Scan of 'Adventures und wie man sie auf dem Atari 600 XL/800 XL programmiert'

[Garry]

Data Becker published several books written by Jörg Walkowiak on how to write text adventures. These were written in German, French and English for several computers including the Amstrad CPC 464, C64 and Atari 8-bit. The books generally contained three type-in adventures, an adventure editor and an interpreter. I am trying to track down a scan of the German version of the book for the Atari 8-bit computer. The book was called Adventures und wie man sie auf dem Atari 600 XL/800 XL programmiert and published by Data Becker in 1984. The programs from the book can be downloaded from Mr. Bacardi's site at http://ataribasiclistings.mygamesonline.org/

 

If anyone has a good quality scan (preferably as a pdf) or knows where I can find one, please share the info here or send me a personal message.

 

Incidentally, I once translated the very buggy French Amstrad versions of the programs to English and am thinking of doing the same for the Atari versions, hence the need for the book.

[Mr.Bacardi]

Hi Garry, the general version of the book is available on Archive.org ( https://archive.org/details/AdventuresUndWieManSieProgrammiert ). It's not the Atari version,but maybe it's helpful...

[Garry]

Thank you. That was helpful. I didn't realise that I didn't have that one. It contains the adventure editor, adventure interpreter and 'Goldrausch' for the Commodore 64. A similar version of this book is available in English as Adventure gamewriters handbook for Commodore 64. This includes the same programs as the German book plus 'The Enchanted Castle'.

 

The Atari and Amstrad versions of the books also include 'Space Mission'. This has simple line graphics to illustrate the rooms.

[+CharlieChaplin]

Well,

 

some Abbuc members are already working on that book. Afaik, the german version of "Adventures" is already fully scanned and OCR'ed at Abbuc - but alas, the german book is not only full of bugs, but it also has listings with several completely missing lines or pages... so I guess, they will never be able to complete the listings, except they also take a look into a) the other language versions (and if the missing lines or pages in the german version are not missing there) or b) the other computer versions (and if it is possible to convert them for the A8)...

 

Besides, here in Germany Data Becker also pusblished a magazine, named DATA WELT which contained several listings of their books. Since the magazine's main content was C64, ST and Amiga (and later PC), they often published the C64 listings, but here and there, they also had a few A8 listings. But they soon (1985?) stopped with printing listings and mainly concentrated on ST and Amiga (and later PC)...

 

Edited June 22, 2019 by CharlieChaplin

[Garry]

Thanks. A couple of the ABBUC members told me this privately. As I have the German listings for the Amstrad and C64, I'm sure I'll be able to fix the Atari listings once I get a scan of the book. I'll translate it to English too. (The games actually aren't too bad once they're debugged.)

 

Do you know if any of the listings in DATA WELD magazine included text adventures? Any platform, but Atari is better, of course.

[+CharlieChaplin]

Yes, there were some adventure listings in Data Welt, I have two magazines with such listings. Alas, I do not have a complete set of Data Welt magazines, just approx. 12 issues, there are several issues from 1984 missing in my collection, I guess. And maybe in the missing issues there were more adventure listings (or other listings)...

 

Think the main purpose of that magazine in the beginning (1984-1986) was to advertize their own C64 applications like Datamat, Textomat, Calcumat, Mathemat, Kontomat, Junior Mathemat, Finanzgenie and dozens of other programs. They had several series in the magazine about these programs and dozens of adverts (e.g. several advert pages that listed approx. 18 Data Becker programs for C64, several pages that advertized Data Becker books), in my eyes the magazine was purely advertizing for Data Becker books and programs and the type-in listings were just a small add-on. Later (1986/87 - end) they simply continued with ST, Amiga and PC and adverts for books and programs they had for these computers.

