Adventure! is an all text adventure in desk accessory form. Before you read any further, please understand that it is shareware. If you find yourself playing it, register by sending $15 to
Patricia B. Smith
Epiboly Software
325 E. 79th St., Apt.13d
New York, NY 10021
Alternatively, you can order Adventure! by mail for $18.
Adventure! is compatible with all Macs. It was developed on a MacII with the newest system, but runs just fine on a MacPlus. It uses a lot of memory, so I don't recommend using it with Multifinder. You should make sure that you have at least 150K of free memory before attempting to play it. Adventure! will do a memory check before agreeing to open, but if it runs into a memory crisis after it is open, you may have problems. Please be careful and don't try to play Adventure! while recalculating large spreadsheets.
To play Adventure!, load it into your System File as you would any desk accessory, using Font/DA Mover, Suitcase, or whatever. Make sure that the file, AdventureFile (named exactly that) is in your System Folder. By the way, AdventureFile _is_ the adventure; the Adventure! desk accessory is simply the record player that plays the AdventureFile record. What this means is that when new adventures become availabe in the future, you will be able to play them with your Adventure! desk accessory simply by putting the new AdventureFile in your System Folder. AdventureMaker (an application to make your own new AdventureFiles) will be available soon.
The AdventureFile included with Adventure! is "The Temple of Goth".
Due to the size limitations of desk accessory format, the parser in Adventure! has been kept fairly simple. It only recognizes simple verb/noun sentences, such as "take the box". In some cases, it also recognizes adjectives, as in "take the yellow box". It also recognizes some prepositions. For example, you can "look under the house" or you may be able to "put the fat worm in the little can".
Adventure! does not recognise compound subjects or compound sentences. You cannot "take the gun, then shoot" nor can you "eat the bread and the cheese". Nor does the parser understand speech. You can't talk directly to a character that you meet, as in "Hello. How are you?" There is a way around this, however. If you meet someone you might want to talk to, say a troll, you can type 'talk to the troll' and you may very well get a response.
As with all text adventures, if one way of phrasing an action doesn't work, try another. Adventure! has a very large vocabulary, but it's not as big as yours.
Adventure! allows you to save your game (just click the Save button) at any time. To restore a saved game, click the Restore button. Sorry, but only one saved game at a time. When you save a game, a file named AdventureSave will appear in your System Folder. This file must be left in your System Folder and it must keep its name, AdventureSave. When you save a new game, the save overwrites your previous save in the AdventureSave file. By the way, you _can_ keep multiple saves if you rename the previous one and/or remove it from the System Folder. To replay an old save, give it back the name AdventureSave and return it to the System Folder.
I'm not going to tell you any more about Adventure! because part of the fun of an adventure is figuring out just what the game is. But here are some tips and shortcuts:
• You can move around by using the mouse and clicking the N, S, etc buttons on the compass rose. Or you can type the letters 'n', 's', etc. Or you can type "go north", "go south", etc. if that makes you feel better.
• Typing 'look' or just 'l' will redisplay the description of the room you are in. Clicking the '•' in the center of the compass rose will do the same thing.
• Typing 'take all' or 'drop all' will do just that. (By the way, 'take all' only takes the objects in a room that you already know about or put there yourself.)
• Clicking the '<<' button is the same as hitting the return key.
• You can copy, cut and paste from/to the text window in Adventure! I'm not sure how useful this is, but it seemed like a nice touch.
• To get a fast description of an object in inventory, just click on its name in the Inventory box.
• Here are some command key shortcuts:
cmd-S saves the game
cmd-R restores a saved game
cmd-Q is a fast quit. You exit directly to your
current application, bypassing the display of
your final score.
cmd-A (Again) repeats your last typed instruction.
cmd-M is a memory check. Adventure! checks free
memory before it loads, but you can check it
yourself while you play if you are concerned
about it.
cmd-X } these all work as you would expect
cmd-C } to cut, copy and paste text in the
cmd-V } text window.
Adventure! is shareware. If you enjoy it, I expect you to send me $15. Even if you don't enjoy it but find yourself playing it for hours, you should still pay me $15. The $15 shareware fee makes you a registered user of the Adventure! DA. The adventure that is included with the DA as its AdventureFile ("The Temple of Goth") is free. New AdventureFiles will be published in the future, by myself and by anyone else who wishes to write one and purchases AdventureMaker to do so. These new adventures may carry small shareware fees of their own, but you will not need to re-register for the DA itself.
By the way, I'm perfectly willing to give hints to registered users.
Please let me know about your wishes, frustrations and dislikes. The DA has been very thoroughly tested, but I'm bound to have overlooked something. In particular, if you experience crashes with the DA for whatever reason, please contact me immediately.
Adventure! was developed using LightSpeed Pascal. It's format, and many of the themes, puzzles and conundrums in this first AdventureFile, come from the traditional adventure genre. The Original Adventure (The Colossal Cave), Scott Wilson, the Zork series (and Infocom generally) and Raymond Smullyan all deserve recognition and thanks.
I'm looking forward to hearing from everyone who plays Adventure!. Send me your $15 and let's talk!
Patricia B. Smith
Epiboly Software
325 E. 79th Street, Apt 13d
New York, NY 10021
CIS: 70655,425
MacNet: SmithPB
Genie: P-Smith
Adventure! and its first AdventureFile, "The Temple of Goth", are copyrighted 1988 by Patricia B. Smith. Adventure! may be distributed through user groups and bulletin boards. However, neither Adventure! nor its AdventureFile may not be sold or modified without my explicit permission.
