> I spent a year writing System's Twilight. Was it worth it? It paid

> I spent a year writing System's Twilight. Was it worth it? It paid
> for my second Macintosh, I believe. (The PowerMac 9500! No, I neer
> bought Doom.) It was great resume fodder for my brief stint as a Mac
> programmer at Magnet Interactive. (Then Magnet tried to turn me into
> a Win95 programmer. Whoo-ee, did that ever not work. Ah, licensed
> "Highlander" video game, how poorly you worked out for Magnet.)
>
> And then, just last week, I get this email:
>
> I'd like to register System's Twilight v1.0.5. Is the address
> provided in
> the readme ([...]) still valid?
>
> The elided address was that of the shareware company that handled
> fulfilment from 1997 to 2000. So, no, it's not still valid -- please
> play my game for free! But I didn't ask where the querent had found
> version 1.0.5. Maybe one of those shareware-shovelware companies
> that used to orbit the Mac universe, Nemesis-like, raining down
> comets of questionable CD-ROMs.
>
> Conclusion: people still like my game! That's really cool.
>
> \- excerpt adapted from [System's Twilight turns fifteen][1].

System's Twilight is a wonderful puzzle adventure for the Macintosh,
designed by the incomparable Andrew Plotkin (Affectionately known in
the IF community as "Zarf," Andrew is most famous for excellent IF
games, including [So Far][2] and [Spider And Web][3].)

The game is evidently inspired by Cliff Johnson's classic [3 in
Three][4] and [The Fool's Errand][5], but not derivative: all twelve
kinds of puzzles in the game are original, and they range from
ingenious wordplay to logic puzzles. The plot is-- well, I'd rather
leave you to find out on your own so I won't ruin any surprises.
Suffice it to say that it's wonderful, unique, and very captivating.

With many locations in the game world to explore, clever puzzles, and
great graphics and animation, you'd be hard pressed to find fault with
System's Twilight except to complain of some unfair puzzles. (In the
sense that they are very difficult.) Fortunately, Andrew has posted
the solution to the most unfair puzzle in the game on his website, and
you can also ask him personally for help.

Best of all, the game is freeware as of January, 2000, so there is
really no reason not to try it on your Mac emulator ![Smile][6] If you
like Cliff Johnson's games, you'll love System's Twilight.

Information source: [Home of the Underdogs: System's Twilight][7]

More information on this game can be found on [the game's official
website][8], including additional downloads, goodies, t-shirts, hint,
and pre-packaged versions of the game with Mini vMac for Windows and
Mac OS X.

Compatibility
Architecture: 68k

* System 6.0.7 through Mac OS 9
* 1 MB of RAM for System 6 in monochrome, likely 2 MB for 7+

According to the developer, one user has reported an incompatibility
with the "Font Smoothing" option in the Appearance control panel in
Mac OS 8.6. If you find most of the display text to be distorted and
unreadable, try turning that option off.

[1]: http://gameshelf.jmac.org/2009/10/systems-twilight-turns-fifteen/
[2]: http://macintoshgarden.org/games/so-far
[3]: http://macintoshgarden.org/games/spider-and-web
[4]: http://macintoshgarden.org/games/3-in-three
[5]: http://macintoshgarden.org/games/the-fools-errand
[6]: http://macintoshgarden.org/sites/all/modules/smileys/packs/Roving/smile.png (Smile)
[7]: http://homeoftheunderdogs.net/game.php?id=1383
[8]: https://eblong.com/zarf/twilight/index.html