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Text File | 1993-01-29 | 43KB | 886 lines

You're supposed to read this file first! Thorsoft of Letchworth presents... DENARIUS AVARICIUS SEXTUS (A Roman Graphical Adventure Game) version 1.6 by Mike, Mark and Thomas Thurman. (Welcome to the shareware world's first (as far as we know) graphical interactive adventure game about a Roman citizen with red hair.) The background """""""""""""" Back in good old A.D. 79, there lived a patrician Roman named Avaricius (Avvy to his friends.) He was about 26 years old and about six foot three. He had married a woman named Arkata, which was a mistake he lived to regret- she never stopped nagging him. His few slaves were so lazy he hardly ever saw them, except for one named Crapulus, who was always at least inebriated, if not downright drunk- apart from reading Avvy's mail (amazing! he could read) and doing the washing-up, he preferred to spend his time with an amphora of wine down at the "Canis et Anas" (his local.) (*) You'd think Avvy had problems enough. However, he also lived in a pleasant seaside resort you may have heard of, called Pompeii, and he was unaware that in a few hours' time he would be buried alive. Well, maybe. Perhaps, with the guidance of his guardian angel from the twentieth century (that's where you come in) he might escape both Arkata and the volcano. The date is... 24th August, A.D. 79. (*) = note for non-British players: "This is an English term, signifying a person's usual drinking establishment". The aim of the game """"""""""""""""""" To escape from Vesuvius (and Arkata.) The game """""""" Use the cursor keys (on the right of the keyboard) to move him about. If you want him to walk diagonally, use the key in between the two you need (e.g. use PgUp to make him walk up and right.) Enhanced keyboard users should, of course, use the numeric keypad arrows rather than the other ones if they wish to take advantage of this feature. And don't forget to switch NumLock off (if it's on), else you'll just get a lot of numbers on the command line. You may also use the mouse. See under "Say cheese..." for more information. Keys """" (Not the sort that open doors. Keyboard keys.) Suppose you want to open a door. (Some doors are already open, so you can just walk through them. Most doors at the bottom of the screen are like this, as are some others.) If the door is closed, type in "open door" (with no inverted commas around it, of course) and hit Enter. The game will respond "Okay!". See that "Okay!" message? It came up in a scroll. These are just to let you know what's going on. To get rid of one, hit Enter (Esc also works, or the plus key.) (Something else to note: to get a list of everything you're holding, you can type "inventory" (or "inv" for short) but it's much easier to press Ctrl-I (or even just Tab (for new users: Tab is that key with the one or two arrows on just above either Ctrl or Caps Lock. (It depends on your keyboard. (Brackets' revenge!))))) If you really like choosing things from menus instead of typing commands, you may prefer the menu interface. This is brought up by pressing Esc, or the / key (like spreadsheets.) Choose an option using the up, down, Home and End keys. Hit Enter, or +, when you've got the right one. Use Esc to get rid of a menu. This doesn't actually replace the command interface, as you must use it to enter passwords, etc, and some puzzles are impossible to solve using the menu interface alone because that would be TOO EASY. (which you don't want, do you?! :-) ) Also, f7 & f8 change the background colour. You can make the screen really abhorrent if you're into that kind of thing :-) :-), but the main use for these two keys will be if and when the CGA version comes out (it almost certainly won't) because CGA monochrome can get VERY boring... f2 toggles (nice word, that) the sound on or off, so that you won't wake up your spouse or significant mother-in-law when you play Avvy in the small hours. (Ever wondered why they're called the small hours? They're all made up of minutes!) (Minute, get it? Small- Oh, never mind...!) :-) ;-) :-) OK, here's a small tip: The parser is of the old-fashioned two-word type (you know the sort, KILL AXE, THROW DWARF and so on.) (The sequel will (of course) have a superwhizzy parser, but that's beside the point right now. (NB: this is not vapourware, I have actually written that part of the sequel's code already! (So you ask: Why isn't it included in Avaricius? Because it'd be more trouble than it's worth, stripping out the old code and replacing the new in the parser unit, I reply. I also digress.))) The only major problem with this is as follows: if you use any pronoun (a word that stands in for a noun, like HIM, HER, IT, THEM, etc.), then the computer will consult its list of people in the current room and decide you mean the first one. For example, in the pub the first name is Sinistrus. If you were to type GIVE POTION TO HIM, meaning Romulus, the computer