News archive: 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999
Hello, my patient visitors and users. It's been a while, but I've tried to ransack my mail log a bit better this time to ensure that as many of your entries are present in the archive this time around (I even found some old maps of my own - it's nice to add something myself to the archive once in a while! Particularly when it's stuff like Dungeon Adventure, which took ages). In other news...
I've added a link to Three Days in Carpathia, the unreleased sequel to Valkyrie 17. You can find screenshots and an unplayable demo there. The page is part of Frank Gasking's intriguing Games That Weren't site for the C64.
Simon Allan has sent me his latest reworking of one of his original Spectrum games. Moonscape finds you on a failing Moon base, trying to escape to Earth before it's too late. Sci fi buffs should enjoy this. Grab the game here.
A couple of titles that have been on the requests list forever have been removed. So for anyone stuck in Caves of Olympus and Price of Peril, now's your chance!
Finally, a couple of warm recommendations for people enjoying modern IF. The ever helpful Fredrik Ramsberg has pointed me in the direction of ifreviews.org, which is an excellent resource if you feel like grabbing a piece of IF for the weekend and don't really feel up to the daunting task of choosing between the five thousand (give or take) titles released during the last month. Even more helpful is the Interactive Fiction DataBase (the IFDB, whose name is braving the inevitable onslaught of IMDB lawyers?), which makes selecting and downloading modern IF a breeze. Definitely worth checking out. Let me know if anyone finds any overlooked gems out there.
Hello everybody, and welcome to 2008! Today's update features a number of very diverse games, including Passengers On the Wind, which a friend of mine requested a long time ago. I've tried the game with walkthrough in hand, and even then the game failed to make much sense. The comic books are nice, though. A particular thank you to Terri this time around, as she has sent a large number of contributions.
After a couple of days of malfunction in early October, the forum is back online. The downtime was due to faulty settings after my ISP had updated my account. The upside to this is that the entire site - and the forum in particular - is running faster and more smoothly now (and let's just say that this was sorely needed).
I have a rather large backlog of solutions and maps to add - work permitting, the rest should be added within a short while. Rest assured that all your submitted files are on their way to publication!
Today I've also added a new, revamped game from Simon Allan, Wizard,
What Wizard. Once again Simon has updated one of his 1980's games. I've
playtested the game and think that you will find it to be a nice, little challenge.
If there is positive response to the game, Simon will get to work on one of his other unfinished titles.
A plea for assistance!
The current version of CASA is hopelessly outdated in the technical department and lacks the most fundamental
options expected by modern users. And I won't make any mention of the numerous broken links that keep showing up.
Current updating is fully by hand, it's really tiresome work and it just creates too many bugs. And I'm running out of steam as there are so many more things I would like to do with the site.
A good friend of mine has been working on a new version, on and off, for several years (and in my euphoria, I might just have indicated on a couple of occasions that something new and exciting was brewing).
Alas, said friend is all caught up in work, and at the current speed a new & much needed version of CASA could be quite far away.
As my own programming skills are rusty, to put it mildly, I would really appreciate it if there were somebody out there willing to lend a hand with the coding. So far, the new version is being developed with PHP5, MySQL 4 and Subversion 1.4. Anyone interested in assisting is very, very welcome. So, please get in touch!
Today's update mostly comes from a raid of the treasure troves over at Stairway to Hell. And courtesy of Barbara Gibb, we finally have a complete walkthrough for Gateway to Karos, a game which I personally have had lots of fun with. Give it a try if you haven't done so already.
Once again, thanks to Aran the wanted list has been cleaned up some more. Have a nice weekend!
Since last time I've spent a good many hours trying to stop the invasion of spambots that relentlessly tried to take over our forum. Much combat ensued and now we (i.e. the bots and I) seem to have reached an armistice. Well, at least we're down to two or three registrations per day, a trifle better than the 40 or so daily entries when the war was at its peak. I apologize for the inconvenience this has caused. Once the next version of the forum software becomes available, I am convinced - totally unwarranted, of course - that the problem will dissolve in a puff of black smoke (oh, the naiveté...)
Aran Johnson has put a lot of energy into weeding out in the wanted list. A number of titles turn out to be less than fullblooded adventure games, and I only have my own lazy butt and lack of research to thank for their inclusion on the list.
Aran has also been kind enough to come up with material for titles that actually belonged on the list. Thanks for your efforts! Also a special thank you to Doreen Bardon for her solutions to various ACE titles.
Meanwhile I have a number of my own solutions and maps to add, but since this update is more than overdue, I'll save those additions for next time. Yes, I know, the wait can be unbearable at times. Ehm.
Until next time... thanks to all contributors and happy adventuring to all!
With today's update, three games have been removed from the wanted list. Thanks for helping out. I have quite a few more additions, which will be added next time. Sorry about keeping your contributions waiting, but my current work schedule is quite loaded.
