TI99 Infocom Games

[Tempest]

Odd question, but which Infocom games were released for the TI? Did the TI ever get a version of the v4 Interpreter or was v3 it? I assume v5 is completely out of the question since I think it required a min of 128K.

 

Tempest

[matthew180]

I didn't ever play Infocom games on my 99/4A, but that does not mean there weren't any. Scott Adam's Adventures and ToD were the main ones we had. Maybe after the 99/4A was discontinued there may have been a few Infocom games ported? I'll have to Google though, and I'm sure I don't know which engine version was used.

 

Matthew

[Opry99er]

I have a large Infocom game .DSK image I use with my CF7. remowilliams posted it, and it includes several games. You can find his DSK image on the CF7 thread of this forum. There is a list of these games over at the list somewhere, but searching through that is pretty miserable. =)

[Opry99er]

http://www.atariage....ost__p__2037190

 

Here ya go

 

Looks like here's a partial list:

 

Ballyhoo

Cutthroats

Deadline

Enchanter

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

Hollywood

Infidel

Lurking Horror

Planetfall

Plundered Hearts

Seastalker

Sorcerer

Spellbreaker

Starcross

Stationfall

SuspectWitness

Zork I,II,III

Edited September 15, 2010 by Opry99er

[Tempest]

You can add Leather Goddesses of Phobos to that list. I know that one was ported as well.

 

Tempest

[Opry99er]

I'm pretty sure that Leather Goddess required an 8k Supercart.... I dont have one unfortunately.

[+remowilliams]

Yes, Leather Goddesses of Phobos and Moonmist require a Supercart.

[Opry99er]

Thanks remo. And thank you again for posting the CF7 images.

[S1500]

Interesting! I knew the TI-99/4A had only a fraction of the total Infocom games.

 

Infocom's engine for the TI = awesome. Blew away the Scott Adams games.

[Tempest]

Yes, Leather Goddesses of Phobos and Moonmist require a Supercart.

Ok I know you answered this before, but indulge me. What is a Supercart again? What games require one?

 

Tempest

[+adamantyr]

Yes, Leather Goddesses of Phobos and Moonmist require a Supercart.

Ok I know you answered this before, but indulge me. What is a Supercart again? What games require one?

 

Tempest

 

A Supercart is, basically, an E/A cartridge with an 8K RAM chip in it. Usually with a battery to preserve the RAM contents, although it's not strictly necessary. The main value of it is to give the TI a little boost of memory.

 

The more advanced carts, like the Superspace II, actually had multiple 8K pages, which you could switch between. The TI Extended BASIC cartridge has two 8k pages, but it's possible to have more.

 

Adamantyr

[Opry99er]

It's essentially an Editor Assembler module with 8k of battery backed RAM. You can make one or pick up a used one, but they're rare, to say the least. Not many games require this--- though it gives you a TON of RAM to work with.

[Tempest]

It's essentially an Editor Assembler module with 8k of battery backed RAM. You can make one or pick up a used one, but they're rare, to say the least. Not many games require this--- though it gives you a TON of RAM to work with.

I suppose if not many games need it then I won't bother tracking one down. Although I still wouldn't mind having one. Maybe I can get someone on AA to modify one of my EA carts?

 

Tempest

[matthew180]

So, any games that use the Supercart would be disk based, correct? Just making sure since I have never seen / used a Supercart, let alone a game that required one.

 

Matthew

[Tempest]

So, any games that use the Supercart would be disk based, correct? Just making sure since I have never seen / used a Supercart, let alone a game that required one.

 

Matthew

Yeah it would have to be a disk. So it is only the two Infocom games then?

 

Tempest

[+InsaneMultitasker]

There are others that also require a SuperCart. I believe "The Lurking Horror" (my personal favorite) and Plundered Hearts are two of the others. I can't get to my disks or I'd rattle off the rest of the list...

[Tempest]

But it's still just Infocom games though?

 

Tempest

[InfernalKeith]

I can't speak to which games required a Supercart, but I believe those later games were not full-on Infocom releases with boxes and packaging. After someone figured out how to port them, I believe Infocom gave Asgard Software the right to 'reprint' the games, with photocopied manuals, etc, and sell them for the TI 99/4A.

 

As for "official" Infocom releases, I think the company kept putting out TI versions of software into 1985 or so. The ones I have complete packaging for are:

 

Zork I

Zork III

Sorcerer

Starcross

Hitchhiker's Guide

Cutthroats

Deadline

 

I thought I had Witness around here somewhere, too, but maybe I don't (I gotta get more organized).

 

BTW, if anyone has Zork II, or another officially-released, complete TI Infocom game not on my list, I'd like to buy or trade to get it. Contact me privately if you have one to offer.

 

K

[InfernalKeith]

The sad part of it all is, I haven't solved any of them. I like collecting the 'real thing' TI software packages from back in the day, and I tell myself that SOMEday I'll have time to play and solve them all. Sometimes I even believe it.

[matthew180]

I hear you. I have unopened adventure-type games (for a Windows PC) sitting on my shelf that I bought in 2002. These are *still* in the shrink wrap. I have actually never played the original Zork series, and I keep telling myself I'll do that one day too, but these days I'd rather be working on a hardware project or writing a tool. Maybe I can get my kids interested and I can play through them.

 

Matthew

[Tempest]

I can't speak to which games required a Supercart, but I believe those later games were not full-on Infocom releases with boxes and packaging. After someone figured out how to port them, I believe Infocom gave Asgard Software the right to 'reprint' the games, with photocopied manuals, etc, and sell them for the TI 99/4A.

 

As for "official" Infocom releases, I think the company kept putting out TI versions of software into 1985 or so. The ones I have complete packaging for are:

 

Zork I

Zork III

Sorcerer

Starcross

Hitchhiker's Guide

Cutthroats

Deadline

 

I thought I had Witness around here somewhere, too, but maybe I don't (I gotta get more organized).

 

BTW, if anyone has Zork II, or another officially-released, complete TI Infocom game not on my list, I'd like to buy or trade to get it. Contact me privately if you have one to offer.

 

K

I swear I've seen Enchanter in official packaging before. It would make sense given that they also released Sorcerer.

 

Tempest

[Christophero Sly]

Here's Infocom's official list through 1986.

 

[Bill Loguidice]

I thought I had Witness around here somewhere, too, but maybe I don't (I gotta get more organized).

 

I have it boxed. Here are my boxed Infocom TI games:

 

Deadline

Planetfall

Starcross

The Witness

Zork I

 

 

I enjoy Infocom's TI interpreter implementation as well.

[Tempest]

What is the TI Professional? I've never heard of it.

 

Tempest

[Bill Loguidice]

What is the TI Professional? I've never heard of it.

 

Tempest

 

It was just TI's semi-compatible IBM clone. It had nice features and they made a transportable version as well, but it really never took off for obvious reasons (not being fully IBM PC compatible hurt that and many other systems once that became important, and there was no longer great incentive for software makers to make platform-specific versions of their software).

 

I LOVE that Infocom supported so many obscure platforms. It was cheap and easy for them since they just write the interpreter once and then all their games can run, and they can share the same packaging, just requiring a new sticker. I was taken aback a second when I didn't see any Adam releases on that list until I realized that those were only amateur 40-column CP/M conversions and not official.