tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7274560874062585311.post7897781598210690973..comments2024-03-28T06:43:37.598-07:00Comments on Gaming After 40: Anyone able to help solve a few mysteries?StillGaminghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18366215127642090500noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7274560874062585311.post-88069164667872124932022-02-02T14:21:23.170-08:002022-02-02T14:21:23.170-08:00Madness and the Minotaur was written by Tom Rosenb...<i>Madness and the Minotaur</i> was written by Tom Rosenbaum, the founder of Spectral Associates. He then wrote other uncredited games including <i>Color Space Invaders</i>, <i>Color Meteoroids</i> (a.k.a. <i>Microbes</i>), and <i>Ghost Gobbler</i>. These four titles formed the core of Spectral's catalog during their first year.<br /><br />Rosenbaum then recruited and trained freelancers, including myself, to write games on a royalty basis. Among the first to join was John Gabbard.<br /><br />John wrote:<br />"I met Tom as Spectral Associates was just forming, right around 1981. I had just re-enlisted in the army and used part of my bonus to purchase a color computer. I ran across Tom while in the local Radio Shack Computer center looking for games. We started talking and Tom saw how excited I was about the Coco and offered to teach me how to write games in assembly language. The first program I wrote for Spectral was <i>Keys of the Wizard</i>. I use the term “wrote” very loosely, because the underlying code was from <i>Madness and the Minotaur</i> and most of the “writing” I did was in the form of map changes, dictionary changes and room descriptions changes. There were a few code changes and additions that changed the way battling creatures worked, and that gave a few of the creatures the ability to “catch your scent” and follow you, but it was mostly <i>Madness</i> code."Rick LaMonthttp://www.dotcsw.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7274560874062585311.post-36258241867518629822015-01-27T10:12:51.316-08:002015-01-27T10:12:51.316-08:00Back in 1980 or early 1981, I submitted my 7th TRS...Back in 1980 or early 1981, I submitted my 7th TRS-80 Adventure game, "The Vial of Doom", to the Programmer's Guild for possible publication. I was told that I missed the deadline for the publication of "the book" by two days (!). In retrospect, I think the book he was talking about was the one you're discussing (Captain 80 book of BASIC Adventures).<br /><br />Just think -- if I'd been two days quicker, fame and fortune might have thrown themselves at my feet! C'est la vie.Roger M. Wilcoxhttp://www.rogermwilcox.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7274560874062585311.post-34346361747368773772015-01-26T19:25:28.497-08:002015-01-26T19:25:28.497-08:00Ah! You're absolutely right, there it is in C...Ah! You're absolutely right, there it is in Chapter 18! I had completely forgotten that. The first printing of the Captain 80 book was in November 1981, though, so it would postdate the BYTE printing of Pirate Adventure. This might account for some of the confusion though. StillGaminghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18366215127642090500noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7274560874062585311.post-42380801459060220962015-01-26T08:46:18.124-08:002015-01-26T08:46:18.124-08:00The database for "Adventureland", togeth...The database for "Adventureland", together with the adventure engine, was published as a Basic listing in the "Captain 80 book of Basic adventures".Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7274560874062585311.post-82963022430936957682015-01-22T21:23:40.129-08:002015-01-22T21:23:40.129-08:00I suspect this information has just gotten confuse...<i> I suspect this information has just gotten confused and propagated, and that the December 1980 article is the only one that was actually published and everyone's just assumed that the featured game was Adams' first effort, Adventureland. I've had the same "fact" in my head based on secondhand sources, but in trying to locate the primary source I'm coming up empty.</i><br /><br />I had the same fact in my head, but when I went over to Mobygames to see if I'd enshrined falsehood, I found that the note I made about the inspirational source code publication did in fact pertain to Pirate Adventure. So either I had a more accurate source than you or you and I came to the same conclusion.<br /><br />Good luck with Madness and the Minotaur! It was my first home text parser experience, and it's remarkable to find that it continues to befuddle haunted minds now much as it did back in the day.Rowan Lipkovitshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08691096685515251681noreply@blogger.com