Shesh.... yes, delayed "a few days" indeed. Anyway, without further ado, here are 15 new solutions as well as seven hint files, all from the ever-active Terri Sheehan.
Today's update also features a new Spectrum adventure from Simon Allan (apologies, Simon, for taking this long!) The game was initiated in 1985 but never completed until 2006. Simon has cleaned up his two-part game thoroughly for all Spectrum fans to enjoy. Please find it in the downloads section.
The planned update has been delayed a few days, but in the meantime I'd like to wish everybody a happy New Year! Thanks for your support - I hope to see a lot of you in 2007!
The mobile version of Twin Kingdom Valley is now available for download for a number of models. As promised, I have interviewed Trevor again, and the project's manager, Ian Pare, also drops by for a few comments. Read it here.
And there's more... some time ago I mentioned that I was playtesting a remake of Valkyrie 17. Well, after many arduous hours of playtesting - and subsequent debugging by the programmer - the game is ready (or at least free of any glaring bugs). You can download the game right here and read an interesting interview with Tony Barber, who created the game. Any comments on the game will be greatly appreciated, of course!
Finally, a special mention must go to Marco Cavagna, who has gone to great lengths to map the massive (and at times massively confusing) Acheton. Exquisite work, hope to see more of this kind!
Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water... the site returns after its longest hiatus in a good long while. CASA has pretty much been put on the backburner during the summer, but truth be told there has been very little to report. Thanks to and Geoff Wallis and Terri Sheehan for submitting new solutions, particularly for the rather tricky Mirror of Khoronz which I gave up on a long time ago. Geoff has also been kind enough to help out with The Ferryman Awaits, which was requested last time, and has spent many hours getting a solution for the huge Enthar Seven ready.
To follow up on the news on Twin Kingdom Valley: as many of you will already know, Trevor has prepared an extended version of his classic title - for mobile phones! To my knowledge, this is a first. At the time of writing the game hasn't been released yet, but it should be ready for download before the end of August. What a terrific way to spend a few hours on the bus, the train or the beach! Watch the game's site for further development. I expect to have an extension of my original interview with Trevor ready for next time. Until then...
Back when this site had just sprung into life, I conducted an interview with Trevor Hall, author of Twin Kingdom Valley, one of the world's first adventure games with interactive characters. Recently somebody pointed out that a site has opened over at twinkingdomvalley.com - the site is fairly empty at the moment, but this looks really interesting. I don't have a valid address for Trevor any longer, so if anyone knows anything, please let me know.
And speaking of remakes in the works, I'm currently playtesting an updated version of another perennial favourite, namely Valkyrie 17. I think the game should be ready fairly soon, and I think that there should be plenty to enjoy for fans of old-school adventure games. In the meantime, thanks to all for your latest submissions!
Nicholas Campbell, of CPC Game Reviews, informed me that John Betteridge, the author of Escape from Khoshima and Morgan's Seal, is selling two new text adventures for the Amstrad CPC - Codename Midnight Sun and Trapper. Actually, they're not new; they were written in 1985 and 1986, but this is the first time that anyone other than John has seen them. A really nice initiative, I think. You can read more about John and his games here.
Fredrik Ramsberg has pointed me in the direction of Slag. Behind this decidedly unadventurish name lies a compiler for creating Zcode (Infocom format) hint files. What all this boils down to is that Slag allows you to create UHS-style hint files where hints for various problems are given gradually and only at the request of the user. I'm a big fan of the UHS format but it's annoying that it's not freeware. I've added 17 hint files for various Infocom titles to the archive - grab a Zcode interpreter here and see what you think. If any of you are interested in trying to make one of these hint files yourself, read Frederik's excellent description here and I think you'll find that it's not all that complicated. It's definitely a nice way of receiving help! Thanks for the tip, Frederik!
Since the last time, several of the site's users have been tearing their hair out in frustration over a number of oldies for the BBC. Thanks to all for joining in the struggle (and a struggle 'twas indeed!). I'm looking forward to more joint (ad)ventures in the coming period.
Lots of people have contributed this time, so thanks to you all. I have a minor backlog of things that haven't been uploaded yet. I'll get that fixed sometime during the coming week. Until then, have a nice weekend!
I believe we're back to normal, forum-wise, thanks to the efforts of Toke Jeberg.
Some joker apparently found it amusing to hack the forum. I have no experience with fixing something like this, but I'll try to take care of it as soon as possible.
Welcome to 2006! Today I'm making a special note of the game Clink. A text adventure constructed purely out of hyperlinked pages, the demo of the game features more than 1,000 subpages, each reachable via simple clinking in your browser. I doubt this is the future of interactive fiction, but it's a interesting project nonetheless. Take a closer look right here.
Meanwhile, I've added a number of solutions for normal, old-school adventure games right here on this site. I already have the next bunch lined up, so I'll see you shortly!