Night Trap

Night Trap is an interactive movie video game that uses full motion video (FMV) to present the story and gameplay. The player is instructed by the in-game police squad to watch live surveillance footage of the Martin household and trigger traps to capture anyone that is seen endangering the house guests. Cameras are situated in eight locations in and around the house: the entryway, living room, kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, driveway, and two hallways. A map is available as well so the player can see how the rooms are connected. The player can freely switch between viewing the different cameras to keep up with house activities and pick up clues from conversations. Kelli, an undercover agent, will also provide clues to the player. The player must avoid trapping her, any other agent, or the house guests. When someone is within range of a trap, a sensor bar will move into a red zone. Activating the trap at this moment will capture them. If the trap is activated when the bar is not in the red zone, the trap will not work and will become disabled for a short period of time. The traps will also only work if the access code is correct. There are six possible access codes, and the player can eavesdrop on conversations to find out when the Martins change the code. When a new code is learned, the player must wait until the speaker leaves the room before changing the access code to the correct color to maintain control of the traps. Counters on the screen indicate how many perpetrators have entered the house and how many have been captured. ==Cast==

• Dana Plato as Kelli • Tracy Matheson as Cindy • Debra Parks as Lisa • Allison Rhea as Ashley • Christy Ford as Megan • Jon Rashad Kamal as Victor Martin • Marion "Molly" Starr as Sheila Martin • Suzy Cote as Sarah Martin • Andras Jones as Jeff Martin • Giovanni Lemm as Tony • William Bertrand as Eddie • Tony Dalton as a soldier ==Plot==

The opening exposition to Night Trap is presented to the player by Cmdr. Simms of the Sega Control Attack Team (S.C.A.T.) on Sega CD, or Special Control Attack Team in other versions. He explains that the team was alerted to the disappearance of five teenage girls who were last seen at the Martin winery estate. The Martin family consists of Victor Martin, his wife Sheila, their children Jeff and Sarah, and cousin Tony. The missing girls were reportedly invited to stay for the night. Police questioned the Martin family, but they claimed the girls had left safely, and they refused to let the police search the property. The police then handed over the case to S.C.A.T., which investigated the house and discovered a series of traps, security cameras, and an operational unit in the basement to control the apparatus. The S.C.A.T. agents spliced an override cable onto the control system and connected it to a control panel in the back hallway of the house. The player is given the role of an internal S.C.A.T. operative charged with controlling the traps and cameras from this back hallway. ==Development==

Concept Rob Fulop, developer of Demon Attack (1982) and other Atari games, began working with Atari founder Nolan Bushnell at his company Axlon shortly after the video game crash of 1983. James Riley was also working with Bushnell at the time on a series of interactive retail advertising campaigns. Riley received a call from Fulop, his neighbor, who explained that an engineer presented an interesting device to another one of Bushnell's employees, Tom Zito. A prototype game titled Scene of the Crime was produced to demonstrate the new technology to Hasbro and test the surveillance camera gameplay. Ready to begin work on a full game, the NEMO team returned to the idea of surveillance cameras but wanted to make a more interactive and engaging experience. A cross-functional team of writers, directors, game designers, and programmers discussed how to blend the art of film with the interactivity of video games to create a compelling interactive narrative. The initial idea was to take the basis of Scene of the Crime to an extreme with a billionaire leaving an extremely large sum of money alone in a large house, guarded by a state-of-the-art security system. In this concept, the billionaire's daughter is staying at the house with her teenage friends when the house is attacked by ninja burglars who are attempting to steal the money. Through much deliberation, the game evolved into the final vampire concept seen in Night Trap. Hasbro was concerned that the game may feature "reproducible violence". As a result, Hasbro did not want the vampires, later dubbed Augers, to bite or move too quickly. In addition, the device used by the Augers to drain blood from their victims was purposely designed to pass Hasbro's non-reproducible violence requirements. The company cited high hardware costs as the reason. The system was originally intended to sell for $199, but the high manufacturing costs of the system's DRAM drove it to . In contrast, the market-leading Nintendo Entertainment System sold for around $100 in 1989. Sega also released the Sega CD version in Japan on November 19, 1993. ==United States congressional hearings==

