Retrieved from https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/alt.folklore.computers/JmHpwEBOn_s/RKxweubaC1UJ on 2016-01-19. Email addresses have been mangled by Google Groups; I've repaired the ones that can be unambiguously deduced. Any instance of "...@" in this text should be considered suspect. This is part of a thread from alt.folklore.computers, between June 2 and June 20, 1990. Notice that Bill Randle's post of ANON0501 to comp.sources.games happened on May 18, 1990, only a couple of weeks earlier. In the last message in this thread, Evan Hunt correctly identifies "the version that was recently posted to comp.sources.games" (ANON0501) as "uchicago's revision 5. I think it's from early '79." On 1990-06-12, Lum Johnson of Ohio State pastes a long transcript of a session with "ADVENTURE <6.04/ 6>, 2-Nov-84", including the complete "History of Adventure" from that version. I believe Lum Johnson to be (or have been) one J.C. Johnson II, jcj2@live.com, but that email address and lum@cis.ohio-state.edu are both now defunct. =========================================================================== Path: gmdzi!unido!mcsun!hp4nl!charon!dik From: dik@cwi.nl (Dik T. Winter) Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers,rec.games.misc,comp.sources.d Subject: Re: Zork question (is now information about Zork and Adventure) Message-ID: <1596@charon.cwi.nl> Date: 2 Jun 90 16:32:17 GMT References: <16310@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> <1536@kuling.UUCP> <1870@corpane.UUCP> Sender: ne...@cwi.nl Followup-To: alt.folklore.computers Organization: CWI, Amsterdam Lines: 69 Xref: gmdzi alt.folklore.computers:3032 rec.games.misc:5836 comp.sources.d:4646 Posted: Sat Jun 2 17:32:17 1990 In article <1536@kuling.UUCP>, bqt@chokladpuck (Johnny Billquist) writes: > > This version was later converted to FORTRAN IV+, by someone at DEC, I > don't know whom (I believe he wished to remain anonymous). True, at least the texts say so. > Anyway, the > FORTRAN conversion was circa 1978. At that time, Bob Supnik (I think > that is his name) started the company Infocom. The FORTRAN version was > (and is) available for free from DECUS. This version is called > DUNGEON, but it's the same. The very same version (compiled by the DEC Fortran compiler for RSX11(?)) can be found on older Unix systems. The binary was patched to run under Unix v6, and this was patched again to run under Unix v7 (and I patched that version to run again under Unix v6 on one of our local machines). You ran that PDP11 v7 version when you executed dunge under BSD 4 on the VAX. It was run in PDP11 compatibility mode. The sources have been distributed in comp.sources.games (numbers v02i034-v02i043,v02i049,v02i050, v02i046-v02i047 for parts 1 to 14 and numbers v02i053-v02i054,v02i100 for patches 1 to 3 that I supplied). There is a difference between Dungeon and the Zork trilogy, but I do not have the trilogy (if somebody is willing to sell the trilogy for the Mac......). > In article <1870@corpane.UUCP> herman@corpane.UUCP (Harry Herman) writes: > Before DUNGEON, there was another program called ADVENTURE that is very > similar to DUNGEON, except it was much smaller. (The house was home base, > but only had one room, not near as many rooms in the dungeon, a very small > outside, etc.) It was the first adventure type game that I played, and I > really enjoyed it. Then, after I finished that, the University put up > DUNGEON, and I played that all the way through also. Unfortunately, I have > never had a chance to play the ZORK trilogy series PC series. > If your University had Unix it is possible that you are one of the few that played the 365 point version. Some history here: the original was a 350 point version written in Fortran (I must have the sources somewhere, but am not able to find it now). This was converted by somebody at Rand to C. This again was extended at UCLA (lauren@ucla-security, I do not know the person, but the name popped up if you exercised a bug) to a 365 point version. If you have seen a Green Umbrella you have played the 365 point version. This latter was the first one available in Unix (v6.2 if I remember right). Later versions of Unix distributed the 350 point version from Rand (including sources). One problem from the 350 point version has gone away in the 365 point version (the Dwarves Magazine) making it much easier to get all points. As far as I know the 365 point version has never been distributed in source form. I know of still some other versions: A DEC 501 and 551 point version. The 501 point version claims to be version 5.2/2 from October-79; the 551 point version claims to be VAX version 6.0/0 from April 1985. The first one has been distributed through comp.sources.games a few weeks ago, pretending to be the *original* adventure. The latter version has been available through anonymous ftp. Although at a rough glance the 551 version appears to be an extension to the 501 version, this is not completely true; some parts of the 501 version are missing. There are probably more versions in this series (if you know of one, please send me mail). A 550 point version created for a Xerox Sigma machine. This one came over the net a long, long time ago. It was in the newsgroup net.sources.games. The C port to Unix was distributed. I know that there also exists a slightly extended 350 point version for the Apple ][ (can somebody key me in on the differences?), and there must have been more versions. I would like information about any other versions that are/have been around. -- dik t. winter, cwi, amsterdam, nederland dik@cwi.nl =========================================================================== Path: gmdzi!unido!mcsun!hp4nl!charon!dik From: dik@cwi.nl (Dik T. Winter) Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: Zork question (is now information about Zork and Adventure) Message-ID: <1598@charon.cwi.nl> Date: 2 Jun 90 23:47:40 GMT References: <1536@kuling.UUCP> <1870@corpane.UUCP> <1596@charon.cwi.nl> Sender: ne...