Spaceship Warlock

The player explores and interacts the game universe by clicking. Limited manipulation of objects is needed and there are several optional locations and things the player can explore or discover besides following the linear narrative. Dialogues involve typing a topic to a character such as "whiskey", "Terra" or "pirates". Some arcade sequences enrich the gameplay. One of the earliest and best-known multimedia CD-ROM games to combine all original animation, story, music, and game play. The game menu refers to itself as a movie. Graphically ahead of its time and acquired a cult following. Widely considered a pioneering work, and it received many awards and honors, including the "Best CD ROM Game of the Year" award from Macworld magazine. Some of the game's outer space scenes are reminiscent of the art of Chesley Bonestell.

• Title — Spaceship Warlock • Developer — Mike Saenz Joe Sparks • Publisher — Reactor, Inc. • Engine — MacroMind Director • Release — 1991 (Mac) 1994 (Windows) • Genre — Adventure game • Modes — Single-player • Platforms — Macintosh, Windows

The game is set after the end of the "Terran Empire". Terra has lost a millennial war against the Kroll, who then used a planetary technology to move Terra out of its orbit and move the planet to an unknown location deep in Kroll space. Humans now have no homeworld and some have ended up as space pirates. The game features an unnamed protagonist starting in a dark alley in Stambul city. No details are given about the player character other that he is a "Terrie" (human). At first, the player can explore some streets of Stambul City but there not much to do as the player character has no money. However, after incapacitating an alien mugger, he is awarded several thousand credits by the police force, with which he can buy a ticket out of Stambul. The player can afford a ticket to the luxurious cruise spaceship Belshazzar. As the player interacts with "Captain Starbird" and his daughter "Stella" the ship is attacked by the "Spaceship Warlock". The pirates led by Captain Hammer, an eyepatch-wearing space pirate and revolutionary leader board the ship and apprehend the passengers. In the brig, Hammer invites the player to his crew. The player then goes on to battle and ultimately overthrow the evil Kroll empire and restore freedom to the galaxy.

The game's creators were involved in a legal dispute over the copyright: