Colditz Adventures... English and Dutch

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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Colditz Adventures... English and Dutch

#1 Post by Strident » Mon Aug 09, 2021 12:37 pm

Okay, I've disappeared down a bit of a rabbit hole again...

A day or so ago, I'd randomly decided to research Escape from Colditz, after it was mentioned on Facebook
http://solutionarchive.com/game/id%2C24 ... lditz.html
Original author Stuart Wilkinson

...and managed to locate the original TRS-80 listing of the game...
https://archive.org/details/Computer_an ... 11/page/36

So that, I thought, was the end of my Colditz-related research.

However, today I disappeared down a Dutch text adventure rabbit hole, and I noticed that on GB64.com, there is this game...
Ontsnapping uit Colditz
http://gb64.com/game.php?id=28275&d=18&h=0
Listed as being "by C. Ket of Gouda", and as a "VIC 20 conversion"

I can't find a trace, at the moment, of the VIC-20 version.

Loading up the game, it instantly looks very familiar... in that, even without being able to read Dutch, the instructions looked identical to the ones from the English game I'd researched the previous day...
colditz-dutch.PNG
colditz-dutch.PNG (72.26 KiB) Viewed 1217 times
colditz-english-sp.PNG
colditz-english-sp.PNG (102.8 KiB) Viewed 1216 times
(Spectrum screenshot... as it's easier than loading up a TRS-80 emulator)

So, it seems likely that either someone has unofficially translated the TRS-80 version to Dutch and the VIC-20, which was then ported to C64; or the program was officially translated to Dutch & probably VIC-20 for licensed use in a Dutch-language computing magazine.

Are any of our Dutch speakers able to locate a potential magazine? I'll be adding the Dutch-language version to the database once the research is complete.

[The rabbit hole also led me to another early Dutch Colditz game... http://solutionarchive.com/game/id%2C6527/Colditz.html ...which I'm presuming is completely unrelated, but I can't find the file archived anywhere; despite the author saying (on the website I've added a link to) that he'd shared the .wav file of the original tape... Another one that would be interesting to find out more about... especially considering it's such an early, and potentially important Dutch adventure... I'm particularly interested about the author's comment that it was "pirated" as an English adventure... I wonder which adventure that was... hard to identify without seeing the Dutch original.]

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Alex
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Re: Colditz Adventures... English and Dutch

#2 Post by Alex » Mon Aug 09, 2021 6:48 pm

I'm afraid I can't help you much with this. I've never heard of the game. I also checked another Dutch website about Dutch Text Adventures, but couldn't find any information. The game was only recently added to GB64, as it wasn't there in V15.

I can confirm that the text on your screenshots is more or less identical.

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Re: Colditz Adventures... English and Dutch

#3 Post by Alex » Mon Aug 09, 2021 7:00 pm

Alex wrote:
Mon Aug 09, 2021 6:48 pm
The game was only recently added to GB64, as it wasn't there in V15.
Just checked, it only has ben added since V17

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Re: Colditz Adventures... English and Dutch

#4 Post by Strident » Mon Aug 09, 2021 7:46 pm

Interesting... I wonder what was the source; but I'm guessing that isn't recorded anywhere.

I'll add a new entry to our database for the Dutch version later. I wonder if it suffers from the same bug that affects the TRS-80 version that's in circulation.

I wonder if Hans-Peter Ponten, the author of that other Colditz, game is still around and whether he ever passed any files on to Branko or the community. It's potentially the earliest Dutch-language text adventure, I think? So such a shame that it isn't preserved anywhere... and the existence of an English version intrigues me.

I probably should be trying to climb out of the rabbit-hole, rather than dig in deeper, though. :)

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Re: Colditz Adventures... English and Dutch

#5 Post by Alex » Mon Aug 09, 2021 8:13 pm

I wonder if Hans-Peter Ponten, the author of that other Colditz, game is still around and whether he ever passed any files on to Branko or the community.


You can ask Branko. You find his e-mail on his website. As you might have noticed I was one of the persons contributing to his site and had several times contact with him.
If you search Linked-in I think you will find Hans-Peter Ponten. I'm not 100% sure, but I guess it's him.

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Re: Colditz Adventures... English and Dutch

#6 Post by Alex » Mon Aug 09, 2021 10:53 pm

Strident wrote:
Mon Aug 09, 2021 7:46 pm
I wonder if it suffers from the same bug that affects the TRS-80 version that's in circulation.
I noticed that the random chances are slightly different between the trs-80 and Dutch c64 version:

Trs-80 version:
320 IFRND(60)=23AND(LC>4)AND(LC<>14)AND(LC<>29)THENGOSUB9500
330 IFRND(30)=14AND(LC<>1)THENGOTO9550
1100 IFX=1ANDLC=7THENIFRND(2)=2THEN16000ELSE15000
9610 IFRND(2)=2THEN 15000

Dutch c64 version:
650 IFINT(RND(1)*40)=23ANDLC>4ANDLC<>14ANDLC<>29THENGOSUB1940
660 IFINT(RND(1)*25)=14ANDLC<>1THEN1990
1030 IFX=1ANDLC=7THENIFRND(1)>.9THEN2270
2080 IFRND(1)>.75THEN 2220

The line numbers are different, but it are the same lines.