@cwi.nl Organization: CWI, Amsterdam Lines: 14 Posted: Sun Jun 3 00:47:40 1990 In article <1596@charon.cwi.nl> dik@cwi.nl (I) write: > This was converted by somebody at Rand > to C. This again was extended at UCLA (lauren@ucla-security, I do not know > the person, but the name popped up if you exercised a bug) to a 365 point > version. A number of people have already responded that lauren@ucla-security is Lauren Weinstein, now at Vortex Technology. Old-timers will certainly recognize the name, and indeed I do. Alas when I played the game we were not yet connected to the net, so I never reported the bug. Here is the bug report: going north at the Volcano bottom gave you bug 25. Is Lauren listenening? (:-)) -- dik t. winter, cwi, amsterdam, nederland dik@cwi.nl =========================================================================== Path: gmdzi!unido!mcsun!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!aristotle!pjs From: pjs@aristotle.JPL.NASA.gov (Peter Scott) Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: Zork question (is now information about Zork and Adventure) Message-ID: <1990Jun3.215620.21242@elroy.jpl.nasa.gov> Date: 3 Jun 90 21:56:20 GMT References: <1536@kuling.UUCP> <1870@corpane.UUCP> <1596@charon.cwi.nl> <1598@charon.cwi.nl> Sender: ne...@elroy.jpl.nasa.gov (Usenet) Reply-To: pjs@aristotle.jpl.nasa.gov Followup-To: alt.folklore.computers Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA/Caltech Lines: 34 Posted: Sun Jun 3 22:56:20 1990 In article <1598@charon.cwi.nl>, dik@cwi.nl (Dik T. Winter) writes: > A number of people have already responded that lauren@ucla-security is > Lauren Weinstein, now at Vortex Technology. Old-timers will certainly > recognize the name, and indeed I do. Alas when I played the game we > were not yet connected to the net, so I never reported the bug. Here > is the bug report: going north at the Volcano bottom gave you bug 25. > Is Lauren listenening? (:-)) Interesting... which version do I have then (from VMS version 3.)? The leaflet in the mailbox reads Dungeon was created at the Programming Technology Division of the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science by Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling. It was inspired by the Adventure game of Crowther and Woods, and the Dungeons and Dragons game of Gygax and Arneson. The original version was written in MDL (alias MUDDLE). The current version was translated from MDL into FORTRAN IV by a somewhat paranoid DEC engineer who prefers to remain anonymous. and this version has rather more than 365 points: >score Your score is 585 [total of 585 points], in 720 moves. This gives you the rank of Cheater. Going north from the volcano bottom takes you back into the lava room. This is also the executable with GDT (General Dungeon Translater). I have a patch journal file which lets anyone get into GDT if you're interested. This is news. This is your | Peter Scott, NASA/JPL/Caltech brain on news. Any questions? | (pjs@aristotle.jpl.nasa.gov) =========================================================================== Path: gmdzi!unido!mcsun!uunet!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!torsqnt!hybrid!becker!bdb From: bdb@becker.UUCP (Bruce Becker) Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: Zork question (is now information about Zork and Adventure) Message-ID: <14104@becker.UUCP> Date: 3 Jun 90 20:10:38 GMT References: <16310@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> <1536@kuling.UUCP> <1870@corpane.UUCP> <1596@charon.cwi.nl> Reply-To: bdb@becker.UUCP (Bruce Becker) Organization: G. T. S., Toronto, Ontario Lines: 15 Posted: Sun Jun 3 21:10:38 1990 In article <1596@charon.cwi.nl> dik@cwi.nl (Dik T. Winter) writes: |[...] |A 550 point version created for a Xerox Sigma machine. This one came over |the net a long, long time ago. It was in the newsgroup net.sources.games. |The C port to Unix was distributed. I'd really like to get the C sources to this version of Adventure - it's the best one of many that I've played... -- ,u, Bruce Becker Toronto, Ontario a /i/ Internet: bdb@becker.UUCP, bruce@gpu.utcs.toronto.edu `\o\-e UUCP: ...!uunet!mnetor!becker!bdb _< /_ "I still have my phil-os-o-phy" - Meredith Monk =========================================================================== Path: gmdzi!unido!mcsun!sunic!uupsi!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!snorkelwacker!bionet!agate!darkstar!ucscb.UCSC.EDU!unknown From: unknown@ucscb.UCSC.EDU (The Unknown User) Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: Zork question (is now information about Zork and Adventure) Message-ID: <4044@darkstar.ucsc.edu> Date: 4 Jun 90 09:02:01 GMT References: <1596@charon.cwi.nl> <1598@charon.cwi.nl> <1990Jun3.215620.21242@elroy.jpl.nasa.gov> Sender: use...@darkstar.ucsc.edu Organization: UCSC Open Access Lines: 43 Posted: Mon Jun 4 10:02:01 1990 In article <1990Jun3.215620.21242@elroy.jpl.nasa.gov> pjs@aristotle.jpl.nasa.gov writes: >Interesting... which version do I have then (from VMS >version 3.)