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2006-10-19
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.IF DSK1.C3
.CE 2
*IMPACT/99*
by Jack Sughrue
DISAPPEARING GAMES
.IF DSK1.C2
At one time you could get ZORK II
from INFOCOM. No more. It is one of
the great disappearing games of the
TI Era. What will be next? INFIDEL?
THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY?
WITNESS? ENCHANTER? Or the most
peculiar SUSPENDED?
Who knows?
But when these and the following
are gone from INFOCOM's stock, there
will be no more: DEADLINE, STARCROSS,
ZORK I && III, SORCERER, PLANETFALL,
and CUTTHROATS. This baker's dozen
of games from the most creative
adventuring minds in the computer
business are all that's left for the
99. And, while the price is still
around $45 on the average for the
IBM, Apple, and Commodore versions of
the same games, TI owners have an
opportunity to get them for $14.95
each. (Actually $16.95 each as it
costs an additional $2 per game for
shipping and handling, as it does for
IBM (for a total of $47). Let's say
you plan to get 10 of these
extraordinary (and very long) games.
For the TI - $169.50; for the others
- $469.50!
This is one of the best buys in
the industry. You could buy the
whole dozen for less than half a
dozen of the others.
Are they worth $46.95?
They sure do sell at that price.
And if you've ever played one of
the games (particularly with
friends), you will understand. Some
of the games take months. I have not
finished the Zork series which I
started four years ago.
With Infocom you don't just get
the two disk sides, you get a whole
environment. In HITCHHIKER, for
example, you got a space travel
booklet, aDON'T PANICbutton, a
handbook, a pair of very unusual
glasses, a microscopic space fleet,
and numerous other essentials.
DEADLINE includes all the clues the
detective uncovers in the process of
the investigation.
SUSPENDED has -
er, a sort of movement thingie like a
gameboard sort of and - uh - stuff.
You buy an environment. And you
play it a lot, get deeply involved
(forgetting the incessant crises of
reality), and, when finished (IF
finished), put it away for your
grandchildren. Each game is worth
playing again even after you've
achieved victory (or whatever it's
called in SUSPENDED) because there is
more than one way to skin the
Bugbladder Beast of Tral.
If you've never played an
adventure game of any kind, I'd
suggest you begin with the easiest
adventures you can find. They are in
many user-group libraries. Many of
them are poor, but they give you a
good idea of the process of play.
Next, move up to American Software's
series (Wizard's Dominion, Haunted
House, Stone Age, and so on, probably
starting with Aqua Base, the
easiest). These and the other series
can be ordered throught the standard
sources: Tenex, Triton, Texcomp.
Once you have worked through
these successfully, step up to Scott
Adams Adventures. In addition to the
old standbys (Pirate Adventure,
Voodoo Castle, The Count, Ghost Town,
Savage Island I && II, Adventureland,
Secret Mission, Strange Odyssey,
Mystery Fun House, Pyramid of Doom,
The Golden Voyage, and Ghost Town,
there are three relatively new
releases: Spiderman, The Hulk, and
Buckaroo Banzai. (There's also an
ADVENTURE EDITOR available to create
your own with the Adam's system -
and, of course, the expensive hint
books, which can be gotten for each
INFOCOM game, also.) You'll need the
cartridge (which is very INEXPENSIVE
these days) and cassettes or disks
with the games. Some of these
adventures are not easy. If they
were easy they wouldn't be worth
playing. But they are all fun.
Particularly if you CHANGE your way
of thinking. If you problem-solve in
fantastic ways you will succeed
readily. When something seems
impossible, try the impossible.
And be organized. Make maps,
take notes. Play the adventure with
others.
Then, if you still enjoy this
kind of adventuring, go to INFOCOM.
There are lots of graphics-type
adventures around, too. TUNNELS OF
DOOM adventures (also with a new
TOD EDITOR to create your own), OLD
DARK CAVES, the wonderful LEGENDS,
things like that. Excellent!
But
INFOCOM's and Scott Adams's are
strictly in the theater of the mind.
They are totally text adventures.
