el-borjas 07/14/15 (Tue) 13:15:47 #21676943
One of the few existing images of The Iris Doors (1987) for Commodore 64.
Since before the Internet existed there have always been rumors of cursed video games with hyperrealistic graphics and bloodier than Mortal Kombat. Practically all of them were some variant of photoshop or a similar technique of the time. Then there were others that acquired legendary properties due to cultural osmosis, such as the deaths of Jeff Dailey and Peter Burkowski from heart attacks after they played Berzerk, stories that were later mixed with other elements in the greatest videogame myth: Polybius.The game I will comment on does not belong to either of these two types. Unlike the previous ones, it existed and avoided being sufficiently known and so bland to have been mixed with other games of its time.
This game was The Iris Doors.
The Iris Doors was an obscure adventure and puzzle game distributed in Spain in the mid-80s for DOS and Commodore 64. In it you take control of a baby and observe its passage into adulthood. The game progressed in a non-intuitive way. The first levels were relatively linear and with little interaction. Sometimes you would walk through several screens and then the monitor would blink for several seconds to bring you to another level.
I stopped playing when I reached the third or fourth level, where I could walk a little more. I don't remember much else except the doors. I felt like I was being watched.
I'm sure there's more to this game than that. Anyone want to throw me a bone, please? I don't want to see this thread closed :(
BlanquitaHueca 07/14/15 (Tu.) 16:03:47 #21676952
borjas you may be new, but for the next one put more meat in the thread. You almost ruined a diamond in the rough.
As you said The Iris Doors is about the progress from childhood to adulthood and almost non-existent playability. A pitiful gameplay that hides a work of art from those worthy of its eyes. Luckily I was able to buy not one but two of the 600 copies known before the crisis. However, I didn't find any for Commodore 64.
Like you, I began to move a little more freely in the third level where one of the most useful features is introduced: examining objects. Every object on every screen of every level could be examined. Usually a brief description of the object is displayed from a child's perspective and a terminal is used to type in the desired action. I don't know the number of possible options, but the ones that worked best were curiously simple and even poorly written commands.
It gives me migraines when I think about it, but when I reached the sixth level, the game started to suffer from what you would call bugs. Parts that don't load, visual failures and even disablement of the command terminal. The farthest I got was to a forest with a taller NPC that according to the examination claimed to be my father. I don't remember well and the game was suffering from serious audiovisual failures, as if one of the first King's Quest was glitching a lot. What I could make out was my father's screams and shots, distorted howling, and my character. At that moment I remembered that day with my father…
When I calm down, I will try to give more details.
BlanquitaHueca 07/17/15 (Fri) 20:54:11 #21677471
I didn't even remember this thread anymore hehe. I shouldn't have taken that pizza. I swear I got gastroenteritis or something.
The rest of the game was bland in terms of playability, obtuse but at the same time overwhelmingly linear as long as you don't go backwards or fail. It was frequent to break the fourth wall, often making small jokes, being sarcastic, or sending unrelated messages.
One example of the linearity I remember was that to get a book down on the last shelf I had to tiptoe on the chair, and then try to hold on to the shelf, only to have the book fall with me and break my back.
One of the strangest things the game told me was "Doors can bleed, but they shouldn't," and all the doors in the game changed to ovals with a blue circle that holds another black circle inside for a minute before returning to normal.
It seems that I repeat myself, but I can't remember much more remarkable. If you go back, the levels are much simpler and in many cases they suffered from visual errors and textures that disappeared and if you go back forward, the ovals appeared until the last level which I think is 26 or 27.
I'm going to have dinner. I'll see if I can find something later.
el-borjas 07/23/15 (Thu) 09:01:12 #21678402
Hey, does anyone know why the game is heavier than before? Something like 15 megas to 200 megas. That's a lot for these games and I don't know if I downloaded a virus. I would tell it to blanquita, but she didn't log on days ago.
I wouldn't worry too much, but a file shows my dining room in 80s graphics. How the hell did it know? Shit, is this spyware?