? The leaflet in the mailbox reads > > Dungeon was created at the Programming Technology Division of the MIT > Laboratory for Computer Science by Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce > Daniels, and Dave Lebling. It was inspired by the Adventure game of > Crowther and Woods, and the Dungeons and Dragons game of Gygax > and Arneson. The original version was written in MDL (alias MUDDLE). > The current version was translated from MDL into FORTRAN IV by > a somewhat paranoid DEC engineer who prefers to remain anonymous. Well, I remember that Marc Blank and Dave Lebling were in Infocom.. Gygax & Arneson?? I've never heard of anyone besides Gary Gygax (what a last name!) mentioned as a co-creator of D&D.. Well, anyways, it goes Adventure -> Dungeon -> Zork, eh? My question is: Is the parser for either of these predecessors as Godlike as Infocom's? [In ANY of their games as far as I know] I honestly haven't seen any other text adventure or graphic adventure game whose parser came anywhere close to Infocom's! Some other companies' were halfway decent (i.e. better than GO NORTH, GET FOOD, EAT FOOD..And most didn't even allow multiple commands on a line.. But... "n.get food and eat it".. whew!) I will admit though that I never finished an Infocom game [at least not with- out a whole runthrough gotten off of a BBS]... Maybe if I'd've bought the games I'd've had more patience!?!?!?! {If Infocom still existed and still released new [noncopyprotected] games for the II or GS, I'd buy 'em.. Although I used to not, now I buy software, especially since there are fewer and fewer new programs being made for the GS.. But, not to start the whole piracy discussion again, there are LOTS of games and other programs that I've bought/will buy that I'd've never've seen w/out piracy} Now I think it's appropriate to bow our heads and take a moment to honor the company that once was, Infocom. -- _ __ __ __ _ /-------------------------------\ /_\ |__| | __|(GS) |_| |_ \ / |_| | unknown@ucscb.ucsc.edu | / \ | |__ |__ | |__ \/ | \ | unknown%darkside.com@ames.arpa | Computer engineering student seeking a job. \-------------------------------/ =========================================================================== Path: gmdzi!unido!mcsun!ukc!axion!news From: agray@zaphod.axion.bt.co.uk (Andy Gray) Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: Zork question (is now information about Zork and Adventure) Message-ID: <1990Jun4.102629.16671@axion.bt.co.uk> Date: 4 Jun 90 10:26:29 GMT References: <1596@charon.cwi.nl> Sender: ne...@axion.bt.co.uk Reply-To: agray@zaphod.axion.bt.co.uk Organization: British Telecom Research Labs Lines: 28 Posted: Mon Jun 4 11:26:29 1990 From article <1596@charon.cwi.nl>, by dik@cwi.nl (Dik T. Winter): > I know of still some other versions: > > A 550 point version created for a Xerox Sigma machine. This one came over > the net a long, long time ago. It was in the newsgroup net.sources.games. > -- > dik t. winter, cwi, amsterdam, nederland > dik@cwi.nl Many years ago I played 'a' 550 point version a couple of times. It played just like the 350 version except that it included some magic mushrooms and a singing sword. Lost access to the machine it ran on, a Burroughs, so never managed to get the sword. A micro based version expanded the scenario outside the caves which included woods with a picnic area. Ever try kissing the dwarves? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail (UUCP) AGray@axion.bt.co.uk ...!ukc!axion!AGray Organisation RT3132 Operating Systems Technology Centre Snail Mail BTRL, Rm 306 SSTF, Martlesham Heath, IPSWICH IP5 7RE, UK Telephone +44 473 646647 Quote "If every time we told a lie, a little fairy died, They must be building death camps in the garden!" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- =========================================================================== Path: gmdzi!unido!mcsun!uunet!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!helios!mcguire From: mcguire@cs.tamu.edu (Tim McGuire) Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: Zork question (is now information about Zork and Adventure) Message-ID: <5595@helios.TAMU.EDU> Date: 4 Jun 90 18:56:22 GMT References: <1596@charon.cwi.nl> <1990Jun4.102629.16671@axion.bt.co.uk> Sender: use...@helios.TAMU.EDU Organization: Computer Science Department, Texas A&M University Lines: 18 Posted: Mon Jun 4 19:56:22 1990 In article <1990Jun4.102629.16671@axion.bt.co.uk> agray@zaphod.axion.bt.co.uk writes: >> >Many years ago I played 'a' 550 point version a couple of times. It played >just like the 350 version except that it included some magic mushrooms and a >singing sword. Lost access to the machine it ran on, a Burroughs, so never >managed to get the sword. > >A micro based version expanded the scenario outside the caves which included >woods with a picnic area. Back in the late 70's I played a version on a Cyber 172 at Colorado State. I don't remember exactly how may points there were -- maybe 375. Anyway, the wood were expanded with a gingerbread house and a witch. I never figured out what to do there. Later someone told me that you threw water on the witch to get her to melt. Anybody out there know anything about that version? Was it local to CSU? Tim McGuire =========================================================================== Path: gmdzi!unido!mcsun!uunet!mailrus!umich!umeecs!msi-s0.msi.umn.edu!cs.umn.edu!thornley From: thor...@cs.umn.edu (David H. Thornley) Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: D&D (was Re: Zork question (is now information about Zork and Adventure)) Message-ID: <1990Jun4.212525.5003@cs.umn.edu> Date: 4 Jun 90 21:25:25 GMT References: <1596@charon.cwi.nl> <1598@charon.cwi.nl> <1990Jun3.215620.21242@elroy.jpl.nasa.gov> <4044@darkstar.ucsc.edu> Followup-To: rec.games.frp Organization: University of Minnesota, Minneapolis - CSCI Dept. Lines: 18 Posted: Mon Jun 4 22:25:25 1990 In article <4044@darkstar.ucsc.edu> unknown@ucscb.UCSC.EDU (The Unknown User) writes: > > Gygax & Arneson?? I've never heard of anyone besides Gary Gygax >(what a last name!) mentioned as a co-creator of D&D.. Dave Arneson started what we would call a primitive role-playing game based on the _Chainmail_ rules for medieval and fantasy miniatures battles put out by Tactical Studies Rules. Gary Gygax took the idea and went with it, producing a rather awful set of rules. They were, however, the only role-playing game available, and started with 100% market share. Later on, D&D became Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, and I believe this is when Arneson's name was removed. This was, incidentally, after a lot of litigation between Arneson and TSR over royalties, and I believe some old friendships had been totally destroyed by this time. Followups to rec.games.frp (since this is no longer computer folklore). David Thornley =========================================================================== Path: gmdzi!unido!mcsun!uunet!samsung!sdd.hp.