DemonoidTentacle Posted December 23, 2011 Share Posted December 23, 2011 A while ago I started writing out a text adventure (interactive fiction) reminiscent of the old Zork, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, and such. I've done this entirely on paper. Lots and lots of sheets of paper. It's quite the epic. Anyway, it's almost time for me to program it onto a platform. I don't have too much programming experience, just a little bit of C about 8 years ago. Anyway, I'm trying to decide on what classic home computer I'd like to release it for. I'd like it to be something popular, that can handle large text games. I am very partial to the Commodore 64, as I had one growing up. Any suggestions on the coding, and what system you would like to see a homebrew text adventure with a good physical release? I should note that this is a project that I am really going to take my time with, and you shouldn't be expecting anything within the next couple of months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted December 23, 2011 Share Posted December 23, 2011 (edited) I'd use one of the interactive fiction tools on the net rather than writing everything from scratch. Then any machine with a reader could play it. You might try here: http://www.ifarchive...if-archive.html http://jerz.setonhill.edu/if/ http://inform7.com/ http://www.firthworks.com/roger/cloak/ Edited December 23, 2011 by JamesD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted December 23, 2011 Share Posted December 23, 2011 BTW, there are several tools for writing adventures on older machines. What machine(s) did you have in mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DemonoidTentacle Posted December 23, 2011 Author Share Posted December 23, 2011 (edited) BTW, there are several tools for writing adventures on older machines. What machine(s) did you have in mind. The only one I really had in mind was the C64, purely for nostalgic reasons. But I'm open to suggestions on other platforms if enough people wanted that over the C64. EDIT: I've also had the Atari XE in the back of my mind. Edited December 23, 2011 by DemonoidTentacle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted December 23, 2011 Share Posted December 23, 2011 (edited) http://devwebcl.atar...uill/quill.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphic_Adventure_Creator Edited December 23, 2011 by JamesD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Usotsuki Posted December 23, 2011 Share Posted December 23, 2011 If you use Inform that gives you the C64, original PC and just about any recent box... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scotty Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 AGT - Adventure Game Toolkit is old, but GREAT program. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
high voltage Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 (edited) Spinnaker Adventure Creator for C64 also good Edited January 1, 2012 by high voltage Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassGuitari Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 How about TRS-80 Color Computer, TRS-80 MC-10, TRS-80 Model 2, or Timex/Sinclair 1000? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJ Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 (edited) I dont know why I recall this so clearly but Jack Hardy's "Adventures With The Atari" is a great reference guidebook. I made a couple good (IMHO) disk-based text/graphic adventure games using it. EDIT: Amazon has a used copy for $4. Edited January 9, 2012 by RJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inky Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 About 5 years ago I was creating a kick ass text adventure engine using Visual Basic and an Access97 database. But I have since lost all my work. A shame since it was shaping up nicely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Leach Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 I programmed a couple games for C64 back in the day with non moving graphics above the text of the adventures! Not too hard to do, but if you could do moving graphics..that would make your adventure really come to life! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DemonoidTentacle Posted January 16, 2012 Author Share Posted January 16, 2012 Just to let everyone know, I've chosen the C64 as the machine for the adventure. I rummaged around my shed, and found my two poorly boxed c64's. One with a busted keyboard and covered with rat piss, and one with no output and covered with rat piss. Took them apart, and made one working c64 covered with rat piss. Works a treat! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 Just to let everyone know, I've chosen the C64 as the machine for the adventure. I rummaged around my shed, and found my two poorly boxed c64's. One with a busted keyboard and covered with rat piss, and one with no output and covered with rat piss. Took them apart, and made one working c64 covered with rat piss. Works a treat! Do you suppose the rats are trying to tell you something? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scotty Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 Why not just use a C64 emulator on the PC? Better keyboard, faster load time, and you have all the resources of a modern PC to aid in the development. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arkhan Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 Why not just use a C64 emulator on the PC? Better keyboard, faster load time, and you have all the resources of a modern PC to aid in the development. Where's the fun in that? lol 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scotty Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 Why not just use a C64 emulator on the PC? Better keyboard, faster load time, and you have all the resources of a modern PC to aid in the development. Where's the fun in that? lol 6502 Cross assembler. YEAH BOY!! You do not think most professionals developed on the real machine back ion the day, do you? Test, yes. Develop..... Nope. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arkhan Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 6502 Cross assembler. YEAH BOY!! You do not think most professionals developed on the real machine back ion the day, do you? Test, yes. Develop..... Nope. A great deal of them did in fact develop on the actual machines. Especially in say, 1983/4. What exact purpose would cross developing accomplish? A cross assembler/compiler for an Apple II back then wouldn't really do much of anything. Do you really think Richard Garriot sat with TWO machines to develop Ultima? no. he didn't. christ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyranthraxus Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 Well of course the many bedroom programmers of that era like Garriot just programmed on the computer available to them. But professional companies like Infocom would not program on the actual home computers of the time. Infocom had custom software to write the games on then created an interpreter that would work on the various computers and that allowed them to quickly get their software onto as many computers as possible. In reflection, it was a pretty good system for that company and was a lot like how silent movies could easily be sold to foreign markets by a simple change of the inter-titles. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arkhan Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 Well of course the many bedroom programmers of that era like Garriot just programmed on the computer available to them. But professional companies like Infocom would not program on the actual home computers of the time. Infocom had custom software to write the games on then created an interpreter that would work on the various computers and that allowed them to quickly get their software onto as many computers as possible. In reflection, it was a pretty good system for that company and was a lot like how silent movies could easily be sold to foreign markets by a simple change of the inter-titles. right, but not ALL of them were doing that sort of thing... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEXAS_JOE Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 I can add something to this, I remember reading Zzapp 64 magazine back in about 1990, and there was an ongoing article covering a small software firm called Thalamus, whom where working on a game called Creatures. They released it on the Commodore 64. The machine they were developing it on was in fact a Commodore C128. The relevance here is that back then when PC's were'nt quite as universal as they are now, developers and small game writers tended to write on very similar hardware to what they tested it on. Imagine that though, about 1980 / 1981, when the Sinclair ZX80 and ZX81 was kicking around, having to develop games on those systems. Rampack wobble ahoy!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arkhan Posted March 3, 2012 Share Posted March 3, 2012 I can add something to this, I remember reading Zzapp 64 magazine back in about 1990, and there was an ongoing article covering a small software firm called Thalamus, whom where working on a game called Creatures. They released it on the Commodore 64. The machine they were developing it on was in fact a Commodore C128. The relevance here is that back then when PC's were'nt quite as universal as they are now, developers and small game writers tended to write on very similar hardware to what they tested it on. Imagine that though, about 1980 / 1981, when the Sinclair ZX80 and ZX81 was kicking around, having to develop games on those systems. Rampack wobble ahoy!!! Word. Some of the best games were made on the native machines. Carmack and Romero made very impressive Apple ][ games ON the Apple ][. Heck, he made better mazes than the crew at OSI. That's how he got a job there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DemonoidTentacle Posted July 29, 2012 Author Share Posted July 29, 2012 While there's nothing to really show of my text adventure yet, it's been a long battle so far with constant changes to the once a week work that I put into the project. What was to be a standard text adventure has now had a massive setback since I've decided to incorporate heavy RPG battles and statistics. So now it's a Zork-Wizardy hybrid. Hopefully I'm not biting off more than I can chew. When I do get something that's actually worth showing, I'll let you guys know. Doesn't help that I'm learning the coding as I go along. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhd Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 What programming language are you coding it in? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.