would decide you meant Sini, EVEN IF it was totally and utterly obvious who you meant. Moral: Avoid pronouns- this particular piece of software is not a mindreader! Say cheese... """"""""""""" How to use Avvy with a mouse: The left button is the same as Enter, the right is the same as Esc. Moving the mouse in any one of the eight directions is just like pressing that cursor key, so a light touch in that direction is ALL that's really needed. The mouse is ENTIRELY optional: you may use it if the driver's installed but you don't have to, and you may just use the cursor keys, etc., as normal. You can see if the mouse is installed, because one of the scrolls at the start will be mouse information. Use the right key to enter the menu system (from the prompt), and when there use the left key to select and the right key to cancel. You may lose a scroll by clicking on either side (?!) and if you are asked a "yes/no" question, you can use the left key for yes and the right key for no. If your mouse switches between 3-key and 2-key (MS compatible) mode, like ours used to, leave it on the same setting throughout the game, or it will start sending silly messages to the computer. This is actually true for quite a lot of programs. Actually, it's far easier to use Avvy with the keyboard, but some people prefer mice. However, I'm working on a solution which is more or less fixed now and it'll appear in the sequel. Meanwhile, the keyboard will remain easier to use than the bewhiskered rodent. Saving and loading """""""""""""""""" Type "save" or "load". This is useful if you should get struck by lightning, or something- you can just reload. (Yes, you CAN get struck by lightning!) You will be asked to enter a filename. (Usually a good idea is to name it with your name plus a number (e.g. "MARVIN1". This will save a file called "MARVIN1.ASG" in the current directory.)) You will then be asked to describe your file. Don't say something stupid like "a game file"- that's obvious! Your comment will be saved in the file, and displayed when you reload the game, although you don't have to give a comment if you don't want to. Typing in "DIR" will give a list of .ASG files in the current directory. "DIR B:" will give all .ASG files on drive B:, etc. New feature for version 1.6! If you have a file called, say, LUGGAGE2.ASG, then typing "luggage2" on the command line will cause it to be loaded automatically at the start of the game. This also works for directories, e.g. you could say "avvy d:\games\avvy\argent7" to load the file "d:\games\avvy\argent7". (You can include .ASG at the end of the filename, if you want, or you can leave it out. It doesn't matter.) Lion through your Teeth... """""""""""""""""""""""""" "Avaricius" contains an integrated shoot-'em-up. I know it's not exactly "Galaga", but never mind. The game should be self-explanatory. Please note that the keys are: "A" = Up "Z" = Down "Enter" = Fire (You are bound to get eaten while playing this. Let's hope that the gods of Olympus are on your side. (Jupiter? No, she went of her own accord. (?))) (An almost total refix of this routine for v1.6 means that it will run at a reasonable speed on all computers, hopefully, and also you can actually win this, which was impossible on previous versions (aaargh, what a stupid bug!)) (Remember that you need to kill 7 or more lions to continue with the game. (It's easy, there's a knack to it. When you've got the knack you can always knock over lions, which goes to prove the old saying: Pride goeth before a fall...)) (Well actually, it's "Pride goeth before destruction and an haughty spirit before a fall." Proverbs 16.18, KJV.) (Just thought I'd mention it.) Brand loyalty """"""""""""" At the start of the game, on the loading screen, is the message: "[Unregistered Evaluation Copy]". This is known as a brand. It is embedded within the program. When you register, please specify 5 1/4" or 3 1/2" disk. (We can supply high density or low density 5 1/4", and high density 3 1/2".) We will then send you an up-to-date copy of "Avaricius", branded with your name, together with a review copy of another Thorsoft game (currently "Spellchick" v1.11). ALL THIS FOR ONLY 8 QUID / 15 BUCKS REGISTRATION FEE!!! Also we'd appreciate it if you told us where you obtained your copy of Avvy (it's probably written at the end of PEDIGREE.DOC if you've forgotten!) Environmental Considerations """""""""""""""""""""""""""" This game is environmentally friendly. It doesn't damage the ozone layer, it has never in tests been shown to pollute the Irish Sea with radioactive substances, and it was NOT tested on animals (they don't like the jokes anyway.) Furthermore, 97% of the jokes used in this release were recycled. The next game in the series """"""""""""""""""""""""""" Would you like to know what happened to him when he DID get out? (assuming you managed it.) Well, you won't have long to wait! Coding for the sequel is now well under way, and I think it should be finished in about