For Fans of Old Infocom Games - Something New

[Wrathchild]

can you have a prefix DLI though that can jump to the instruction for a specific line in order to do scrolling as per Magnetic Scrolls title?

[Gunstar]

2 hours ago, Beeblebrox said:

@Gunstar  Ah, thought it might be one of yours but wasn't sure.  Honestly it was probably one of the earliest Rastaconverted images which made me take a step back an gaze in awe at just how good the A8 can be when pushed graphically. So much potential for Rastaconverted images in games in the right hands IMHO. As you prob know from the Rastaconveter image thread I am pretty much obessed by converting images now. Got some nice ones in the oven as we speak so hopefully post em this weekend.  See you there.

 

I digress - all this talk of text adventures reminds me it's been 25 odd years since I played Hitch Hikers GTTG. 

I would say "funny you should mention HHGTG", but it's not really since your AA handle is Beeblebrox. It's a favorite of mine in any media form.  I have a shrine to it including Infocom's game and goodies on display, and a large print edition of the Illustrated HHGTTG. I've been a fan for decades, but never got the Infocom game back in the day, it was a gift along with Zork I and The Lurking Horror from @Timothy Kline a few years ago that got me interested in the old Infocom and Synapse Electronic Novels again. I only started playing Infocom's HHGTTG in recently though, as I always assumed it would be too easy for me since I know HHGTTG inside and out. I never even read the back of the box, just put it all on display with the intention of playing it "some day." However, while glancing through one of my old Analog or Antic magazines I had stumbled upon a review of the game where I learned it was co-written with Douglas Adams and contained new material. So I've been intermittently playing it for the last couple of months. I saved and left off the last time just as Ford and Arthur were being blown out the air-lock and about to be miraculously saved by Trillian and Zaphod.

 

 

The weird looking "thing" on the right in front of the order for destruction is a bronze piece I made back in college of an Alien plant pod sprouting. I never did finish sandblasting or grinding it properly, and now, after decades in storage has started turning green like any bronze or copper does...I just thought it was fitting for the display when I found it in storage.

Edited June 10, 2021 by Gunstar

[Beeblebrox]

45 minutes ago, Gunstar said:

I would say "funny you should mention HHGTG", but it's not really since your AA handle is Beeblebrox. It's a favorite of mine in any media form.  I have a shrine to it including Infocom's game and goodies on display, and a large print edition of the Illustrated HHGTTG. I've been a fan for decades, but never got the Infocom game back in the day, it was a gift along with Zork I and The Lurking Horror from @Timothy Kline a few years ago that got me interested in the old Infocom and Synapse Electronic Novels again. I only started playing Infocom's HHGTTG in recently though, as I always assumed it would be too easy for me since I know HHGTTG inside and out. I never even read the back of the box, just put it all on display with the intention of playing it "some day." However, while glancing through one of my old Analog or Antic magazines I had stumbled upon a review of the game where I learned it was co-written with Douglas Adams and contained new material. So I've been intermittently playing it for the last couple of months. I saved and left off the last time just as Ford and Arthur were being blown out the air-lock and about to be miraculously saved by Trillian and Zaphod.

 

 

The weird looking "thing" on the right in front of the order for destruction is a bronze piece I made back in college of an Alien plant pod sprouting. I never did finish sandblasting or grinding it properly, and now, after decades in storage has started turning green like any bronze or copper does...I just thought it was fitting for the display when I found it in storage.

@Gunstar heh heh - yup no coincidence. Wouldn't it be funny if my actual surname was simply Beeblebrox!   

 

As a potential pseudonym I had toyed with the handle Slartibartfast (which has always made me chuckle), but realised it was rather a chore for others to type ....so Beeblebrox it was. 

 

I too am a massive fan of all things HHGTTG. I grew up with the books and the humour. The text adventure really sticks in my mind - will defo revisit it soon.

Great shrine you have there and the Alien metal work.... love it!

 

Talking of Antic/Analogue I have a ton of 80's Analog, Antic, Page 6/Atari user, and poss others which I really need to save from storage, along with loads of software. Hopefully the mags are in good condition still. I used to write for Page6 (as well as Grim Reaper disk mag if I recall) in the 90's. (Not giving up my name BTW- too embarrassed heh heh!) Seems a lifetime ago.

 

Incidentally so as to avoid hijacking this thread anymore (bit late for that I know - sorry everyone), regarding the Rastaconverter element of this discussion I necrobumped the following post which is dedicated to it.( @ilmenit fyi)

 

To end of a quote from HH:

"resistance is futile"... oooo and my other fav is "The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't"

 

Finally seems fitting to end this with simply...

 

42!

 

ps I must Rastaconvert some HHGTTG imagery now! 

Edited June 10, 2021 by Beeblebrox
typos

[Wrathchild]

One with a whale? ?

[Gunstar]

1 hour ago, Beeblebrox said:

@Gunstar heh heh - yup no coincidence. Wouldn't it be funny if my actual surname was simply Beeblebrox!   

