THE Round-up of ST Adventures in the Public Domain with Colin "Bronco" Campbell of Creative Insanity In this rather long article I shall be going over my fairly substantial adventure collection that I obtained from various PD libraries over the past year or so and giving a brief critique of each. I must apologise to the authors whose games I will be "slagging off". Better luck next time, people! DEEP SPACE DRIFTER (1 meg only) This is the second of two demonstration adventures written using TADS (not TASS as ST Format thinks) - the Text Adventure Development System - by its authors. It is a fairly difficult game which is very enjoyable as the writers have made it very user responsive. It handles inputs in nearly the same way as our much loved Infocom games do. Although the game is not perfect (the parser sometimes gets confused) it is quite close to getting there. Well worth getting if you've got an upgraded machine and are a text-only fan (as I am). DIFFICULTY: MEDIUM/HARD RATING: 88% DITCH DAY DRIFTER (all STs) This game is written using the same system as DEEP SPACE DRIFTER and by the same people. It's not as good as DSD as this early attempt is prone to be unfriendly at times and there are a few bugs around. However, it is much better than most AGT attempts in the PD as DITCH DAY DRIFTER (like DSD) loads in one go so there are no disk accessing periods. DIFFICULTY: MEDIUM/HARD RATING: 68% MERCY MISSION (all STs) This game is written using GFA Basic (version 2) by Simon Brown et al. To be blunt, the system lets the game down as it only takes inputs. There are a reasonable scattering of puzzles of varying difficulty (most of which are "wacky"). The location descriptions are a reasonable length and the responses are okay. It is a fair attempt at a witty game but there are a few bugs still left in. DIFFICULTY: EASY/MEDIUM RATING: 58% DARKNESS IS FOREVER (all STs) This is the second Simon Brown game I've got. It seems that every PD library in existence has a copy of this game. This game was written using GFA basic and can (in theory) cope with more complex commands. However, a great deal of these commands need to be entered so specifically that this game quickly becomes forgotten. Take this for an example, LEAVE TRAIL OF NOTES TO ALLEYWAY. Anything else will not be accepted! I needed help from the author for this! Beginners and those with a limited vocabulary keep clear! DIFFICULTY: HARD (see above) RATING: 33% A DUDLEY DILEMMA (all STs) This is the first of many AGT adventures. The thing to note about all AGT adventures is that they are all incredibly slow as each input requires about 3 seconds (or more if you're unlucky) of disk accessing. It is possible to install AGT adventures on a Ramdisk (if you've got enough memory) so disk accessing isn't so much of a problem but it's still slow when compared to STAC, TADS and GFA. This is rather poor attempt at the same sort of scenario that is covered, much better, by DITCH DAY DRIFTER. DUDLEY suffers from masses of bugs and poor programming. The puzzles are hard, mainly because of the unfriendly vocabulary and the bugs. Not recommended for those without any patience. DIFFICULTY: HARD (see above) RATING: 38% SIR RAMIC HOBBS AND THE HIGH LEVEL GORILLA (all STs) Another AGT-produced game by the author of "Computer Adventures: The Secret Art" Gil Williamson. Perhaps it's just my bias against AGT-written adventures but I don't rate this game highly as there are, yet again, innumerable bugs (such as removing your helmet then attempting to put it back on again only to be told that you can't wear anything over your helmet [?]) and a very limited vocabulary. In his book, Gil lists many things that good adventures should and shouldn't have. He even goes so far as to mention this game as a good example of what adventures are. However, in playing this I have seen that he has ignored these Fundamental Rules. DIFFICULTY: HARD (see above) RATING: 38% FAST LANE (all STs) Yes, this is another AGT game. This game can be accurately described by the words "Bugs", "Slow" and "Unfriendly". It's a pity, though, because the author has had a go at a different type of adventure. A few comic gems shine through in places but all of this is negated by the above criticisms. DIFFICULTY: EASY/MEDIUM (see above) RATING: 30% TAMORET (all STs) Why are all AGT adventures poorly written and bugged? If we knew that then life would be much nicer, wouldn't it? This game is actually a bit better than the average AGT attempt. There are quite a few good problems and some decent descriptions hidden within the game but, like the rest of the AGT adventures reviewed, it is unfriendly. When we upgraded to 16 bit computers we