Saico_Panza 07/23/15 (Th.) 13:15:47 #21678432
Are you sure this is not a hoax? There are no images, the expert didn't log in again and the strangest thing, is that someone keeps saving such a rare floppy disk, has compatible technology, finds this forum and also agrees with another member that gives him the reason. From the yankees I expect it, but with the carelessness that we Spanish have, this would finish in a dump before the beginning of the Internet.
Btw, that image looks familiar from elsewhere…
BlanquitaHueca 07/23/15 (Thu) 13:15:48 #21678433
Excuse me, borja, but I have something called real life. And at least I don't mention a platform where it didn't come out.
And saico, you don't know how much work it is to have floppy disk compatible technology that works in this decade. A floppy disk stopped working and I had to redo the game. I discard emulation, because there are no ROMs with working links. And the above was what I did with this floppy long ago, but decided to die.
And another thing, redoing the whole way costs because it runs at 20 FPS at best, to say the least. Although strangely enough it was identical to my previous game.
Finally I was able to find the last door. In my case I closed my eyes. I closed them because I had a headache and I found myself on a dark landing and my surroundings seemed to be ill-defined. In front of me there was a door already open that led to my house. Everything was in place, the dining room, the kitchen, the tables, the bathroom, but everything was made in the image of the game's graphics and even when I looked in the mirror, I could only see my avatar.
However, the door to my room was closed and instead of a knob there was an eye-shaped opening, just like all the previous ones except that it was missing its iris. A compass appeared in my hand and I knew what to do. It did not hurt. It did not bleed. It was the right one.
And there I was. The same one who closed her eyes, intact unlike me, in need of a guide like me. She called to me and I touched her. I woke up in my seat and saw that I reached the other side of the door on both sides. The door through which I entered the game closed just like in real life and for the first time I had total control over my body. I started to remember everything. I remembered how my father saved me in the sixth level, I recognized all the levels and I remembered these last days.
The soap washed away my memories, just as the four cheeses were savored into oblivion and the questions locked me up.
He is alone and we must open the last door together. I want to experience it before they arrive.
el-borjas 07/23/15 (Thu) 17:20:58 #21678441
blanca, you haven't smoked anything? I arrived at Level 21 and there is no possible way to continue. All the commands and object combinations I try result in the following message: "There is no key or lock for the blind man who will never see". And it looks a lot like your last level, except for the door and the fact that my chair is empty.
sarraigilea 07/24/15 (Fri) 00:00:00 #21678476
the locks are waiting to be opened. i waited so long for this. i felt very lonely. solo quería recordar. i knew so much but every step I took, the bleak ones made me go back.
i never knew what they looked like at first, but they left a trace that only I could see. on the food, on the soap, on the doctor's syringes and even on the police badges. but i recovered because I was still young.
i used my gift to open the doors that others are denied access to. i saw wonders and horrors, but surpassable with company. i saw a dwelling from the bleak ones, that of gray cages where knowledge and the strange slept alike. i just wanted to remember and for others to remember, but every lock needs a proper key. they looked like humans, but the light they had went out.
i forged hundreds of keys waiting for someone worthy, but the moment didn't come until now. i was afraid the bleak ones would break them and so it was with most of them. they were always lurking without me being able to do anything. they were hidden under three letters, in the same order, always the first ones in unexpected ways.
there are few keys left and even less time. at least I will have the certainty that I will not walk alone into the lights of wisdom.
el-borjas 07/24/15 (Fri) 08:57:02 #21678490
[MESSAGE DELETED FOR VIOLATING WIKI BEHAVIOR RULES]
Saico_Panza 07/24/15 (Fri) 12:47:51 #21678607
Nice roleplay, but the image was false. Parawatch has a reputation to hold!
RicardoMC 07/24/15 (Fri) 15:01:09 #21678910
[MESSAGE DELETED FOR VIOLATING WIKI BEHAVIOR RULES]
BlanquitaHueca 07/25/15 (Fri) 21:00:57 #21679075
Does anyone know what happened to my sister?
[USER BANNED.]
🗿 SuculentoPostre 07/26/15 (Sun) 12:59:21 #21679327
Anyone who opens a thread or comments on this one about "The Iris Doors" will be banned 1 month and their message deleted. Also about the third eye hoax that has recently appeared.
[THREAD CLOSED.]