Recovered Adventures

Games for Spectrum, C64, Amstrad, Amiga, Apple ][ and the rest of the 8-bit and 16-bit platforms. Pleas for help, puzzles, bug reports etc.

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Strident
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Re: Recovered Adventures

#16 Post by Strident » Wed Nov 09, 2022 7:43 pm

I'll have a dive into the source code if I get chance later.

It'll be a case of tracking where flag 62 is set, as that seems likely to be the issue.

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Strident
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Re: Recovered Adventures

#17 Post by Strident » Wed Nov 09, 2022 11:24 pm

According to the code, that flag is set when you fit the piece into the jigsaw. Then OPEN BENSONS LOCKER should work as long as you're in the locker room and the key is also carried.

I presume that was the behaviour you were expecting, though?

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Strident
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Re: Recovered Adventures

#18 Post by Strident » Wed Nov 09, 2022 11:31 pm

Ah, I think it's a bug due to a stacking error...
OPEN LOCKE AT 19
MESSAGE 24
DONE

OPEN LOCKE AT 19
PREP 15
NOTZERO 62
CARRIED 5
MESSAGE 25
CREATE 20
DESTROY 5
ANYKEY
DESC
The second entry in the response table for OPEN LOCKER will never trigger, because the first entry will always take place. The author should've stacked them the other way around. It's just a case of switching the two entries over in the database, so it checks the second one first.

'That is a pre-playtest version, so that would've been spotted really quickly by Jenny. I can easily fix the issue later in the week, so the game is playable past that point.

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Strident
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Re: Recovered Adventures

#19 Post by Strident » Tue Nov 22, 2022 11:22 pm

boldir wrote:
Wed Nov 09, 2022 6:58 pm
I've played it to the point where I have to open Benson's locker, but even though I have the locker key and I know Benson's name from the puzzle, the locker won't open!
Do you have any idea why?
We've just discovered what seems to be a post-playtest version of The Rock now, so I'm hoping it'll have all the issues & bugs that you discovered (and tried to patch through in your version submitted to the site). If so, then I'll remove the bugfixed version and point people towards the official "release".

Here's the game...
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqzqAr7tqnQagYsNPXX ... w?e=jERkya

It has a huge amount of bug fixes and changes compared to the earlier pre-playtest version archived (which was sent to one of the playtesters, Jenny Perry). I still spotted a couple of typos but hopefully this version can be completed.

boldir
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Re: Recovered Adventures

#20 Post by boldir » Fri Nov 25, 2022 7:32 pm

I'm afraid the post-playtest version still contains bugs, because at the beginning it's not possible to pick up the large key when the officer has dropped it and left the room. The question "Please state which?" cannot be answered appropriately.

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Strident
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Re: Recovered Adventures

#21 Post by Strident » Fri Nov 25, 2022 8:53 pm

boldir wrote:
Fri Nov 25, 2022 7:32 pm
I'm afraid the post-playtest version still contains bugs, because at the beginning it's not possible to pick up the large key when the officer has dropped it and left the room. The question "Please state which?" cannot be answered appropriately.
I'll look at doing a proper fix for this version this weekend, from within PAWs, so that it is fully playable.

(Given the number of the message, I'm guessing this is a new bug the author introduced at a very late stage. ;) I'm not sure why that entry is in there and the parsing hasn't just been left to the system. Will try deleting it and see what the effect is.)

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Strident
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Re: Recovered Adventures

#22 Post by Strident » Fri Nov 25, 2022 9:36 pm

Hmm... getting the drugs out of the room with the safe now seems to be problematic. I think I need to look at the side-by-side I did of the two versions of the code to check the changes. :)

Edit... Yeah, getting spotted carrying the drugs is a whole new process... But I see that the author has also added a holdall/bag container to the game... so perhaps that's now needed first, in order to hide them from sight.

Note... the holdall is in the cell at the start and, given it mentions that "it might be a useful place to hide things in", I think I'm right regarding the drugs and other contraband items.

I've dropped a version of the game (ROCK-B) in the folder linked to above, that has the initial KEY bug taken out.

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Strident
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Re: Recovered Adventures

#23 Post by Strident » Sat Nov 26, 2022 12:46 pm

Yeah, the holdall is now used to hide any contraband items from the guards. All I need to do is work out how to take items out of the holdall!! (and, indeed, if the author actually programmed that bit in)

Edit: It's GET DRUGS OUT BAG etc.

Contraband items seem to be (looking at the new process 6 that was added)...
revolver
bunch of keys
master door key
drugs
metal plate
printing plate
sharpened spoon
wooden spoon
...depending on where you are in the game.

You can't take the holdall into the workshop.

EDIT2... Wow... SEARCH GRASS GENTLY has to be one of the very worst examples of a specific command. This game has so many elements of the very insular design choices of the time... where we were making games for each other, including commands that now seem very unfair and uncommon.

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Strident
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Re: Recovered Adventures

#24 Post by Strident » Sat Nov 26, 2022 1:11 pm

The use of the holdall and worskhop/contraband routines now involve a little more backtracking to retrieve the bag (outside the workshop) and the go behind the bunk in cell 1 to smuggle out the spoon and the tobacco, which is an nice addition.