mid-1993. When we've finished it, we'll send a review copy to all registrants, who'll be able to register the next game for MUCH less than non-registrants of this game... Who borrowed all the giraffe's paperclips? """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Just to check if you're still reading. I'm glad to see that you are. (What would be the point of me sitting here typing all this if you weren't?) File logging """""""""""" If you want to remember your progress through Pompeii, work out where you went wrong, and so on, you can redirect output to a file thus: Instead of: avvy type: avvy <SPACE> = <SPACE> filename.ext e.g.: avvy = memo.txt Of course, you can also redirect output to a DOS device: "avvy = prn" copies all the info to the printer on LPT1: (for parallel printers. If yours is serial, use "avvy = aux" instead.) The only device you can't log to is "con", which is the screen. This would really muck up the screen display if you could (I tried it.) To see whether it is or not, a "\" is printed first, then checked to see if it's on the screen or not. If it is, the log file is terminated. >Lines beginning with a prompt character are what you typed. "Lines beginning with an inverted comma are what the computer replied. (Bracketed lines are "stage directions"; e.g. "The game was restarted.") (You may also use /q on the command line to hush Avvy up and prevent your boss's wrath from flaring up if she hears the strains of "The King of the Beoetians" floating across the office.) Setup """"" I thought, let's make Avvy look more like a useful program so that people won't think it's a game. So, unlike most games (but, yes, I can think of some that do, as well as us) Avvy has an Install routine. And also, new for version 1.6, there is a Setup program. You type (er...) SETUP to run it. It's pretty self-explanitory, but I'll just point out (since people get annoyed if you don't tell 'em what's going on) that you can use a mouse if you want, you use the up & down keys to select an option, Return to change it and choose the bottom two to save & quit, or quit without saving, respectively. There's a minor undocumented option on Avvy: /z skips the tune & "This is shareware" scrolls at the start. Hang on, I've just told you, so it's not undocumented! Shift-PrtSc """"""""""" There is a screen-dump routine built into Avvy. Press Shift-PrtSc to activate it. (Not on the "Back in good old..." or loading screens.) It unhooks itself from Int 5 when you leave the program. (Sorry if I'm confusing you...) Use the option /n on the command line to stop the program hooking Int 5. This is in case you own one of those super-whizzy EGA screen dump programs which are slightly less naff... sorry, more well-polished... than our built-in one. (Thanks to Mark, who designed the colour shading on the dump. Great.) The /n option is also useful if you haven't got an Epson-compatible and are using a special screen-dumping routine. NB: Epson-compatible is as Epson-compatible does, as the old saying goes (I think.) It works fine on our Panasonic KX-P1080. Whether it does on your Epson- compatible, or even on your Epson, is only discoverable by you, as clones vary a lot. I should think it probably would, but you never know. For power users. """""""""""""""" Some power users who have '286s or above may think you'll need to have the program slowed down slightly for your computer's "brain the size of a planet"! However... there is a routine which reads the system clock and slows your computer down accordingly! Clever, huh? Those of you with the tortoise-compatible 4.77Mhz XT's will have to grin and bear it, sorry. Avvy T-Shirts! """""""""""""" This is (at the moment) just an idea. We know where we could get them from, but we want to know that our users have some support for the game. They would probably cost just over a fiver each plus p&p. (You never know, we might get some sweatshirts, baseball caps, etc, too if people want them.) Let us know if you're interested. Of course, this is ONLY for the registrants. Our advice to non-registrants is: register! Your boss is coming! """""""""""""""""""" OK, you can look back to the screen now, I was only joking. But suppose he (or she) WAS coming? With Avvy you're prepared. Just hit ^B or alt-B and then Enter and you will get a nice graph showing spring sales for the first quarter. (There's an option on the menu that does this, too.) If you watch it, you'll see why it was for "spring"! Esc gets you out of this and back to your game when SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed) has gone elsewhere. You may press any key to pause the graph, so it looks slightly more conventional. File extensions """"""""""""""" The following special filename extensions are used here (apart from .EXE, .DOC and .ME, which should be fairly obvious!). AVD = AVvy Data file. Nothing interesting to you here, only to the game. TRP = "TRiPpancy". Also, uninteresting to you! ASG = Avvy Saved Game (the saved positions) BGI = Borland