Nothing equals them.
They are novels in which YOU are
the main character. Called
"interactive fiction," they are the
mind-stretchingest literary computer
activities you can engage in.
Even kids like them.
But they have to be bright kids
and at least junior high age.
If worse comes to worse and you
get deeply stuck inside one of your
new INFOCOM worlds, you could always
come out and buy an Invisiclue Book
from INFOCOM that will let you
uncover inch-by-inch the method
needed to solve the particular
adventure you are working on. They
sell a lot of these books, but no one
of my adventuring acquaintance has
ever owned up to getting one of these
clue books. I certainly wouldn't use
them. (Heh, heh!)
There are also adventure columns
in many newsletters. These give lots
of clues or a map or a helpful hint
or two. (The best of this type of
thing is Australia's HUNTER VALLEY
99ers newsletter.
There are also many adventure
books. Some are just books of clues
and hints to MANY games (INFOCOM and
Adams included). Others go step by
step through the creation of your own
adventures. These, for the most part
are exceptionally good, COMPUTE's
being a tie with Tim Hartnell's as
the best.
Meanwhile, back at the adventure
plant, IFOCOM is up to something.
They have just released their
latest catalog. The prices (and the
games for TI while they last) are
good. However, a few more have
disappeared. This may be your last
opportunity to own these wonderful
"worlds".
To order send a check to INFOCOM,
PO Box 478, Cresskill, NJ 07626. Ask
to be put on their mailing list to
receive their zany newsletters (now
being sold as classics in packages
for $10). Give the title of the game
(see above). Be sure to specify that
these are for the TI-99/4A (as they
also make some for the TI
Professional) and pay $16.95 per game
(includes S && H). Or better still
to make sure there are still some of
what you want available, call your
credit card order at 1-800-262-6868.
Then if you make it to reasonable
safety [but not necessarily
reasonable sanity] aboard the Vogon
space ship you have to remember to
use your bathrobe to help catch the
babel fish for your ear. Otherwise,
you and Ford Prefect just might get
chucked into the vaccuum of space.
If you follow me.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
We here at IMPACT-99 headquarters
take no responsibilty for any loss of
marbles or looseness of screws
connected with the reader's
engagement with the INFOCOM loonies.
But we do wish we had a share in
the corporation.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Questions sent in by readers
(two: one from Iowa, one from
Connecticut):
WHERE CAN ONE GET THE
DIRECTIONS FOR WINGWARS?
Answer: I
don't know. Does anyone know where
to get WINGWARS? I think that's the
game that had a dragon flying through
gem-filled clouds and into mountain
caverns. I saw it years ago. I
can't remember where, but I still
recall it as having the best graphics
ever done for TI. Does anyone out
there have WINGWARS or know what the
directions are or where it can be
purchased?
DO YOU KNOW OF ANY GOOD CRIBBAGE
GAMES FOR THE TI?
Answer: Yes and
no. There are loads of cribbage
games for other computers, but way
back in the early days of 99er
magazine and even IUG there were a
few companies that offered cribbage
games for the TI. By the time I
started sending for some, the
companies had died. There are even
some listed in the first TI software
books of third parties. I sent
there, too, but never got answered.
Though there are lots of cribbage
buffs out there in TI Land (This is
the most-often requested game that no
longer exists for TI.), there is
presently no cribbage game available
anywhere. [Maybe check with Guy
Stefan Romano...] If anyone has a
cribbage game please let me know
where it can be had. However, Corey
Cheng (of TI music fame) has written
a cribbage game which is superb but
incredibly slow. I had a chance to
beta-test it a while ago, and it was
excellent. He says he's redoing it
for greater speed and is working on
the directions. Whenever this busy
genius (artist, mathematician,
violinist, student, computerist)
completes the project, I will
announce it in this column.
If any reader has a question you
think could be answered within this
column (or has an answer to questions
posed in this column) please write:
Jack Sughrue, Box 459, E.Douglas, MA
01516.
If any newsletter editor prints
these IMPACT/99 articles, please put
me on your mailing list. Thanks - JS
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