all thought that searching for the right input would almost be a thing of the past. DIFFICULTY: MEDIUM/HARD (see above) RATING: 47% HOUSE OF O'S (all STs) This is an AGT adventure and therefore has all the unfriendliness and bugs seemingly "built-in". There seems to be a lot going on in this game but due to the rather confused start and the "have to eat something to stay awake" syndrome it's not as good as it might have been. DIFFICULTY: MEDIUM (see above) RATING: 40% PORK II This is the second of the Zork parodies. It is a fair game (except for the poor system, slow responses and bugs) and there are a few laughs to be found but I can't really recommend this to anybody. In an attempt to emulate the Leather Goddesses of Phobos the authors of this game have implemented a Lewd mode. To gain access to this you have to answer a question that only Americans know the answer to! I have heard that PORK I is much funnier. DIFFICULTY: MEDIUM RATING: 44% PHILIP AGAINST THE FORCES OF CREATION (all STs) A pleasant surprise this! A reasonable AGT adventure! Nice long descriptions, a fairly friendly parser and good puzzles make this game one of the best AGT adventure out. However, there are a few bugs and probably the worst end sequence in the universe. Every time the player "gets it" (i.e. dies) the explanation text scrolls up (as you'd expect) but then the game immediately dumps back to the desktop without any way of reading what happened or restoring a file! This constant reloading of the game is a real pain and lowers my rating by about 10%. AGT authors: please do not do this @+again! ~The SynTax version of Philip doesn't dump you to desktop @~because Neil Shipman fixed it!....Sue DIFFICULTY: HARD RATING: 50% THE PYRAMID OF MUNA (all STs) This is a better-than-average AGT game but it's quite easy. I'd recommend this to beginners if they wish to try an AGT game for the first time. There are some lovely descriptions and responses within the game. A well done AGT game indeed. DIFFICULTY: EASY RATING: 57% SON OF STAGE FRIGHT (all STs) This AGT game is the follow up to STAGE FRIGHT (I think) and is an average AGT game. It comes complete with an interesting mission/storyline, a fair range of puzzles but unfortunately it also comes with a myriad of bugs and a unfriendly parser. Shame, really. DIFFICULTY: MEDIUM/HARD (see above) RATING: 37% SHARDS OF TIME (all STs) - Budgie UK This game was once released commercially as I remember seeing it reviewed in ST Action way back in 1989! There is a good plot to this STAC'd game and some very difficult puzzles to keep the hardened adventurer (like me) occupied. There isn't that much of a vocabulary to speak of and the game has limited responses to non-correct inputs but it's a good game. The graphics are of a fair quality too. DIFFICULTY: HARD RATING: 72% BLACKSCAR MOUNTAIN (all STs) - Budgie UK Like SHARDS OF TIME this game was also a previous commercial STAC'd release. It's got the potential of being a super Dungeon & Dragons romp but it's let down by a couple of bugs (but not as many as the average AGT game has). There are lots of puzzles of varying difficulty and even some magic to get involved in. There's not as much in the way of text as I'd like to see due to the graphics. A fun game. DIFFICULTY: HARD RATING: 69% INVASION (all STs) This is another little STAC adventure, but this time with poor graphics. The plot is quite good but the inputs are a bit too precise for my liking. There are also too many sudden death routines for the sane adventurer. DIFFICULTY: MEDIUM/HARD (see above) RATING: 44% FROM LITTLE ACORNS... (all STs) - Budgie UK Another game from our very jolly Simon Brown but this time with a difference - it's a mouse controlled point 'n' click game. It runs in medium resolution (or mono), has lots of silly responses, completely "wacky" puzzles and daft characters wandering around. The only gripe I have with this game is that the list of verbs that you scroll through is not in alphabetical (or indeed any) order. This makes choosing your inputs a bit fiddly. A good try at something different. DIFFICULTY: MEDIUM/HARD RATING: 69% DEATH CAMP (all STs) - Budgie UK The first in a long line of Dave Blower adventures. This seems to be his first attempt. It is very bad indeed (bugs, spelling etc). Even Dave doesn't like people mentioning it to him. I doubt if he'd be annoyed at the rating I'll give it. I am shocked that Budgie actually took this on! DIFFICULTY: MEDIUM/HARD (see above) RATING: 12% THE VILLAGE (all STs) - Budgie UK Another Dave Blower game but this time it's better than DEATH CAMP. There are still bugs, spelling mistakes, poor parsing and a messy screen to contend with but at