Graphics Interface- needed for EGA. HST = High Score Table. If it's not there, it's created. CFG = ConFiGuration- holds your choices from SETUP. and ICO = Windows Icon Format (see below...) How was it done? """""""""""""""" Good question. The pictures were almost all drawn by Mark Thurman, and the code was written by Thomas Thurman in Turbo Pascal 5.5, on an Opus PC IV Turbo with EGA and an AMS mouse (and some bits of it on a super shiny 386sx from Olympic Technology... but that's another story.) Mike Thurman bought Turbo (and the computers) in the first place. Thanks to Mike, Liz, Mandy and Andrew for support and suggestions of what we could do. (If you see a dud picture it was probably drawn by me (Thomas). I'm no artist- I got kicked out of Art at school. Sorry. Next time a higher percentage of the pictures will be by Mark. (NB: Most of my pictures have now been tidied up by Mark, anyway.)) The finished .EXE file was compressed using the brilliant public-domain utility "LZEXE" by Fabrice Bellard. NB: Hands off the files. Anyone who is discovered to have mucked around with *ANY* of the Avvy files (apart from PEDIGREE.DOC, of course) will have their registration terminated and we will NEVER EVER EVER let them re-register! So there. You have been WARNED. Oh, yes... Virtually all of the places in this game actually existed in towns such as Pompeii, but not necessarily exactly as we've shown them or in that order. We tried to make it fairly historically accurate, but if you discover anything that doesn't fit, take it as surrealism... (halibuts wear sunglasses...) "Special Thanks In This Version" go to Cameron Grant, who gave us some incredibly useful code for accessing the screen directly. Hey, everybody... buy his game!!! It's called Domination. You can get it on CompuServe, from the PCPlus forum. No, he didn't tell me to write that! It was all of my own accord! And it's also supported on Paradise City (see below). Just go to the Icarean Dreams section. For all you players who don't believe that the game's possible (if there are any), here's some news. As far as we know, the first person who won the game without any help from us at all was: GUY BREWSTER of BUCKINGHAM Congratulations! Actually, I think I'll put a part like this in all the games I write in future, saying who won the game first, and then I can see if I'm making them too easy (eg if someone wins it in three days, it's too easy. Six months and it's too hard! (But I don't think I could write one that difficult! :-) )) How about support? """""""""""""""""" Fine. You can 'phone us and ask about the game, or write to us, but if you want hints about puzzles, you'll have to be registered- more info pending on registration! (Of course, anyone who wants can ask us technical questions or tell us how much they love/hate/enjoy the game.) If you want, you can also send us messages on our support area on Paradise City, or on Compuserve... see below... When I'm Cleaning Windows.... """"""""""""""""""""""""""""" Right... here it is for 1.6, the definitive guide on How to Run Avvy Under Windows. Avvy is, of course, a DOS program, and so won't run under Windows (until whenever I have the time to rewrite the whole thing.) (I'd prefer to get it out on other computers first before I did a Windows version, anyway, because it CAN be run from Windows... listen carefully and you'll discover how...) (By the way... I really like the way you can run loads of programs at once under Windows. A rather nifty way of taking advantage of this ability is to go into the Notepad, choose File/Open/c:\avvy\avvy.doc (or wherever you've put this file) and then choose Search/Find, and type "asymptote" or "jellyfish", both of which will get you to this place in the document!) Right, OK, here we go. There are two icons included: AVVY.ICO, for the file AVVY.EXE, and SETUP.ICO, for... surprise surprise... SETUP.EXE. Mark drew both of them. (Tinker around with .PIF files until they work! :-) ) You use these files as follows: 1) Go into Program Manager. (Not too difficult, because it's usually the first program loaded!) 2) Using the Window menu, select the Games group (or wherever you want to put it.) 2) From the File menu, choose New... 3) Select OK from the New Program Object dialogue box, then use Browse to select AVVY.EXE (or you can type in its path and filename, if you want.) 4) Rather important: Change "Working Directory" to c:\avvy (or wherever), because otherwise Avvy won't be able to find its .AVD and .CFG files! 5) Select Change Icon... Windows will give you an annoying message about Program Manager. Select OK to get rid of the message box, then type in "c:\avvy\avvy.ico" (or wherever Avvy is located) and press Enter twice. 