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!psuvax1!xavier!jackiw From: jackiw@cs.swarthmore.edu (Nick Jackiw) Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: Zork question (is now information about Zork and Adventure) Message-ID: <4XXKN1J@xavier.swarthmore.edu> Date: 5 Jun 90 17:26:39 GMT References: <1596@charon.cwi.nl> <1598@charon.cwi.nl> <1990Jun3.215620.21242@elroy.jpl.nasa.gov> Sender: ne...@xavier.swarthmore.edu (Usenet News) Reply-To: jackiw@cs.swarthmore.edu (Nick Jackiw) Organization: Visual Geometry Project, Swarthmore College, PA Lines: 29 Posted: Tue Jun 5 18:26:39 1990 pjs@aristotle.jpl.nasa.gov (Peter Scott) writes: > This is also the executable with GDT (General Dungeon Translater). I have a > patch journal file which lets anyone get into GDT if you're interested. I'd thought it was the "global debugging tool." Without a patch, it took a program I wrote (in MACRO on a PDP-11/45) more than a week to come up with the key to the cipher. Basically, invoking "GDT" would cause a celestial voice to challenge you with a six-letter code. If your response wasn't the appropriate six character mapping, you were smoke. However, the same encryption was used in assigning each player a private password to enter the endgame, once you had 585/585 [Cheater] ranking. My program, a state-machine constructor and analyzer, eventually broke the scheme by submitting test words to the endgame password-generator. Once you were inside GDT, you could grab or move objects from anywhere in the dungeon, kill the thief, cyclops, and troll remotely, and even, I believe, alter the text descriptions of the >2K individual messages stored in Zork's database. A game with a debugger that worked just like the game---that was the nectar. -Nick -- ------------------------ Nick Jackiw jackiw@cs.swarthmore.edu "Every minute of the future Visual Geometry Project jackiw@swarthmr.bitnet is a memory of the past." Swarthmore College, PA 19081-1397 -Laivach =========================================================================== Path: gmdzi!unido!mcsun!sunic!uupsi!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!unix.cis.pitt.edu!jgh2 From: jgh2@unix.cis.pitt.edu (John G. Hardie) Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: Zork question (is now information about Zork and Adventure) Message-ID: <24709@unix.cis.pitt.edu> Date: 5 Jun 90 20:27:10 GMT References: <1596@charon.cwi.nl> <1990Jun4.102629.16671@axion.bt.co.uk> <5595@helios.TAMU.EDU> Reply-To: jgh2@unix.cis.pitt.edu (John G. Hardie) Organization: Nuclear Physics Lab, Univ. of Pittsburgh Lines: 33 Posted: Tue Jun 5 21:27:10 1990 In article <5595@helios.TAMU.EDU> mcguire@cs.tamu.edu (Tim McGuire) writes: >Back in the late 70's I played a version on a Cyber 172 at Colorado State. >I don't remember exactly how may points there were -- maybe 375. Anyway, >the wood were expanded with a gingerbread house and a witch. I never >figured out what to do there. Later someone told me that you threw >water on the witch to get her to melt. Anybody out there know anything >about that version? Was it local to CSU? > >Tim McGuire HA HA HA THIS brings back memories. I played that very same game on the very same computer in '81! (good old green-machine). The witch does (did?) indeed melt if you threw water on her. Memory is a bit hazy but I think there was something else you were supposed to do in her house (some kind of magic word or spell or something - or am I confused. No I don't mean XYZZY or PLUGH). I've never seen the witch again so it may have been a local extension, but then I've only seen ADVENTURE (Colossal Cave) twice since then, and didn't spend much time playing. John -- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= John G. Hardie jg...@unix.cis.pitt.edu Dept. of Physics, Univ of Pittsburgh jg...@vms.cis.pitt.edu Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most. =========================================================================== Path: gmdzi!unido!mcsun!uunet!zephyr.ens.tek.com!tekcrl!tekgvs!toma From: to...@tekgvs.LABS.TEK.COM (Tom Almy) Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: Zork question (is now information about Zork and Adventure) Message-ID: <7618@tekgvs.LABS.TEK.COM> Date: 6 Jun 90 16:18:22 GMT References: <1596@charon.cwi.nl> <1598@charon.cwi.nl> <1990Jun3.215620.21242@elroy.jpl.nasa.gov> <4XXKN1J@xavier.swarthmore.edu> Reply-To: to...@tekgvs.LABS.TEK.COM (Tom Almy) Organization: Tektronix, Inc., Beaverton, OR. Lines: 45 Posted: Wed Jun 6 17:18:22 1990 In article <4XXKN1J@xavier.swarthmore.edu> jackiw@cs.swarthmore.edu (Nick Jackiw) writes: >pjs@aristotle.jpl.nasa.gov (Peter Scott) writes: >> This is also the executable with GDT (General Dungeon Translater). I have a >> patch journal file which lets anyone get into GDT if you're interested. > >I'd thought it was the "global debugging tool." I've got the sources in front of me, it's "Game Debugging Tool." But since the name only appears in the sources (*not* in any documentation) there is really no way any player would know that. >Once you were inside GDT, you could grab or move objects from anywhere in >the dungeon, kill the thief, cyclops, and troll remotely, and even, I >believe, alter the text descriptions of the >2K individual messages stored >in Zork's database. Here is the FORMAT statment that listed the available commands (The puzzle commands didn't appear on earlier versions that didn't have the puzzle room) 900 FORMAT(' Valid commands are:'/' AA- Alter ADVS'/ &' AC- Alter CEVENT'/' AF- Alter FINDEX'/' AH- Alter HERE'/ &' AN- Alter switches'/' AO- Alter OBJCTS'/' AR- Alter ROOMS'/ &' AV- Alter VILLS'/' AX- Alter EXITS'/ &' AZ- Alter PUZZLE'/' DA- Display ADVS'/ &' DC- Display CEVENT'/' DF- Display FINDEX'/' DH- Display HACKS'/ &' DL- Display lengths'/' DM- Display RTEXT'/ &' DN- Display switches'/ &' DO- Display