=============================================================================== 2014-03-04 Hello, This is a very long shot. :) I recently saw your post on the Delphi forums from 1999 — fifteen years ago! — in which you remembered playing David Long's 751-point version of Colossal Cave Adventure. http://m.delphiforums.com/xyzzy/messages/78/1 I'm also very interested in that 751-point version, and I'm wondering whether you ever found a copy of it, or anything related to it, such as data files, help text, etc. I have put a version of David Long's Adventure up on the web at http://quuxplusone.github.io/Advent/play-551.html (requires Javascript) in which you might be interested. It's basically the first 551 points' worth of the version you remembered, but it predates the author's addition of the Castle, mines, etc. I suspect that this version's "Castle of the Elves" in the middle of the bay wasn't in the version you remember, either; I'd love to hear that theory confirmed or denied. I've never played the 751-point version but I'd really love to find a copy. Where did you encounter it originally, if you can remember? Thanks very much in advance, –Arthur =============================================================================== 2014-03-04 Hello Arthur, Boy, is this a surprise! Thanks for the email. I first saw David Long's 751-point version on CompuServe back in 1982. I didn't play it that much because I was too busy trying to get through the 350-point version first. I fell in love with the game and began trying to program it onto an Apple IIe in BASIC, then an Apple IIc which my father purchased around 1985 or 86. I was able to print out several rooms of the 751-point version until 1988 when my parents were on vacation and I played the game at 1200 baud for 8 hours or more, racking up about $220 in charges to my dad's account and he kicked me off. It wasn't until 1993 that he let me back on and I found more rooms (dry spillway, Hall of Ice, Blue Grotto, the rose stuck in the thorns, the natural bridge...but I never found the Elephant's Burial Ground). I learned some machine language and started programming a smoother version onto 5¼" floppy for the Apple IIc, but in the mid-90s along came Microsoft computers with QBASIC and hard drives and I was able to make a workable version of ADV350 in about 11 days aboard the USS Essex around 1995. I also made a QBASIC version of ADV751 but it only has the rooms I have found and I don't think I have score much above 200 on the game. I've seen some websites where you can play 350, one even requires HotJava Browser, and I saw a walkthrough of 751 once but I barely read it because I don't want to spoil the game. (I think there's a way to kill the rat.) I got stuck on 350 and had to use a walkthrough to learn some things but the most I ever got on that one was 345. Thanks for the link, and I am looking forward to playing your 551 version. Carl Ruby =============================================================================== 2014-03-04 Hi Carl, You're a programmer too, eh? :) Do you still have that (homemade, incomplete) QBASIC port of ADV751?! I know it wouldn't be the original, but it'd be the closest thing I've seen so far to the original datafiles. If nothing else, if it contains some of the original room descriptions, it would provide fodder to feed to a search engine periodically in case someone else does upload the original. Right now all I know about ADV751 is what I've read in the help text for Long's ADV501: > To whet curious appetites, > major version 6 is projected to appear sometime around the summer > of 1979. It will contain a whole new wing to the cave (natch!) > plus a much enlarged surface area, including the Great Serbonian > Bog, the Castle of Aldor and the terrifying Passage of Fire. > Stay tuned! FYI, the version of ADV551 I ported to the web contains a dry spillway, a Hall of Ice, and a Blue Grotto; but it does NOT contain a "rose stuck in the thorns", nor a rat, nor an Elephant's Burial Ground. (And just to clarify, nothing in it is original to me; it's a faithful port of Doug McDonald's ADV551 from 1990, which was a descendant of David Long's 1979 ADV501 and thus a cousin of David Long's elusive ADV751.) I don't think I've ever seen a walkthrough for ADV751, but I don't think I've looked hard. Question: Do you remember whether or not CompuServe's 751-point Adventure contained the "elven castle" puzzles from my ADV551? You can see the castle in the middle of the bay by going W-W-W-S from the starting location, but to actually travel to the castle requires that you visit the Star Chamber first. I suspect that these puzzles were added to ADV551 after it had already forked from David Long's version (the version which went on to become ADV751), but I don't know for sure. Thanks one more time, Arthur =============================================================================== 