Steve W. Lucas games

Information from and to the site administrators.

Moderator: Alastair

Message
Author
User avatar
Strident
Posts: 1001
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 2:57 pm

Re: Steve W. Lucas games

#31 Post by Strident » Thu Feb 04, 2021 1:38 pm

Given how little seemed to work, it sounds like it would've needed an errata book rather than an errata sheet.

User avatar
Garry
Posts: 468
Joined: Sun Oct 28, 2012 11:43 am
Location: Sydney, Australia
Contact:

Re: Steve W. Lucas games

#32 Post by Garry » Thu Feb 04, 2021 1:55 pm

:lol: :lol: :lol:

iamaran
Posts: 100
Joined: Tue Apr 06, 2010 9:01 pm

Re: Steve W. Lucas games

#33 Post by iamaran » Tue Feb 09, 2021 3:29 pm

A long-shot, but... there's a copy of the MSX book in Maidenhead (UK) library.

https://rbwm.spydus.co.uk/cgi-bin/spydu ... BRN=326274

(I'm not volunteering to travel down to check whether it contains an errata book)!

User avatar
Garry
Posts: 468
Joined: Sun Oct 28, 2012 11:43 am
Location: Sydney, Australia
Contact:

Re: Steve W. Lucas games

#34 Post by Garry » Wed Feb 10, 2021 12:49 am

I sincerely doubt that it's got an errata sheet. Even if it does, it's unlikely that it would still be in a library book.

User avatar
Alex
Posts: 958
Joined: Tue Oct 24, 2006 10:45 pm
Location: Netherlands

Re: Steve W. Lucas games

#35 Post by Alex » Wed Feb 10, 2021 10:45 am

Garry wrote:
Sat Jan 30, 2021 8:07 am
Oh, crap! I spoke too soon. I just got an 'Out of string space in 2890' error. It looks like it won't work with disk. I'll have to save it to a cassette image and try it from that. Any MSX experts out there?
A bit late maybe but maybe I can help if you still have problems. MSX (and c64) are the computers I know best. I wrote my first textadventure on a MSX.

User avatar
Alex
Posts: 958
Joined: Tue Oct 24, 2006 10:45 pm
Location: Netherlands

Re: Steve W. Lucas games

#36 Post by Alex » Wed Feb 10, 2021 11:42 am

Garry wrote:
Sat Jan 30, 2021 7:47 am
I've typed in all three games from the MSX Adventure Programming book.
If it's an MSX game you don't have to type in the listing on an emulator. A faster method is:
-Copy and paste the code from the pdf to a new txt file.
-Check if everything is correct (normally you will have to fix some strange characters).

If you can't copy the code from the PDF it's always easier to type the listing in a txt file rather then using an emulator. But I checked it with the PDF of this book I found on the internet and I was able to copy it.

-Change the .txt to .bas
-Use a diskmanager to add the game to a .dsk file.
-You can load and run the game.

User avatar
Strident
Posts: 1001
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 2:57 pm

Re: Steve W. Lucas games

#37 Post by Strident » Wed Feb 10, 2021 12:47 pm

Csabo has just sent in a solution/screenshot of the C16/Plus Steve W. Lucas game Escape from Airia, which appeared in Home Computer Weekly, and is a version of the existing game in the database Escape from Alpha Centuri...
http://solutionarchive.com/game/id%2C82 ... nturi.html
https://archive.org/details/home-comput ... 1/mode/2up

That's four different magazine appearances (at least) for that one!

User avatar
Strident
Posts: 1001
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 2:57 pm

Re: Steve W. Lucas games

#38 Post by Strident » Wed Feb 10, 2021 1:28 pm

This one doesn't seem to be in our database at the moment...

The House on Misty Hill
from Games Computing #7, page 51 - 56
http://www.flaxcottage.com/GamesComputing/8407.pdf

Originally for the ZX Spectrum

It's been typed-in and adapted for the Vic-20, see...
http://www.vic20listings.freeolamail.co ... scomp.html

There are also Vic-20 versions of Steve's Vampire Castle and Toothless Vampire on that site, so I'll add them as unofficial ports (and link to that page) on the appropriate database entries later.

I'll flag up the Spectrum adventure to the ZXDB crew... It may be that it's already been typed-in.

EDIT: It's on The Type Fantastic already, which saves a job. http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~jg27p ... _names.htm

I'll also just double check our existing entries for it... It may be that it's already recorded as a reference in the notes section but the alternate title has been added to the AKA section, so it's not showing up on searches.

