SwordQuest(ions)

[Rom Hunter]

What still puzzles me is this:

 

Why do the clue numbers in SwordQuest - FireWorld don't have any connection to the FireWorld comic book?

 

I read a theory once that they forgot to replace the 00 - 09 clue numbers by the proper page-panel numbers when the game got released, but that doesn't make sense to me: why would a 05 clue number then be shown in a FireWorld instruction manual screenshoot and description?

Robert Ruiz Jr. once wrote that these clue numbers are 'task levels' and the only way you would have know this if you had an instruction manual from outside the US.

Perhaps someone here can scan the PAL manual page mentioning the clues to clear this up?

 

 

Also the Food and Dagger clue from EarthWorld that would be of use in FireWorld is still a mystery to me.

 

Perhaps the food and dagger were supposed to be of importance in FireWorld, but after the game was programmed not anymore?

 

 

And I still find it hilarious that you don't have to touch the games at all to find all hidden words (except for the bold ones in the text balloons ofcourse) if you only have the comic books, a sharp eye and enough patience to examine each page and panel.

 

BTW, it's still not proven that someone ever found all clues by only playing the game without examining the code.

Charles Compton (winner of the Riddle of the Shinx contest) said he had found all 10 FireWorld clues by playing the game, but other than that...

Edited April 3, 2017 by Rom Hunter

[StanJr]

Yeah, I was finding the words in the comics long before I ever found any of the clues in the game. SQ was such a great idea that was executed so poorly...

[bigfriendly]

Their is absolutely no way anybody found all the clues in Earthworld through trial and error.If they did then they need to drop whatever they are doing and go buy a Powerball lotto ticket. I remember finding the third clue 25-6 and was stoked that I found it! Everybody else I knew had enough sense to give up way before then. When I discovered the solution online in the early 2000's I was shocked at how complex the clues in the game become. The last one literally used every object in the game in multiple rooms! Impossible! I've said it before and I will say it again here, Atari should hang for promoting that garbage as an adventure game when it was nothing of the sort. The comics were well done but the entire series was a joke! They should have done something like Raiders of the Lost Ark. A very difficult game but....a real puzzle/adventure game that's winnable.

[Rom Hunter]

Yes, finding all clues in EarthWorld is inhuman.

This is the Objects - Room combination for the last clue:

Amulet + Lamp in Cancer
Dagger + Key in Taurus
Food + Rope in Scorpio
Cloak of Invisibility in Aries
Shoes of Stealth in Aquarius
Leather Armor + Ring + Grappling Hook in Libra
Necklace + Water in Gemini
Short Sword in Capricorn
Talisman of Passage in Sagittarius

All fifteen objects and nine (of the twelve) rooms used...

Would be an interesting math calculation to find out the winning chance of that combination.

I bet it's less than 1 in a million.

Edited April 4, 2017 by Rom Hunter

[Rom Hunter]

I was also wondering: is the last sentence of the solution poem known?

I'm sure they thought of the complete poem before starting this whole project.

 

Quest In Tower Talisman Found
Leads To Chalice Power Abound
Hasten Toward Revealed Crown

 

Eh...

Steal The Stone Return To Town?

Edited April 4, 2017 by Rom Hunter

[+Cafeman]

... bang your head like Charlie Brown?

[MrBeefy]

Maybe there will be more clues in this.

 

https://www.bleedingcool.com/2017/02/20/new-atari-comics-dynamite-starts-swordquest/

[NE146]

I STILL don't really understand the solution to any of the SQ games any more than I did when I was 12.. and i'm almost 50 now

[moycon]

I STILL don't really understand the solution to any of the SQ games any more than I did when I was 12.. and i'm almost 50 now

Yes, same here. Always been fascinated with the idea, and as a kid my friend and I stayed up later than we had ever stayed up at that point (like 2am) playing Earthworld, but reading the solution/explanation. We had no chance in hell ever actually solving that thing!

[Inky]

 

 

Quest In Tower Talisman Found

Leads To Chalice Power Abound

Hasten Toward Revealed Crown

 

Pennywise, a scary clown?

[bigfriendly]

Yes, finding all clues in EarthWorld is inhuman.

 

This is the Objects - Room combination for the last clue:

 

Amulet + Lamp in Cancer

Dagger + Key in Taurus

Food + Rope in Scorpio

Cloak of Invisibility in Aries

Shoes of Stealth in Aquarius

Leather Armor + Ring + Grappling Hook in Libra

Necklace + Water in Gemini

Short Sword in Capricorn

Talisman of Passage in Sagittarius

All fifteen objects and nine (of the twelve) rooms used...

 

Would be an interesting math calculation to find out the winning chance of that combination.

 

I bet it's less than 1 in a million.

 

 

 

Actually, If you had the math skills the better way would be to go back to the fourth clue and go from there to the final clue that you posted above. My guess is it would be 10's of millions or maybe 100's of millions to one.

[toiletunes]

Games like these will let you down!

[moycon]

Actually, If you had the math skills the better way would be to go back to the fourth clue and go from there to the final clue that you posted above. My guess is it would be 10's of millions or maybe 100's of millions to one.

 

There wouldn't have been enough competitors in the initial contest. From what I recall the Atari 2600 sold 20-30 million consoles in the US , and I'm almost positive not everyone that owned an Atari participated in the contest with any seriousness, and like 10 people were able to find all the clues in the contest with the winner being the guy who discovered them first. Maybe some folks were just REALLY dedicated to the cause. If I had been older. I might have been!