 

-----

 

- Data Welt Fruehjahr 1984 (spring 1984): no listings

- Data Welt 4/1984 (Herbst/autumn): C64 adventure "Das verzauberte Schloss" by Walkowiak from the Data Becker book "Adventures..." (book and program also available for Atari);

- Data Welt 1/1985: several small utilities and applications for CPC, C64 and A8

- Data Welt: 2/1985: new hardware (pics of Atari 65XE, 65XEP and 130XE), adventure listing "Gefahr im Kaufhaus" for C64, Atari and CPC (by Walkowiak), small utilities for C64 and CPC;

- Data Welt 3/1985: quick tips for CPC, C64 and Atari (they say, they will no longer print long listings of games or applications, just small utilities and tips), small correction (one line) for A8 version of "Gefahr im Kaufhaus";

 

- Data Welt 4/1985: quick tips for CPC, C64 and Atari

- Data Welt 5/1985: quick tips for CPC, C64 and Atari

- Data Welt 4/1986: quick tips for CPC, C16, C64, A8 and ST

- Data Welt 9/1986: contents = ST, Amiga, PC; adverts for C64, CPC, ST, Amiga and PC; quick tips for ST;

- Data Welt 10/1986: contents = ST, Amiga, PC, Schneider-PC, Schneider Joyce; quick tips for ST, CPC and PC;

- Data Welt 11/1986: contents = ST, PC, Joyce, Printers; quick tips for ST and Joyce; adverts for CPC, ST, Amiga, C64, PC, Schneider-PC and Printers;

- Data Welt 1/1987: contents = ST, Amiga, PC, Schneider-PC and Printers; several utility listings for ST, PC and Schneider-PC;

 

-----

 

These are all the issues I have of Data Welt. Except the two adventure listings, they are not very interesting for me. I can try to scan the two adventure listings (but the listing of "Gefahr im Kaufhaus" for CPC, C64 and Atari is a mess, its always switching between the computer types and therefore using pages 57-84, thus more than 20 pages). I know that I have the A8 versions of both adventures in my collection... and attach them here.

 

- Kaufhaus: contains a) Gefahr im Kaufhaus and b) two more images with mainly german adventures (e.g. two versions of Das verzauberte Schloss, the one with 173 sectors is originally by Walkowiak and NOT Olaf Meyer)

- Zauberschloss: contains four versions of "Zauberschloss" or "Das verzauberte Schloss" (story quite similar, listing content quite different), the one with 173 sectors (Zauber2...) is originally by Walkowiak

 

 

 

Kaufhaus.zip Zauberschloss.zip

[Garry]

Thank you for the very helpful reply. I just finished typing in 'Das verzauberte Schloss' for the Amstrad. I have a listing of this for the Atari 8-bit from Mr. Bacardi's web site and I'll check this against the Atari book when I can get a scan. It will be interesting to compare it to the magazine listing to see if it's the same, as these Data Becker programs are renowned for their errors. And you mentioned four versions.

 

I think 'Gefahr im Kaufhaus' is new to me. (That's another one to translate to English. I hate translations, but it's the only way I can get to play them.)

 

I'll try and track down some scans of Data Welt. If I can't find any, I'll get back to you.

Edited June 23, 2019 by Garry

[Garry]

I'm not having any luck whatsoever with Data Welt. Apart from a mention on a C64 wiki and some cover scans on Kult Boy, I haven't found anything yet, so I think I'll need you to do those scans, if you don't mind. Just the two adventure articles and the Atari corrections.

 

Thanks in advance.

[+CharlieChaplin]

Here are the scans (200 DPI) of "Das verzauberte Schloss" from Data Welt 4/1984 for C64.

The A8 version in the book "Adventures..." should be similar...

 

Note: page 117 is not missing, it is a full page Data Becker advert and therefore not required for the listing.

Zauberschloss_scans.zip

Edited June 23, 2019 by CharlieChaplin

[+CharlieChaplin]

Ufff, here are the scans of "Gefahr im Kaufhaus" from Data Welt 2/1984 and the small A8 correction in Data Welt 3/1984 (25 pages, each with 200 DPI, plus one small piece for correction). The correction in Data Welt 3/1984 should contain the german word "richtig" (right), but they made a typo (e instead of r) and so the word is typed wrong (the word "right" is typed wrong, hahaha)... 

 

Note: the pages 59, 61, 66 and 67 did contain full page ads, so I did not scan them (they are not required for the listing)...

 

Kaufhaus_Scans.zip

[devwebcl]

There is a Spanish version: http://manillismo.blogspot.com/2012/10/aventuras-y-como-se-programan-en-el.html

 

[Garry]

@CharlieChaplin Great stuff. I'll get onto this as soon as possible, probably in about a week. By that, I mean I'll check the BASIC listings against the ones in the magazine to get an "accurate" listing. It will also be interesting to compare the listing for 'Das verzauberte Schloss' against the one in the book (when I can get a scan) to see if they're the same. As the listings in the book are reported to be abysmally bug ridden and with missing lines, the one in the magazine may fill the gaps from the one in the book. Oh, and I'll make sure both are translated into English!