OBJCTS'/' DP- Display parser'/ &' DR- Display ROOMS'/' DS- Display state'/' DT- Display text'/ &' DV- Display VILLS'/' DX- Display EXITS'/' DZ- Display PUZZLE'/ &' D2- Display ROOM2'/' EX- Exit'/' HE- Type this message'/ &' NC- No cyclops'/' ND- No deaths'/' NR- No robber'/ &' NT- No troll'/' PD- Program detail'/ &' RC- Restore cyclops'/' RD- Restore deaths'/ &' RR- Restore robber'/' RT- Restore troll'/' TK- Take.') Particularly useful were the display commands that allowed examining everything, ND which made it impossible to be killed (making the troll think you have some magic protection), TK to get any object, AH to move to any room. I liked wandering around with the robot! Tom Almy toma@tekgvs.labs.tek.com Standard Disclaimers Apply =========================================================================== Path: gmdzi!unido!mcsun!sunic!bmc.uu.se!kuling!bqt From: bqt@chokladpuck (Johnny Billquist) Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: Zork question (is now information about Zork and Adventure) Message-ID: <1548@kuling.UUCP> Date: 6 Jun 90 21:51:29 GMT References: <1536@kuling.UUCP> <1870@corpane.UUCP> <1596@charon.cwi.nl> <1598@charon.cwi.nl> <1990Jun3.215620.21242@elroy.jpl.nasa.gov> Sender: news@kuling.UUCP Reply-To: bqt@chokladpuck (Johnny Billquist) Organization: dvl Lines: 48 Posted: Wed Jun 6 22:51:29 1990 In-reply-to: pjs@aristotle.JPL.NASA.gov (Peter Scott) Posting-Front-End: Gnews 2.0 In article <1990Jun3.215620.21242@elroy.jpl.nasa.gov>, pjs@aristotle (Peter Scott) writes: >In article <1598@charon.cwi.nl>, dik@cwi.nl (Dik T. Winter) writes: >> A number of people have already responded that lauren@ucla-security is >> Lauren Weinstein, now at Vortex Technology. Old-timers will certainly >> recognize the name, and indeed I do. Alas when I played the game we >> were not yet connected to the net, so I never reported the bug. Here >> is the bug report: going north at the Volcano bottom gave you bug 25. >> Is Lauren listenening? (:-)) > > >Interesting... which version do I have then (from VMS >version 3.)? The leaflet in the mailbox reads > [stuff deleted...] I think they forked into ADVENTURE from DUNGEON here... The 350/365 pts version, as well as bugs going north is in ADVENTURE i think... Or otherwise, I misunderstood the whole thing... >This is also the executable with GDT (General Dungeon Translater). I have a >patch journal file which lets anyone get into GDT if you're interested. I thought GDT stood for "Game Debugging Tool" or "Great Debugging Tool", since it only is useable for debugging the whole thing. Thinking of it, I think the sources say "Game Debugging Tool". I can check it out when I come home. However, the password is one-way translated, but the algorithm is pretty simple. I have a program on my HP-41 to get the answer. Note that the 560 points version of DUNGEON (without the Endgame) had another password "algorithm". The password was "SUPNIK,BARNEY,70524" I think. Anybody who knows why this string was choosen? I can understand SUPNIK, but not the rest. >This is news. This is your | Peter Scott, NASA/JPL/Caltech >brain on news. Any questions? | (pjs@aristotle.jpl.nasa.gov) ====================================================================== Everybody know that the DECstation - I'm on a bus is a pdp8, which is a RISC, but - on a psychodelic trip, where did MIPS computers get into it? - reading murder books - and tryin' to stay hip. - Johnny Billquist - Billy Idol D89.JOHNNY-BILLQUIST@CARMEN.DOCS.UU.SE ====================================================================== =========================================================================== Path: gmdzi!unido!mcsun!uunet!decwrl!petunia!news From: ctuel@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU (Cliff Tuel) Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: Zork question (is now information about Zork and Adventure) Message-ID: <266e0ab3.3b81@petunia.CalPoly.EDU> Date: 7 Jun 90 08:05:07 GMT References: <1990Jun4.102629.16671@axion.bt.co.uk> <5595@helios.TAMU.EDU> <24709@unix.cis.pitt.edu> Organization: Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo Lines: 46 Posted: Thu Jun 7 09:05:07 1990 jgh2@unix.cis.pitt.edu (John G. Hardie) said... |In article <5595@helios.TAMU.EDU> mcguire@cs.tamu.edu (Tim McGuire) writes: |>Back in the late 70's I played a version on a Cyber 172 at Colorado State. |>I don't remember exactly how may points there were -- maybe 375. Anyway, |>the wood were expanded with a gingerbread house and a witch. I never |>figured out what to do there. Later someone told me that you threw |>water on the witch to get her to melt. Anybody out there know anything |>about that version? Was it local to CSU? |The witch does (did?) indeed melt if you threw water on her. Memory |is a bit hazy but I think there was something else you were supposed |to do in her house (some kind of magic word or spell or something - |or am I confused. No I don't mean XYZZY or PLUGH). |I've never seen the witch again so it may have been a local extension, |but then I've only seen ADVENTURE (Colossal Cave) twice since then, and |didn't spend much time playing. I remember playing a version of Colossal Cave on an IBM mainframe (maybe 8 years ago) that had a witch's castle out in the forest. I've never seen this in any other versions.... Just when you're beginning to get lost in the forest (near the well house), you see a tower in the distance. Eventually you come to a clearing and find a large castle. A bird in a nearby tree chirps, "To enter, the magic word is needed." So you type "needed", and the gates open up. Once inside, there's a number of rooms to explore. Apparently, the witch isn't home at the moment. But you do find some of her belongings (a mirror, a broom, etc.). Somewhere upstairs you find a heater vent, which when removed provides access to a spider-filled tunnel that winds its way to the volcano room. But it never seemed like this area was finished. It was the only part