6) Get out of the Program Item Properties dialogue box by selecting "OK". Voila! (And voici!) A picture of our hero appears with "Avaricius" written beside him. If you want to include Avvy Setup in the Games group too, follow a similar process to the one above, except that the icon's called setup.ico, and after step 5, remember to change Description to "Avvy Setup" (because otherwise it'll be called "Setup", which is rather vague...) Now, there's also another neat trick you can do with Avvy and Windows together. It involves File Manager. Do the following: 1) Load File Manager. (It's probably in the Main group. (Look for a little picture of a filing cabinet and double-click on it. Got it? Good! (Hey, nobody can accuse us of not being user-friendly...))) 2) Here goes... From the File menu, choose "Associate...". 3) You should now have a dialogue box on your screen called "Associate". In the space marked "Files with extension:" type "ASG" (without the quotes, of course.) Then, click on the box marked "Associate with:", delete "[None]" and replace it with "c:\avvy\avvy.exe" (or wherever you've put your copy of Avvy!) Then click on "OK". 4) Now, this is the fun bit. Find yourself an .ASG file somewhere, using File Manager. If you can't find one, run Avvy and save one, then exit, and get back to File Manager. (Isn't multi-tasking fun?!) Now... double click on the .ASG file's name in the File Manager window, and... Ta Daaaaaa... Avvy will load, with the specified .ASG file, all ready to go! (This process will make .ASG files appear with some lines drawn on paper beside their names in the File Manager listing. This is because .ASG files are now set up as documents associated with AVVY.EXE. Funny kind of documents, but there you are.) Note that I haven't been able to get Avvy (or Setup for that matter) to run in a window in '386 enhanced mode. Come to think of it, I haven't been able to get anything to do that. Everything runs fine until you try to put it into a window, and then it starts playing up. That's why I said that you may need to tinker around with .PIF files. (Well, it adds to the fun of the game for some people...) If you managed it, drop me a line and tell me how. Also, do that if you've managed to run Avvy under something unusual (like DesqView, SoftPC, any PC emulator...) so that I can tell the world that it works. You never know, you might get your name in the doc file! But no promises... I'm not uploading an updated version to all the boards that Avvy's on just for one change in the docs! (More likely it'll be changed, and then afterwards, when some major change happens, it'll be included along with that.) If you want to save space and you're not using either of them, you can delete the .ICO files, of course. "Register, or your..." """""""""""""""""""""" Several shareware programs give the following cheerful message at the end: "Register, or your conscience will haunt you for the rest of your life." We decided to cheer this up a bit, by making a few improvements! What on earth is a "pedigree?" """""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Check the file PEDIGREE.DOC. This contains a list of names. The first one will be the name of a member of Thorsoft. This person will have given it to a friend, a bulletin board or a shareware library, etc., and this recipient will put their name down as no.2. Whoever gets it next will be no.3, and so on. This file doesn't have to be completed, but it's nice if you do (of course, you can use a nickname like "Cowboy" or "Mouse", or something). You should also add your rough geographical location (eg Letchworth, Tewkesbury, New York or whatever.) It's then possible to see where on earth (literally) that copy of the program's been. How to put your name into PEDIGREE.DOC: (You'll need a copy of Yoshi's program LHArc to modify the archive.) a) Add your name and so on to the end of the file. b) Type: lha a avvy pedigree.doc (add paths as necessary, e.g. c:\tools\lha a c:\down\avvy c:\avvy\pedigree.doc Try to use the same copy of the archive that you originally obtained.) c) When LHArc has finished doing this, type: lha s avvy If LHArc asks you whether you want to replace the archive, type "y". It should now work! Revision history """""""""""""""" ver.no. date comments 1.60 July 1992 A bug (or four or five or six) were fixed. Firstly, you can't (and long clone pictures of Avvy by walking into the right-hand overdue) wall of Lupus's house any more! Secondly, the trippancy system was upgraded to v.4 (I pinched the routines from the source code to the sequel... which proves I *am* writing it!) Thirdly, the command line load option was added (see above), and fourthly, you can now restore to the catacombs without the doors disappearing! Fifthly, the Caecilius clue code in the forum has been cleared up. Sixthly and lastly (let's hope), keystrokes on the credits screen are now checked directly, rather than at the end of the chord(?!), so if you press Space first, you don't get "Thorsoft o" written before it loads. Many thanks to Guy Brewster for his Constructive Criticisms, which helped to improve v1.60- they're much appreciated! Another thing is that this was the first version to come in a self-extracting .EXE file on both the disks and (most) BBSs. (Formerly