AvenellCY-1
Fiction

Avenell and the Cyclorama never existed. The hardware is real: specified, emulated and playable here.

The company, its people, dates, prices and sales are alternate-history fiction. On this site every in-universe statement sits under a red tally lamp. The machine is not invented: its specification, emulator, development tools and cartridges are real software, and every game picture is a frame a real cartridge drew.

CYC-1003Now playingIn the fiction: Avenell Playhouse · 1987

HOUSELIGHTS

Relight the theatre, one sconce at a time, while the Understudies close in.

HOUSELIGHTS, frame 6009, from the real cartridge.

Loading the cartridge (64 KiB)…

F5 Save F8 LoadEscape Power off

Saved states last for this visit. Sound starts with Power.

HOUSELIGHTS needs a keyboard or a game controller. On a phone or tablet without one you can read about the game here, but you can’t play it yet.

CYC-1003SoftwareIn the fiction: Avenell Playhouse · United States, October 16, 1987

HOUSELIGHTS

After the show an usher relights a dark theatre sconce by sconce, in cue order, while the Understudies close in wherever the lantern is not.

The last bows are taken and the theatre has fallen dark. In the wings the Understudies, shadowy players in hoods and pale half-masks, have waited all season for a part. Tonight they have decided to learn yours. Take your lantern and bring up the house lights, one sconce at a time, in the order written on the cue sheet.

Real cartridge HOUSELIGHTS is a real 64 KiB cartridge that runs on the emulator, and it plays right here in your browser.

The HOUSELIGHTS cartridge: a charcoal shell with a dark label showing a real frame of the game. A 3D render.
Real frames

Frames from the cartridge

  1. HOUSELIGHTS, frame 60, from the real cartridge.

    frame 60

  2. HOUSELIGHTS, frame 3005, from the real cartridge.

    frame 3005

  3. HOUSELIGHTS, frame 6009, from the real cartridge.

    frame 6009

  4. HOUSELIGHTS, frame 9014, from the real cartridge.

    frame 9014

  5. HOUSELIGHTS, frame 12018, from the real cartridge.

    frame 12018

Frames from the project’s golden-frame tests: the emulator plays the cartridge from power-on with a recorded input and must draw exactly these pictures.

1

Lighting the house

  • In cue order. The next sconce on the cue sheet blinks; stand beside it and it lights, brightening its part of the house for good.
  • Four parts of the house: the Stalls, the Dress Circle, Backstage and, last of all, the Stage itself.
  • Oil. Your lantern burns eight drops. A dark lantern freezes no one; oil cans refill four.

2

The Understudies

  • They only move in the dark. In your lantern’s light, a lit sconce’s glow or near the old ghost light they freeze where they stand.
  • Your lantern shines ahead. One creeping up behind you is in the dark; if a moving Understudy reaches you, you lose a life.
  • Walk into a frozen one to send it back to the wings. It will be back before long, and they learn your route.