Atzeco Adventure

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jgerrie
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Atzeco Adventure

#1 Post by jgerrie » Mon Dec 26, 2022 5:37 am

Found a listing for an adventure "Atzeco Adventure" in the Italian computer magazine "Laser Computer Club" for Agosto 1988. I'm assuming it mean Aztec Adventure in English.
Anyone seen it listed in the Database? Anywhere? Anyone interested? I'm thinking of trying to type it in and translate it to English if it it doesn't exist anywhere in playable form.

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Strident
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Re: Atzeco Adventure

#2 Post by Strident » Mon Dec 26, 2022 11:03 am

It isn't one that I've come across previously, no.

For others interested, the listing is here...
http://vz200.org/bushy/Laser_Computer_Club_1988-04.pdf
or https://archive.org/details/LCC1988-04/page/n11

and is credited to a Roberto B.

Roberto B. is the author of several Laser programs, such as Nim (included in that same issue) and Flipper.

The introduction to the Flipper program in this earlier issue...
http://www.vz200.org/bushy/Laser_Comput ... 988-03.pdf

...suggests that his name was B. Roberto, rather than Roberto B.

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Re: Atzeco Adventure

#3 Post by Garry » Mon Dec 26, 2022 12:18 pm

It's new to me. I've asked if anyone has a copy on the VZ200/300 Facebook group. In the meantime, here's a translation of the article (courtesy of Google Translate) in case you haven't done it already:

Aztec adventure
FOR LASER 500/310

The 16K memory expansion is required for the Laser 210 and 110.

This is the usual adventure, i.e. a computer simulation game, where you have to fight dragons, monsters, etc. Escape the deadly traps that are not lacking in this adventure, indeed there are too many.

But there is something different compared to other adventure games.

In fact, it is useless to try to solve it, without taking note in a notebook of the various descriptions that will gradually be shown to you on the screen, since there are no less than 56 rooms, grotesque places and cities.

So it shouldn't be taken lightly. And, as if that weren't enough, during the game it is necessary to take note of the various messages in order to be able to identify the password.

And finally the game is shown to be competitive amongst family and friends. This was made possible thanks to the latest BASIC lines of the program, indicating the maximum score obtained each time the game comes to an end, or in case of death!

LIST OF VERBS:
GO, MOVE, RUN, WALK, GRAB, LAY, THROW, EAT, TASTE, SWIM, DIVE, CLIMB, JUMP, KILL, KILL, SHOOT, THROW, DRINK, SWUG, INVENTORY, BUY, PAY, DIG, ESCAPE, FLEE.

ABBREVIATIONS USED:
N = GO NORTH
S = GO SOUTH
O = GO WEST
E = GO EAST
I = INVENTORY
G = REPEAT LOCATION DESCRIPTION
P = TAKE ITEM
F = GAME END

LIST OF VARIABLES
F(1) WARRIOR PRESENT
F(2) ACCESS TO THE CITY
F(3) PAY TAXES
F(4) HUNGER
F(5) TAXES TO PAY
F(6) WARRIOR/BEANS/COCOA
IV ITEMS TAKEN
NL NUMBER OF VERBS
NS NUMBER OF ROOMS
S NUMBER OF CURRENT ROOM
MX MAXIMUM NUMBER OF ITEMS

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Re: Atzeco Adventure

#4 Post by Garry » Tue Dec 27, 2022 3:06 am

There are two listings, one for the Laser 500 and one for the Laser 310. I'm typing in the latter, as I think this is the most compatible with the VZ 200/300.I'm up to line 1025. I'll post it here when finished.

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Re: Atzeco Adventure

#5 Post by jgerrie » Tue Dec 27, 2022 3:11 am

What's the difference between the Laser 310 and 300?

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Re: Atzeco Adventure

#6 Post by Garry » Tue Dec 27, 2022 3:13 am

No idea.

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Re: Atzeco Adventure

#7 Post by Garry » Tue Dec 27, 2022 7:17 am

Here 'tis. I haven't checked it, so check it for typos before you use it. I noticed that there are two types of single quotes. One appears to be an Italian special character. I don't know what it's called or how to enter it on a standard keyboard, so I just used single quotes for both of them.
Atzeco Adventure (Roberto B).zip

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Re: Atzeco Adventure

#8 Post by bushy555 » Tue Dec 27, 2022 10:03 pm

> What's the difference between the Laser 310 and 300?

Laser310 / VZ300.
In essence, none, other than the branded name.
There was no such thing as a Laser300, or a VZ310. (Ignore the weird Laser305)

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Re: Atzeco Adventure

#9 Post by Garry » Wed Dec 28, 2022 2:31 am

I've done the English translation. I just need to get it into a vz file (that's been giving me some grief) and play the game to make sure everything makes sense. While doing the translation, I noticed a couple of typos in the Italian version. David Maunder has been kind enough to create a vz file of that version, so I'll do the typo corrections in that and double check the listing. Give me a day or so and I'll post updates here and on the VZ200/300 Facebook page.