we used .LZH files on the disks and .ZIP files on the boards, which wasted space & time because .LZH files are smaller. So we're using .EXE files prepared from .LZH files now. On boards that don't allow .EXE files, we're using .LZH.) Also... (I'm adding to the end of this list as I fix 'em) there is a new routine called SETUP, described elsewhere in this document, and also the old Salvete! routine has been upgraded to Salvete II, called INSTALL.EXE, on the distrubution disks, because the old one i) required *no* write-protection, which annoyed (some) libraries, and ii) because it had some annoying defects (like not being able to install to a directory that already existed.) Also you can now type IN to go through a door, and I thought that the nag screen wasn't naggy enough, so, in true Arkata style, there is an annoying delay on it when you exit the program. Of course, it's removed on registration... *** HEAVY HINT! *** Speaking of Arkata, she now turns her head when she nags you (with full sound effects), and when Avvy's asleep, you can see his feet under the bedclothes. (In previous versions I chopped them off at the knee, for some reason.) Also a support section on Paradise City was set up (see below,) and the documents were revised, most notably to include the disclaimer (which applied implicitly to the other versions as well, but I thought I'd better put it in (because I read about it in PC Shareware Magazine!)) This is actually such a major revision that I was thinking of calling it ver 2.0, but then I thought, Nah! What the heck! And having thought that, I continued to fiddle around with the code. So there we are. The branding routines were changed (again), and Sinistrus now has a footsteps sort of sound effect when he walks. Also the lions sequence was overhauled, especially the slowdown routines (which now work.) Also, idiotic bug of the century: The lions procedure called the "you've killed all the lions" routine after killing 30 lions. What I failed to notice was that there are only 24 lions in the arena! This was changed within seconds of my winning the game and then discovering it didn't work. Also a few more effects were added to the lions-win routine, not that this matters, because obviously you couldn't see it it other versions! Plus (I'm not beginning yet another paragraph with "also"), Didymus cannot be talked to when he's gone away (you could keep talking to him in other versions, which got you 10 points each time!) Also Gedalodava is now finally (let's hope) fixed, in that she's slowed down with the rest of the program, and leaves no traces behind her. Some boundaries were fixed, the annoying "You can't do that here, Avvy" was changed to "You can't do that right now, Avvy", which I think explains it better. A few scrolls changed too. I hope this is the final revision... (September 1992: Big changes to AVVY.DOC, and added PARADISE.DOC and FILE_ID.DIZ. I didn't think that that was important enough to warrant a change in version number, though, 'cos the programs themselves aren't changed, just the documentation.) (October 1992: Discovered by accident that I'd made a mistake typing in the CIS number at the end of the document. It should be 100021,3440 not 3441. Sorry to everyone concerned, if there was anyone...) (January 1993: Added PsL info, and fixed the spelling of the word "Icarean".) 1.50 Mar 1992 One or two bugs fixed: firstly, the lions now have to get closer to kill you than before, and secondly, Gedalodava's legs no longer get left behind at a certain part of the game (can't tell you where, it would give away clues!) Also you fall down the crack when you reach it, not about six feet beforehand, like in previous versions! One or two titchy other ones eliminated, too. Oh, yes, saying "hello" no longer gets you struck by lightning... 1.40 Jan 1992 Various shoot-'em-up bugs fixed, also another interesting little one- did you know that in 1.30 & below if you walked where Didymus was he reappeared? Also, in previous versions only registrants were allowed to win. In the interests of goodwill and the shareware ethic, this "feature" has now been permenantly disabled. See below. Plus, the bug that has plagued us since almost the beginning has been fixed! Gedalodava no longer leaves shadows on the screen. (Would you believe, just one variable was wrong? I set it to False, and hey presto! it worked.) Oh yes, the three versions prior to 1.40 claimed to be v1.10 in the saved files. A flash of lightning has been added on MOAG PLC's report, also a proper keyboard sink, and the writing effect has been speeded up. "Talk to him" now works everywhere, even with Didymus (it didn't before.) Also, for some reason all previous versions gave the menu option "talk to Gedalodava" in the harbour. That's now fixed. Anything else...? 1.30 Dec 1991 Three Little Bugs sorted out- if you left your house, turned round and then walked straight back in again, you hung the computer up! This is now fixed, of course. Also a small error with the wall outside the Treasurer's house, and a bug where if you DIR'd a non-existent drive it caused a run-time error. 