Author: Jacob
Company: Bobby Ewing Corp.

Prospector

ESP Software for the Commodore 64

Scenario

"You step down from the stagecoach, tired and dusty, For four days you've been thinking of nothing else but the mine (left to you by your old friend Jake). The stage drives off in a cloud of dust, leaving you standing in the middle of a small Arizona township."

Overview

This is a Quill-ed game with standard verb-noun input. Fortunately, the "examine" command can be abbreviated to "x". There is  no help facility. Also in certain places in the town locations can be entered simply by typing the building's name, e.g. "saloon".

There are several random elements (and one major bug) which can make completion of this adventure arduous. The three major variables are as follows:

•	Gunfighters will appear and it is possible that you may lose a battle, so save the game often,
•	Wearing the sheriff's badge appears to deter the gunfighters, but if the sheriff (who wanders around the town) catches you then, it's jail for impersonation of a lawman and a $50 fine.
•	There is a time factor. Do not travel out of town at night or you will freeze to death. Also there seems to be a higher chance of losing a gunbattle when your movements are slowed down by the cold. I have not checked whether wearing the blanket found in the jail cell affects this.

Also make sure that you have dismounted the horse and dropped it (!) before entering any buildings or you will be fined again. Make sure also that you do not wander into the desert too early in the game otherwise you will use and lose the canteen of water. Do not enter the desert without the horse or you will die.  Do not feed the horse too early in the game otherwise you will render the adventure unwinnable. The major bug concerns the lighting of the candle which must be done before you enter the location where the gold nuggets can be dug up.

Walkthrough

Inventory, x deeds, drop ticket (you will not need it until the endgame), east, saloon, up, east, x jug, get box, x box (bullets, but you may not need them), west, north, x wardrobe, open wardrobe, look, get pistol, x pistol (loaded), get holster, x holster, wear holster.

South, down, west, assay, give deeds (you are given a letter to take to the bank), out, bank, east, give letter (the manager hands you $200), west, out, sheriff, x poster, get badge, wear badge (ignore the keys), out.

At some point soon you will meet your first gunfighter and win the battle (shoot gunfighter, x gunfighter, get paper, read paper, drop paper).

Saloon, south, sit (ignore the cigar), bet 200 (how many cards do you want to change?), 2 (you win $1000 and exit the saloon). 

Store, buy saddle, out, coral (note the misspelling), get lasso, south, north, east, southeast, south, get matches (the key seems to be a red herring), north, out, school, x blackboard (a plug), out, west, barn.

Up (the ladder collapses), tie lasso, move bail (note the misspelling), get grain, down, north, blacksmith, buy horse (note that if you take the horse from the corral and later try to re-take it after dropping it, you'll be arrested for theft). saddle horse, 

Ride horse, out, north, east, north, north, northwest, west, drop horse, north, get candle, out, ride horse, southeast, northeast, east, shoot bushwacker (another misspelling), x bushwacker, get canteen, north, move rock, get dynamite, south.

East (yes, I know it's a direction not included in the location description, but there you go), east, east, light match, light candle, light dynamite ("with what?"), with match (you blow up the rock and enter the mine). Around now you'll probably be told that the horse is hungry, so feed it.

X car, get shovel, southwest, southwest, light dynamite, with match, dig, look, dig, look, get gold, west, northwest, southwest. If you follow the trail west, you will be shot and robbed and have to head quickly to the doctor's office in town for medical assistance (at which point the game becomes unwinnable, I think). So, now's the time to get lost in the desert.

North (you lose the canteen), look, southeast, east, east, drop horse, bank, east, give gold (you're told that the nuggets are worth $30,000 and that the manager will cable the money to Kansas City - you also receive a receipt), west, out.

Get ticket, board stage - "You board the stage and settle back for the long journey to Kansas City."

This ending gives the player a score of 160 points and the ranking of Prospector 1st class.

Notes

Several objects in the game seem to have no purpose. For instance, it is impossible to either light or smoke the cigar found at the gambling table. The knife discovered on opening the bag in the stagecoach office cannot be thrown or used as a weapon, nor has the "cut" command been implemented. The bunch of keys can be used to escape the cell as an alternative to paying the $50 fine. The long key, marked "P.H.", does not seem to have any purpose. None of the keys will unlock the locked door in the barber's shop. The dollar bill can be used to buy a drink in the saloon. 

Several locations are only there to provide atmosphere and it is not possible to converse with any of the NPCs or interract with them. It is also impossible to buy a gun in the gunsmith's or any of the items listed as on sale in the general store. Another oddity is that everywhere seems to be open 24 hours a day. I am uncertain whether it is possible to score more than 160 points.

A Wibble and Blim production for CASA

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