[bigfriendly]

 

There wouldn't have been enough competitors in the initial contest. From what I recall the Atari 2600 sold 20-30 million consoles in the US , and I'm almost positive not everyone that owned an Atari participated in the contest with any seriousness, and like 10 people were able to find all the clues in the contest with the winner being the guy who discovered them first. Maybe some folks were just REALLY dedicated to the cause. If I had been older. I might have been!

 

Oh no, no, no................nobody actually solved the Earthworld game itself. They figured out the solution in the comic book and got the invitation to participate in a face to face competition at Atari's headquarters. They each played a special edition of Earthworld that was much easier than the original game. Whoever found the most clues in the allotted time won the prize. It was that Stephen Bell guy that won it. Now, if somebody pulls a copy of that contest version of Earthworld out of a landfill they truly will have a great prize. I writing all of this based on memory and if I'm wrong then somebody please let me know.

[+jeremiahjt]

 

Oh no, no, no................nobody actually solved the Earthworld game itself. They figured out the solution in the comic book and got the invitation to participate in a face to face competition at Atari's headquarters. They each played a special edition of Earthworld that was much easier than the original game. Whoever found the most clues in the allotted time won the prize. It was that Stephen Bell guy that won it. Now, if somebody pulls a copy of that contest version of Earthworld out of a landfill they truly will have a great prize. I writing all of this based on memory and if I'm wrong then somebody please let me know.

I thought they released the contest versions in PAL territories as just the normal release.

[dark-aleph]

This is the Objects - Room combination for the last clue:

 

Amulet + Lamp in Cancer

Dagger + Key in Taurus

Food + Rope in Scorpio

Cloak of Invisibility in Aries

Shoes of Stealth in Aquarius

Leather Armor + Ring + Grappling Hook in Libra

Necklace + Water in Gemini

Short Sword in Capricorn

Talisman of Passage in Sagittarius

All fifteen objects and nine (of the twelve) rooms used...

 

Would be an interesting math calculation to find out the winning chance of that combination.

 

I bet it's less than 1 in a million.

 

 

 

Each object has a 1 in 12 chance of being in the right room. For a single object the chance is 1 in 12; for two objects it's 1 in 12*12, or 1 in 144, and so on.

 

So the probability of getting the fifteen-item combo by chance is 1 in 12^15, which is 1 in 15,407,021,574,586,368.

 

For a bit of perspective, if you tried a new combination every thirty seconds since the start of the Universe 14 billion years ago, by now you would still be only 93% of the way to trying every combination. If 30 million people had a VCS and every one of 'em bought a copy of Earthworld in October 1982; and then they all tried a new combo every second without pause, and without ever repeating a combo someone else had already tried - then in late November 1990 half of the combos would have been tried and we'd have a 50% chance of there being a winner. It would not be until January 1999 that there would be a guaranteed winner

[Rom Hunter]

 

Each object has a 1 in 12 chance of being in the right room. For a single object the chance is 1 in 12; for two objects it's 1 in 12*12, or 1 in 144, and so on.

 

So the probability of getting the fifteen-item combo by chance is 1 in 12^15, which is 1 in 15,407,021,574,586,368.

 

For a bit of perspective, if you tried a new combination every thirty seconds since the start of the Universe 14 billion years ago, by now you would still be only 93% of the way to trying every combination. If 30 million people had a VCS and every one of 'em bought a copy of Earthworld in October 1982; and then they all tried a new combo every second without pause, and without ever repeating a combo someone else had already tried - then in late November 1990 half of the combos would have been tried and we'd have a 50% chance of there being a winner. It would not be until January 1999 that there would be a guaranteed winner

 

LOL

 

Thanks for proving what a complete waste of time playing this game is.

 

 

 

[Rom Hunter]

I thought they released the contest versions in PAL territories as just the normal release.

No.

 

The PAL versions are different from the contest version (at least EarthWorld is).

 

Edited April 9, 2017 by Rom Hunter

[atarifan88]

Does anyone know if these games were the inspiration for the Ready Player One novel?

[Zwackery]

Does anyone know if these games were the inspiration for the Ready Player One novel?

 

I'm pretty sure Cline's childhood and Wikipedia were the inspiration for the novel.

[moycon]

 

Oh no, no, no................nobody actually solved the Earthworld game itself. They figured out the solution in the comic book and got the invitation to participate in a face to face competition at Atari's headquarters. They each played a special edition of Earthworld that was much easier than the original game. .

Wow really!!? I never knew that. Thanks for the info. So what is the deal? Did they originally just think that they wouldn't have to give anything away since they knew no-one would win?

[Zwackery]

http://atariage.com/magazines/magazine_page.html?MagazineID=7&CurrentPage=7

 

and

 

http://atariage.com/magazines/magazine_page.html?MagazineID=8&CurrentPage=6

[Rom Hunter]

Did they originally just think that they wouldn't have to give anything away since they knew no-one would win?

 

No, they wanted to give away the price, allright.

 

They were counting on 50 contestants and their first idea was to just hand over a step by step solution sheet at the contest, so the fastest player would win within the 90 minutes time-limit.

 

At the last moment they decided to give a riddle/hint sheet instead of just the solution:

http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-2600-vcs-swordquest-earthworld_25679.html

 

Edited April 9, 2017 by Rom Hunter

[Dutchman2000]

The last line of the poem we did try and resolve when I was working on the airworld project. The last line has never appeared in any records that we have found, so we created one that seemed to fit.

 

Passage to stone, Sword astounds!

[Torr]

The PAL versions are different from the contest version (at least EarthWorld is).

 

I'm guessing since Canada was exempt from the contest rules (I assume) we must have gotten a distribution of NTSC carts with the PAL solution. Only way I can explain the one I got.