The InfoTaskForce Infocom Interpreter Version 4.01
==================================================

Amiga Release 1.10 by David Kinder
==================================

Fed up of the rather crude official Infocom interpreters? Annoyed that
Lost Treasures of Infocom II wasn't released for the Amiga? Then read on...

There have been several ports of Infocom interpreters to the Amiga, but
none of this program (ITF4.01). The interpreter supports v1, v2, v3 (Zork1
to Stationfall), v4 (Trinity, Bureaucracy, etc.) and v5 (Sherlock, Beyond
Zork etc.) games. This is more than any other freely distributable
interpreter. With this interpreter you can play ALL the games in the LTOI2
package for the IBM PC, by copying the datafiles with CrossDOS or similar,
then just running this interpreter. This program requires AmigaDOS2 or
higher to run.

Contrary to what I wrote in the Release 1.00 documentation, "Border Zone"
does work correctly. The clock runs internally in real time, but the
game waits until you enter a command before taking any action.

Amiga Features
==============

* Click on the "Infocom" icon then double-click on a game file icon to
  load and run that game.

* If the project icon "Icon.Data" is present in the same directory as
  "Infocom", saved game files have this icon when Infocom is used from
  the Workbench.

* The following can be added to the ToolTypes field of the "Infocom" icon
  (not game file icons):

    ATTRIBUTES	- equivalent to -a command line switch
    PRELOAD	- equivalent to -l command line switch
    NOPAGING	- equivalent to -p command line switch
    TRANSFER	- equivalent to -t command line switch

* If started from Workbench without a game file, scans the assignment
  INFOCOM: (and its sub-directories) for valid Infocom game files. To
  speed up scanning files are ignored if their name contains a ".",
  unless the filename ends in ".data".
  A list of all the games found will appear - click on the game you
  want to play and it will load and run. At the bottom of this list is
  a "Select with File Requester" gadget. Clicking on this gadget
  opens a file requester with which you can select the game to play.

* Sound support for "The Lurking Horror". Copy all the sound files to a
  subdirectory Sound in the directory containing the Lurking Horror data
  file, i.e.

	DataFiles/LurkingHorror		<- data file
	DataFiles/Sound/s*.dat		<- sound files
	DataFiles/Sound/s*.mid

* If asl.library is available, Infocom uses the file requester for
  Save/Restore operations. Default name is the name of data file, minus
  any extensions and with ".Save" appended.

* Pressing the Help key gives the game currently playing, its author and
  the difficulty level (where available).

* Screen opened clones the Workbench screen to use its size, resolution
  and fonts. If possible, screen is public, with name "Infocom". The type
  of screen appears in the "Help" requester.

* Scripting in "A Mind Forever Voyaging" works as it should. Since the
  Script command only failed to work correctly for this game, I assume
  that it is a bug in the datafile, so "Infocom" only handles scripting
  differently if it detects that the game has serial no. 850814. If you
  have any other version of AMFV, I would like to hear if scripting
  works or not.

Still To Do
===========

* Better command line editing and history.

* Make use of "Beyond Zork" graphics file.

* Proportional font support.

Finally
=======

This port was influenced by the Amiga version of "PInfocom", by Paul Smith
and Olaf Barthel (though all the Amiga code is my own), which gave me
ideas for the Workbench interface and information on the structure of the
"Lurking Horror" sound files.

The program was compiled with the GNU C compiler gcc 2.2.2, ported to the
Amiga by Davide Pasetto. I much prefer this version to the Wild port, as
it is useable on my 2Meg machine, and it doesn't require "ixemul.library".

If you find any bugs, please let me know. In particular, the program
contains an internal list of all release and serial numbers of released
games. If you have a game file which plays correctly, but its correct
title does not show up in the Workbench startup list or in the Help
requester, please tell me its release and serial numbers (obtainable with
the -h command line option).

Internet Email: kinder@teaching.physics.ox.ac.uk

History
=======

1.00	* First release.

1.10	* Added support for icon tooltypes.
	* If Workbench screen is larger than physical display, "Infocom"
	  screen is kept to size of physical display.
	* Saved games can have icons if "Icon.Data" present.
	* A "Strike any key to exit." prompt appears if there is text to
	  be read before the game quits.
	* Public screen opened if possible.
	* Save/Restore uses asl.library if available.
	* Better error reporting from Workbench.
	* Scripting in "AMFV" fixed.
	* Initial game list ignores files with ".#?" extensions except
	  ".data". List now also looks in sub-directories of INFOCOM:
	  for game files.
	* Initial game list has gadget to allow file requester to be
	  used to select the game file to load.
	* Lines of text longer than the screen are handled better.
	* Fixed problems with a Workbench output window appearing if
	  ConMan was running.
	* Input text is printed in a different colour to output.
	* Arrow keys now work (as used in "Beyond Zork").