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[U. S. A.]Adventure International

General

Founded by Scott Adams (msadams@msadams.com) in 1979. The Adventure International games are mainly verb-noun, but had exciting plots and were well-designed. They supplied a hint book for Scott Adams Classic Adventures 1-14 and separate hint sheets for Questprobe 1-3. All these hints are available from ftp.gmd.de.

All the adventures in the Scott Adams Classic Adventures, Others and Questprobe series use the same datafile and interpreter format and can be run using the ScottFree interpreter found on ftp.gmd.de.

At least some of the games were originally written in BASIC. Some of the games were released for the Exidy Sorcerer computer, but I don't know which ones.

The Basic versions of Adventureland (date?) and Pirate Adventure (December 1980) were printed in Byte Magazine in an article by Scott Adams.

When Adventure International went bankrupt in 1985, the copyrights for the games were part of the bankruptcy proceedings and were taken over by the bank. Meanwhile those licenses expired and all rights went back to Scott Adams. On 1997-11-24, Scott Adams put the games up for download as shareware from his own homepage.

Adventure International once ran big adverts featuring Scott Adams' picture begging people to send in game ideas. "We want to publish your software!" Doesn't sound like a company about to go bankrupt...

Scott Adams is currently (January 1996) rewriting Adventureland in a new interpreter for Windows 95. A beta version of this was distributed in late 1999. Then finally in August 2000 he published a new game: "Return To Pirate's Island 2". The classic games are available on his website as a free download.

Platform-specific information

The TRS-80 driver was written by Scott Adams, while the Apple II and Commodore 64 drivers were written by Mak Jukic. Brian Howarth later wrote another Commodore 64 driver, as well as a Spectrum one that was used with a lot (all?) of these games. The interpreter used depended a lot upon who released the game.

Packaging information

The original packaging from around 1978-1980 of the SAGA games features a cover art sheet with some assorted brochures and loading sheets sealed in a polybag with a cardboard strip across the top. The bags all hung on hooks on the store shelves. The original cheapish looking watercolour artwork were done by "Peppy".

In 1981, the cover sheet polybag packaging was replaced (all games in this packaging have a 1981 copyright on the front, even though the game might be released some other year). All the games up to 1983-1984 (with the exceptions of the VIC-20 and TI-99/4A releases, which were repackaged by those respective companies) came in 8.5" x 5.5" folders designed to look like paperback books. The middle is a piece of styrofoam either with a cutout slot for the cassette or a glued-on sleeve for the disk. The front and back cover with the artwork is a piece of thin cardboard glued around the spine of the styrofoam. The original text games featured the "manual" simply typed on the inner front and sometimes back flap of the cardboard. The SAGA releases came with their own separate instruction booklet titled Scott Adams' Graphic Adventure Instructions. It was generic and applied to all the SAGAs for that particular platform. Nothing more than a registration card was included on either of these releases. The cover art is the same as for the polybag packaging.

Sometime later, the packaging changed again and the games were marketed in plastic clamshell cases with picture inserts (like for video releases, but smaller - 6.5" x 9"). The front artwork is the same (even though these are SAGA games), although the logos have been moved around a bit. For instance, the screenshots are pictured on the front at the bottom, rather than at the back on the top, the SAGA logo has been moved to the bottom centre rather than in the upper right, etc. The back cover of the insert is completely different. These packages don't have library stamps like the styrofoam games, but they were probably the last versions released. The inserts are all copyright 1982, when the SAGAs were first introduced.

Some of the clamshell releases include a generic "Scott Adams' Graphic Adventure Instructions" book, same as from the styrofoam games. Also includes the bonus hint sheet, warranty card, "Need a Backup Disk?" mail in card where you can purchase an additional disk of the game for $4.99, and a small "Do You Write Microcomputer Software?" advertisement designed to look like a floppy disk. Some of the styrofoam versions came with diddly ads like this stuff too.

There are inofficial sites about Adventure International:

They distribute Howarth, Brian and Chameleon Software.

For more information, see Alternate Source, The.


Return to Pirate Island 2

Type:
Text only/Graphics Written 1999 by Scott Adams.

Package blurb:

Finally after a 15 years break, Scott Adams has released a new game. There is no package blurb, so find some notes from his website instead: Imagine a world where your imagination replaces your senses. A world full of sea, sand, pirates and treasure ! You wake up in a boat, not knowing your purpose, but as you find your sea legs and begin to explore, many tasks are unraveled. Solve the various puzzles and use your wits to conquer the mysteries of the island. The original adventure master is back with his best creation yet, "Return to Pirates Island 2". A fun game that will appeal to the whole family.

Your goal:To collect a set of *treasures*, some hidden well and some hidden, well ... right in front of your nose! Visit exotic locales, find sunken treasure, work with the crusty old pirate, put up with obstinate sea creatures and even learn to really hate alarm clocks! Yes, that Scott Adams sense of humor is back too!



Scott Adams Classic Adventures

These games were rereleased in 1982 with graphics [BG] as Scott Adams Graphic Adventures (SAGA).

From the box of the later graphical releases:

When You Sit Down To a Scott Adams' Graphic Adventure... Anything Can Happen

As the name implies, the Scott Adams Graphic Adventures are the classic Adventures which have been enhanced with exciting graphics -- graphics which colorfully depict your voyage into wonderment each and every step of the way. Each Adventure challenges the player to accumulate points, crack a mystery or accomplish a goal using the unique tools of Adventuring: two-word commands, some common sense and a little ingenuity. If you've never played an Adventure, you couldn't have found a better place to begin. And if you're an experienced Adventurer prepare for a magical encounter unlike any other. Remember: Anything can happen when you play a Scott Adams Graphic Adventure ... and it usually does!

All the original twelve adventures were released in four Value Packs. Kim Schuette's "Book of Adventure Games" (1984) acknowledges that all twelve in four packages were released. Strangely, it also says that only the first three up to that point had been released as SAGAs with graphics and the others were slated for up-and-coming release with graphics. That's a two-year span between releasing the first three and the last nine?

The TI-99/4A games were distributed by Texas Instruments. The user first had to purchase a ROM cartridge called "Adventure" which came with the disk or cassette of adventure #2, "Pirate Adventure". The other titles required this ROM cartridge to run, but were sold separately.


Questprobe

The adventures in this series features characters from Marvel Comics. The original plan was to create a series of twelve games, each accompanied by a comic.Marvel Comics published three issues in its Questprobe series. The fourth comic starring the X-Men was already finished and was published years later in another series called Marvel Fanfare. Adventure International went out of business while game number four was being written.


Other Ventures

These games use a different data file format than the Scott Adams games.

For more information, see Med Systems Software.


Zossed in Space

Written by Jyym Pearson.
Runs on:

Notes: This was Jyym Pearson's first game.


Labyrinth of Crete

Type: G (some) Written 1983 by Cliff Johnson and Allen Pinero.
Runs on:

Notes: Has the interesting feature of allowing the player to move two characters.


Doug Carlston - Galactic Saga



Bob Lafore - Interactive Fiction

Package blurb:

You become a main character & your income directs the outcome.


James Talley - Kid-Venture



Adventureland was created by Hans Persson and is now maintained by Stefan Meier.

If you find any errors or have information that is missing, please let me know