of the game I could never solve. Does anyone else remember this addition? -- ____ ____ ____ __o o__ Cliff Tuel || || || ||__ ||__ \( v )/ ctuel@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU ||___ ||___ || || || /___\ {ucbvax,voder,pyramid}!polyslo!ctuel ^ ^ =========================================================================== Path: gmdzi!unido!mcsun!sunic!bmc.uu.se!kuling!bqt From: bqt@chokladpuck (Johnny Billquist) Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: Zork question (is now information about Zork and Adventure) Keywords: GDT Message-ID: <1552@kuling.UUCP> Date: 9 Jun 90 09:28:22 GMT References: <1596@charon.cwi.nl> <1598@charon.cwi.nl> <1990Jun3.215620.21242@elroy.jpl.nasa.gov> <4XXKN1J@xavier.swarthmore.edu> <7618@tekgvs.LABS.TEK.COM> Sender: news@kuling.UUCP Reply-To: bqt@chokladpuck (Johnny Billquist) Organization: dvl Lines: 30 Posted: Sat Jun 9 10:28:22 1990 In-reply-to: toma@tekgvs.LABS.TEK.COM (Tom Almy) Posting-Front-End: Gnews 2.0 In article <7618@tekgvs.LABS.TEK.COM>, toma@tekgvs (Tom Almy) writes: [stuff about GDT deleted...] >Particularly useful were the display commands that allowed examining >everything, ND which made it impossible to be killed (making the troll >think you have some magic protection), TK to get any object, AH to move >to any room. I liked wandering around with the robot! My favourite was when I was experimenting with the flags for objects, the brown sack, to be specific, and I managed to set the villain bit on it, and started to fight it. " >KILL SACK You miss the brown sack. The brown sacks swings at you. " > >Tom Almy >toma@tekgvs.labs.tek.com >Standard Disclaimers Apply ====================================================================== Everybody know that the DECstation - I'm on a bus is a pdp8, which is a RISC, but - on a psychodelic trip, where did MIPS computers get into it? - reading murder books - and tryin' to stay hip. - Johnny Billquist - Billy Idol D89.JOHNNY-BILLQUIST@CARMEN.DOCS.UU.SE ====================================================================== =========================================================================== Path: gmdzi!unido!mcsun!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!wuarchive!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!tank!gargoyle!igloo!ddsw1!corpane!herman From: herman@corpane.UUCP (Harry Herman) Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: Zork question (is now information about Zork and Adventure) Message-ID: <1898@corpane.UUCP> Date: 9 Jun 90 20:05:52 GMT References: <16310@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> <1536@kuling.UUCP> <1870@corpane.UUCP> <1596@charon.cwi.nl> Organization: Corpane Industries, Inc., Louisville Ky Lines: 34 Posted: Sat Jun 9 21:05:52 1990 In article <1596@charon.cwi.nl>, dik@cwi.nl (Dik T. Winter) writes: > In article <1870@corpane.UUCP> herman@corpane.UUCP (Harry Herman) writes: > > Before DUNGEON, there was another program called ADVENTURE that is very > > similar to DUNGEON, except it was much smaller. (The house was home base, > > but only had one room, not near as many rooms in the dungeon, a very small > > outside, etc.) It was the first adventure type game that I played, and I > > really enjoyed it. Then, after I finished that, the University put up > > DUNGEON, and I played that all the way through also. Unfortunately, I have > > never had a chance to play the ZORK trilogy series PC series. > > > If your University had Unix it is possible that you are one of the few that > played the 365 point version. > -- > dik t. winter, cwi, amsterdam, nederland > dik@cwi.nl As far as I know, Unix was not being used by the University at that time. Would you believe I just found the sources to Adventure along with the sources to Dungeon (which I new I had)! The programs all have comments at the beginning stating that they were converted by a somebody at DEC from the DECsystem-10 version to FORTRAN IV/PLUS for IAS. As I undertand it, IAS was a multi-user operating system that ran on top of RSX11-D. The version I have claims to have been converted in 1977. One module had a additional comment that somebody else had done some more work on it in 1979, including removing "magic mode" from the sources. I printed the sources in 1981, so they are starting to get a tad yellow :-) By the way, the sources for the score routine claim 350 points max., but it computes the score based on values in the database, and I have not taken the time to add up the point values in the database. The system we ran Adventure on was running RSX11-M. =========================================================================== Path: gmdzi!unido!mcsun!uunet!convex!schumach From: schumach@convex.com (Richard A. Schumacher) Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: Zork question (is now information about Zork and Adventure) Message-ID: <102981@convex.convex.com> Date: 12 Jun 90 00:51:05 GMT References: <16310@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> <1536@kuling.UUCP> <1870@corpane.UUCP> <1596@charon.cwi.nl> <1898@corpane.UUCP> Sender: ne...@convex.com Lines: 5 Posted: Tue Jun 12 01:51:05 1990 All this interesting history has overwhelmed me with a wave of nostalgia, and piqued my curiousity. What is the state of the art in Advent clones? Do Infocom and Zork I/ II/III still exist? =========================================================================== Path: gmdzi!unido!mcsun!uunet!clyde.concordia.ca!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!apple!agate!darkstar!ucscb.UCSC.EDU!unknown From: unknown@ucscb.UCSC.EDU (The Unknown User) Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Infocom Re: Zork question (is now information about Zork and Adventure) Message-ID: <4294@darkstar.ucsc.edu> Date: 12 Jun 90 04:48:04 GMT References: <1596@charon.cwi.nl> <1898@corpane.UUCP> <102981@convex.convex.com> Sender: use...