devwebcl Posted August 24, 2007 Share Posted August 24, 2007 Hello, I have been working with these programs lately, I was able to modify a program to make a script to automatize the "port" of a spectrum game, actually I ported the Quill Demo; it is not a good game, but it's small enough to make this test feasible. I conclude several points about converting games from Quill to AdventureWriter (AW): - The difference of text screen resolution between them becomes a problem. Sinclair is more narrow than Atari (32 vs 40), but is larger than a8. I made padding to leave the text in the same way, however AW doesn't let to write more than one screen, thus I lost some text for the last lines of the screen. (because this games is a demo/marketing software it has too many text and that's not usual in text adventures). - The Quill has 8kb more than AW besides to make the text padding I have to use blank spaces (it doesn't have a single character like CRLF). Thus I have less memory and I have to use more only for text formatting. Finally, I want to convert some interesting game to a8, however the memory limitation makes me hesitate of it. Cheers, Devwebcl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yorgle Posted August 24, 2007 Share Posted August 24, 2007 My daughter and I have been working on an Atari AdventureWriter game and what we are using to avoid wasting memory on blank spaces is to carefully choose our words so that word breaks naturally occur at the end of the line. (It's kind of an exercise in grammar and vocabulary as well). By doing so, we've ended up with a nearly right-justified text with only occasional spaces at the end of a line. I realize that this approach would be impractical (or impossible) for porting a game- you'd have to go back and edit all of the text, substituting existing words and phrases with ones conveying similar meaning but with different character counts. Someone should disassemble the editor and insert some sort of automatic formatting feature. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christophero Sly Posted August 24, 2007 Share Posted August 24, 2007 Sorry if this is a somewhat off-topic, but I've seen a couple of these AdventureWriter threads and I'm wondering if you are referring to the old AdventureWriter program that was published by a company called CodeWriter? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yorgle Posted August 24, 2007 Share Posted August 24, 2007 Sorry if this is a somewhat off-topic, but I've seen a couple of these AdventureWriter threads and I'm wondering if you are referring to the old AdventureWriter program that was published by a company called CodeWriter? That's the one I'm talking about. Were there others? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devwebcl Posted August 24, 2007 Author Share Posted August 24, 2007 here is the game: http://www.devweb.cl/atari/quilldemo.xex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christophero Sly Posted August 25, 2007 Share Posted August 25, 2007 Sorry if this is a somewhat off-topic, but I've seen a couple of these AdventureWriter threads and I'm wondering if you are referring to the old AdventureWriter program that was published by a company called CodeWriter? That's the one I'm talking about. Were there others? I have no idea. That's why I'm asking. I have an original copy for the Apple II. I'm surprised to hear it's name mentioned, let alone learn that people are still using it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yorgle Posted August 25, 2007 Share Posted August 25, 2007 I ended up using it by default- it just happened to be the first editor I came across. It's not the easiest program to figure out- especially the object handling portion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cybernoid Posted August 25, 2007 Share Posted August 25, 2007 If Quill is expecting the screen to be 32 instead of 40, then ANTIC could be put into narrow screen mode. The narrow screen mode is 32 chars wide instead of 40. You would simply have to write a 0x21 into address 0x022f. I modified the xex file to put that value into that address. I think you could save some memory and modifications in this mode... quilldemo32.zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John E. Posted August 25, 2007 Share Posted August 25, 2007 I converted a game from the Spectrum Quill to Atari by simply listing all the instructions and re-entering them into AdventureWriter. Boring and extremely time consuming! As has been said the fact that the Spectrum had around 8k more of space to play with is a problem when converting adventures. I ran out of memory when trying to convert an Atlantis tape release called 'Marie Celeste' (http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0006656) and it was hardly Level 9 or Infocom quality. I'd be interested to see anything that comes from converting these adventures over to the Atari. Maybe it'd be best to take a look at some of the earlier Quilled efforts like 'The Adventures of Barsak the Dwarf' (http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0005927) as they may not have utilised the full memory like later efforts surely would. