Loom (video Game) - Technical Overview

Technical Overview

Loom was originally published for DOS on floppy disk with EGA graphics and was later ported to the Amiga, Atari ST, Macintosh and TurboGrafx-16 systems. While the TurboGrafx-16 port held slight graphic improvements these versions remained much the same.

Loom was re-released on CD-ROM for the FM Towns computer in 1991 with enhanced VGA graphics and a new digital soundtrack. This included vastly improved 256-color graphics. Dialogue and scenes remained unchanged from the previous version. In addition it featured a digital audio soundtrack with alternate versions of tracks played (and looped) after the regular versions had finished.

The third and final version of Loom was released on CD-ROM for DOS in 1992. The graphics were largely a continuation of those used in FM Towns version but with some minor improvements in some areas of the game. It also featured an entire re-recorded musical soundtrack and full voice over; this was the first "Talkie" SCUMM game made. However this version had largely revised and rewritten dialogue. According to the designers, the dialogue was edited for lack of space—a single CD-ROM can only hold about 80 minutes of uncompressed audio data. Some features were cut from the previous FM Towns version, such as multiple solutions to puzzles, many of the close-ups during dialogue and some sections of cut-scenes. Brian Moriaty has stated that he believes the FM Towns version to be the definitive version of Loom but fans of the game remain divided.

A rather persistent and common misconception about Loom is that author Orson Scott Card helped make the original version, based on the fact that his name appears in the credits. Card says on his website that this is untrue, and that Moriarty put his name into the credits based on a brief conversation they had prior to the release. Card did, however, help Sara Reeder shorten and revise the game's dialogue for the 1992 CD-ROM re-release.

Due to a licensing agreement with (now defunct) Mindscape, the DOS CD-ROM version is no longer available; until 2006, the DOS floppy disk version could be bought from LucasArts and then patched with a download from Home of the Underdogs, an abandonware website. Unfortunately there are currently known issues with the Underdogs' patch and audio synchronization. All of these versions of Loom can now be played on a variety of different platforms using the ScummVM virtual machine, although the FM Towns version currently suffers from a few audio-related problems and has several graphical glitches.

The voiced CD-ROM version of Loom was re-released for digital download on Steam in 2009 and Mac in 2010. Steam community members have since provided a simple method to play the FM Towns version with a Steam copy of Loom.