"Temple Software" - Dian Crayne's 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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"Temple Software" - Dian Crayne's Adventures

#1 Post by Strident » Sun Feb 20, 2022 12:46 am

Did a bit of random digging this evening, as I do on any games that people comment on or add new material for.

This time it was for the games listed under "Temple Software"
http://solutionarchive.com/list/company%2C1285/
...but were actually published by Norell Data Systems.

They're old PC DOS games and didn't have an author listed... However, I've found that they were by a sci-fi writer called Dian Crayne, aka Dian Girard, JD Crayne & Dian Pelz... https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/girard_dian

...mostly due to the fact that she wrote an article in PC magazine about writing adventures...
https://archive.org/details/PC-Mag-1983-09/page/266/

Sadly Dian died in 2017. http://file770.com/dian-crayne-1942-2017/

I've added references to the various pages and also a few of her missing games in the DB.

Definitely adventures that are a product of the time, but it's nice to get an author's name attached to them.

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Exemptus
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Re: "Temple Software" - Dian Crayne's Adventures

#2 Post by Exemptus » Sun Feb 20, 2022 3:02 pm

Well done finding out. I just finished The Hermit's Secret and noticed that nobody has published a solution for The Phantom's Revenge (which seems to be more difficult). Maybe I should give it a go, if there is any interest, while I still have an intuition of the author's mindset for puzzles.

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Re: "Temple Software" - Dian Crayne's Adventures

#3 Post by Strident » Sun Feb 20, 2022 3:05 pm

Yes, it was your contributions that prompted me to do some research on Dian's games. Disappeared down another rabbit-hole looking at her sci-fi work too... probably more interesting than the adventures.

The PC mag article has a list of all the vocab for Phantom's Revenge which should help. :) As will Alex's map.

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Re: "Temple Software" - Dian Crayne's Adventures

#4 Post by Exemptus » Sun Feb 20, 2022 5:47 pm

Thanks, noted. No promises, but I'll see how far I can go.

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Re: "Temple Software" - Dian Crayne's Adventures

#5 Post by Alex » Mon Feb 21, 2022 4:32 am

Exemptus wrote:
Sun Feb 20, 2022 3:02 pm
Well done finding out. I just finished The Hermit's Secret and noticed that nobody has published a solution for The Phantom's Revenge (which seems to be more difficult). Maybe I should give it a go, if there is any interest, while I still have an intuition of the author's mindset for puzzles.


there is a post from 2013 on the Phantom's Revenge. I almost solved it, but there were a few problems I could not solve back then. Would be great to see a complete solution at last.

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Re: "Temple Software" - Dian Crayne's Adventures

#6 Post by Exemptus » Mon Feb 21, 2022 4:42 pm

Alex wrote:
Mon Feb 21, 2022 4:32 am
there is a post from 2013 on the Phantom's Revenge. I almost solved it, but there were a few problems I could not solve back then. Would be great to see a complete solution at last.
Thanks, interesting insights. After some effort, I did find solutions to most of your questions. There are still a couple of puzzles outstanding. I now have 295 points, 20 treasures, and I have a reasonable idea of how and where to get the (hopefully) last one, but if my hunch is right, it may actually depend on luck.

Your map is very good, by the way. It seems to be pretty accurate, only missing the connections for the magic words (there are a few I have found). I'm making my own map in any case since I have a different style of dealing with the cartographic challenges, but it looks like you were quite close to solving the whole thing. I hope I'm on the right track and able to sort out the last few details, or I'll be another victim of the Phantom's legend...

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Re: "Temple Software" - Dian Crayne's Adventures

#7 Post by Exemptus » Mon Feb 21, 2022 9:58 pm

Done now. All puzzles solved, all treasures accounted for, max score (336 points). I'll upload my map and write a full solution. This will probably take longer than it did solving, as I have to replay the game several times to make sure the solution is reasonably sequenced, reproducible, and random factors minimized, so please be patient.

The full completion code given by the game is JDC082942. This is the initials of J.D. Crayne (one of the author's noms de plume for SF writing) and her birthday, 08-29-42.

By the way, greetings to Anne Myers, who maintains The Phantom Library (https://www.phantomlibrary.com), and wrote an amusing review of this game, which I enjoyed reading. She will be happy to know it has at last been finished; good things come to those who wait.

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Re: "Temple Software" - Dian Crayne's Adventures

#8 Post by Strident » Tue Feb 22, 2022 12:56 am

What a fun idea for a focus for a website.
https://www.phantomlibrary.com/the-phan ... m-temple-s

I think Garry almost does that sort of thing by playing every adaptation of The Time Machine. ;)

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Re: "Temple Software" - Dian Crayne's Adventures

#9 Post by Garry » Tue Feb 22, 2022 6:20 am

Strident wrote:
Tue Feb 22, 2022 12:56 am
I think Garry almost does that sort of thing by playing every adaptation of The Time Machine. ;)
Ha, ha, ha. I know I've played a few (including an illustrated German one for the Atari 8-bit that I translated to English), but I know that there are others that I haven't played.

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Re: "Temple Software" - Dian Crayne's Adventures

#10 Post by Exemptus » Wed Feb 23, 2022 7:56 pm

Solution and hints have been uploaded now.

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Re: "Temple Software" - Dian Crayne's Adventures

#11 Post by Strident » Wed Feb 23, 2022 8:50 pm

Great solution. It doesn't make the game sound that terrible, especially given the context of expectations in the genre at that time, but I am glad you played it rather than me. :)

It's a shame those other two games seem to be missing. And I do wonder if Dian herself, wrote the slightly infamous Granny's Place. If she did then I imagine there's more beneath the surface of that one. Her sci-fi work certainly explored sexist tropes.

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Re: "Temple Software" - Dian Crayne's Adventures

#12 Post by Alex » Thu Feb 24, 2022 10:39 am

Exemptus wrote:
Wed Feb 23, 2022 7:56 pm
Solution and hints have been uploaded now.
Well done :thumb: Nice to see at last the solution to the last problems I encountered while playing.

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