EDIT2: I'm guessing that it is a version of Borgan Castle/Castle of Desolation...

http://solutionarchive.com/game/id%2C39 ... C+The.html
https://solutionarchive.com/game/id%2C7 ... C+The.html

User avatar
Strident
Posts: 1001
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 2:57 pm

Re: Steve W. Lucas games

#39 Post by Strident » Wed Feb 10, 2021 2:20 pm

Strident wrote:
Wed Feb 10, 2021 1:28 pm
EDIT2: I'm guessing that it is a version of Borgan Castle/Castle of Desolation...

http://solutionarchive.com/game/id%2C39 ... C+The.html
https://solutionarchive.com/game/id%2C7 ... C+The.html
Actually, looking at the map that's on the VIC-20 site... maybe it's a mash-up of more than one of his previous adventures.

http://www.vic20listings.freeolamail.co ... 6k-map.png

There's a chunk of the map, and related puzzles, from the Monster's Final Hour (the "stolen" game); the top half of the map.

The bottom half seems to be new. Perhaps it includes elements of the Castle games, or it might be new and just re-use the Princess idea.

User avatar
Garry
Posts: 468
Joined: Sun Oct 28, 2012 11:43 am
Location: Sydney, Australia
Contact:

Re: Steve W. Lucas games

#40 Post by Garry » Wed Feb 10, 2021 2:59 pm

Alex wrote:
Wed Feb 10, 2021 11:42 am
If it's an MSX game you don't have to type in the listing on an emulator.
I never use an emulator to type in listings. I always do what you suggested. It's much quicker and easier. Depending on the emulator, it is sometimes awkward to get the BASIC text file into the emulator, but the MSX is pretty straight forward using the technique you described. Once you've got the ASCII file on a disk image, load it, save it and reload it. The first load is dismally slow, but the second load is fast, as it is now loading the tokenised file, rather than the ASCII file.

User avatar
Alex
Posts: 958
Joined: Tue Oct 24, 2006 10:45 pm
Location: Netherlands

Re: Steve W. Lucas games

#41 Post by Alex » Wed Feb 10, 2021 3:51 pm

I checked the game using a tape file. If you start the emulator without diskdrives (the text should say 28815 Bytes free) and you load the game from a tape CLEAR 7000 works well.

If you don't know how to do this I can help you if you like. I can do it for you or explain it to you depending which emulator you are using. I use BlueMSX.

User avatar
Alex
Posts: 958
Joined: Tue Oct 24, 2006 10:45 pm
Location: Netherlands

Re: Steve W. Lucas games

#42 Post by Alex » Wed Feb 10, 2021 4:12 pm

How to save a file to an MSX tape using Blue MSX:

*First you must make an empty tape file.
-Press left CTRL +F11
-Type a file name which does not exist in the folder and open it.
You have now created a new empty .cas file.

*save the game to the .CAS file
-load the file you want to save to the tape from the disk.
-Type SAVE”cas:filename”
-Choose from the menu File>cassette>Save Cassette image as
-Choose a name for the cassette image and the file including the file you saved to the tape will be saved.

*Start the emulator without diskdrives.
-Prest left CTRL+shift. The computer should say 28815 Bytes free

*Load the game”
-Press left CTRL +F11 and open the CAS file.
-Make sure the tape is rewinded (press left CTRL+left shift+f11 )
-Type LOAD”cas:” and the game should load.

User avatar
Garry
Posts: 468
Joined: Sun Oct 28, 2012 11:43 am
Location: Sydney, Australia
Contact:

Re: Steve W. Lucas games

#43 Post by Garry » Thu Feb 11, 2021 12:26 am

Thanks, Alex. That is very helpful. I think I used CSAVE to save it to an empty cas file, but it was still 0 bytes long after the CSAVE. I'll add these notes to my hints 'n' tips file for MSX.

User avatar
Alex
Posts: 958
Joined: Tue Oct 24, 2006 10:45 pm
Location: Netherlands

Re: Steve W. Lucas games

#44 Post by Alex » Thu Feb 11, 2021 11:34 pm

I just played and solved Snow White. Very easy and only a few puzzles. The book says it's for kids. The game has a lot of objects but they are not used. Which is a pity because sailing to the island could have been made for instance more interesting if you first had to repair your boat. Also you are only killed by the monsters(animals) if you try to take them. The most interesting of the game is it is used as an example how to write an adventure with graphics in MSX basic. The graphics were actually what made me curious to try the game.

User avatar
Strident
Posts: 1001
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 2:57 pm

Re: Steve W. Lucas games

#45 Post by Strident » Sat Oct 09, 2021 12:08 pm

Just spotted that one of the Lucas games...
Transylvanian Adventure
http://solutionarchive.com/game/id%2C79 ... nture.html

...appears to be connected to this entry...
Vampire Castle/Vampire Adventure
http://solutionarchive.com/game/id%2C10 ... astle.html

I'm guessing that the latter are just versions of Steve's game, with other people taking the credit for writing/porting it.

I'll do a little bit more investigation before I combine the entries.

Post Reply