least it's not as bad as DEATH CAMP. Still not recommended, though. DIFFICULTY: MEDIUM/HARD (see above) RATING: 16% ENDDAY 2240 (all STs) @~Colin thought this was also from Budgie but it's actually a @~commercial game from Zenobi, now available through SynTax as @~licenceware. However, I left it in so as not to mess up his @~statistics at the end. Yes, this was reviewed in issue 12. I don't rate this game that highly but it's much much better than Dave's previous two games. There are some lovely graphics too! Still the same old story: bugs, poor parsing (especially at the start) and a lack of decent descriptions. Pity, as the scenario is a good one. DIFFICULTY: MEDIUM (see above) RATING: 38% DEAD OR ALIVE...? (all STs) - Budgie UK This is an excellent example of what a good adventure should be. It's written using STAC but you wouldn't know it! The author is one Kev Davis who, since this is his first STAC'd game, seems to have bucketfulls of talent. There are loads of puzzles (starting easy and getting harder), great responses, good parsing, many jokes (the whole scenario is one big joke) and a very polished front end. It plays almost like an Infocom game. If you are an adventure player then get this game! DIFFICULTY: MEDIUM RATING: 89% WIZARD'S TOWER (all STs) How this game managed to get itself voted onto the prestigious SynTax charts is beyond me! The text is poor, the graphics are poor and there are more bugs than somebody with lots of sticks could wave a stick at! The author has also managed to make the game immensely unfriendly to the beginner. I hope he's got better at writing adventures using STAC by now! DIFFICULTY: HARD (see above) RATING: 20% THE PAY OFF (all STs) I got this game because the review in ST Format gave it 87%. I don't agree with this rating. Although there are some lovely graphics and a number of good puzzles the fact that the spelling and grammar are so bad, the poor text and the number of bugs makes this game a poor one. DIFFICULTY: MEDIUM RATING: 37% OPERATION BLUE SUNRISE (all STs) Well, I may be slightly biased (seeing as I wrote it) but everybody who's seen this game has liked it. If you want an unbiased opinion then see issue 12. DIFFICULTY: EASY/MEDIUM RATING: n/a PARANOIA (all STs) This is a jolly attempt at a multiple-choice type of adventure. Although it's easy to complete the game it is quite funny. Limited but good for the beginner. DIFFICULTY: EASY RATING: 30% ONCE A KING (all STs) The only good thing that can be said about this game is that it comes with source code - presumably to prevent budding authors from making the same mistakes as whoever wrote this did. Makes a ZX81 adventure look interesting! DIFFICULTY: HARD (see above) RATING: 10% EL BOZO CITY (all STs) This first attempt at using a home-designed system by the German author is not good. An extremely bugged parser and input system, coupled with the shortness of the game itself, makes this a poor choice. DIFFICULTY: EASY RATING: 11% COLOSSAL ADVENTURE (all STs) This is a version of the very first adventure ever written. As such, don't play this if you like more than a two word input system or witty responses. Play it to see how far adventures have progressed. DIFFICULTY: MEDIUM/HARD RATING: 30% Well, that's it for THE Round-Up. I'll just finish by listing the games in order of rating: Operation Blue Sunrise 100% STAC (slightly biased, I think!) Dead or Alive...? 89% STAC Deep Space Drifter 88% TADS Shards of Time 72% STAC Blackscar Mountain 69% STAC From Little Acorns... 69% GFA Ditch Day Drifter 68% TADS Mercy Mission 58% GFA Pyramid of Muna 57% AGT Philip against Creation 50% AGT Tamoret 47% AGT Invasion 44% STAC Pork II 44% AGT House of O's 40% AGT Endday 2240 38% STAC A Dudley Dilemma 38% AGT Sir Ramic Hobbs 38% AGT Son of Stage Fright 37% AGT The Payoff 37% STAC Darkness is Forever 33% GFA Paranoia 30% GFA Colossal Adventure 30% PASCAL Fastlane 30% AGT Wizard's Tower 20% STAC The Village 16% STAC Death Camp 12% STAC El Bozo City 11% GFA Once A King 10% 68000 Some statistics: (excluding Blue Sunrise) STAC AGT GFA TADS OTHER OVERALL Mean 44.1 42.3 42.0 78.0 20.0 44.0 Standard Dev. 25.6 7.6 22.9 10.0 10.0 22.0 Therefore, I can say that TADS is the best system for writing adventures (assuming you can program in its language). Next is STAC, but there is a large spread of ability (a massive standard deviation!). AGT is next, those using AGT get roughly the same rating from me. Then comes GFA. Finally, the miscellaneous stuff. Thank you for your attention. If you've been "slagged off" then try and prove me wrong next time, eh? @~Well, do you agree with Colin's assessments or not? Why not drop @~me a line and give your comments?