@darkstar.ucsc.edu Organization: UCSC Open Access Lines: 26 Posted: Tue Jun 12 05:48:04 1990 In article <102981@convex.convex.com> schumach@convex.com (Richard A. Schumacher) writes: > >All this interesting history has overwhelmed me with a >wave of nostalgia, and piqued my curiousity. What is the >state of the art in Advent clones? Do Infocom and Zork I/ >II/III still exist? No, Infocom doesn't exist.. Well, it --may-- technically still exist, but it doesn't have any workers of any kind anymore. Whoever bought them out [Activision? Electronic Arts?? I forget] closed the Infocom offices a few weeks ago. A sad day for [GOOD] text adventure lovers everywhere. Not that I solved [or bought] any of them myself though.. no patience. It's just their parser that amazes the hell out of me. Using the IBM database Q&A reminds me of playing an Infocom game! [Q&A is one of my favorite programs on ANY computer even though I greatly dislike IBM PCs in general.. no wars please] -- _ __ __ __ _ /-------------------------------\ /_\ |__| | __|(GS) |_| |_ \ / |_| | unknown@ucscb.ucsc.edu | / \ | |__ |__ | |__ \/ | \ | unknown%darkside.com@ames.arpa | Computer engineering student seeking a job. \-------------------------------/ =========================================================================== Path: gmdzi!unido!mcsun!uunet!shelby!apple!usc!ucsd!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!giza.cis.ohio-state.edu!lum From: l...@giza.cis.ohio-state.edu (Lum Johnson) Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: ADVENT (was: Zork question ...) Message-ID: <81338@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu> Date: 12 Jun 90 23:26:02 GMT References: <16310@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> <1536@kuling.UUCP> <1870@corpane.UUCP> <1596@charon.cwi.nl> <1898@corpane.UUCP> <102981@convex.convex.com> Sender: ne...@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu Reply-To: Lum Johnson Organization: The Ohio State University, IRCC/CIS Joint Computing Laboratory Lines: 227 Posted: Wed Jun 13 00:26:02 1990 In article <102981@convex.convex.com> schumach@convex.com (Richard A. Schumacher) writes: > >All this interesting history has overwhelmed me with a wave of >nostalgia, and piqued my curiousity. What is the state of the art >in Advent clones? Do Infocom and Zork I/ II/III still exist? ADVENT itself has been extended and upgraded at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. Here is some material from that version: [PHOTO: Recording initiated Tue 12-Jun-90 6:08PM] @run exec.adventure ; disguised, so SYSTAT shows EXEC running ... -- ADVENTURE <6.04/ 6>, 2-Nov-84 -- Welcome to ADVENTURE!! Would you like instructions? yes Somewhere nearby is Colossal Cave, where others have found fortunes in treasure and gold, though it is rumored that some who enter are never seen again. Magic is said to work in the cave. I will be your eyes and hands. Direct me with natural English commands. I should warn you that I look at only the first five letters of each word, so you'll have to enter "Northeast" as "NE" to distinguish it from "North". (Should you get stuck, type "HELP" or "?" for some general hints.) Good Luck! You are standing at the end of a road before a small brick building. Around you is a forest. A small stream flows out of the building and down a gully. in You are inside a building, a well house for a large spring. Off to one side is a small storeroom. There is a shiny brass lamp nearby. There is a leather sack here. Taped to the wall is a faded poster. There is a small matchbox here. read poster The poster has a picture of a thin man with a long white beard. He is wearing a high pointed cap embroidered with strange symbols, and he is pointing a finger at you. Below the picture are the words: "I want you!--To report all good ideas for extensions to this game to me without delay. Remember: Ask not what ADVENTURE can do to you; ask what you can do for ADVENTURE." - * * * - "A public service of the John Dillinger Died for You Society." take poster Hidden behind the poster is a steel safe, embedded in the wall. -- "Click." -- ; numbers deleted - you want to find them yourself, right? "Click." -- The safe door smoothly swings open. look in safe It contains: Rare book take book Ok read book - *** THE HISTORY OF ADVENTURE (ABRIDGED) *** - - ** By: W. I. Zerd ** - ADVENTURE was originally developed by William Crowther, and later substantially rewritten and expanded by Don Woods at Stanford Univ. According to legend, Crowther's original version was modelled on an a real cavern, called Colossal Cave, which is a part of Kentucky's Mammoth Caverns. That version of the game included the main maze and a portion of the third-level (Complex Junction - Bedquilt - Swiss Cheese rooms, etc.), but not much more. Don Woods and some others at Stanford later rewrote portions of the original program, and greatly expanded the cave. That version of the game is recognizable by the maximum score of 350 points. The latest additions were done throughout 1978-80 by David Long at the University of Chicago, Graduate School of Business. Long's additions include the seaside entrance and all of the cave on the "far side" of Lost River (Rainbow Rm - Crystal Palace - Blue Grotto - Rotunda - beyond Joshua's wall, etc., etc.). The surface has also been greatly increased to include a much more varied landscape containing swamp, marsh, seashore and meadowland areas. Most recent additions include the great Castle of Aldor, the Elephants' Burial Ground, Leprechaun Rock and more. The current cave is more than double the size of the Woods model, and moreover the puzzles and treasures are somewhat more "dense", (and more difficult!) in the current version. During the expansion process, the code was almost entirely rewritten to permit more generalized handling of objects and to interpret a more complex natural English syntax. Except for a couple of trivial subroutines (to get user-ID's for logging purposes), ADVENTURE is written entirely in FORTRAN. This is not because Crowther/Woods/Long love