 

As a potential pseudonym I had toyed with the handle Slartibartfast (which has always made me chuckle), but realised it was rather a chore for others to type ....so Beeblebrox it was. 

 

I too am a massive fan of all things HHGTTG. I grew up with the books and the humour. The text adventure really sticks in my mind - will defo revisit it soon.

Great shrine you have there and the Alien metal work.... love it!

 

Talking of Antic/Analogue I have a ton of 80's Analog, Antic, Page 6/Atari user, and poss others which I really need to save from storage, along with loads of software. Hopefully the mags are in good condition still. I used to write for Page6 (as well as Grim Reaper disk mag if I recall) in the 90's. (Not giving up my name BTW- too embarrassed heh heh!) Seems a lifetime ago.

 

Incidentally so as to avoid hijacking this thread anymore (bit late for that I know - sorry everyone), regarding the Rastaconverter element of this discussion I necrobumped the following post which is dedicated to it.( @ilmenit fyi)

 

To end of a quote from HH:

"resistance is futile"... oooo and my other fav is "The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't"

 

Finally seems fitting to end this with simply...

 

42!

 

ps I must Rastaconvert some HHGTTG imagery now! 

Sorry, after all that, you may be finished derailing the thread, but now you've really gotten me in a mood. "I told you  you wouldn't like the answer."

I thought I should mention why the Anaglyph 3D glasses are a part of the shrine; they are to put over the other shades for the 3D version.

[adam242]

5 hours ago, Wrathchild said:

One with a whale? ?

Or perhaps a bowl of petunias?

[StickJock]

On 6/10/2021 at 6:52 PM, adam242 said:

Or perhaps a bowl of petunias?

Oh no, not again.

 

[Gunstar]

On 6/9/2021 at 8:16 PM, Gunstar said:

I just pre-ordered the physical version of the game. It won't be released until August and I may have to wait a while for it to reach me after that, but it will be worth it! I love Infocom games, I've started re-collecting originals and when saw a physical copy could be bought that looks very similar to my Infocom titles, I couldn't resist. I need this in my collection too.

 

https://www.polyplay.xyz/navi.php?suche=Hibernated+1+-+Directors+Cut&lang=eng

 

 

If the dates for release at the site are still valid, it should be less than a week for my pre-order copy to ship...

[Gunstar]

I know this is an old post I'm replying too, but I was back in this thread to find the link to the Polyplay site to see if I could check on the status of my Hibernated 1 pre-order which is now an order because they charged my card on the first when it was supposed to be released. It's been two weeks, and though it's coming from Europe but they say clearly shipping time is 3-10 days, not over 14. And I payed for my pre-order of Flob a week later and it arrived on Thursday, from Europe too, and I think even the same country (IIRC, Poland).

 

Has anyone else here pre-ordered the game, were charged on the 1st of August and have already received their game?

On 6/10/2021 at 9:57 AM, Beeblebrox said:

@Gunstar  Ah, thought it might be one of yours but wasn't sure.  Honestly it was probably one of the earliest Rastaconverted images which made me take a step back an gaze in awe at just how good the A8 can be when pushed graphically. So much potential for Rastaconverted images in games in the right hands IMHO. As you prob know from the Rastaconveter image thread I am pretty much obessed by converting images now. Got some nice ones in the oven as we speak so hopefully post em this weekend.  See you there.

 

I digress - all this talk of text adventures reminds me it's been 25 odd years since I played Hitch Hikers GTTG. 

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Anyway, I came across this post again that I had meant to reply too back then. About which Rasta conversions are mine. If the .xex doesn't have a name or handle of the person who converted it before the name of the conversion, it's a 99% chance it is one of mine. I don't attach my name because the image is not my work, I just converted other peoples art or photos, This is just my personal philosophy as an artist and preference and I see nothing wrong with others making known they did the conversion. It's not about the artist or the artist's work I am converting, it's about a clear distinction when it is my own art.

 

When I get around to converting my own art images and photos, I will attach my handle to the beginning. Plus, since I'm the only one who posts conversions without a name/handle attached 99% of the time, everyone who has visited this thread that last several years know they are most likely mine if they didn't download it directly from the post or just forgot it was a post of mine.

Edited August 15, 2021 by Gunstar

[Gunstar]

Ok, I went to the site and found my order status. Apparently it has not shipped yet, though they say 3-10 days shipping time on the item purchase window,to make you think you'll get it quick (that is, after waiting for weeks or months on a pre-order list), the reality is that they have given themselves a pre-shipping window between August 6th and September 30th which only shows on your order status page which you don't have until they take your money! With my luck it will be the end of September when it gets shipped ...oh, well...(now that I've said that hopefully is shows up a lot sooner just to prove me wrong?)

Edited August 15, 2021 by Gunstar

[+davidcalgary29]

Hope you get your order soon...and thanks for bumping this! I missed this thread when it was first posted months ago.

 

...

