THE BALROG
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News
Guild release new games
Tony Collins of Guild Adventures has been beavering away over his keyboard to
release a whole plethora of new games. Included in the impressive list of new
and converted titles are two compilations, one by Alex Gough (Vol. 4) and the
other by River Software (Vol. 5) for the pultry price of £5 on disc. The other
notable game in the list is "Captain Cook" by Silent Corner.
Originally written on the Spectrum where it has been hailed the "best
science fiction game ever written" it is a two parter PAW game which will
put you back £4.50 on disc. For more details and a price list send a SAE to
Tony at Guild Adventure Software, 760 Tyburn Road, Erdington, Birmingham, B24
9NX (Tel: 021 749 2585). For tape version send a SAE to Peter Knowles at PK
Graphics, 153 Standhill Crescent, New Lodge, Barnsley, South Yorkshire S71 1SW.
Tony has asked me to point out that although Guild and PK sell the old
Recreation Re-creation games there is no connection with RR!
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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
LORDING IT
Could you tell me if the adventure Lords of Time is part of the Red Moon
Trilogy. If so, do you please know of an address I could write to to buy the
cassette?
Denise Palmer, Doncaster.
Yep, Lords of Time is part of the Red Moon trilogy and should be available from
Level 9 at PO Box 39, Weston-super-Mare, Avon BS24 9UR. Tel: (0934) 814450.
Fax: (0703) 331523.
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MORE CHAOS?
Have Mythos games ever brought out a 'Lords of Chaos' expansion kit 2?
Steven Winn, Maidstone
No news on expansion kit 2 for Lords of Chaos unfortunately, in fact no news
from Mythos/Bladesoft/Target Games at all - they seem to have completely
disappeared. If anyone knows where they are could they please put them in touch
with AA.
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FIGHTING MAD
I am just writing to say that FF(Fighting Fantasy) games do exist on the CPC
and are quite good games in their own right but they are very hard with
outlandish parsers compared to some game's I now have. I used to have them all
but alas I got rid of them long ago. I think the company that made them was
called Software International and that Adventure International was just their
adventure label, I may be wrong though.
Tony Hutchison, Saltney
Thanks Tony!
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MAD MUSHROOM FARMER
Greetings, Oh most demonic saviour of the adventure breed... I wish to acquire
some information...
1) What happened to the Bards Tale Club mentioned in AA39?
2) Which adventure creators apart from GAC can be used without any knowledge of
programming - which would you recommend?
3) In AA76 in the GAC compo it says that Adam P. gets
transported into your lair... but in AA77 it has changed
to Rod Lawton - who is it?
4) Would it be possible to give a rough idea of how much the GAC is capable of?
ie I don't want to plan out an adventure with 300 locations if GAC can only handle
an average of 50.
5) Is the GAC booklet still available?May Gadungrick, God of the sacred magical
fungi, bless your already mighty forehead...
Fungus Metaljest(Chief Jester, Mage, Warrior and Adventurer of the Mushroom
Plateau)
1) Bards Tale finished in AA71 because nearly all that
could be said was said short of printing a full solution!
2) All require some degree of programming but if you can program in GAC then it
shouldn't be too difficult to pick up either ADLAN or GAC. For the addresses of
where to get these packages see last months letters page.
3) Rod or Adam - it's up to you
4) Ummm... In theory GAC can have up to 9999 locations but memory constraints
stops this. It all depends on how much memory you use on descriptions, pictures
and puzzles but to be honest GAC isn't up to much - you're best bet is to
experiment yourself as to it's limitations.
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Lords & Ladies of Adventure
Adventure Quest, Angelique a Grief Encounter, Arnold Blackwood Trilogy, Big
Sleaze, Black Fountain, Bugsy, Case of the Mixed-Up Shymer, Castle Blackstar,
Castle of the Skull Lord, Crystal Theft, Cursed Be the City, Cutthroats,
Dracula, Dungeon Adventure, DAA, Enchanter, Escape from Koshima, Espionage
Island, Fantasia Diamond, Fish, Football Frenzy, Frankenstein, Gnome Ranger,
Gremlins, Guild of Thieves, Haunted House, Hermitage, Hitchhiker's Guide,
Hollow Graphic, Hollow Text, Hollywood Hijinx, Hunchback, Imagination, Inca
Curse, Infidel, Ingrid's Back, Jack the Ripper, Jinxter, Kingdom of Hamil,
Kobyashi Naru, Lancelot, Leather Goddesses, Lifeterm, Lords of Time, Lurking
Horror, Mansion, Mindshadow, Monsters of Murdac, Mordon's Quest, Mountains of
Ket, Mystery of Indus Valley, Myth, Necris Dome, Never Ending Story, Nova,
Nythyhel, Pawn, Planet of Death, Planetfall, Questprobe, Rebel Planet, Rigel's
Revenge, Robin of Sherwood, Robocide, Seabase Delta, Shard of Inovar, Sharpe's
Deeds, Ship of Doom, Smashed, Sorceror, Souls of Darkon, Spellbreaker, Spytrek,
Star Wreck, Subsunk, Theseus, Top Secret, Venom, Very Big Cave Adventure,
Winter Wonderland, Wishbringer, Wolfman and Zork I, II & III and all
Interceptor games!