 

@devwebcl Another piece to add to the puzzle! So the Walkowiak programs are available in English, French, German and now Spanish, but for different platforms. In your blog entry, you asked if anyone had the listings. Did you ever find these or scans of the book? If anyone has scans of the book, I'm happy to type them in. (Well, maybe not "happy", but I'll do it as a service to the Spanish-speaking Atari community.)

 

Good work guys. We'll soon (hopefully) get to the bottom of this and preserve all these games.

[_The Doctor__]

Thank you for taking this on and making sure the Atari will have all of the programs, gaps and fixes handled.

 

Your' cross check and translation of the listings are a welcome addition to this fine work. Thank you again.

[devwebcl]

On 6/24/2019 at 9:17 AM, Garry said:

@devwebcl Another piece to add to the puzzle! So the Walkowiak programs are available in English, French, German and now Spanish, but for different platforms. In your blog entry, you asked if anyone had the listings. Did you ever find these or scans of the book? If anyone has scans of the book, I'm happy to type them in. (Well, maybe not "happy", but I'll do it as a service to the Spanish-speaking Atari community.)

 

Good work guys. We'll soon (hopefully) get to the bottom of this and preserve all these games.

 

I have that book from years, but I haven't typed any game at all :)

 

We have scanned several books at http://www.atariware.cl/ and this is one of the target.

 

I have uploaded some quick pictures of the book: https://manillismo.blogspot.com/2012/10/aventuras-y-como-se-programan-en-el.html

 

 

[Garry]

The picture of the contents page indicates that it has listings of 'Castillo Encantado', 'Fiebre del Oro' and 'Misión Espacial' (i.e. 'Enchanted Castle', 'Gold Rush' and 'Space Mission' respectively). Let me know when the scans are available and I'll try to type them in. If this little project goes well, we should end up with English, German and Spanish versions of all three programs for Atari 8-bit adventure fans.

[Garry]

Progress report.

 

@CharlieChaplin attached two zip files. When unzipped, they contain 7 atr disk image files. These contain 4 adventures written in the same style as the Jörg Walkowiak books (plus some other stuff). There are multiple versions of some games. The adventures are:

 

Die verflixte Urlaubsvertretung by Uwe Bekemann

I have translated this to English as 'The Darn Holiday House Sitter'. It's a very simple game, but full of bugs, sudden death, guess-the-verb, guess-the-object (that isn't even mentioned) and some puzzles that don't make any sense whatsoever. I need to do more testing and enhancements on this to make sure that it's playable.

 

Starlight by Mano

This wouldn't run because it uses a redefined character set, but it runs out of data before the character set is fully defined. If you remove all the code related to the redefined characters, everything works fine. I have translated this to English. It also has a few bugs, so I need to test it a bit more.

 

Gefahr im Kaufhaus by Jörg Walkowiak

There are two versions on the disks, supposedly by Martin Bolus. These are actually not by Martin Bolus, but by Jörg Walkowiak and published by Data Becker in Data Welt as in the scans kindly supplied by @CharlieChaplin.  The listing is fairly close to the original, except that strings have been converted to lower case and user-defined characters used for ä, ö, ü and ß. However, he has also introduced a couple of bugs that weren't in the original. I have converted the listing back to its original form as published by Data Welt, then translated it to English as 'Danger in the Department Store'. Unfortunately, the original listing is chock full of bugs. I am working hard to make this a playable game in the English version, but there's still some further testing and enhancements to be done. I haven't finished the game yet, due to some nasty guess-the-verb scenarios, so I also have to work out how to solve the game. It has a very small vocabulary and uses verbs like USE and OPERATE in circumstances where you'd never guess to use them.

 

Das Verzauberte Schloss by Jörg Walkowiak

There are at least five versions of this claimed to be by Lars Langhans and Olaf Meyer, but I think they're actually plagiarised versions of the game by Jörg Walkowiak from the book that started this thread. I haven't done any work on this pending scans of the original book.

 

Please be patient. It will probably take me another week or so to the finish the first three programs. If anyone wants to test them before they're released, feel free to send me a message.

[Garry]

Hooray! After a massive bug hunt, I've managed to solve 'Danger in the Department Store'. Now that I've solved it, I should be able to finish tidying up all three of the English translations - hopefully this weekend.