software Designer award for Planetfall in 1983, and additional awards include Best Adventure Game of 1983 from InfoWorld. One reviewer mirrored the enthusiasm of many when he said, "Planetfall is just about worth the purchase of a computer."

Requests for Planetfall sequel

Steve Meretzky has received countless requests for a sequel to Planetfall. Now he has made everyone happy by writing Stationfall. All the elements which made Planetfall one of Infocom's best-loved games are here in Stationfall: the ever-efficient Stellar Patrol, the comical characters and situations, the amazing tools and machines of the future, the ingenious puzzles, and the endearing little robot Floyd. Although Planetfall fans will delight in meeting old friends, it's not necessary to have played one game to enjoy the other.

At the start of Stationfall, you're still enlisted in the Stellar Patrol. Your heroics in saving the planet Resida in Planetfall earned you a promotion to Lieutenant First Class, but that was five long years ago, and since then nothing has changed at all. You've merely gone from a scrubworker to a paperpusher.

And today promises to be just as boring as every other day. You're being sent to a nearby space station to pick up a supply of Request for Stellar Patrol Issue Regulation Black Form Binders Request Form Forms.

But wait...all is not lost. By a happy twist of fate, your companion for the journey turns out to be your old pal Floyd! That's right, it's the very same mischievous little robot who was your playful buddy in Planetfall.

Floyd and his paddleball

With Floyd and his paddleball set in tow, you're soon on your way to the space station. As you can see from your packet of blueprints, the station has nine levels of offices and living areas, not to mention a huge plant for printing Stellar Patrol forms. Not included on the official blueprints, but fully visible from the spacetruck, is a space village, a seedy cluster of tubes, bubbles, and discarded rockets which has grown up around the space station in blatant violation of all Stellar Patrol regulations.

From the moment you arrive at the station, you can tell something is wrong. For one thing, no one's there to meet you. In fact, the whole place is deserted, save for an ostrich, an Arcturian balloon creature, and a brainy robot named Plato. As you explore the station and the derelict village, you find even more to worry you.

A creepy alien ship carrying only an empty pedestal rests in a docking bay. The commander's log describes the mysterious breakdown of machinery, demonstrated by a roving hull-welder that nearly does you in. And finally even Floyd begins acting oddly...

To prepare you for your important position on the Paperwork Task Force of the Stellar Patrol, the Stationfall package includes your three assignment forms, a set of blueprints for a Gamma-Delta-Gamma Class deep space station, and an official sew-on Stellar Patrol patch. The package also contains a coupon which you can send in to get Planetfall for only $14.95. This is an exclusive offer only available with the coupon.

Stationfall will be available in late June for a wide variety of personal computers, including Apple II series and Macintosh, Atari XL/XE and ST series, Commodore 64/128 and Amiga, and IBM PC series and MS-DOS compatibles. The suggested retail price is $34.95 for Atari XL/XE and Commodore 64/128 and $39.95 for all other systems.

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From The Status Line, Vol.VI No.2 Summer 1987

Steve Meretzky's award-winning PLANETFALL has long been a favorite of Infocom fans. This is due in no small part to Floyd, your mischievous robot companion in the story, who quickly becomes a beloved friend. Now Floyd is back in the boffoid sequel, STATIONFALL!

STATIONFALL begins five long years after your incredible heroics in PLANETFALL. Since then, absolutely nothing of interest has happened in the Stellar Patrol. Today's thrilling assignment: travel to a nearby space station to pick up a supply of trivial forms. What a bore! Until you learn that your companion for the journey is your old buddy Floyd!

Arriving at the space station, you find it strangely deserted. A spooky alien ship rests in a docking bay. A commander's log describes the mysterious breakdown of machinery. An ostrich and an Arcturian balloon creature are found, abandoned but in perfect health. Luckily, Floyd is on hand to help you identify and overcome the dangerous forces at work. But then even he begins acting oddly...

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From The Master Storytellers Infocom catalog, 1987