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1986-10-25
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* Winner of GAGS adventure game contest announced
Date: October 23, 1986
WINNER OF ADVENTURE GAME CONTEST ANNOUNCED
------------------------------------------
Douglas Asherman, of Oakland, California, has won the
first Official GAGS Game Contest, sponsored by Mark J. Welch,
author of the Generic Adventure Game System*. Asherman's game
is called "Alice," and is patterned after the character
invented by Lewis Carroll in the book "Alice in Wonderland."
The contest, which began May 24 and ended September 30,
1986, offered a $100 prize to the author of the best text
adventure game written using GAGS, which is an adventure-game
development system MS-DOS computers. The winning game will
also be included with each copy of GAGS distributed from
October 1986 to October 1987. GAGS is distributed as
Shareware, so users can copy it without charge, paying $15 for
registration if they enjoy it.
Asherman's game allows a player to play the role of Alice
as she goes through the Looking-Glass, and to meet many of the
same characters described in Carroll's book. Asherman also
adds some humorous 20th-century perspective to the 19th-
century character.
The contest generated nationwide publicity and interest,
Welch said. "The main purpose of the contest was to encourage
people to share the games they'd written using GAGS," Welch
said. "A lot of people had started games, spending quite a few
hours on them, but stopped before they'd really finished them,
or before they'd really made them playable."
As one result of the contest publicity, Welch learned that
several computer bulletin boards have made GAGS available for
callers to play on-line.
"I was surprised at first, since anyone can download GAGS
and play it on any MS-DOS computer, even systems that aren't
IBM-compatible," Welch said. "Then I realized that other
computer owners can't use it. If you've got a Commodore or an
Apple, the only way you can play GAGS right now is to call a
bulletin board. I hope some of these BBSs will allow callers
to play 'Alice' now, since it's much more enjoyable than the
sample game I've been distributing with GAGS."
Welch said he has not yet decided whether to sponsor a
second game contest.
Although GAGS currently works only on computers that use
the MS-DOS operating system (including the IBM PC and
compatibles as well as non-compatibles), Welch hopes to
release a version for the Apple Macintosh this winter. "I'm
just waiting for Borland to release its Turbo Pascal compiler
for the Macintosh," Welch said.
Welch sells GAGS on disk for $10. Registration is $15
more. Registered users can also buy the complete GAGS source
code for $25, Welch said, if they wish to add features to the
program.
* GAGS and Generic Adventure Game System are trademarks of
Mark J. Welch.
For more info, contact:
Mark J. Welch
P.O. Box 2409
San Francisco, CA 94126
Voice phone: 415-845-2430 [Berkeley]
Fido 161/459
BIX: 'mwelch'
THE FOLLOWING IS A SAMPLE OPENING SCRIPT OF THE WINNING GAME
------------------------------------------------------------
(Copyright 1986 by Douglas A. Asherman)
C>ADVENT ALICE
The Adventures of Alice
Who
Went Through the Looking-Glass
And
Came Back
Though Not Much Changed
Based on characters created by Lewis Carroll
Game and Text Copyright 1986 D.A. Asherman
Developed using: The Generic Adventure Game System (GAGS)
Version 1.06b -- 6/15/86
Copyright 1985, 1986 by Mark J. Welch -- All Rights Reserved
P.O.Box 2409, SF, CA 94126, (415) 845-2430
GAGS is distributed as "Shareware."
Initializing data, please wait (should take 1 minute)...
You've woken up to a fine, fine morning. The sun shines,
the birds sing, and you feel wonderful. Your cat, Dinah,
greets you at your bedroom door. You see that her kittens
follow her lovingly, and you feel that nothing could be finer
than to be greeted by Dinah in the morning.
There is, however, a spectre on the horizon. Today is the
day for your mathematics lesson. Of course, you could plead
illness, but that would ruin your opportunity to go out and
enjoy the rest of the day. You get dressed and go downstairs,
ruminating on how you could possibly skip your mathematics
lesson and still be able to enjoy the rest of the day.
"There must be some solution," you think, "some way to
elude my tutor and go out to play." If you lived far in the
future instead of in A.D. 1865, we would say that you suffered
from a malady called "female math anxiety." But as you are
only a little girl, and as you DO live in 1865, we can only
say that you haven't studied.
Ah, well . . . . perhaps there is some way to avoid your
imminent academic embarrassment . . .perhaps. Perhaps it's
somewhere in the house.
You are standing on the west side of the fireplace in the
drawing room of your house. The chairs here are made of
nicely polished wood, and the mantle over the hearth is very
well kept up. Everything, in fact, is exactly as it should
be. The sun is shining, birds are singing, and you feel that
today of all days, nothing could possibly go wrong.
<< Drawing Room >>
There is a ball of yarn lying on the floor here
What Now? EXAMINE YARN
The ball of yarn seems to be incredibly tangled. In fact, it
seems to have gotten tangled into the rug itself!
<< Drawing Room >>
There is a ball of yarn lying on the floor here
What Now? PULL YARN
The yarn untangles easily....perhaps a bit too easily.
You are standing in an alcove. To the south is the west side
of the drawing room. Your father says that standing in this
alcove puts you exactly north of the west side of the
fireplace. You think you understand what he means, but have
never really taken the time to ask.
<< Alcove >>
Your nanny is standing here.
What Now? SOUTH
<< Drawing Room >>
There is a ball of yarn lying on the floor here
What Now? EAST
You are standing on the east side of the fireplace in the
drawing room of your house. The sun is shining in through all
of the windows, even through the little stained-glass window
in the southern door. Once again, you feel that everything is
as it should be. You can't decide, however, whether to go out
and play or to prepare for your Mathematics lessons.
<< Drawing Room >>
There is a lovely Swiss clock on the mantelpiece
What Now? EXAMINE CLOCK
The clock, although obviously a fine piece of craftsmanship,
seems to be telling the wrong time.
<< Drawing Room >>
There is a lovely Swiss clock on the mantelpiece
What Now?
.
.
.
. [portion omitted]
.
.
.
You are sitting down in front of the fireplace in the drawing
room of your house. You feel as if you've fallen. "But" you
think "that is ridiculous. One must have been up somewhere to
have fallen down, and as I've not been up I can't possibly
have fallen down." You think that this is good logic, but
still make a mental note to ask you mathematics tutor, Mr.
Dodgson, about it. Suddenly you notice that the southern door
(the one with the lovely little stained-glass window in it) is
open.
<< Drawing Room >>
There is an old umbrella here
What Now? OPEN UMBRELLA
The umbrella is now open.
<< Drawing Room >>
There is an old umbrella here
There is a small dagger here. (In the umbrella)
There is a small silver key here. (In the umbrella)
What Now? TAKE ALL
The umbrella won't budge.
You are now carrying the dagger.
You are now carrying the key.
<< Drawing Room >>
There is an old umbrella here
What Now? SOUTH
You are in the garden. The sunlight out here lends a radiance
to all of the flowers and plants. Even the forest on both
sides of the garden is..... "Wait," you think. "There never
used to be a forest on the east and west sides of the garden.
In fact I'm quite sure that the Finchley-Smythes lived to the
east of us, and the Hatton-Carrolls to the west. Hmmm..."
Stranger still is the fact that there is a wall to the south
where you could've sworn there was a path down to the river.
<< Garden >>
There is a musical instrument case here.
There is an unclimbable wall at the south end of the garden
What Now? . . . . . .