FORTRAN, but because it is almost infinitely portable. There were indeed moments when it took great strength to withstand the temptation to whip out some character handling routine in MACRO, instead of the furshlugginer compiler. For example, there is an excellent rival game to Adventure, called DUNGEON, developed at M.I.T., which is totally non-portable since it is coded in an obscure variant of two initially obscure compilers, and can only be transported in executable form between DEC-10's and 20's. ADVENTURE *is* available for sale! [No DEC-10/20 site should be without one!] Those interested in obtaining the latest releases of this game should contact: >> David E. Long >> GSB Computing Services >> University of Chicago >> 1101 E 58th Street >> Chicago IL 60637 >> Phone: 312/753-0860. To determine how out of date your version is, check the release date and number printed in the opening line of each game. The version number is parsed thusly: Version (say) 6.1/8 is major version 6, release 1, bugfix 8. The release number is changed only when the cave mapping is altered or when new items are added. The major version number is incremented after adding extensions large enough to affect the overall flavor of the game. Thanks are owed to Roger Matus and David Feldman, both of U. of C., for several suggestions, including the Rainbow Room, the telephone booth and the fearsome Wumpus. Further thanks go to J. R. Carlson, Bob Silverman and John Rager for many debugging suggestions. Most thanks (and apologies) go to Thomas Malory, Charles Dodgson, the Grimm Brothers, Dante, Homer, Frank Baum and especially Anon., the real authors of ADVENTURE. ** Copyright (C) 1978, 1979, 1980 University of Chicago ** out You're at end of road again. n You are in open forest, with a deep valley to one side. Not far off is a large billboard. read billboard ; the notices are in archeological order The billboard reads: Welcome to Adventureland! Visit beautiful Colossal Cave! Open year round for your enjoyment! - - - - - - - - - - - - ( 7-Mar-1980 ) 6.04 is released. Expansion of the castle continues -- it is far from complete. Several unique new features and puzzles have recently been designed and are now being implemented. The format of most hints has been altered. I hope you agree that the new hints are more in keeping with the flavor of the game. - - - - - - - - - - - - ( 3-Mar-1980 ) There is a slight bug on the perfume. For full score, you must drop it somewhere, look, and take it again. - - - - - - - - - - - - ( 25-Feb-1980 ) Adventurers may now enter the Castle Keep, although construction continues within. Some scoring bugs have been fixed. Who will be first to discover the secret of the black bird? - - - - - - - - - - - - ( 19-Jan-1980 ) Congratulations to Robert Silverman, the first adventurer to set foot in the Courtyard of Aldor's Castle. - - - - - - - - - - - - ( 18-Jan-1980 ) Many minor glitches have been fixed. Logging and audit features have also been improved. Big Wizard is watching you! - - - - - - - - - - - - ( 12-Jan-1980 ) Great thanks to Eric Weber for the wonderful play on words found at the seaside entrance. - - - - - - - - - - - - ( 1-Jan-1980 ) Greetings! We welcome the new year with a new wing of the cave, a major milestone towards V6. Experienced adventurers should reexplore surface areas and rooms around the Gothic Cathedral. This version has many small bugfixes and an improved syntax parser. The game should remain fairly stable for the next few months while the interior of the castle is completed. - - - - - - - - - - - - ADVENTURE is for sale! [No DEC-10/20 site should be without one!] Those interested in the latest release of this game should contact: ; see above ** Copyright (C) 1978, 1979, 1980, University of Chicago ** You are in open forest, with a deep valley to one side. Not far off is a large billboard. ^C @pop [PHOTO: Recording terminated Tue 12-Jun-90 6:14PM] I don't know whether the address, etc are still current. (Does anyone else?) I have no connection with David Long, other than having been part of the group here at OSU-20 that bought a copy from him for our site, before the "no games" policy was established. This version has a maximum score of 751. Oh, yes, ... the first five characters of each word are significant, since there five 7-bit bytes per 36-bit word. Lum -- -- Lum Johnson lum@cis.ohio-state.edu lum@osu-20.ircc.ohio-state.edu "You got it kid -- the large print giveth and the small print taketh away." ------- =========================================================================== Path: gmdzi!unido!mcsun!uunet!sco!evanh From: ev...@sco.COM (Evan A.C. Hunt) Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: ADVENT (was: Zork question ...) Message-ID: <6980@scorn.sco.COM> Date: 20 Jun 90 00:58:19 GMT References: <16310@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> <1536@kuling.UUCP> <1870@corpane.UUCP> <1596@charon.cwi.nl> <1898@corpane.UUCP> <102981@convex.convex.com> <81338@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu> Sender: ne...@sco.COM Reply-To: ev...@sco.COM (Evan A.C. Hunt) Organization: The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc. Lines: 18 Posted: Wed Jun 20 01:58:19 1990 Lum Johnson writes: >ADVENT itself has been extended and upgraded at the University of Chicago >Graduate School of Business. Here is some material from that version: [deleted] For reference, the version that was recently posted to comp.sources.games is uchicago's revision 5. I think it's from early '79. I'd be interested in getting a copy of revision 6; at some point I'll get around to trying the addresses you gave. If anyone informs before that time me that it's available by ftp from somewhere, it would save me some trouble... :) -- Evan A.C. Hunt evanh@sco.COM The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc. uunet!sco!evanh (408) 425-7222 evanh%sco.COM@ucscc.ucsc.EDU ===========================================================================