Edit: Just to add, PUT MASTER BAG, is what you'll need to hide the master key rather than PUT KEY (in) BAG or PUT MASTER KEY (in) BAG.

Same for the BUNCH of keys.

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Strident
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Re: Recovered Adventures

#25 Post by Strident » Sat Nov 26, 2022 2:27 pm

Yeah, the game is completable without any additional fixes... There are lots of tweaks that could be made to it to improve the experience, but that's really beyond the scope of a third party, I think...
finished-rock.PNG
finished-rock.PNG (19.94 KiB) Viewed 9431 times

The addition of the holdall adds some extra elements to the planning of the escape, which does complicate the existing pre-playtest version solution a little.

There are a few additional actions needed, beyond that too, such as returning the gun (GIVE GUN) before you leave the prison and leaving the holdall behind... In this version there is no need to have the gun with you outside the prison.

boldir
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Re: Recovered Adventures

#26 Post by boldir » Mon Nov 28, 2022 4:21 pm

I've just uploaded a solution for the fixed post-playtest version (ROCK-B), so my fixed pre-playtest version and the associated solution are not needed anymore.

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Strident
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Re: Recovered Adventures

#27 Post by Strident » Tue Jul 25, 2023 8:19 am

Recently recovered and shared with the community...

The Castle of Lost Souls
http://solutionarchive.com/game/id%2C10 ... C+The.html
A 1984 Quilled adventure based on a series of gamebook articles in White Dwarf magazine. This Quilled adventure (early version of Quill so quite basic) was produced by one of the original authors Dave Morris and his friend Steve Foster who both did work for Games Workshop (publisher of White Dwarf etc). The game was submitted to Games Workshop but never published by them. It predates the later published gamebook that was derived from the same material.

Downloads via https://planetasinclair.blogspot.com/20 ... s-mia.html (both versions are identical apart from one has an "evaluation copy" message)

Canalboy
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Re: Recovered Adventures

#28 Post by Canalboy » Mon Nov 13, 2023 6:45 pm

Strident wrote:
Fri Feb 18, 2022 9:35 am
This one, again by 4am for the Apple II was not in our database...

Zodiac Castle / Adventure at Zodiac Castle
Written by Dennis N. Strong and distributed by Dynacomp in 1982
https://archive.org/details/wozaday_Zodiac_Castle
Welcome to the Kingdom of Zodiac. It is a small, but very interesting kingdom. The lands are mostly wooded with large oak forests. The castle itself is quite large for the size of the kingdom, but the ruler always has believed that his subjects should support him well. There are many places to explore, riddles to solve, and many treasures to gather. The 'Guilded Cock' is where treasures are dropped to score.
Zodiac Castle uses the same room layout as Windmere Estate by the same author; I am currently playing the latter, which is worth a look. It seems to be getting tougher the further in I get.

I have always wondered about the paucity of non-Eamon pure text adventures written for the Apple II. Even Cranston Manor had to have graphics added, unlike the Commodore 64 version.

Canalboy
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Re: Recovered Adventures

#29 Post by Canalboy » Sun Jan 28, 2024 5:48 pm

Strident wrote:
Fri Feb 18, 2022 9:35 am
This one, again by 4am for the Apple II was not in our database...

Zodiac Castle / Adventure at Zodiac Castle
Written by Dennis N. Strong and distributed by Dynacomp in 1982
https://archive.org/details/wozaday_Zodiac_Castle
Welcome to the Kingdom of Zodiac. It is a small, but very interesting kingdom. The lands are mostly wooded with large oak forests. The castle itself is quite large for the size of the kingdom, but the ruler always has believed that his subjects should support him well. There are many places to explore, riddles to solve, and many treasures to gather. The 'Guilded Cock' is where treasures are dropped to score.
I have had real problems with progress in this game. It definitely has a different layout to Windmere Estate however. Very rarely have I been stumped so early in a game and cannot find a way into the castle. I took the unprecedented step of using Ciderpress to investigate but I still couldn't find the relevant section. The game is not helped by the awkward parser where action verbs will produce different hard coded responses in often illogical ways; these are often predicated by seemingly random choices. SWIM in the moat is an example.

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Alex
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Re: Recovered Adventures

#30 Post by Alex » Tue Jan 30, 2024 7:07 pm

Canalboy wrote:
Sun Jan 28, 2024 5:48 pm
I have had real problems with progress in this game. It definitely has a different layout to Windmere Estate however. Very rarely have I been stumped so early in a game and cannot find a way into the castle. I took the unprecedented step of using Ciderpress to investigate but I still couldn't find the relevant section. The game is not helped by the awkward parser where action verbs will produce different hard coded responses in often illogical ways; these are often predicated by seemingly random choices. SWIM in the moat is an example.
Did you make it into the catacombs?
From the ledge:
SE (sloping passage), E, U, U, E, E, D, D, W, U, N, U, E, D, E, GET RING, W, D, W, W, U, U, N, E, D, W, D, E, E, U, U, N (cobblestone path).
You are inside the castle.

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