The Witness

Dead: one gilt-edged society dame. And now it looks like some two-bit grifter is putting the screws to her multi-millionaire old man. All in all, a pretty typical Angeleno clan for these days. But then the shakedown turns ugly, and you're left with a stiff and a race against the clock to nail your suspect ... if, that is, you don't cash in your chips ahead of time!

February, 1938. FDR's New Deal is finally rolling. Hitler's rolling too; this time, through Austria. But as Chief Police Detective for a quiet burgh on the outskirts of L. A., you've got other fish to fry. Working from a clue-laden police file and battling a 12-hour time limit, you're up against your toughest case to date: a sordid family affair that may land everyone from the knockout heiress to the pokerfaced Oriental butler in the slammer before it's over. Ahead of you is a Gordian knot of motives and alibis to untangle, and the only testimony you can trust is that of your own eyes - because you are The WITNESS.

Source:

Unknown Source

The WITNESS, according to DISCOVER magazine, is "a murder mystery in the classic hard-boiled detective tradition." According to ELECTRONIC GAMES, it's the "Best Adventure of 1984." This spine-tingler is a case of blackmail that turns into murder before your eyes, and anyone from the knockout heiress to the poker-faced Oriental butler could be the killer. Your suspects act with minds of their own, and you have just 12 hours to solve the crime. Armed with a packet of crucial physical evidence, you face a tangled web of clues, motives and alibis. And the only two things you can believe are your own eyes - because you are The WITNESS. STANDARD LEVEL

Source:

"The Incomplete Works of Infocom, Inc." Catalog

Witness

They're writing as fast as they can!

Infocom's long-awaited second mystery game is finally announced, and it was worth waiting for. The advance word is that it tops the highly acclaimed and tremendously popular Deadline.

"Witness is really wonderful." Marc Blank, author of Deadline and Zork

Topping Deadline will be quite an achievement. Deadline has received rave reviews (even The New Zork Times called it "a milestone").

Electronic Games magazine (primarily a video game magazine) awarded it the "Best Computer Adventure - 1983." Deadline was voted the #2 adventure in Softalk magazine's poll of its readers. After a year on the market, it is still at the top of the sales charts - very rare in this fast-moving market.

But Witness is up to the challenge. Once again, you are the detective who must solve the crime, but this time you are in a classic 1930's setting and the murder takes place before your very eyes.

"There is a great deal of mood setting - the atmosphere is great!" says Marc Blank. "Although there are fewer characters in Witness, they are much better developed and more interesting. There is significantly more conversation, and the game is richer in detail."

The author of Witness is Stu Galley. One of Infocom's founders, he worked in the same group at the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science as Marc Blank, Dave Lebling, Joel Berez (Infocom's president), and Mike (the founder of the Zork Users Group). Stu's background is physics (B.S. Caltech, M.S. MIT), which may seem odd training for writing mysteries, but Stu is an excellent writer, and is very well-read. In short, he is a true renaissance man.

"Stu is really great at the subtle things." Steve Meretzky, author of Planetfall

As usual, Witness introduces improvements in Infocom's parser (the program which understands the sentences you type in). No one else has come close to Infocom's language-handling abilities, which are continually improving.

Source:

From The New Zork Times, Vol.II no.infinity Summer 83

You

are about to see the fantastic worlds of Infocom unfold before your very eyes.

The WITNESS In this hard-boiled 1930's whodunit, a case of blackmail turns to murder before your very eyes. Anyone from the knockout heiress to poker-faced Oriental butler could be the killer. And the only two things you can believe are your own eyes - because you are The WITNESS.

Source:

From the first Infocom fold-out catalog, 198?

The WITNESS, as a CBS MORNING NEWS feature recently revealed, brings the Great Detective Era of the Thirties to life with you as detective. It's a case of blackmail that turns into murder before your eyes, and anyone from the knockout heiress to the poker-faced Oriental butler could be the killer. As in DEADLINE, your suspects act with minds of their own, and you have just 12 hours to solve the crime. Armed with a police file packed with crucial physical evidence, you face a tangled web of clues, motives, and alibis, and the only testimony you can trust is that of your own eyes - because you are The WITNESS.

Source:

From the 1983 Infocom catalog "OUR CIRCUITS, OURSELVES!"

THE WITNESS

You're the Chief Detective of a normally quiet burgh outside L.A. It's February, 1938. And you've got trouble. A gilt-edged society dame is dead. Someone is putting the screws to her millionaire old man. Then you step in and the shakedown turns ugly. You're left with a stiff and a race against the clock to nail your suspect... or get nailed first.

"If you have ever longed to work with Philip Marlowe, Miss Marple, or Lord Peter Wimsey, The WITNESS is the next best thing."

-Creative Computing

Source:

From PASSPORT To The United Products of Infocom 1986

(caption)
Hermetically sealed since 1938 inside every WITNESS package: your WITNESS disk, a suicide note, telegram, matchbook, an issue of the Santa Ana Register and the February 1938 Nat'l Detective Gazette.

FEBRUARY 1938, LOS ANGELES.

FDR's New Deal is finally rolling. Hitler's rolling, too; this time through Austria. But as Chief Detective for a quiet burgh on the outskirts of L.A., you've got other fish to fry.

One gilt-edged society dame is dead. And now it looks like some two-bit grifter is putting the screws to her multi-millionaire old man. Then you step in, and the shakedown turns ugly. You're left with a stiff and a race against the dock to nail your suspect ... unless you get nailed first!

Nobody said a sordid family affair like this was going to be a cinch. Everyone from the knockout heiress to the poker-faced butler may end up in the slammer before it's over. Ahead of you is a Gordian knot of motives and alibis. And the only testimony you can trust is that of your own eyes—because you are The WITNESS.

**GET INSIDE A STORY.

GET ONE FROM INFOCOM!**
It's like waking up inside a story! Load Infocom's interactive fiction into your computer and discover yourself at the center of a world jam-packed with surprising twists, unique characters and original, logical, often hilarious puzzles.
For the first time, you're more than a passive reader. You can talk to the story, typing in full English sentences. And the story talks right back, communicating entirely in vividly descriptive prose. What's more, you can actually shape the story's course of events through your choice of actions. And you have hundreds of alternatives at every step. In fact, there's so much you can see and do, your adventure can last for weeks and even months.
To find the Infocom interactive story that's right for you, just choose any one marked with the level of difficulty listed below that best matches your current level of interactive skill.

Junior: Best introduction to interactive fiction. Written for everyone from age 9 up.

Standard: Good introductory level for adults. This is Infocom's most popular level of interactive fiction.

Advanced: A greater level of challenge. Recommended for those who've already experienced Infocom's interactive fiction.

Expert: For real diehards seeking the ultimate challenge in interactive fiction.

Then find out what it's like to get inside a story. Get one from Infocom. Because with Infocom's interactive fiction, there's room for you on every disk.

Source:

Back of Box - Apple II/C64/DOS/Mac/TRS-80 CoCo (US)