Graham Wheeler, 2 Burford Close, Southdown, Bath, Avon BA2 1JF. Tel between
10am and midnight (0225) 426919.
Colour of Magic, Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, Nightmare, Quest for the Golden
Egg-cup, Shadows of Mordor, Times of Lore, Werewolf Simulator & Wizard
Warz.
Douglas Thompson, 14 Cosgrove Close, Peterborough PE3 7JN.
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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 have two pictures of say a tunnel - one if the torch is lit and
the other it it isn't? John Reilly, Barnstaple
A: Ummm.. Toughy. There are two ways to do this - the first is to have two
identical rooms with different pictures (but this is very greedy on memory).
The second is to use control codes as shown in AA58:-
Control codes can be incorporated into a games room or message descriptions.
These control codes are listed in chapter 9 of the manual. Letter them starting
at 1="A", to 26="Z" then 27="[",
28="\", 29="]", 30="^", 31="0" to make
reference easier.
Eg.
CTRL + Variable Note BASIC equivalent
D n Change screen mode n=0-2 MODE n
(GAC still uses 40 columns
though)
G Bell (Beep!) PRINT CHR$(7)
H Move cursor left 1 character PRINT CHR$(8)
I Move cursor right 1 character PRINT CHR$(9)
J Move cursor down 1 line PRINT CHR$(10)
K Move cursor up 1 line PRINT CHR$(11)
L CLS
N n n=Paper number 0-2 PAPER n
O n n=Pen number 0-3 PEN n
X Inverse video on/off
\ n xx n=Pen number INK n,x,x x=letter representing a colour (appendix B of GAC
manual, two different X's mean a flashing colour.)
] xx Set border colour BORDER X,X
For example, 'CTRL-L, space, rest of message...' will clear the window (code
12) and print a message.You can also change colours with these, although I
would suggest setting up a sequence to reset colours to normal in case of error
- if this happens you won't be able to read the menu or anything else! You can
do this by setting up a 'dummy' room with the following codes:-
\0AA INK 0,1
\AXX INK 1,24
N0 PAPER 0
OA PEN 1
]AA BORDER 1
Note: These are all typed with 'CTRL' pressed, except the zero which is typed
on it's own. The codes should be continuous, I have separated them to show what
each section does.You can now experiment with the codes, eg, at the beginning
of a room description, you can change colours, make a beep, etc. If the colours
go wrong, press ESC until the menu screen, press 'B' for beginning room, delete
old start room, and type the number of the dummy room, 'ENTER', 'ENTER' to
start game, and the colours will return back to normal.Thus you can change the
colour of the picture of the tunnel - have very dark pictures for no light and
normal pictures for a lit room.
Q: I want to be able to have a built-in map using an unused room to hold the
picture, pressing M to show the map and another key to return to the adventure.
Can this be done?
John Reilly, Barnstaple
A: Yes but it would be very wasteful on memory and complicated. You'd have to
have a different picture for each stage of the map, with the M key using the
GOTO command to send the player to that room and a RETURN command which would
use the GOTO key to send you back to the location you came from. You could save
on memory by merging pictures of the maps together but it would still use a lot
of memory up.
Q: How do you have characters which wait to you to give them something or to do
something for them.
Brendan "Legolas" McGoldrick, Strabane
A: Just write a routine for it! For example put in the low priority conditions
the line 'GIVE MONEY', check to see if the character is present (by setting it
up as an object and using the HERE command) and then print a message (ie
'Thanking you for the money the bus conductor runs away').
Q: In the text in the February tutorial, after message 3 (which is OK) local
room condition, room 2 ok then asks "Which line number?", nothing
seems to answer this and if a number given at random and "IF (VERB &
SET? 3) GOTO 1, WAIT END" is typed in, the machine answers "Don't
understand" and reprints it! Also shouldn't this condition be low
priority?
D.S.Anthes. Dorse
tA: You should start at line number 1. The machine is responding "Don't
understand" as the line you are typing in is not syntactically correct -
it should be "IF (VERB 4 AND SET? 3) GOTO 1 WAIT END". This is a
local condition as it only applies to one room - you don't want verb 4 to
always send you to room 1 so you make sure it only applies in room 2.
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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!
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Competition Time!
Yep! You guessed it - we're running a competition for the best GAC game written
with this covertape. To stop people cheating and sending in games they wrote
three years ago (not that we don't trust you or anything) we've decided to
write a little storyline:-
'You are intrepid editor Rod Lawton, saviour of the innocents and all round Mr.
Nice Guy, who has been magically transported to the Balrogs lair - quite what
will happen next is unknown but you must rescue a damsel in distress, Princess
Cathy, who the Balg has captured for his dinner...'
That's it - all you have to do is use your newfound GAC skills to write an
adventure based around the above storyline. The prize? The winners game will
appear on a covertape, which will probably lead to more fame than Michael
Jackson and oodles of money (err... well probably not but you can dream!)The
closing date is not till 1st November 1992 so you have lots of time to write in
to the GAC clinic with questions as well as reading the programming tutorials.
The only other stipulation is that games must be sent in with a full solution
and map as well as any other items that you think might be helpful (£5 notes
appreciated!) - if you're game has a really clever routine, or a really
hilarious response then tell me when you write in - else I might not see it!
Remember there is no rush to send your game in so wait a while to read the next
few issues tutorial...