Ratings and Reviews by jgerrie

This 8-bit BASIC two-word parser provides a rich set of locations and a complex set of puzzles. It also avoids having (as far as I was able to determine) numerous completely arbitrary deaths, which is a common feature of games of this genre. However, it suffers from a typical fault of many 8-bit adventures. Many of the puzzles depend on the use of specific verb-noun phrases when what are essentially synonymous phrases fail to achieve the same result. I don't find this so glaring a fault when there is some way that this characteristic is clearly indicated, such as by the provision of extensive help/hints, humorous responses that indicate greater precision is required, etc., but these are largely lacking. It also suffers from the fault of inconsistent use of the SEARCH/LOOK/EXAMINE verbs, which means a lot of extra typing is required to make sure that all the clues are discovered. There also appear to be inconsistencies with the OPEN and UNLOCK verbs. The cassette label describes the game as "A Terrifyingly Difficult Adventure." I would describe it as "annoyingly difficult." However, if you are someone who doesn't mind typing and appreciates complex puzzles, especially one's that are informed by a rich understanding of the arcane folklore of European magic traditions, this adventure might be worth a try.

This simple adventure, written at a time when computers typically only had 16K of memory, is a classic. It was originally written for the tiny, ZX81 computer, a machine that many Brits got their first taste of computing from in the early 1980's, and was therefore one of the first experiences that many people in that country would have had of text adventuring. And because of the limitations of the machine, they would have had to endure a flickering black-and-white screen *every time* they typed something in. This fact when combined with the widely acknowledged fact that this program none-the-less initiated many Brits into a lifelong love of IF, stands as a testimony to the fundamental charms of this early adventure. The puzzles are not diabolical, and there are plenty of hints. If it may seem a little easy now, this is only because it had to blaze the trail in its own time of introducing people to the entire software genre. The outer space theme has a certain fantasy and even espionage tinge to it. None-the-less the story and world maintain a basic coherence, which is something that is often lacking from these early adventures. There is a nice mixture of the standard tropes (Maze of twisty passages) and some completely novel puzzles. I think this game deserves the honour of being considered the Adventure A" (much like Colossal Cave" is to the U.S.) of its country of origin.

This game is not for serious gamers. It will be of interest only to those interested in BASIC programming and the modest programs that could be created on 8-bit home computers from the early 1980s. It might be worth a look for those with some nostalgia for such systems or with some acquaintance with the book it was published in.

"The Quest" is a very simple BASIC two-word parser text adventure meant to be an example of the programming techniques needed to create adventures of one's own. It was included in a book meant to teach those techniques to budding BASIC programmers using the early 8-bit computers. The code is very adaptable and fairly straightforward. Unlike more complex syntax parsing engines, such as the one created by Scott Adams (which was published in BYTE in December 1980), by the time Lampton was writing his book and sample program the conventions of text adventuring had become so formalized that undue complexities could be omitted. People were comfortable with the two word system and the basic vocabulary had become fairly standardized (GET,PUT,LOOK,EXAMINE,INV,GO, etc.). The program might be useful for someone wishing to write their own BASIC text adventure for an 8-bit computer. However, I would rate "The Tower" example program for Compute's Guide to Writing Text Adventures as more flexible and more feature rich. The Tower allows the use of single letter commands such as N,S,E,W for motion and I for inventory, while "The Quest" does not. Having to type "GO NORTH" continuously instead if simply "N" is a little tedious and annoying.

The game itself is simple. There is a small number of puzzles, only a couple ways to fail. The puzzles are coherent and so I would warn against giving up too quickly and sneaking a look at the code if you are stumped. This is not one of those BASIC adventures with incoherent puzzles requiring almost completely arbitrary acts to solve. I promise you, you will get there in the end with a little extra thought. If all you're looking for is an hour of reminiscence of what 8-bit computing was like when you were a kid, this game will fit the bill.

For Retrochallenge 2015 I ported Will Crowther's original Colossal Cave "Adventure" source code to Microsoft Micro Color Basic. The new basic source code should be easily shifted to other Basics. I elaborated a few uncompleted elements and areas and changed a few things to create some new challenges for old players.

I also added some new commands such as SCORE, which will tell you how you're doing and if you have won. HELP will provide some rudimentary aid. UNLOAD will perform the same function as the more standard "drop all" command of other adventures. QUIT not only exits but prompts whether you would like to save the progress you have made so far. You are prompted each time the program is run if you wish to load a previous game. The same file name "COLOSDAT" is used for each save, but in the emulator (VMC10.exe) you can save the resulting virtual cassette file to any file name you like in order to differentiate between different saves.

I re-coded the program from the Fortran source code and data file of Will Crowther's original version of "Advent" for the PDP-10 recently recovered from an old back-up tape by Dennis Jerz. This is not the classic "350 point" version modified by Don Woods. So if you are interested in playing a new version of the original version of the "original" text adventure, you can try this one out. My version contains all the room movement info in numeric form and most of the text descriptions of rooms and events. I had to wedge it into 20K of my favourite 8-bit the TRS-80 MC-10, so some of the descriptions got "edited" a little, but I was able to transfer the map info from the data file into Basic DATA statements, so it's a largely accurate rendition of the original map. I only made a very few tweaks where directions were quite clearly messed up or to eliminate a few NE, NW, SE and SW directions.

Using various descriptions from the Net of the puzzles and other game challenges and by examining Crowther's original source, I was able to recreate what I believe is a reasonably accurate presentation of all the original game elements. However, as I worked on the rooms in the Bedquilt (“Under Construction”) area of Crowther's original code I really could sense where his patience with the project petered out (sometime in 1975 or 1976) so I also ended up adding a few unique elements of my own to “complete” what is obviously an unfinished work just begging for elaboration. I can understand what tempted Don Woods to make his additions in 1977 to create the classic version.

That being said, I do not like some of the more surreal fantasy elements that Woods added. Crowther's version has a more austere set of locations, but they have a feel of realism that is absent from the classic version's chaotic hurly-burly of branches. Also, there is clearly a sense that Crowther's fantasy elements (Hall of the Mountain King, nasty little dwarfs, finding a cave in the woods) were drawn from a single classic narrative source, such as the story of Peer Gynt, rather than a hodgepodge of fantasy cliche's. I tried to respect this integrity in the few additions I made to fill out Crowther's obviously abandoned work.

Don Woods helped Crowther overcome the problem of the game's unfinished nature by significantly expanding the complexity of the cave and by adding improved scoring and completion routines. It's this latter version which is normally referred to as "the original adventure" or the "350 point" version. In homage to this latter title I have also made my re-coded version worth 350 points, although these points only represent six 50 point treasures. Only five of these treasures are present in Crowther's original. I have added one treasure and one puzzle and a few new threats. I have also slightly changed the operation of some of the magic of the original to prevent old hands from simply applying their prior knowledge.

The following file contains the Virtual MC-10 emulator and the program file COLOSSAL.C10 for loading and running in the emulator:
http://faculty.cbu.ca/jgerrie/Home/VMC10_073D.zip