Finally! A new Zork game. TAP is here.

DrPaul · Post by **DrPaul** » Sat May 21, 2005 11:39 pm

It has been almost two years, to the day (Started May 28, 2003) but the text adventure prequel (TAP) is finally available to play.

The game can be found on my website here:
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/pdrallos1 ... F/dotd.htm

There are two veersions available - a z5 and an exe.

The z5 is standard z-code and will run with any z-code interpreter, just like the original InfoCom text adventures. Interpreters for virtually any computer platform or OS are freely available and I have links to them on my site.

The EXE version is self-contained (has an interpreter built-in) but this version will only run in Windows.

Both versions have a built-in Help and Hint system. The Help gives general information about the game and a short tutorial how to play text adventures. The Hints are InvsiClue-style hints which will help you with the puzzles if you are stuck too long.

There is also a PDF file which contains maps of the complete gameworld. It's a pretty big game with about 140 locations.

There are some pretty unique puzzles and features that I don't think have ever been done before. Check it out.

DrPaul

DrPaul · Post by **DrPaul** » Sat May 21, 2005 11:41 pm

To download the games and other files, right-click on the desired link and then select 'save link target as' to save it on your computer. Don't forget where you put it.

Post by **DataAngel** » Sat May 21, 2005 11:43 pm

YAY! Congratulations!!! I shall host it IMMEDIATELY!

Reaver · Post by **Reaver** » Sun May 22, 2005 1:18 pm

Downloaded the EXE and the maps, will try them in about half an hour and probably come back to post my opinion. Â Thanks for fixing my lack of new Zork games.

edit- Well, so far I have a score of 12 out of 80 in 226 moves. It is enjoyable. I like the inclusion of some of the old Zork gags, lik Plugh and Hello Sailor. The creation of this game is greatly appreciated.

brian0918 · Post by **brian0918** » Sun May 22, 2005 5:42 pm

Woohoo!! Now I just need to make time to play this...

DrPaul · Post by **DrPaul** » Sun May 22, 2005 10:31 pm

I have no idea how difficult this game is since I know all of the secrets , puzzles, etc. But I have a feeling that it is pretty hard.

Some of what might be the most satisfying puzzles will be spoiled by the maps. Try not to look past Map 1 except as a last resort. The hints are like InvisiClues. They give out a little at a time so you still have a chance to solve it yourself.

Siriusstar · Post by **Siriusstar** » Tue May 31, 2005 4:32 am

I just finished it tonight. I don't want to post any spoilers, but I found it a lot of fun to play. I found the puzzles thoughtful, but quite logical and I never got overly frustrated for long. (except one thing that I gave up on, only to find out there was nothing to do there anyway.) I LOVED the grues! And Hades was genuinely creepy.

It was great fun!

DrPaul · Post by **DrPaul** » Tue May 31, 2005 3:29 pm

Wow! You finished it. I would be curious to know how much time you spent, because I have no way to judge the difficulties of the puzzles. I'd also like to ask your opinion about several things in the game, maybe privately so as not to reveal any spoilers.

There are a few things in the game that are just red-herrings and I've wondered if I should take them out since people might spend too much time on them for nothing.

Siriusstar · Post by **Siriusstar** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 7:23 am

I think it took me about 12-14 hours in all. About the same as it took me for Infocomâ€™s Border Zone, but less than the original Zork family, except probably Wishbringer. (I'm a bit faster now, though.) I found the puzzles of a nice difficulty, maybe on a level with Beyond Zork, although more similar to Zork I in feel.

I didn't think the red herrings were excessive, just that one that seemed very important to me... I don't know if I should say more here. For more spoiler-y stuff, email me at raylady@metrocast.net I'll be happy to answer any questions!

Reaver · Post by **Reaver** » Wed Jun 15, 2005 11:20 pm

Well, I just finished the game myself, it took about the same amount of time for me (about 12 hours), but play time was broken up due to work and other reasons. I finished it, but I am curious about something. I seem to be lacking four points, but I'm not sure what I missed.

DrPaul · Post by **DrPaul** » Thu Jun 16, 2005 12:41 am

I'm not completely sure if the 80 points maximum is accurate.

I got that number by going through the source code and adding up all the possible scoring points. Rooms, objects and certain actions are scored differently, and I might have made a mistake.

Thanks for reminding me about that. I will double check it.

It's possible that there are a few points for something obscure,

DrPaul · Post by **DrPaul** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 11:32 am

I reviewed the scoring system this morning and there are indeed 80 possible points. The game uses the standard Inform score distribution with 4 points for objects and 5 points for locations (plus I have two action points one 4 and one 5). So the missing 4 points must be either an object or the 4-point actiion.

The objects are scored only if you 'get' them (even if only for a moment.) It is possible that you examined either the brass disk or the scrap of paper but without actual taking one of them. That way, you would have gotten the information you needed but would not have gotten the points.

That's my best guess. I have recently fixed a few other bugs in the code and will upload a new version soon. Maybe I will also add a listing of all possible points in the hint section.

Reaver · Post by **Reaver** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 6:57 pm

I guess I'll just have to play it again to see what I missed. I know for a fact that I took the brass disk and the scrap of paper, as they never left my inventory. I also took the bookcase, heh.

DrPaul · Post by **DrPaul** » Sat Jun 18, 2005 1:18 pm

Reaver,
I found something else that could very well explain the missing points.

When you purchase an item in the Tavern, the Bartender sets it on the bar. It is possible to consume the item without first putting it in inventory. So, without first taking the item and then consuming it, you wouldn't get the points. This is a bug.

I fixed it this morning so that:

Since the act of buying the item is critical and consuming or putting it in inventory is irrelevant, I changed the routine to score the correct buying action instead of the item possession.

I will try to get the updated version posted today.

DrPaul · Post by **DrPaul** » Sat Jun 18, 2005 5:04 pm

I just updated the Dawn of the Demon game with Release number 050618. I corrected a few bugs, spelling and grammer errors, some scoring issues.

Find it at:
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/pdrallos1 ... F/dotd.htm

I increased the max game score to 85 (by scoring one more action that wasn't scored before.)

Also, in the hints menu, I added a Scoring catagory which gives a summary of all the possible points. Don't look at that until after you've played the game.

One other thing: I made some corrections in the html for my webpage, so now it works correctly with Internet Explorer. Specifically, the car pictures should now appear and the sketch on the homepage is clickable.

Finally! A new Zork game. TAP is here.

Finally! A new Zork game. TAP is here.

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