1.20 Oct 1991 Fixed an annoying bug which hung the game up if you went anywhere near the amphitheatre! (Thanks to Ken Hughes for pointing this out.) Also one or two minor ones. 1.10 Sep 1991 Cleared up minor bugs: incorrect version no. on title scroll, slight error on Sinistrus's walking, one joke changed, proper branding routines implemented, and one or two other slightly annoying, very minor, bugs. 1.00 Aug 1991 First ever... This is version 1.60. (We've scrapped the /E/E business, at least for the moment, as it was confusing. Versions for any other kit will have letters attached to their numbers (eg for the Cray, ver 1.60c. (No, there won't be a Cray version!!!))) In the interests of goodwill to all men and all that, we have commented out the lines that let only registrants win (from v1.40 onwards). Henceforth, anyone can. ("Spellchick" has never had this restriction.) If you are playing an older version for some reason (which is to say versions 1.00 to 1.30), give whosoever it is a copy of this version! If you know of any bugs in the current release, please tell us. Then you can get it out of your system, and we can get it out of ours. (old joke...) Trademarks """""""""" Some of the words used in this release are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners (who else?). Just so you'd know... Cast List """"""""" Denarius Avaricius Sextus : our hero Arkata : his wife Crapulus : his slave Wynsellus : another slave (who's never around) Gaius Lupus Malus : a rival of Avvy's Compactus Discus Romulus : an old friend of Avvy's in the army Titus Nervus Pecunia : a worried official Gedalodava : a very beautiful slave girl! Sinistrus : a left-handed barman Julius Selfimportantius Noxius : a big-headed guard Didymus Spluduicius Hicesse : someone who got on the wrong side of Lupus Gaius Quicphingus Haruspicis : a sly soothsayer (with a secret identity... wait until the sequel to find out who he is!) AND... a star guest appearance from an Olympian god... (plus his guest) Reviews """"""" "...You may even be treated to a few corny but amusing jokes! The best part of the game has to be the droll conversation between Avvy and his friends. Searching the screens for clues and trying out the various commands is also good fun. I did, however, find it very difficult, when fighting the lions, to control my side of the battle... perhaps you'll do better. ...I would recommend it as an addition to your library." PC Shareware Magazine, February 1992, p.42. (The problem with the lions was that the slowdown routines didn't apply to that part of the game, so with anything faster than an 8086 it became almost unplayable. Yes of course I've fixed it!) "Brothers Thomas and Mark Thurman have had a hard year's work... Avvy, the game's hero, is in pursuit of his ultimate goal... He is impeded by the power of the taxman and the temptations of the vine, but if, in helping him in his quest, you lose the ultimate battle and die, you go to heaven and have your life evaluated by the gods!!" HiFiW3, January 24th 1992, No. 735 "Uniquely funny and droll British humour here." The Software Source To sysops, vendors, et al """"""""""""""""""""""""" Everyone: please distribute in the original archive. Sysops: please use the filename AVVY160.EXE for this sfx archive. Both sysops and vendors: do us a favour and TELL us you're distributing Avvy! (Vendors, send us the copy of your catalogue that has us in... and updates, for that matter.) If you do this, we'll send you a copy of the sequel when it's finished. Also, please don't forget to add your name, etc., to the pedigree file. (BBSs and libraries are welcome to include a short plug for themselves in this file, as long as it's not more than about five or six lines long!) If anyone can get this game reviewed in a magazine, go ahead. Even better, go ahead and then tell us about it, we'd love to know. Even better still, go ahead, and then send us a copy of the magazine! (Please note: the full title of this game is "Denarius Avaricius Sextus", but the *short* title is "Avaricius." It should therefore come under the A's in an alphabetical listing, rather than the D's. If that's any trouble, just call it "Avaricius" in the listings. Just for the sake of standards...) Disclaimer """""""""" Oi! You've gotta read this! (By convention it must be written entirely in CAPITALS, for some reason...) "AVARICIUS" IS LICENSED "AS-IS." THORSOFT OF LETCHWORTH ("THORSOFT") MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, WITH RESPECT TO THIS PROGRAM, ITS QUALITY, PERFORMANCE, MERCHANTABILITY, OR FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN PARTICULAR, IT IS NOT GUARANTEED TO PREVENT OR DETECT DAMAGE TO YOUR DATA OR PROGRAMS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THORSOFT BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIMS FOR LOST PROFITS OR ANY DAMAGE, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR ANY OTHER DAMAGE. