THE BALROG
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Review
The Balg has recruited one of his orcs to review this game and the poor orc has
been slaving around for days trying to perfect their English (Orcs only speak
orcish you see) - well done orc! A word of warning though - Orcs are not known
to mince their words - they say what they feel so watch out game authors!
Crystal Theft
Reviewer: The Orc
Author: Paul Wilson
Price: £1.50 tape £3.50 disc
Wow Software, 71 Radipole Lane, Weymouth.
Well here we go, Captain M. has failed miserably in his mission (dying in the
process) so now its your turn - When all else fails send in the idiots, and
idiot you must be dumped on the planet Vegan with only your sonic pistol and
trusty Katana (Japanese sword - Balg) for company, not a lot of help to you but
these Vegans never did keep their planet clean to have a good look round and
you're sure to find something useful. However don't waste too much time on the
surface as you've got to enter the underground temple and find that all
important crystal.
Crystal Theft isn't a new game - it was first released in 1984 by Wicca-soft
but it has now been re-released by Wow. It has a fair bit going for it in the way
of objects to pick up, puzzles to crack, rooms to be searched, doors to be
opened and lifts to go up and down in but for me personally it has quite a few
things against it - the screen layout is poor although you do get a useful
window which lists the objects you are carrying. The parser at times is rusty
and shows its age, 'EXAMINE DOOR' gives the response 'I don't have one of
those' - of course I don't have the door - it's in front of me and serves a
definite purpose so why can't I examine it? Scoring is also strange - I like
games where you can look at your score and see it go up as you solve puzzles as
it give you a sense of achievement. In Crystal Theft there is one particular
object that when picked up adds 50 points to your score and yet it has no other
use - Why?! For me the game wasn't much fun to play and I feel that this game
shouldn't have been re-released at all.
The Orc.
Atmosphere 60%
Challenge 74%
Interaction 61%
Overall 53%
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Contacting the Balg
To get in contact with the Balg, write to him at Amstrad Action, Future
Publishing Ltd, Beauford Court, 30 Monmouth Street, Bath, AVON BA1 2AP or
e-mail at cazsjw@uk.ac.leeds.dcs.
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Adventure Post
Chess query
Please can you tell me where I can purchase a tape for 464 with chess on it?
Louise Hope.
Sorry Louse - I don't know - but maybe one of the readers do - if you do then
write to Louise at Woodlea, Netherburn, Larkhall ML9 3BS.
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Leather query...
Could you tell me whether Leather Goddesses of Phobos is available on tape for
the 464?
P L Ramsay, Blackley
Leather Goddesses (and the rest of the Infocom range) was only released on disc
and even then it is now near impossible to get hold of the disc versions -
sorry!
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Adventure(?!) Help needed
I'm very stuck on level 1 of the Simpsons 'Bart vs the space mutants' - I just
cannot pass the first road block and cannot get all the goals or purple
objects...
Christopher Morris, Maidstone
Ummm... Sorry Chris - I don't really think that Bart vs the Space Mutants is an
adventure! If anyone can help Chris then write to Cheat Mode at the usual AA
address.
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Adventure writing advice needed...
I am interested in writing my own "adventure" software and would like
to know if you know of any programs which I might find useful. I found GAC
quite good and very easy to use but it did not really give me the scope or
depth I am looking for. I have heard of the program "Quill" but
cannot find any companies that still sell it.
Any help or advice you can give would be much appreciated.
Dawydd Hague, Sancton.
The four main adventure creators are PAW, ADLAN, GAC and Quill. ADLAN and PAW
require a disc drive and ADLAN also needs a rombox to work. PAW is the sort of
successor to Quill and is very powerful but is limited by the fact that it is
disc only. Quill used to be sold by Gilsoft and if you write to them they still
might have some left. For more details check the reviews of the packages in
older AA's (issue 4 has a review of Quill, 28 PAW and 60 ADLAN).
PAW & Quill Gilsoft, 2 Park Crescent, Barry, South Glamorgan CF6 8HD.
ADLAN Graduate Software: 14 Forrester Avenue, Weston-on-Trent, Derby DE7 2HX.
GAC On AA covertape recently!
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Clue-sniffing with the Balrog
This months scintillating collection of clues are from Lee Davies (Bristol),
Thomas Christie (Grangemouth), Edmund Spicer (Littlehampton) and David Holland
(Alsager).
Dracula
To get past the coachman, 'give money'.
Ring the bell on the desk in the golden krone hotel and sign the register.
Sit in the dining room and read menu.
Eat food, remembering to go to bed early, close window, if you leave room take
lit candle, if attacked by dog, search, give bone, return to bed.
When you are awake, leave the hotel. If you are offered a coach ride refuse it!
Just sit and wait and wait and wait until a coach arrives.
Holiday II
Give money to lady in the shop to get card.
Lords of Time
Pour the petrol over the wood and light a match when the mammoth appears.
Give the viking the fur and he will give you a horn.
Push the rock in the caves.
Terrormolinos
At the bullfight it is best to save your position and map the streets then
reload, unknot hanky, wave red hanky at bull and return down the streets until
you reach the china shop, where the bull will be trapped.
