defeating Max Zeffir. Then, finally, Sam is reunited with his parents.
VI. Game Progression............................
Setting
Atomic Samtakes place on an Earth of the future, at an indefinite time, perhaps in the
twenty-first century. This is not the future as our culture of the turn of the twenty-first
century envisions it now, but instead as people optimistically foresaw it in 1920s, 1930s,
and 1940s America. Instead of jet planes transporting passengers across continents,
the world ofAtomic Samis filled with zeppelins and “giant wing” propeller craft. In
Atomic Sam, nuclear energy has not turned out to be a disappointment as it has in the
second half of the twentieth century. Instead, it has fulfilled its tremendous promise of
cheap, clean energy, and has been refined to the point where it can be used safely in a
child’s toy or in zeppelins.
This is a future that has conquered poverty through technology, a future in which
the skyscrapers stretch to unprecedented heights, and there is enough room for all to
live happily. Private planes and auto-gyros (a plane/helicopter hybrid) are not uncom-
mon, and many land on the roofs of the towering skyscrapers. Rail travel is a very
important part of this future, and high-speed monorails provide quicker travel between
cities than slower zeppelins.
Intelligent robots are everywhere, and people can purchase robots either to be
workers in their factories or butlers in their homes. Instead of running people out of
work, however, these robots have increased everyone’s leisure time, while in turn
enhancing everyone’s prosperity. This is not the bleak, troubling future found in so
much science fiction of the last two decades, but an optimistic world where technology
has set the human race free to be happy.
The advance in robots did create some interesting problems, however. Robots are
now basically as smart as the smartest humans, with intelligences so developed that
they have emotions and desires of their own. Certainly many robots are more physi-
cally strong and resilient than humans. Yet the robots have not risen up to conquer the
humans, as many science fiction works might foresee. (All of the aggressive robots that
Sam faces in the game are following the orders of a villainous human.) Instead, these
robots are still obligated to follow the laws humans make, for reasons that are never
fully explained. Indeed, robots have no rights and are treated very much as property by
the humans, not unlike African slaves were treated in the first hundred years of United
States history. For instance, if part of a robot breaks, it may be cheaper to replace the
whole robot than to fix it. If this is the case, it is the prerogative of the owner of the robot
to permanently shut it off if he so chooses, and few humans would question that deci-
sion as being the right one. Atomic Sam does include some hints of a robot
“underground,” which tends to the old robots in the most humane ways possible, as is
explored in the Harmony section of the game.
In this future Earthlings have managed to reach the Moon and have set up a Moon
colony there called New Boston. This colony consists of a number of domed structures,
which provide a breathable atmosphere and Earth-like gravity. Moon walks are allowed
for the residents, using space suits, of course, with many Moon residents finding such
572 Appendix A: Sample Design Document:Atomic Sam