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. IN NO CASE SHALL THORSOFT'S LIABILITY EXCEED THE LICENCE FEES PAID FOR THE RIGHTS TO USE THE LICENSED SOFTWARE. THE LICENSE AGREEMENT SHALL BE CONSTRUED, INTERPRETED AND GOVERNED BY THE LAWS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. (RIGHT, NOW I THINK I'LL SWITCH CAPS LOCK OFF ANd get on with the documentation...) **** Registration! **** """"""""""""" This is NOT free software. We decided to distribute it as shareware because we believe we can trust you. If you don't register we have no incentive to continue writing games. (Even if you don't like them, we must get better!) Go on, restore our confidence in you. This game costs 8 pounds sterling, or 15 US dollars (posting to the USA is expensive, you know!) You must have bought more expensive software than that! Our address is: Thorsoft, 71, Baldock Road, Letchworth, Herts SG6 3JP, Great Britain. Make cheques payable to L.V. Thurman. Thanks! (In light of recent confusions... L.V. Thurman is Liz Thurman, who is respectively our mother, wife and mother.) (The V stands for... no you'll never believe it... well... yes... it's... VALERIE!!!!!!!) Cheques must be in UK funds, drawn on a UK bank. If you want to register in your native currency, that's OK. If it's not sterling, work out how much US$15 is in your currency. Then, send EITHER the currency itself in banknotes (like $15 in $5 bills) or an international money order (you can get these from most post offices), payable to L.V. Thurman. This is because it would cost us more than the value of a (non-sterling) cheque to clear it! So we can only accept personal cheques in sterling. (Sorry.) HOWEVER... users who want to order by credit card can do so. See PsL information, below. Site licences are £10 sterling plus 50p per computer (or US$20 plus US$1 per computer), if you want a site licence. Certain nameless companies in the City of London have, I hear, been using alleged copies of a certain nameless game that may, at first sight, bear a vague resemblance to Avvy. Well, now's your chance to get a LEGAL clone. (This is only if you've got loads of computers (over 5), otherwise, the standard registration is OK.) If you're on Compuserve, type GO SWREG at any ! prompt (or press Ctrl-G and type SWREG from the CIM desktop) to register. I don't *know* that this works, 'cos nobody's done it yet, but knowing Compuserve it probably will! You can also register a whole lot of other people's products using this service, so it's pretty useful. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- *** IMPORTANT NOTICE FOR CREDIT CARD USERS! *** CREDIT CARD ORDERS ONLY - You can order with MC, Visa, Amex, or Discover from Public (software) Library by calling 800-2424-PsL or 713-524-6394 or by FAX to 713-524-6398 or by CIS Email to 71355,470. You can also mail credit card orders to PsL at P.O.Box 35705, Houston, TX 77235-5705. THE ABOVE NUMBERS ARE FOR ORDERS ONLY. Any questions about the status of the shipment of the order, refunds, registration options, product details, technical support, volume discounts, dealer pricing, site licenses, etc., must be directed to Thorsoft at the addresses or numbers below. To ensure that you get the latest version, PsL will notify us on the day of your order and we will ship the product directly to you. When you order, please quote Avvy's item number: ---> 10766 <--- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you want to contact us, you can e-mail us on: Ebby: SEND your message to Thomas Thurman. CompuServe: send to Mike Thurman, number 100021,3440. Internet: send to "100021.3440@compuserve.com". SSBBS: send to Thomas Thurman. (SSBBS is on (0442) 890807.) Computer Pages: send to Mike Thurman, 275024. (CP is on (081) 893-7700.) Or... * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The official Thorsoft support board is: * * * * * PARADISE CITY * * * * * Reading (0734) 786408. * * From outside UK: +44 734 786408. * * (Direct dial from USA: 011 44 734 786408 (I think), * * but watch out for your bill if you dial a 14-digit number!) * * * * Sysop: Robert Elmes * * Co-sysop: Charles Edwards * * * * Up to V32bis! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * To reach the Thorsoft section on this board, get onto the main menu (after you've filled in the questionnaire), and then press: S - for Sigs, Cugs and Support E - for Thorsoft (yes, I know) You can now leave a message to me, or download the latest versions of Thorsoft programs. (To send a message REALLY quickly, you can write it before you log on using flat ASCII, and upload it using Zmodem.) (Yep sure thang me man.) (Oh yes, hi there to everyone on Ebby!) (In case your printer doesn't support it, this sign, £, is the pound sign. (Windows Write shows it as an "oe" dipthong, for some reason.)) (This game comes to you from Letchworth, the Land of the Black Squirrels, the First Garden City- a town where there's only one street!) Io!