What happened to "The Annotated Adventure" by Warren Robinett?

[p1FqO3]

http://warrenrobinett.com/annotated/index.html

 

I've been keeping any eye out for this for a few years now but it seems like it's never going to emerge. I've been looking for any hint as to what might be holding it up, or worse, killed it, but I haven't found anything. I even tried emailing a few weeks ago. Does anyone know if it's ever going to happen?

Edited May 22, 2018 by p1FqO3

[p1FqO3]

Finally got an update from the man himself in this Reddit Ready Player One thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/readyplayerone/comments/8of906/warren_robinett_answered_your_questions/

 

Three years ago I began work on a book about the design of Adventure. Books take a long time, it turns out. It has turned into two books now -- one book about the technical story, and one book about the political story. The titles are The Annotated Adventure (tech story) and Making the Dragon (political story).

I have complete manuscripts for both books, but neither book is ready. It turns out that real writers make quite a few revision passes over their books before they let go of them. This is actually necessary.

I'm hoping to release them before too long, but I can't tell you the exact definition of "before too long".

 

 

Before too long cannot come soon enough

[eegad]

Has anyone by chance heard from Warren recently? When I heard about Annotated Adventure, I was excited to get it. But his website entry about it hasn't been updated in a long time....as of 4 years ago it was finished but going through revisions. 

 

[mickmuze]

I wrote to Warren a few weeks ago. He did write back and said he is still working away at the book. Said books take a lot longer to write than games did.

Edited December 6, 2020 by mickmuze
spelling

[+groundtrooper]

Thanks for the info Mick.

I have been waiting and waiting for this also.

It’s like waiting for the Concerto bugs to be squashed and released. Well, that is now a reality and patience is going to paying off there soon for a lot of people.

Excited for Warren to finish the book it will happen in due time.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[+Karl G]

On 12/6/2020 at 5:51 PM, mickmuze said:

I wrote to Warren a few weeks ago. He did write back and said he is still working away at the book. Said books take a lot longer to write than games did.

Depends on the game. 

 

I'm also still interested in this book, and I appreciate you inquiring about it.

[warwabbit]

Checking in on stardate 8.15.2023.

Still nothing new. 

[+Karl G]

On 8/15/2023 at 10:25 AM, warwabbit said:

Checking in on stardate 8.15.2023.

Still nothing new. 

Maybe someone should email him again to see if it's still happening? 

[polyex]

I am glad he decided to split the book into two. I would rather read the tech story and just skip the political one. I found his personal politics to be offensive. Just my opinion, you might like them, but they are not anything I am interested in.

[+Karl G]

Since no one has said that they sent another inquiry, I went ahead and asked if it was still being planned, and if he knew when it would be released. I'll update this topic if/when I hear back.

[Arno1978]

I've emailed him twice in the past few years, and never got a reply. I don't think he responds to anyone he doesn't know, or just too busy. I can't wait for the books. Adventure is one of my top 10 favorite games of all time.

[jhd]

 

Lots of book projects are announced but never finished. The late Jerry Pournelle, for example, promoted many more forthcoming books than he ever actually released. It was amusing reading the ongoing excuses for their non-appearance on his website. There is also the late Curt Vendel's Business is War that presumably will never be finished either.

 

Given Warren's advanced age and the fact that he is (presumably) now retired, I do not expect that this manuscript will be released. 

 

@polyex I have obviously not seen the drafts, but I assume that by "politics", Warren was referring to internal corporate machinations at Atari rather than his personal political beliefs and values. The former topic is of niche interest, but I cannot imagine that anyone cares about the latter. 

[davyK]

Just looking at the plan of that book and all its chapters. Very ambitious. There's a pile of work in it just looking at that.

[The Eyeball Mural]

I still eagerly await the book. I hope Warren is able to make it happen someday.

[davyK]

I don't want to speak out of turn but I suspect it was maybe over ambitious. A straight narrated/commented source code listing with some text to explain some of the techniques would be a job in itself.  I think that would have made most people happy?  Better that than nothing.

 

The most famous case of over ambition is Knuth's The Art of Computer Programming Started in 1962 and it still isn't finished!!! Vols 1,2,3,4a and 4b are published (these were initally planned to be chapters!) but there's a planned volumes 4c-4f , 5 , 6 and 7 !!!

 

All the code examples in the book are in assembler. 

Edited January 22 by davyK