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devwebcl Posted August 27, 2007 Author Share Posted August 27, 2007 If Quill is expecting the screen to be 32 instead of 40, then ANTIC could be put into narrow screen mode. The narrow screen mode is 32 chars wide instead of 40. You would simply have to write a 0x21 into address 0x022f. I modified the xex file to put that value into that address. I think you could save some memory and modifications in this mode... quilldemo32.zip Great solution!, with this I can save memory avoiding a lot of white spaces. I don't have my a8 tools and programs here, so I'll test it later, however can I used this modification to the adventurewriter editor? (to obtain the same narrow screen). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devwebcl Posted August 27, 2007 Author Share Posted August 27, 2007 I converted a game from the Spectrum Quill to Atari by simply listing all the instructions and re-entering them into AdventureWriter. Boring and extremely time consuming! Yes, It is and that's why I have made a program to enter the games automatically thus it takes considerable time, but it is the computer working by itself. I only check if the conversion has been done correctly otherwise I change to get the desire output. As has been said the fact that the Spectrum had around 8k more of space to play with is a problem when converting adventures. I ran out of memory when trying to convert an Atlantis tape release called 'Marie Celeste' (http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0006656) and it was hardly Level 9 or Infocom quality. Probably this game is to big for AW, It happened the same with Hampstead, but I was able to convert the full game called Diamond Trail. I'd be interested to see anything that comes from converting these adventures over to the Atari. Maybe it'd be best to take a look at some of the earlier Quilled efforts like 'The Adventures of Barsak the Dwarf' (http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0005927) as they may not have utilised the full memory like later efforts surely would. I'll look for this game, if it's small enough I believe it can be convert it without any problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cybernoid Posted August 27, 2007 Share Posted August 27, 2007 (edited) Great solution!, with this I can save memory avoiding a lot of white spaces.I don't have my a8 tools and programs here, so I'll test it later, however can I used this modification to the adventurewriter editor? (to obtain the same narrow screen). Hmmm, you can modify the screen on AdventureWriter to be 32 cols, but you will have to go in and modify all the screen text as well since it does the white space padding for 40 cols as well. Edited August 27, 2007 by Cybernoid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devwebcl Posted August 27, 2007 Author Share Posted August 27, 2007 (edited) here it is Diamond Trail: http://devweb.cl/atari/quill/diamond_trail.xex Edited August 27, 2007 by devwebcl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devwebcl Posted October 9, 2007 Author Share Posted October 9, 2007 Finally I finish this first stage converting Sinclair Text-Adv games I found. I made a page explaining the problems that appeared, games converted successfully and some I found made by third parties: http://devweb.cl/atari/quill/quill.html Cheers, Devwebcl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
www.atarimania.com Posted October 9, 2007 Share Posted October 9, 2007 Magic Castle was ported by John E. two years ago and the text layout was really much better. The conversion was probably more time-consuming but I feel there are many problems with the way words are cut at the end of the line in your releases. There are a number of other games made with AdventureWriter, including commercial efforts such as the Star Voyage series, The Casebook of Hemlock Soames (both by CodeWriter) and L'Enigme du Triangle (sold by Atari France and made with the incredibly rare French version of the program). -- Atari Frog http://www.atarimania.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devwebcl Posted October 9, 2007 Author Share Posted October 9, 2007 Magic Castle was ported by John E. two years ago and the text layout was really much better. The conversion was probably more time-consuming but I feel there are many problems with the way words are cut at the end of the line in your releases. There are a number of other games made with AdventureWriter, including commercial efforts such as the Star Voyage series, The Casebook of Hemlock Soames (both by CodeWriter) and L'Enigme du Triangle (sold by Atari France and made with the incredibly rare French version of the program). -- Atari Frog http://www.atarimania.com Great! good to know there is another ported of Magic Castle and I can compare, also to see the text layout used, which has been a pain. The games I found were seeing the binary, I didn't know about these games form Codewriter, thanks for the info too. Do you have a version of that French version of AdventureWriter? Regards, Devwebcl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
