THE BALROG
This month, along with all your favourite regulars, you have a chance to tell
the Balg what you really think about the column in the Balrog questionnaire as
well as voting for your favourite adventures in the Balrog awards.
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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.
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News
Adventure Probe folds
Due to financial pressures, it has sadly been announced that Adventure
Probe, the longest running adventure fanzine and one of the best, has had to
close. There is a possibility of someone else taking over the editorship but
this is unconfirmed at the moment. The Balrog would like to express his
condolences to the editor Mandy Rodrigues HBalg -
Adventure Probe was one of the Balg's favourite fanzines and it is a great
shame to see it go.
Adventure convention date announced
The third annual adventurers convention (formally the Adventure Probe
convention) will be taking place at the Royal Angus Thistle Hotel in Birmingham
on Saturday, 24 October 1992. More details and tickets (at only £7 each) are
available from Vicky Jackson, 128 Merton Hall Road, Wimbledon, London SW19 3PZ.
See you there!
More Wow!
Wow have released a further two GAC games - Merlin (a two part text
adventure from Michael Hunt) and Beyond the Dark Mirror (a text adventure from
RCD enterprises). Merlin costs £3 on tape and £5 on disc while Beyond the dark
mirror costs £2 on tape and £4 on disc.
New Adventure fanzine preview
Plans are afoot for a new adventure fanzine dedicated to the CPC range of
machines! Called 'The Brass Lamp', the first issue is now available and costs
only £1. Contributors include Debby Howard and Dave Havard and although the
Balg has yet to see the first issue, it sounds quite impressive. The Balg has
also 'persuaded' the editor, Paul Hunniset, to offer the first issue to Balrog
readers at half the normal price (50p for the slower readers out there!) Brass
Lamp is available from Paul at 167 Garden Wood Road, East Grinstead, West
Sussex RH19. Tel: (0342) 322318.
Guild Info
Tony Collins from Guild adventure software has been in touch about Guild's
growing Amstrad adventure collection - they now have 46 games by 21 authors
(including the likes of Ken Bond HBalg, Tony Kingsmill,
Charles Sharpe and Paul Gill) along with six compilations. Tony is at this
moment converting many of the CPM+ games to run on CPM 2.2 and has many
Spectrum conversions planned including Treasure Island, Captain Kook, Corya and
many more. For more details write to Tony at 760 Tyburn Road, Edington,
Birmingham B24 9NX or phone (021) 749 2585. I'll review some of Guild's games
soon but I advise to write off for a catalogue as they have a very impressive
list of software.
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Lords & Ladies of Adventure
Castle Blackstar, Heavy on the Magic, Indus Valley, Never Ending Story &
Orb Quest.
Andy Clayton, 29 Portman Road, Scunthorpe, South Humberside, DN15 8PD. Tel:
(0724) 872135 between 6pm and midnight. (You should have the manual now Andy! -
Balg)
Adult II, Al-Strad, Antidote, Atalan, Bestiary, Big Top, Black Fountain, Black
Knight, Boggit, Bored of the Rings, Boredom, Can I Cheat Death?, Case of the
Mixed-Up Shymer, Castle Adventure, Cave Capers, Caves of the Bew Bews, Conch,
Crispin Crunchy, Dick 'ed, Dungeon, DAA, DAAW!, Detective, Doomlords, Escape
from Planet of Doom, Escape from Prison Planet, Firestone, Flook, Forest at
World's End, Gerbil riot of '67, Ghost House, Grue Knapped, Heroes of Karn,
Helvira, Hobbit, Hounds of Hell, House out of town, Imagination, Jason and the
Argonauts, Jewels of Babylon, Labyrinth, Lighthouse Mystery, Lost Scroll,
Magician's Apprentice, Message from Andromeda, Nite Time, Orb Quest (Pt. 1),
Orifice from outer space, Panic beneath the sea (pt. 1), Power curse (Pt. 1),
Prison Blues, Quest, Quest for the Golden Egg-cup, Robocide, Roog, Rouge
Midget, Scary Tales, Seabase Delta, Souls of Darkon, Spaced Out, Spacy, Star
Wreck, Subsunk, Tealand, Theseus (pt. 1), Thiefs Tale, Tizpan, TRD, Use your
loaf, Videoworld, Welladay, Yarkon Blues & Yawn + Help for Quill
programmers.
Simon Avery, 71 Fore St, Chudleigh, Newton Abbot, South Devon TQ13 OHT.
Hitchhiker's Guide, Leather Goddesses, Lurking Horror & Moonmist.
Ken Dean, 63 Elmhurst Avenue, Oulton Broad, Lowestoft, Suffolk NR32 3AR.