2014-03-05 Arthur, Yes, I still have the QBASIC version of both games, on 3½" floppy disks (old school) and I might have a copy on Zip drive. You might still be able to download QBASIC from the web, or I could send the source files so you can play the game. ADV751 also features a helicopter in a clearing that takes you to two other destinations (a mine on a mountain, and a castle (but I'm not sure if it is the same castle you mentioned; although you can see the stone turrets of the castle from part of the forest). The "Elephant's Burial Ground" is mentioned in the leaflet "A History of Adventure" which can be found in the game, but I never knew you could get to the castle from the Star Chamber. I'll check my disks and upload the stuff when I find it. Carl =============================================================================== 2014-03-05 On Wed, Mar 5, 2014 at 12:05 PM, carl ruby wrote: > > Yes, I still have the QBASIC version of both games, on 3½" floppy disks (old > school) and I might have a copy on Zip drive. You might still be able to > download QBASIC from the web, or I could send the source files so you can > play the game. Source files, please. I'm confident I can find a QBASIC (or suitable equivalent) interpreter on my own, and besides, I'm much more interested in the data (room descriptions, items, and so on) than in playing it to begin with. > ADV751 also features a helicopter in a clearing that takes you to two other > destinations (a mine on a mountain, and a castle (but I'm not sure if it is > the same castle you mentioned; although you can see the stone turrets of the > castle from part of the forest). The "Elephant's Burial Ground" is mentioned > in the leaflet "A History of Adventure" which can be found in the game, but > I never knew you could get to the castle from the Star Chamber. I believe it is a different castle entirely. I've just been in contact with Doug McDonald — when it rains, it pours! — and he told me that the Castle of the Elves in his [McDonald's] version was his own invention and therefore doesn't correspond to anything in David Long's versions. I'll find this out from your QBASIC version, I guess, but I'm particularly interested to know what treasure was found in the Star Chamber in the 751-point version. In Doug McDonald's version, it's a star sapphire, and it is involved in the discovery of the magic word that takes you to the Castle of the Elves. You shouldn't feel ignorant for not knowing that puzzle, because my current working hypothesis is that it *didn't exist* in Long's 751-point version. > I'll check my disks and upload the stuff when I find it. I can't wait! :) Thanks a million. =============================================================================== 2014-03-07 Ok, here goes nothing... texts.txt contains a listing of various messages you see in the game depending on your actions. NOTE: Messages and room descriptions are separated by "//" throughout, for easy readability (also because it told the BASIC program that it was the end of the file.) history.txt contains "A History Of Adventure" which can be found in the safe. rooms.txt is a listing of long-form descriptions of the rooms I have found. (NOTE: I tried to upload the BASIC program but hotmail will not allow it; it also includes short-descriptions of rooms. If I can find a way to upload it I will.) 1timers.txt lists messages that to the best of my knowledge are only sent once during a game (i.e. "the bear eagerly wolfs down your food...."; "A glistening pearl falls out of the clam and rolls away...."; "A little dwarf just walked around a corner...." etc.) Hope the files come through and that they are useful. Carl =============================================================================== ... =============================================================================== 2014-03-18 Arthur, I ran the BASIC program on my computer but discovered a few bugs which I am going to fix. I know you're not really interested in playing the game, I just don't want to send a program with bugs. > - rooms.txt (room descriptions, plus some placeholders for ones you > hadn't discovered yet — incidentally I'm curious how you decided that > a room existed, if you hadn't seen it yet?) For some areas of the cave (i.e. beyond the bramble obstacle) I just assumed there were more rooms off of that. Plus in the Blue Grotto I hadn't found a way to propel the boat, but later on found a C++ source code online that gave it away so I assumed there must be something on the other side of the water, and also other rooms past the River entrance which is blocked by the dog. I hope to have the program ready to send soon. =============================================================================== ... ===============================================================================