At the monastery, after taking photos, go to the catacombs and go directly
south-west to find Mr. Snargsby, call him and then return to the coach.
Trial of Arnold Blackwood
Don't eat the kipper found in the dining room! Instead, feed it to the cat that
guards the final room.
Very Big Cave Adventure
The three words to remember are:-
SUGAR - takes you from the wellie house to debris room (or vice versa) in part
one.
BRAN - takes you from the chamber to dead-end (or vice versa) in part two.
MUD - takes you from the wellie house to dead-end (or vice versa) in part two.
Videoworld
To switch between night and day, draw or open the curtains.
Yarkon Blues
Find part of the heat shield by the wreckage of Odour-Eater 2.
Use the phaser to see in the dark.
Pull panel at space-pod to get a shovel, then dig around the monument to gain
access to the sewers.
To get to the transporter from the monument: D, Sx2, E, Sx2, W, S, teleport.
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GAC Programming Clinic
If you have any questions on the use of GAC, specific GAC related problems and
queries or hints and tips of your own then jot them down and send them to the
Balg's GAC Programming Clinic at the usual AA address.
Q: How do you swap one object for another?
John Reilly, Barnstaple
A: Use the SWAP command! The action 'x SWAP y' will exchange objects x and y.
Thus you could write a routine for 'LIGHT LAMP' which swaps the objects 'a
lamp' with 'a lit lamp'.
Q: How do you tell what you are carrying.
John Reilly, Barnstaple
A: Use the 'LIST WITH' command which lists all the objects you have with you.
Q: Does it matter if you send the adventure on tape or disc?
Brendan "Legolas" McGoldrick, Strabane
A: No! I'd prefer if you sent your entries for the GAC compo on disc but you
can send them on tape if you really want. If you enclose a stamped self addressed
envelope I will return your game when I have finished with it.
Q: Has QS.ADV to be loaded each time GAC is loaded?
D.S.Anthes. Dorset
A: Not necessarily - QS.ADV just makes your life easier by including a lot of
adventure conditions which are used in every adventure but you don't need to
load it if you don't want to!
Q: In you GAC tutorial the text clearly states that key is in room 8 but
illustration show it in room 4 - which is right?
D.S.Anthes. Dorset
A: The text - there was a muck up in the map which showed the key in the wrong
room.
Q: Is there any way to program character interaction? (For example, being able
to speak to another person, with different reactions for different things
said.)
Keith O'Conor, Dublin
A: Yes, but its not easy! You'd have to code a response to each word said which
is very difficult considering the complexities of the English language! However
you could code in specific phrases such as 'SAY HELLO' or 'SAY PASSWORD'.
Q: The adventure I'm writing is BIG, So big that I've had to make it two parts.
My problem is that to access the second part I've written a BASIC password
system. On the title screen you get a choice of going to part 1 or 2. Not a
problem, however what I want to find out is if there's anyway that at the end
of part one I can make it automatically load up my BASIC password system.
David Georgiades, Kent
A: Firstly, remember that the GAC compo entries must be only one parters -
there isn't really room on the covertape for much more. Unless you know a lot
about machine code it is impossible to get GAC to execute external routines
such as a password checker. However at the end of part one you could give the
player a password for part two and then tell the player to load it. You also
don't have to write a password routine in BASIC - you could include it into
your actual GAC game - just make the first location in part two a room with no
exits with the description 'Please type password from part one:' and then write
a condition which means when you type the correct password GAC uses the GOTO
command to send you to the real first location.
Q: Does GAC allow characters which can move from location to location? If so
how?
Brendan "Legolas" McGoldrick, Strabane
A: Ummm... It is possible but it is complicated! You'd have to write a routine
which used the CONN command to determine which exits where available and then
move the character (who would be stored as an object) using the x TO n command.
Any reader want to send in such a routine?
Q: In my adventure I have a twenty location maze with the same description in
each location - is it possible to write a routine to print the description in
each room rather than have to write out the same words twenty times?
Rachel "Mad Cow" Smith, Chesterfield
A: Yes it is possible - just place the following in the high priority
conditions:
HIGH 1 RESE n END
2 IF (ROOM > x) SET n END
3 IF (ROOM > y) RESE n END
4 IF (SET? n) MESS m WAIT END
Where n is a marker used to say wether you are in the maze or not, x is the
first location of the maze and y is the last.
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GAC entry format
A lot of people have written asking for what they should send with the GAC
games they write for the competition - so here they are - the full compo rules!
The game must be GACed (It is a GAC competition after all!)
It must be one part only (the covertape won't have room for a multi-part game
but you can have a loading screen if you want)
You can send your game on a tape or disc (although I'd prefer the game on disc)
but if you want your game back you must include a stamped self addressed
envelope.
You must send a solution and map with your entry (I can't be expected to play
hundreds of GAC games without any help!)
It would help if you sent any relevant instructions.
It would also help if you wrote why you feel your game is good- outline any
clever puzzles, amusing responses or strong points.
Remember don't send your games yet - there's no rush!