With all the politics discussions going on at the moment, a nice diversion awaited me when I returned home this evening. Someone had a left a comment on one of my YouTube videos where I play the intro melody of the legendary LOOM adventure game. That person suggested me to check out a video where Brian Moriarty himself, the author and developer of Loom, was giving a lecture on it.
I thought that I had seen all available videos by Mr Moriarty but this one was relatively new and I had not discovered it. What a thrill!
About a year ago, I managed to fulfill one of my deepest wishes, to actually contact Mr Moriarty and simply express my admiration for the masterpiece he created more than 25 years ago. I used to watch my brother play Loom at his Amiga 500+ before I could understand English well enough to read the dialogues. As the years passed, I started to play it and it motivated me to learn some of its unique English phrases. I was simply in love with that game. It exerted a peculiar charm, a magnetic thrill that captured my imagination and allowed my mind to sore into mystical journeys into far away, mythical lands. Loom remained an inspiration and a source of strength for me throughout my life. In fact, some of my teenage diaries were addressed to Bobbin Threadbared.
The idea of writing a sequel lurked into my mind for many years. I even discovered other teams of people who had a similar wish, but I also discovered that the legal implications and the copyrights business would never allow me to write a real Loom sequel. Sort of disappointed by the work of other teams, I gave up the idea, and decided to simply dwell on the feeling of magic and mystery that Loom was invoking in me, so that I could use it to create a new and original story. The world does not need another imitation, it needs “real” stories.
There are many things that could and should be said about Loom. But this should be the subject of another post. For now, Loom-lovers unite and enjoy this rare video of Mr Brian Moriarty, on how he conceived and created the worlds best adventure game of all times: “Loom”.