's Mortal Kombat (1992). Lieberman claimed Night Trap featured gratuitous violence and promoted sexual aggression against women. As a result of the publicity generated by the hearings, retailers sold 50,000 copies of Night Trap the following week. Two weeks before Christmas, the game was removed from store shelves in the United States' two largest toy store chains, Toys "R" Us and Kay-Bee Toys, after receiving numerous complaints that were suspected to be part of an organized telephone campaign. Both stores continued to stock Mortal Kombat. The Night Trap box art was also criticized by interest groups for what many believed to be a sexist depiction. In January 1994, Sega withdrew Night Trap from the market. Bill White, Sega Vice President of Marketing, stated that Night Trap was pulled because the continuing controversy surrounding it prevented constructive dialogue about an industry-wide rating system. He also stated that the game was misunderstood and was developed as a parody of vampire melodramas. Sega also announced in January the upcoming release of a censored version. The hearings led to the creation of the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) in 1994, the video game ratings board in North America still used today. After the controversy subsided, the game was ported to the 3DO, Sega 32X, MS-DOS, and Mac OS, each with a different cover from the original. Virgin Games released the 3DO version in Japan on June 25, 1994. ==Reception==

}} Initial reviews for Night Trap on the Sega CD were mixed. It was the first interactive movie on the system and was thus seen as breaking new ground in both genre and technology. Critics were quick to point out the game's qualities that were reminiscent of teen horror movies. Ports of Night Trap to other platforms received more harsh reviews; critics said the game did not age well. Staff at GamePro said it was "innovative at one time, but Traps graphics and sounds now play like standard stuff." Reviewers at GameFan blamed the game's extensive publicity for making it seem better than it truly was, saying "it's a so-so game that got a lot more attention than it deserved." Critics overwhelmingly found the game to be boring and dull. Next Generation called it "one of the most crashing bores ever released...this is a nongame." By 1994, 100,000 copies had been sold in the United States alone. In retrospect, Night Trap is viewed negatively and is mostly remembered for the controversy it stirred. It was ranked the 12th worst video game of all time by Electronic Gaming Monthly editor Seanbaby in 2001. He and other game journalists also featured the game in a 2007 episode of Broken Pixels, a comedy web series that covers bad and obscure games. Yahoo! Games listed it among the most controversial games of all time in 2007, saying: "If it weren't for controversy...this throwaway Sega CD game would have drifted into obscurity as merely another failed attempt at marrying gameplay with live-action video." Game Informer listed the game among the worst horror games of all time in 2008. It was ranked number 59 on GamesRadar's 100 worst games of all time in 2014, in which they believed it was "less of a game and more a test of patience". In 1996, Computer Gaming World listed Night Trap at number six of 50 worst games of all time, saying that it was "the ultimate experience of FMV gone bad". After Night Trap's release, Rob Fulop went on to form PF.Magic, which later created the Petz virtual pet simulation series, ==Re-release==

In May 2014, Night Trap designer James Riley announced that he was in talks to re-release the game with improved resolution and gameplay. The developers said that if the campaign was successful, they would be looking into re-releasing other Digital Pictures titles. Furthermore, the company was also considering making a sequel to the original game. Two years later, in May 2016, game developer Tyler Hogle created a tech demo of Night Trap being played on a smartphone. Hogle had previously worked on official ports for two other Digital Pictures games, Double Switch (1993) and Quarterback Attack (1995). He posted a short video of his Night Trap demo online anonymously, and some gaming websites published stories on the video and contacted Tom Zito to ask if he was involved. Hogle got into contact with Zito, and the two began working towards a full release. The original source code and 1987 master footage were lost. Riley, however, possessed a copy of the timed master footage and provided it to Hogle. Because the footage was already timed, it was easier for Hogle to develop; however, he had to replay the original game multiple times to learn what actions triggered which scenes. The ESRB gave the re-release a "Teen" rating, a grade lower than the original's "Mature" rating. The anniversary edition of Night Trap uses the full uncompressed video footage with various new additions: deleted scenes including an introduction and a death scene featuring Danny, a behind-the-scenes developer commentary, a "theater mode" to watch all the story-related videos, a "survivor mode" which places Augers randomly in the house, and a playable version of Scene of the Crime. The anniversary edition was released on the Nintendo Switch on August 24, 2018. A version for the PlayStation Vita was also released. In 2023, to commemorate April Fool's Day, Limited Run Games announced a Game Boy Advance port of Night Trap. The version was only available for preorder that weekend, and shipped in 2024. Unlike other versions, the Game Boy Advance game features no gameplay and only plays the video scenes. ==Notes==