www.atarimania.com Posted October 9, 2007 Share Posted October 9, 2007 Do you have a version of that French version of AdventureWriter? Yes, somewhere... Stay tuned. -- Atari Frog http://www.atarimania.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devwebcl Posted October 11, 2007 Author Share Posted October 11, 2007 The conversion was probably more time-consuming but I feel there are many problems with the way words are cut at the end of the line in your releases. I played the other version of Magic Castle and I guess now I understand what you mean with the words are cut at the end of each line. The problem I mentioned before and It is in the web page, which is for the different resolution of Atari versus Sinclair text screen. Therefore I only inserted whitespace padding to keep the 32 characters wide, thus The final games is more similar to the original instead than re-arrange the layout as John E. made. The other John change a quite bite the text in the game, saying he made and the reason why. It's great to see that more people think in the same way. Yes, somewhere... Stay tuned. cool! I hope you can find it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gury Posted October 13, 2007 Share Posted October 13, 2007 Thank you for the games Devwebcl. I checked some of them and it seems they work ok. Good addition to the library. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
www.atarimania.com Posted October 20, 2007 Share Posted October 20, 2007 (edited) What are your plans for the games? We'd love to have them in our database but in a somewhat more finished stage (with proper screen layout). BTW, as promised: http://www.atarimania.com/detail_soft.php?...ERSION_ID=20331 With original ad, too -- Atari Frog http://www.atarimania.com Edited October 20, 2007 by www.atarimania.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devwebcl Posted October 20, 2007 Author Share Posted October 20, 2007 What are your plans for the games? We'd love to have them in our database but in a somewhat more finished stage (with proper screen layout). Well, the games are in a almost finish stage, as I mentioned in the webpage there are 3 type of conversions affecting the layout for the small memory of atari version. I think the first version is good for a final release, however if you prefer to use the whole atari screen, I could make that change, but the look&feel would be different from the original. (please let me know). I almost forgot, the other different is the colour from the background, but that's very easy to do. BTW, as promised: http://www.atarimania.com/detail_soft.php?...ERSION_ID=20331 With original ad, too -- Atari Frog http://www.atarimania.com Great! thanks for it, nice advertise too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devwebcl Posted August 20, 2008 Author Share Posted August 20, 2008 Hello, I just received the box AdventureWriter, this gave me a second breath and have converted some few new games: Sorcerer Leo Wankers Quest The Holy Joystick Wychwood They can be found at: http://devweb.cl/atari/quill/quill.html I also added little more information to the webpage, plus scans of the box at high resolution and put new games made with AdW years ago. Kind Regards, Devwebcl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carmel_andrews Posted August 20, 2008 Share Posted August 20, 2008 If memory recalls Codewriter's 'Adventure Writer' is basically an A8 port of Gilsofts 'Professional Adventure Writer' (for the speccy, amstrad and others) There was another adventure writing proggie for the A8 called 'The Slave' (from what i recall hearing, it wasn't very good) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devwebcl Posted February 18, 2009 Author Share Posted February 18, 2009 If memory recalls Codewriter's 'Adventure Writer' is basically an A8 port of Gilsofts 'Professional Adventure Writer' (for the speccy, amstrad and others) There was another adventure writing proggie for the A8 called 'The Slave' (from what i recall hearing, it wasn't very good) Adventure Writer is the a8 port for The Quill. PAW the sequel being a better engine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devwebcl Posted February 18, 2009 Author Share Posted February 18, 2009 I converted seven more games: http://manillismo.blogspot.com/2009/02/adv...gos-nuevos.html http://devweb.cl/atari/quill/quill.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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