 

I've never heard of a Sam Coupe. I had to look that one up!!

[Mazzspeed]

Geezus, it's literally been released for 'everything'. I used to love these games, I wanna get it for the A8, but the Amiga version is in 80 columns...

 

Hmmm. Perhaps I buy both?

[glurk]

Oddly, no version for the older TRS-80's like Model III and Model IV.  However, I created a working one myself:

 

(I suppose I should not post it, though?  Probably not, I guess.)

 

 

 

[Wrathchild]

The A8 engine does properly use the O/S routines for character output so night not take much adaption to use an 80 column driver.

[Mazzspeed]

15 minutes ago, Wrathchild said:

The A8 engine does properly use the O/S routines for character output so night not take much adaption to use an 80 column driver.

Software or hardware 80 columns?

[Wrathchild]

Either? It be up to the driver utilised.

[Dinadan67]

In the early 90s i made a custom translator disk which was patched to include the XEP-80 driver. With that disk i could play some older Infocom titles in 80 columns. Sadly i can‘t find that disk anymore. I would love to have something like that in one of the OS slots of my 576NUC+.

[Gunstar]

I seem to vaguely recall trying out an Infocom game some years back (more than I care to think about) with Omniview 80 on the Warp+ 32-in-1 OS and it worked, but it only filled half the screen so I had 40 columns on the software 80 column screen so there was no advantage, But it's also possible it was a Synapse Electronic Novel too...

Edited August 15, 2021 by Gunstar

[Gunstar]

6 hours ago, davidcalgary29 said:

Hope you get your order soon...and thanks for bumping this! I missed this thread when it was first posted months ago.

 

...

 

I've never heard of a Sam Coupe. I had to look that one up!!

Well, in that case, you may have also missed this other thread with several more titles by them...I've downloaded them all myself, including Hybernated 1, but I'm waiting on the physical copy of that to enjoy it like an old-school Infocom experience with the little extra "Cracker Jack" surprises. These ones below I'm going to start playing today, in fact.

 

I've heard of Sam Coupe before...I think that was a Euro system only, IIRC. Going to look it up again too...ahh, yes, an 8-bit British only computer released way too late for it's tech at a time when both 8 and 16-bit computers were getting long in the tooth.

Edited August 15, 2021 by Gunstar

[bfollowell]

3 hours ago, glurk said:

Oddly, no version for the older TRS-80's like Model III and Model IV.  However, I created a working one myself:

 

(I suppose I should not post it, though?  Probably not, I guess.)

 

 

 

 

Since it's a new commercial release, no, you definitely shouldn't. Let's all support those developers that are still supporting us and our old machines.

 

[+DrVenkman]

1 minute ago, bfollowell said:

 

Since it's a new commercial release, no, you definitely shouldn't. Let's all support those developers that are still supporting us and our old machines.

 

Especially since the author has released Hibernated 1 as a “name your own price-ware” - you can download it for free, or pay whatever you feel it’s worth. I donated a reasonable amount, if only to give the author some sense of accomplishment that people appreciate the work and effort put into such a lovingly-crafted work.

[ggn]

4 hours ago, glurk said:

Oddly, no version for the older TRS-80's like Model III and Model IV.  However, I created a working one myself:

 

(I suppose I should not post it, though?  Probably not, I guess.)

 

 

 

You should get in touch with the author and send him your version. Most likely he will add it as an official release.

 

I did the same with Davide Bucci's games (sort of) and he was only too happy to include them as legit versions!

[glurk]

1 hour ago, ggn said:

You should get in touch with the author and send him your version. Most likely he will add it as an official release.

I did the same with Davide Bucci's games (sort of) and he was only too happy to include them as legit versions!

I didn't do much...  It's just the stock Infocom interpreter setup to run the .z3 file.  It was just a matter of setting it up to work, which is easy if you know how.  I just got done with making images of all 24 Infocom games (newest revisions) so I knew how...

 

It's so ODD that he didn't release TRS-80 versions, other than the CoCo one.  I mean, Zork FIRST came out on TRS-80 originally....

[bfollowell]

1 hour ago, glurk said:

It's so ODD that he didn't release TRS-80 versions, other than the CoCo one.  I mean, Zork FIRST came out on TRS-80 originally....

 

Well, only if you don't count the mainframe version. It does look like the TRS-80 version was the first personal computer release though, by about two or three months before the Apple II release. I wasn't aware of that.

 

[massiverobot]

4 hours ago, DrVenkman said:

Especially since the author has released Hibernated 1 as a “name your own price-ware” - you can download it for free, or pay whatever you feel it’s worth. I donated a reasonable amount, if only to give the author some sense of accomplishment that people appreciate the work and effort put into such a lovingly-crafted work.

He released the full source of HB1 in the PunyInform project on Github - Puny is the engine that can build these Zmachine games for a variety of 8bit computers using a sub-set of the Inform system. It's facinating and I'm using it to make a game myself.

 

Worth checking out:

https://github.com/johanberntsson/PunyInform