39 replies to this topic

[Bob Mackey]

Out of curiousity, Cafeman, have you played The Colossal Cave (the first text adventure)? I understand it was Warren Robinett's inspiration for Adventure. I suspect that you have indeed played it. The game featured a troll on a bridge like you were talking about, and some of your stolen items would be placed in a maze (though it was a pirate that stole them). Anyways, if there were any source I'd take ideas from (other than 2600 Adventure) it would be from this game. For example, you might consider having the player retrieve multiple treasure objects to win (instead of one) in some of the modes.

As for whether the bridge should be in, I would like it if it was... however, if you find a bridge like the one in the original game complicates things too much, I suppose you could have it only let you cross over non-wall barriers instead (like moats, rivers, pits, etc.) so as to be more like a normal bridge.

[Cafeman]

@Bob Mackey, I'm not sure of the exact inspiration for Adv II's Troll , Troll Bridge, and his hiding things in the Hedge Maze -- it came to me as Alan and I discussed ideas over a year ago. I have not played Colossal Cave so in this case it's equal parts coincidence and just the fact that these are common fantasy themes.

I will say this -- one idea we had but was discarded was for you to find Gold which would be inventoried. You didn't need it but if you had it, the Troll would take your Gold instead of whatever item you carried. But I axed this idea; in the current design of the game, the Troll steals whatever you are carrying when you cross the Troll Bridge and hides it in the maze. After he takes off there is a time delay before he returns to the Troll bridge, so you can certainly bait him with more worthless items, but it takes more planning. The Troll may roam around too, and the bat exists too but I don't want them both on the screen at one time.

[ATARI TROLL]

http://www.atariage....pic.php?t=22787

There is a good site mentioning windows adventure version. I know its a long shot, but if you look at "difficult level" this guy put together a hell of a version plus new ideas. I am awaiting yours. Cant wait to see it. Is there going to be adownloadable rom to play? Hope so, maybe might help if you have a few of us spot check it for game play. Not that any advice would be necessary, but feedback always helps.

Take care

Cheers
Jack

[Cybergoth]

Hi there!

Any news on this project?

Greetings,
Manuel

[Jacob Rose]

I always liked the way you could (with some maneouvering) kill the dragon who'd eaten you. Then, when the bat picked up the corpse, you'd get an aerial tour of the map.

On the other hand, there was the dreaded "bat trades live dragon for your sword" which was really funny, even if it did result in my untimely demise once or twice.

No sir, I don't think the game would be the same without the bat...

[DEBRO]

Cybergoth said:

Any news on this project?

Last Adventure II homepage update was Aug 29th...4 days ago.

[MegaManFan]

Any chance that proto will be auctioned at OKGE?

[Charey]

I like most of the ideas you put out but a few

I wan't the bat to stay it's just not as fun without it mabye have the bat as a option!

I don't like the troll idea I think only the bat even if it is annonying.

by the way what is the minatior like to face?

[Cafeman]

Bumping a 2 year old thread?! It was interesting to read this again. I had forgotten it. Oh, and didn't you know there is no "Adventure II" game? There is a homebrew called "Quest for the Golden Chalice" however.

The troll is a permanent part of the game. He runs about, steals, and swaps. And sometimes he sleeps. He is afraid of Dragons, dead or alive. (hint)

Due to a recent legal "problem", I am glad the bat isn't in there, at least he hasn't been seen yet. Once I know for sure what I am permitted to do in the context of that legal mess, more info will be released to the rest of you all.

Some more info:

The minotaur roams slowly about the Kingdom 2 Hedge maze. As of the game's plan right now, he can do a couple of things (and he isn't present in all game variations). His main function is to impede your progress, and his two main tricks are to change the layout of the hedge maze and/or to throw you out of it. He cannot be killed. He may have other tricks too.

The dragons take multiple hits to slay them. Just as with Robinett's original, a dragon carcass will impede your progress so be careful where you kill one. On the other hand, the Troll is afraid of dead dragons. The minotaur .. should he reanimate dead dragons if he finds them? hmm..

The game, whatever its real title will end up being, is not done yet and it is impossible to reveal more info quite yet but I would imagine all the answers will be available soon.

c(_)

[raindog]

Still irks me that someone can claim you're infringing on a game they simply named "Adventure" where the player was represented by a square. Ahh, if only I could go back in time and release games called "Fighter", "Platformer" and "Shooter". I'd be rich.

[moycon]

Thanks for the update Cafeman.
Sorry to hear of all the trouble this project is causing you.
But at least it all seems to be getting worked out.

[Cafeman]

Minor update, because I just had a big scare.

My hard drive went bye-bye in December. I couldn't get the PC to recognize it. I finally hooked it up slave-master to another PC (the one I'm using now, an older Celeron w/Win 98), it doesn't even recognize my hard drive in the BIOS, so I assume it is shot and I need a new one. Man, sometimes I HATE PC's.

FORTUNATELY ... I had just backed up all my 5200 homebrew code, screens etc, in late October. So, although I did lose the work I did in November and December (not too much), it isn't too bad. Whew, what if I had lost it all?

Of course, I wouldn't have lost it all since Raccoon still has the screen data too, and I've got many older saved copies of the game code, but it would have been more painful going back months and months, plus I'd have had to recompress every screen again! Ugh! Let this be a warning and reminder to everyone -- back up important stuff regularly!

Once I get a new hard drive and Windows reinstalled, I'll be back at it. I have more news and a new demo to show sometime in the not too distant future. I've got to re-do some recent improvements (they are still fresh in my mind) and then work on buttoning up a number of other little things.

Hope to get my PC reloaded this week, then I'm eager to complete this final stage of coding & get the game out!

[Big Player]

That's awful, Cafeman. How far along were you in when you lost your work in December? Please don't say it was almost finished.

Is there anyway to possibly restore the data? (I know how to turn computers and that's about it, so forgive my ignorance.)

[Cafeman]

I have notes on paper from the Nov-Dec work. I lost animation frames and some intelligence for the Minotaur and Dragons, some touch-ups to the collision routines, and some sound/music data. I can type the animation frames back in (but what a pain, 1,0,1,0etc!) and I am pretty sure I have documented what I did on the collision front. It will waste a good weekend but I should recover.

Worse than the slight setback, was the fact I haven't had a computer to work on the game for all of January and already a week into February! Had the drive not died, I would have accomplished quite a bit. I have a lot more time lately than I did in 2004 as a whole! So I've been spending it playing my new Xbox (Outrun2 mostly).

Can't say much else at this time, but when I show you the game next, I'm pretty confident you are all gonna enjoy what you see (and play).

[legeek]

Good luck Cafeman!