Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction Path: gmd.de!xlink.net!howland.reston.ans.net!usc!sdd.hp.com!decwrl!decwrl!doc.ic.ac.uk!uknet!pipex!sunic!liuida!x92hanpe From: x92hanpe@ida.liu.se (Hans Persson) Subject: Adventure Game History (please help!) Message-ID: <1993Jul23.084901.17638@ida.liu.se> Sender: news@ida.liu.se Organization: CIS Dept, Univ of Linkoping, Sweden Date: Fri, 23 Jul 1993 08:49:01 GMT Lines: 253 Information about interactive fiction games. ------------------------------------------- This file is a compilation of various posts to rec.arts.int-fiction and rec.games.int-fiction and some things added by myself. I would like to see it grow into a history of the entire genre of interactive fiction. If you have more information on any of the games in the file (what machines they ran on, when they were published, etc), find errors or omissions, please let me know. I have excluded the entire Infocom line since there are already at least two excellent information files about them on ftp.gmd.de, directory if-archive/infocom. Thanks to the following people for help and/or helpful postings. Brendon Wyber (b.wyber@csc.canterbury.ac.nz) Ville Lavonius (lavonius@cc.helsinki.fi) Jon Thackray (jont@harlqn.co.uk) Hans Persson unicorn@lysator.liu.se Last update: 23 Jul 1993 Level 9: ******* An English company that produced over a dozen adventure games. These were mainly for the 8 bit micro market (Spectrum, Commodore 64, BBC, Amstrad) and consisted of basic verb-noun parsers (until the very last batch of games). Early Games =========== Verb-noun, 200+ locations: The Middle-Earth Trilogy (later renamed The Jewels of Darkness) ------------------------ Colossal Adventure This was an expanded version of the original ADVENTURE. At the start there was no mention of it being the first part of a trilogy as far as I can remember. For Commodore 64. Adventure Quest For Commodore 64. Dungeon Adventure For Commodore 64. The Silicon Dreams Trilogy -------------------------- Snowball I don't think this was meant to be part one of a trilogy from the start either. For Commodore 64. Return to Eden For Commodore 64. (The?) Worm in Paradise For Commodore 64. Miscellaneous ------------- Lords of Time For Commodore 64. Red Moon This one had graphics on the top two-thirds or so of the screen, but I don't think there was anything on them that you *had* to notice. For Commodore 64. Price of Magik For Commodore 64. Emerald Isle For Commodore 64. Later Games =========== Which deteriorated as they tried a new game engine, which although more powerful reduced the size of the games. Knight Orc This game had, as far as I can remember, quite a lot of graphics. For Commodore 64. Gnome Ranger Gnome Ranger II: Ingrid's Back Lancelot ScrapeGhost Magnetic Scrolls: **************** English company that wrote adventure games with a very powerful (but sometimes unusually picky) parser, and very nice 16 colour hi-res pictures. Magnetic Scrolls are still existant. The Pawn For Commodore 64, Amiga. Guild of Thieves For Commodore 64, Amiga. The Corruption Fish Wonderland Jinxter Myth This is a short game that hasn't been released to the general public, but was given as a welcome present in some british adventure club/mailorder firm. The Legacy This is a Horror RPG from MicroProse that they have had a hand in developing. Acornsoft: ********* At some point in time, Acornsoft decided not to publish adventure games so the authors took their games with them to Topologica. The Doom trilogy (Science Fiction adventure) ---------------- Countdown Return Last Days of Doom Miscellaneous ------------- Acheton Large adventure in the Colossal Cave style Hamil Small adventure with some Mathematical bias Philosophers' Quest Medium sized game. Sphinx Castle of Riddles Topologica Ltd: ************** A number of the games here were originally written by Acornsoft but their authors took the games to Topologica when Acornsoft decided not to publish adventure games and converted them for other computers. This company is still present in Peterborough, Britain, contactable on +44 733 244682 They publish for BBC, Electron, Master, Archimedes, PC, Amstrad CPC, Amstrad PCW, Spectrum +3 and soon Atari ST. Small here means up to around 150 locations, large means over 400, medium means in between. The Doom trilogy (Science Fiction adventure) ---------------- Countdown Originally written by Acornsoft. Return Originally written by Acornsoft. Last Days of Doom Originally written by Acornsoft. Miscellaneous ------------- Acheton Large adventure in the Colossal Cave style. Originally written by Acornsoft. Hamil Small adventure with some Mathematical bias. Originally written by Acornsoft. Philosophers' Quest Medium sized game. Originally written by Acornsoft. Monsters of Murdac Small adventure Avon Small Shakespearian adventure Hezarin Large adventure in Colossal Cave style SpySnatcher Whodunnit adventure in MI7 Giant Killer Mathematical adventure for secondary education Sphinx Originally written by Acornsoft. Castle of Riddles Originally written by Acornsoft. Various companies: ***************** Castle of Terror Graphical adventure in two parts (the second one loaded automatically when you entered the castle; there was no turning back then). Had graphics for all rooms, but I don't think they were necessary in more than a few places. For Commodore 64. The Colour of Magic Based on the book of the same title by Terry Pratchett (and possible some more of his books). Had graphics in at least a few places, I can't remember. I think this was written with the adventure game generator the Quill. For Commodore 64. Info on Scott Adams adventures, anyone? I know of Adventureland but nothing more. -- +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ ! Hans Persson / The Pink Unicorn ! ! unicorn@lysator.liu.se, d88hanpe@und.ida.liu.se ! +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+