It seems the c64 version is harder due to these differences. I didn't look at other differences yet.

I'll try to play the dutch version this week.

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Re: Colditz Adventures... English and Dutch

#7 Post by Garry » Wed Aug 11, 2021 3:08 am

This was originally published in Computer & Video Games, issue 11, vol. 1, no. 11, September 1982, pp. 36-39. Apart from some random factors and the need to attend appel fairly frequently, it's actually a very good game. I ported it to the Atari 800 many, many years ago and don't recall any issues with the game. I have a map and hand-written solution that I haven't uploaded.

In the original article, the final paragraph says, "Here's a little test for you while you are typing in the listing. See if you can outsmart Screaming Foul Up by spotting the non fatal error in line 131!"

I also have some notes that say, "If you download a file that has been typed by P Knott, don't use it. It has numerous typos. Some of these are only cosmetic (such as spelling errors), but some are logical errors. It also has an unnecessary chunk of code added for a random event related to sewer rats that adds absolutely no value to the game. If you can't find a clean version, then, by all means, use the P Knott version, but check the listing against the original listing in C&VG before you start.

Note: When the program starts, it asks you if you want instructions. If you do, make sure you enter an upper case "Y", otherwise the instructions will be skipped."

Anything other than the original TRS-80 program listing as printed in C&VG is on your own head.

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Re: Colditz Adventures... English and Dutch

#8 Post by Strident » Wed Aug 11, 2021 8:27 am

The comments about the bugs come from Gamingafter40's contributions to the database, and his related blog post. It seems like the TRS-80 "typed in" versions in circulation suffer from errors. Jason Dyer, for his All the Adventures project, seemed to encounter one of the bugged versions... https://bluerenga.blog/2020/04/28/escap ... ditz-1981/ He didn't seem to like the game that much.

Is your Atari 800 version archived online anywhere, Garry?

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Re: Colditz Adventures... English and Dutch

#9 Post by Alex » Wed Aug 11, 2021 10:04 am

Still playing the game but I noticed the walkthrough has an error. While on the roof you can go north (fatal as described in the walkthrough) , but east will let you escape (not mentioned in the walkthrough).

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Re: Colditz Adventures... English and Dutch

#10 Post by Alex » Wed Aug 11, 2021 10:53 am

Just finished the Dutch version. Not very hard apart from the random elements (being searched by a guard and the appel). There are two ways to escape. One having a random chance of getting caught (through the gate), the other a safe one (down the roof). I'll write a walkhtrough for the Ducht version. I also made a map.

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Re: Colditz Adventures... English and Dutch

#11 Post by Strident » Wed Aug 11, 2021 10:55 am

Alex wrote:
Wed Aug 11, 2021 10:04 am
Still playing the game but I noticed the walkthrough has an error. While on the roof you can go north (fatal as described in the walkthrough) , but east will let you escape (not mentioned in the walkthrough).
Ah, that might be the one that people are mistakenly thinking is bugged then.

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Re: Colditz Adventures... English and Dutch

#12 Post by Garry » Wed Aug 11, 2021 3:20 pm

Strident wrote:
Wed Aug 11, 2021 8:27 am
Is your Atari 800 version archived online anywhere, Garry?
No. I did this many years ago (along with many other games) and I can no longer read the disks. I have a BASIC listing of the TRS-80 version, but I don't remember if I typed it in myself or got it from one of the downloads. When I get it from a download, I usually check it, as I know the downloads are notoriously unreliable. If I can find the time, I'll check the BASIC listing, dig out my hand-written notes and submit a map and solution. It might take a while, so don't hold your breath waiting.

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Re: Colditz Adventures... English and Dutch

#13 Post by Strident » Wed Aug 11, 2021 3:55 pm

I'm sure you have enough projects on the go, as it is! I was just curious if the Atari version was around and easily accessible. Definitely, too obscure a title to spend time and effort on. I've done enough digging to satisfy my curiosity about it.

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Re: Colditz Adventures... English and Dutch

#14 Post by Alex » Wed Aug 11, 2021 9:07 pm

I noticed another error in the walkthrough by gaming after40. While upstairs before going north you have to CUT WIRE with the knife before going north. If not you activate a trap and you won't be able to go east. So the end is not bugged, but because the trap has been activated you can't escape alive in his walkhtrough.

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Re: Colditz Adventures... English and Dutch

#15 Post by Strident » Thu Aug 12, 2021 8:53 am

Very useful information, thanks!

Weirdly, I've just spotted a English C64 port, produced in 2017... Weird, as I don't remember seeing it the other day when I was searching! I'll give that version a go too.

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