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Re: Atzeco Adventure

#10 Post by jgerrie » Wed Dec 28, 2022 4:04 am

Thanks Gary. You've burned through a project I thought would take a week. Do you use Google translate? In any case, I look forward to seeing the English version.

Jim

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Re: Atzeco Adventure

#11 Post by Garry » Wed Dec 28, 2022 4:51 am

Yes. I use Google Translate. Quite to my surprise, it did a fairly good job. There are one or two sentences that sound weird, so I'll see what they mean in context when I've played the game.

I've just finished checking the Italian listing against the magazine and picked up a couple more typos. They're fixed now and I think it's all accurate. There are a few errors in the original (mainly spelling errors) and it doesn't do word wrapping properly, so I'll do a bug-fix version for the Italian version.

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Re: Atzeco Adventure

#12 Post by Garry » Wed Dec 28, 2022 5:06 am

Actually, there was one funny Google translation "error". For the object in line 2515, it translated this as "A GOLD BLOWJOB". :lol: Despite there being "HALLS OF MONTEZUMA'S 150 CONCUBINES" and "ROOMS OF MONTEZUMA'S WIFE", I somehow didn't think this was right. A list of synonyms indicated that it should probably have been "A GOLD BLOWGUN", so that's what I've used.

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Re: Atzeco Adventure

#13 Post by nippur72 » Wed Dec 28, 2022 10:46 am

Hi, I'm from the Facebook group "VZ200 VZ300 Laser210 Laser310 fans", I'm also the one who made the pdf scans of the magazine issue that lists "Atzeco Adventure".

"Laser Computer Club" was an italian magazine sponsored by the Scheidegger/Multididact which was the only distributor for Italy (VTech machines were sold along with a BASIC computer course by Scheidegger). We used to send our programs to the magazine and we also ran a local computer club in our city.
What's the difference between the Laser 310 and 300?
did you mean Laser 310 vs Laser 500, right ? The 500 is a more advanced version, with a custom video chip and a better Microsoft Basic (almost GW-BASIC compatible).

If needed, I can help with the English translation of "Azteco Adventure", just let me know. I would like to make a Laser 500 version as well, as I am the maintainer of the Laser 500 online emulator: https://nippur72.github.io/laser500emu.

And BTW, if you like text adventures, there's another italian-language game that might be converted/translated. It's called "Astronave Farmer" and I typed it myself some time ago from the 1985 italian magazine "MC Microcomputer". It has been reissued on "RetroMagazine" 23 May 2020. Read the article (italian language) here: https://www.retromagazine.net/download/ ... ine_23.pdf

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Re: Atzeco Adventure

#14 Post by Strident » Wed Dec 28, 2022 9:43 pm

nippur72 wrote:
Wed Dec 28, 2022 10:46 am
And BTW, if you like text adventures, there's another italian-language game that might be converted/translated. It's called "Astronave Farmer" and I typed it myself some time ago from the 1985 italian magazine "MC Microcomputer". It has been reissued on "RetroMagazine" 23 May 2020. Read the article (italian language) here: https://www.retromagazine.net/download/ ... ine_23.pdf
Yes, we already have that one listed, with the magazine links, here...
http://solutionarchive.com/game/id%2C38 ... armer.html

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Re: Atzeco Adventure

#15 Post by Garry » Thu Dec 29, 2022 11:18 am

Geez, this Aztec Adventure is a tough game. It has everything that gave retro text adventures a bad name. It has an inventory limit of one item. It has a warrior that randomly pops up on a frequent basis. You can't leave the room while he's present and he kills you after a few moves. You can kill him first, but you need a weapon to do so. When you're carrying the weapon, you can't carry anything else! Sheesh.

It has a limited vocabulary and some of the words lead to instant death. It has a pointless maze right at the beginning. There's nothing you need there, so you can avoid it, but I didn't know that until I'd mapped it. (I didn't even realise it was a maze at first. I thought it was only one room.) It's hard to map because of the one item limit. Drop an item, flounder about until you find your way out, get another item, make your way back to the maze and get killed by the random warrior long before you've even mapped the first room.

There's a password that requires some knowledge of Aztec religion and a couple of other things that require knowledge of Aztec culture.

There's a hunger daemon, but the hunger message gets cleared before you get a chance to read it. You only find out about it when you die.

You can get killed or carted off to prison without knowing why. You can get out of prison by doing something completely illogical and answering a rhetorical question. I only knew this from reading the code.

Roberto B, whoever he is, needs to stand trial before the text adventure tribunal for crimes against the adventurers' bill of rights.

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