Time Zone

Time Zone is a multi-disk graphical adventure game written and directed by Roberta Williams for the Apple II. Developed in 1981 and released in 1982 by On-Line Systems (later Sierra Entertainment), the game was shipped with six double-sided floppy disks and contained 1,500 areas (screens) to explore along with 39 scenarios to solve. Produced at a time when most games rarely took up more than one side of a floppy, Time Zone is one of the first games of this magnitude released for home computer systems.

The year is 4081 and the people of Mother Earth are in peril. Ramadu, the mighty and sinister ruler of the planet Newbourn, a thousand light-years away, is about to declare war on a weaker and smaller Earth - a war which will mean total destruction or worse total servitude on the part of the people of Earth, to the evil Ramadu. For thousands of years the inhabitants of Newbourn (a very advanced society) have watched the struggling and developing Earthlings – as one would watch animals in a zoo. The Newburites, over the years, had traveled to Earth, sometimes learning, sometimes teaching, always curious. They saw revealed to them in the development of the Earthlings their own beginnings so many million years ago. But Earth was cathcing up to Neburon – technically, medically, scientifically, in all areas. Neburon had once been extremely advanced compared to Earth but had grown comfortable and lazy. The Newburites were in a slump. They needed a stimulus. They were angry about Earth's advancement and their on inactivity. Why, if nothing was done about it Earth may very well surpass Neburon in superiority in a few decades. So Ramadu had come to power. But instead of spurring his people on to new growth and productivity and perhaps working with Earth to trade knowledge and ideas beneficial to both, he chose war. After all, Neburon was still more powerful than Earth and the Earthlings wouldn't stand a chance. The year is 1981. You are an ordinary person walking through a meadow one day when you notice a strange looking contraption right in the middle of the meadow. You glance around yourself. There appears to be no one around. You look inside the contraption – there are a lot of dials and something that looks like a bucket seat. The outside of the contraption is round with a large inviting doorway. Hesitantly, you enter the contraption and sit down in the bucket seat. Gingerly, you turn a dial and suddenly reality becomes a blur as you enter the greatest adventure of your life.