Aftershock, Brawn Free, Cacodemon, Case of the Mixed-Up Shymer, DAA, Espionage
Island, Experience, Fantasia Diamond, Forest at World's End, Frankenstein,
Grange Hill, Haunted House, Heroes of Karn, Imagination, Inca Curse, Kobyashi
Naru, Lancelot, Loosed Orc, Lords of Time, Message from Andromeda, Mindshadow,
Pirates, Planet of Death, Quest for the Golden Egg-cup, Rigel's Revenge,
Seabase Delta, Ship of Doom, Spytrek, Subsunk, Terrormolinos, Three Weeks in Paradise,
Trial of Arnold Blackwood & Warlord.
Debby Howard, 10 Overton Road, Abbey Wood, London SE2 9SD.
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Cluepot
Thanks to Thomas Christie, Alan Hatrick, Bill Jenkins and Edmund Spicer for
this months collection of tips and hints.
Marsport
Regularly save the game.
You must make a map.
Gunpermit at Elis 'G' is the key for the gun locker at Daly 'D' (remember to
load gun at charge unit).
Flour, water and baking tin factor a cake (key to bakery).
Charcoal and gauze factor a gasmask for danger room at Iaxa 'C'. Place mask in
locker inside danger room for further use.
Glass, frame and sunchart factor eyeshield for use in astronomy room on Alba
level.
Earthmap is the key to the soil depot on Gill 'E'.
Ice Pack is key for hothouse on Gill 'C'.
Quad X - II
To get water from well: Insert handle in the hole, turn handle, tie bucket to
rope, turn handle, turn handle, untie bucket.Throw water over snake.
Revenge
Burn the letter in the bucket.
Sorcery +
To kill the Necromancer you need four Golden Hearts. Each must be carried into
the Necromancer's chamber and fired at him. Two of the Golden Hearts are
readily available on the level. The third can be released by unlocking a door
to get a Pilot Light and using that to open a second locked door to Gatwick
Airport where a Strangeloop cassette is to be found. This cassette will free
the first level by carrying over a jewelled crown. This crown will change into
the fourth golden heart on entry into the second level.
Very Big Cave Adventure
To kill the pirate give him the food.
What to do with the utility belt:-
FILE - used to file the chain on the table.
PARQUET - used to kill the triffid
BICARBONATE - used to cure the giant
SLEDGEHAMMER - used to break down the huge door in the "vast passage"
location.
Wolfman
To get out of the house safely you must wash your hands in the water, look at
the mirror, wash your face in the water, examine chest, take off doublet, burn
doublet, examine draw, get tunic and wear it and then leave the room.
David Sizmur has come to the aid to Lee Hatton in Simply Magic - the code for
the silver casket is "SEED". To get the parchment you'll need to put
the block of ice on the button to keep it pressed.
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Help!
Stuck in an adventure? Or desperately trying to find one - the helpline it the
place for you! Just send a postcard to Balrog's Helpline at the usual Balrog
address.
Mr D. J. Gahan would like any tips for Tir Na Nog.
Nick Carter from Portsmouth is having problems in the Fourth Protocol - he
can't seem to access the files at Blenheim so he keeps getting sent to the
Falkland Islands.
Andrew Pond from Croyden is stuck in Venom and Shard of Inovar - In Venom he
doesn't know how to get past the watchers and in Shard of Inovar he doesn't
know how to get the amulet of fire - can anyone help?
--
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. So, on with the
questions!
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GAC entry format
/* Rod,
Take this section out if you are stuck for space.
Stuart
*/
Many 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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Balrog Awards/Questionnaire
*/ Rod,
Some sort of questionnaire form would be great here - this is both for feedback
from readers about what they want in the column as well as allowing them to
vote for their favourite games...
/*
This month the Balrog embarks on a quest for reader opinion - in other words to
find out what you really want out of the Balrog column. You also get the chance
to vote in the Balrog awards by filling out the bottom of the form! So if you
have some comments about how the Balrog column can be improved, or if you want
to vote for your top five all time favourite adventures then here's your
chance! The first couple of readers out of the hat will receive an adventure
from the Balg's extensive software collection. You can stay anonymous if you
want but you won't be entered into the draw. Why not also send in some
contributions along with the form?
Balrog questionnaire
Name:
Address:
Sex:
Tape/disc:
Computer:
Age:
Please rate the following out of 10:
Comments
The Balrog column
Cluepot
Letters
Lords & Ladies
Balrog reviews
Hobbit reviews
Orc reviews
GAC clinic and tutorial
Suggestions and remarks:
Balrog awards
All time top five adventure games:
1
2
3
4
5
Best text adventure of the year:
Best graphic adventure of the year:
Best PD adventure:
Best software house:
Best PD Library:
Adventure personality of the year:
Most promising author: