16-bit Adventure Writing

                Contributed by Tim Kemp

I've been stirred into action by a letter I read in Chris Hester's
'Adventure Coder' fanzine (issue 19). The gist of the letter,
which came from Ian Eveleigh (who wrote The Lamberly Mystery on
the Spectrum) was that Ian was fed up waiting for someone to
produce a decent adventure authoring system for the 16-bit
machines. He complained, and quite rightly so, that GILSOFT had
abandoned us, or to be more precise don't seem to want to bother
doing 16-bit conversions of the PAW or even the QUILL. Yes, even
the QUILL would go down well, I think!

To me, it does seem a hell of a shame that GILSOFT no longer have
any plans to spread their marvellous adventure systems over more
formats. The last I heard was that the ST version of PAW was
nearing completion and an Amiga version would follow depending on
the success of the ST version ... that was a couple of years ago,
and still we wait.
I suppose you could petition GILSOFT, but would that do any good?
Or ... if there were enough people brave enough, we could all chip
in and commission a programmer to program a 16-bit adventure
writing system (or am I being too simplistic?).

Those aren't the only courses of action to take. There is one more
that should, in all reality, prove to have the strongest light
shining at the end of its tunnel .. I refer, of course, to
INCENTIVE SOFTWARE. Remember GAC? Course you do. GACed adventures
are still being written , and the same goes for games on its
16-bit incarnation - STAC! Now I'm not suggesting for one minute
that STAC/GAC appears on the Amiga or PC in its present form but
can you see any reason why a company like INCENTIVE shouldn't
develop it into something brilliant and then release it (via
DOMARK, presumably?) into what would be virgin territory. They'd
have the market cornered from day one as they'd have NO
competition whatsoever. Yes, I know there are one or two other
16-bit adventure writing systems lurking out there, but they
suffer from not having a programming 'team' working on them and
multi-thousand pound backing!

Let's look at the facts as I see them.

1. INCENTIVE (through DOMARK) are huge!

2. They have got GAC/STAC (which sold well in the past) to build
on and

3. They have already successfully marketed (via DOMARK) a product
that is, to all intents and purposes, totally useless and which
has an adventure-ish theme. I am referring to the 3D Construction
Kit.

Now DOMARK/INCENTIVE have decided to sell what is essentially the
same item in a version 2 format with a 'virtual reality' label
'tagged on' for good measure or, to be more precise, for good
marketing reasons - virtual reality being the current 'buzzword'
amongst the computer fraternity so is a good marketing ploy. From
the advertising blurb I've seen, the 3D Construction Kit version
2.0 doesn't even pretend to be anything other than a canvas on
which you can create a world you can fly or walk through. Can it
even create games? This means that if INCENTIVE can sell something
that has little use other than designing the ideal home in a
'virtual' setting then surely they'd have no problems promoting
something as useful as an adventure creation system in which you
get to design virtual worlds in any setting imaginable?
(Imagination being the only factor that limits what you can
possibly do with an adventure writing system).

The reason I call the 3D Con Kit 'useless' is because it is -
especially compared to something like GAC or STAC. Can those of you
reading this who have seen a 3D Con Kit game say it was any good?
Can those of you who are reading this who have bought the 3D Con
Kit say they have got much joy out of it, and wouldn't you much
rather have an adventure writing system to play around with
instead? Even though some 3D Con Kit games have made it to PD
libraries the PD reviewers in the glossies tend to say things
like: "This 3D Con Kit game is pretty much like all the other 3D
Con Kit games.". What that means is that they all look the same,
have limited game-play, limited appeal, limited lastibility and
will probably end up being used as a blank disk in the end. Nearly
all the 16-bit PD adventures, on the other hand, get good reviews.
Imagine Zenobi, Compass, Tartan, The Guild and River Software
adventures (to name but a few) being converted to Amiga, ST and PC
format! Great games would reach a new audience and immediately an
adventure construction kit (for want of a better INCENTIVE-like
title) would instantly be more attractive, more useful and more
marketable that the 3D Con Kit. Am I right or wrong? Look at how
well the QUILL and PAW sold. Look at how well an inferior system
like GAC sold (inferior to the PAW, at any rate). Wouldn't a well
designed 16-bit adventure writing system be a sure fire winner?

I've decided to write to INCENTIVE (c/o DOMARK) and see what they
have to say on the subject and I suggest that those of you who are
wondering why no adventure writing system has come from that
stable should do likewise. Perhaps they think adventure writing
(or playing) has a limited appeal? Perhaps they feel the future
lies in providing a utility that allows the user to put geometric
items on a screen and let the user pretend they are in a virtual
world? The best way to my mind to pretend you are somewhere else
is to play an adventure - not wander round a land of coloured
blocks getting bored out of your skull after the first five
minutes.

Tim Kemp - C.F.A.W.S. (The Campaign For a (16-bit) Adventure
Writing System)

@~I would be very surprised if any commercial software house would
@~bring out a text adventure creator now. As far as they're
@~concerned, the text adventure is dead, RIP, and last time I
@~spoke to Gilsoft, Howard Gilberts told me that Tim was very busy
@~with other things so I doubt 16-bit versions of PAW will ever
@~get finished.

@~However whatever machine you use, there are lots of utilities
@~available in the public domain or as shareware.  For the ST
@~there's Eamon, AGT, AGTBIG, TADS, STAWS and CAT. On the PC you
@~can choose between GAGS, TADS, AGT, AGTBIG, Adventure Writer and
@~Eamon. Not so much on the Amiga but there's still AGT, AGTBIG,
@~TACL and FRAC. On the Mac I only know of AGT and TADS. Many of
@~these produce portable game files making the finished adventure
@~available on several formats and increasing your final game's
@~potential market.

@~I don't think PD/shareware utilities should be dismissed just
@~because they don't have vast financial backing or a big
@~programming team.  There are some excellent games written with
@~them - look at the Unnkulian series, for instance, written with
@~TADS. Support shareware, try some of the packages, register if
@~you keep using them (it isn't expensive) and you'll find the
@~programs will keep being updated and improved as a result. But
@~the commercial software houses?  Sorry to be a pessimist but I'd
@~say forget 'em! They've certainly forgotten us ...  Sue