the game, while at the same time making it considerably more elegant and easy to
navigate.
The game was developed using the SCUMM Story System, which most of
LucasArts’ adventure games have used in one form or another. Credited to Ron Gilbert
and Aric Wilmunder, SCUMM stands for “Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion,”
so named after the first game to use the system. Indeed, if one looks at the other
LucasArts adventures, one will notice that nearly every one has much more in the way
of gameplay mechanics and user interface thanLoom. BothManiac Mansion(1987) and
The Secret of Monkey Island(1990, the same year asLoom) include inventories for play-
ers to manipulate, in addition to allowing players to click on a variety of verbs that can
be used on various objects in the game world. Both games were created using the
SCUMM system, indicating that inventory and verb systems were readily available to
Moriarty via SCUMM if he wanted to use them. Indeed, inventories and verbs were a
very common element of nearly all of the adventure games released prior toLoom.
(Many adventures released sinceLoomhave done away with both verbs and invento-
ries, most notablyMystand its many imitators.) So Moriarty was making a tremendous
break from both the SCUMM system and tradition when he left these mechanics out.
Including an inventory and verbs could have added a lot of depth to the game if the story
was reconceived to take advantage of them. But as it stands, the game functions per-
fectly without them.
Many other adventure games also feature branching dialog trees. In this sort of
system, when the player character is talking to another character, players are pre-
sented with a list of different sentences their character can say. Players can then pick
from those choices and some level of interactivity is achieved during the conversations.
Again,The Secret of Monkey Islandfeatured exactly such a system, used by the game’s
creator, Ron Gilbert, to enormous gameplay payoff, particularly in the classic
sword-fighting sequences. But, as with the verbs and inventory, there are no branching
dialog trees to be found inLoom. Instead, when the player character talks to someone,
players just watch the conversation unfold as a non-interactive cut-scene, unable to
Chapter 12: Game Analysis:Loom 229
Loom’s game mechanics
are focused on telling the
game’s story.