Softporn Adventure

Softporn Adventure
Publisher(s)	On-Line Systems
Designer(s)	Chuck Benton
Engine	Proprietary
Platform(s)	Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Browser, DOS
Release date(s)	NA 1981
Genre(s)	Adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player
Media/distribution	Floppy disk
System requirements MS-DOS version 2.0 or later; 286 processor or faster

Softporn Adventure was a comedic, adult-oriented text adventure game produced for the Apple II in 1981. The game was created by Charles Benton and released by On-Line Systems.

In the game, the player (playing a down-on-his-luck party animal) is required to obtain certain items that will allow him to win the affections of a series of beautiful (and sometimes not-so-beautiful) women.

Years later, Softporn Adventure inspired the Leisure Suit Larry series of adult-oriented videogames, and the first entry in that series, 1987's Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards, was a nearly direct graphical adaptation of Softporn Adventure.

The game's cover features three nude women and a male waiter in a hot tub. The hot tub is actually that of Sierra's owners, Ken and Roberta Williams. From left to right, the first woman was a shipping clerk at On-Line Systems. The second is the wife of Bob Davis, the creator of another Sierra title, Ulysses and the Golden Fleece. The waiter was an actual waiter from a local restaurant. The woman on the far right was Roberta Williams.^[1] The women were all nude, although only visible upward from just above their nipples.

The photo accompanying TIME’s first-ever story on computer games was of the Softporn Adventure game box.^[2]

Ports

Softporn Adventure was ported by designer Gary Thompson to MS-DOS for the PC in 1991.

Softporn Adventure was originally written for the Apple II in Applesoft BASIC. Thompson loved the game, so he printed it out, re-designed, and re-wrote it for the PC in the late 80's and released it on Compuserve. After going to the store and purchasing a copy of Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards, he realized it was the same game. After contacting Al Lowe (designer of Leisure Suit Larry) and getting a first-hand account history of the game, he obtained permission from Ken Williams (CEO of Sierra) and Al Lowe to release his re-designed PC version as shareware on the Internet. Williams said he would allow Gary to release his Softporn on the internet because, as he wrote, "Quite frankly, I seriously doubt it will affect the sales of Larry."

In 1994 Thompson got an e-mail from Lowe, graciously requesting his permission (since the rights were already owned by Sierra anyway) to release Gary's PC version on a collector's edition of LSL called Leisure Suit Larry's Greatest Hits & Misses. They requested his version because Thompson's Softporn was the only version available for the PC that completely held true to the original game. Gary updated and re-wrote the game again. This bug-free version was then released on Sierra's collector's edition CD-ROM.

References

1. ^ Trivia for Softporn Adventure at MobyGames
2. ^ "Software for the Masses" from TIME

External links

• Softporn Adventure at MobyGames
• Download of Softporn Adventure at Al Lowe's website