'Doomsday Terminal' – How Long Can You Survive?
posted by Eli Hodapp on May 12th, 2009 10:36 PM EDT in $0.99, Games, Simulation, iPhone games, iPod touch games
As a huge fan of ABC's Lost, I was looking around on the App Store today anxiously awaiting this week's season finale. Unfortunately, while ABC has no official Lost games or apps, I did stumble across a remarkably faithful fan-made game based on the computer system found inside of the hatch!
In order to survive, Doomsday Terminal [App Store] will have you entering in a series of six numbers (sadly, not the real Lost numbers) every 108 minutes. The game even features an online scoreboard and the current leader managed to "push the button" for 1 week, 8 hours, and 42 minutes. Needless to say, the dedication required to last a day is impressive, let alone over a week.
When you type in the terminal outside of entering the numbers, your message is randomly sent to other players manning their own Doomsday Terminal. Most of the messages I've got have been nonsense and don't appear to be moderated at all, so don't be surprised if you get something silly or nonsensical.
A few friends of mine who are also hardcore Lost fans have picked up Doomsday Terminal and none of us can make it through the night. Entering in the numbers every 108 minutes really makes you appreciate Desmond's mental state when the survivors of Oceanic flight 815 discovered him inside the hatch.
For a 99¢ game, Doomsday Terminal doesn't do very much and will have virtually no appeal to those who aren't fans of the show. On the other hand, all of the fellow Lost addicts I've shown it to generally smile ear to ear when I load it up on my phone.
App Store Link: Doomsday Terminal, 99¢
4…8…15…16…23…42
I would love those were the numbers you have to enter
I actually played with those numbers in the lottery
There is a free app where you enter the actual numbers into a terminal. I dono why you would pay for an app you'll only use to show to your friends.
Where is this app you speak of??? I can't find it anywhere!?
Thx…
i found the free one its called LOST IN TIME
Lost? Is that the show with a cloud-monster?
There's also a polar bear
And a four-toed foot, naturally.
An interesting idea for fans of the show, though not using the actual numbers is a bit of a shame. Copyright issues? I doubt they've copyrighted a sequence of numbers, and if they could use the look and concept, why not go all the way?
(Not that one can complain too much for 99 cents…)
If they’re worried about litigation, they should just make it so that the users can change the numbers. Problem solved.
Ah Lost. I love that show. Some of my friends thought it was too "out there" when we saw the polar bear on the island. Others bailed when the "monster" turned out to be a black cloud of smoke. I probably would have bailed when it was revealed that the island can teleport through time and space if you just turn a giant subterranean frozen donkey wheel. . . but, you know, there's only one more season and I've made it this far. . .
One of the main reasons I still watch it, and love it, is due to those "WTF?!" moments.
The show's writing staff must get pretty baked when coming up with the stuff we've seen on the show.
Customizable number sets + hieroglyphics = present or bust. present state = bust.
LOST IS GOING TO BE AMAZING TONIGHT! CANNOT WAIT.
I hope Jack doesn't die.
too bad, Jack dies
Lame, it doesn't even have the numbers from the valenzetti equation…
I'm a huge Lost fan, but no way would I waste money on this….
Hi everyone, maker of Doomsday Terminal here. Thanks for checking it out.
The numbers we went with actually do have meaning, just not the same as the show. Also, we initially had a contest to win a gift card to the first person who could last a week and wanted everyone to be using the same set of numbers (that's why it is not customizable).
PS – haven't seen the last few episodes, so I'm hoping the comment about Jack dieing is a joke.
I bailed from watching Lost after the "cloud monster." It turned an interesting mystery show into science fiction. Nothing wrong with the concept, but there are more interesting science fiction shows around.
Like what?
to: Mike
Hey… great game… lots of LOST fans are somewhere out there, w8ing to save the world (:
I really like the game, but i dont like the random messages… I think it would be cooler if i could only send messages to ONE person, and that person to me. And, of course, in that case, you have to make an option to change the "partner"…
Thanks for the input. I've been mulling over what to do with the message feature. I had originally hoped the anonymous message feature would make it feel kind of "mysterious". But, predictably, it is mostly used for obscenities. I was thinking of making a direct message feature similar to Stefan's suggestion. The other option would be to just have a live chat feature that you can enter by typing a "chat" command. Though there isn't a lot of screen real estate available for that option.
And one more thing, Mike
Is there a possibility to make the numbers : 4 8 15 16 23 42 in the next update?
I will buy if you change the numbers to 4 8 15 16 23 42.
This is available free on the internet, it's called Twitter.
like the creator said, the numbers do have meaning to them…
give it some thought…
Just thought I'd let everyone know that we submitted an update today which allows the numbers to be configured. There are some rules built in to make sure the number is of a certain length and complexity, but it allows you to use the Valenzetti sequence if you like. Given Apple’s current review times it will probably go live around May 22nd.
Thanks again for the input. We appreciate it!