Adventure revisited
                               Jim Butterfield

    Adventures are good for you.  The increase literacy and exercise  your
    mind.   They can be fun to create, and fun to solve.  And (don't quote
    me on this) they're fun to cheat on, too -- sneaking  answers  out  of
    the program when you can't figure out what to do next.

    It's  worth  making  comments  on the "sneaking" part.  When I'm asked
    "How do you get past the sanke?" or some other question  spawned  from
    utter  frustration,  I  tend to have a standard reply:  "Ask me again,
    and I'll tell you the answer ...  but first, think an d  be  sure  you
    really  WANT  it."  It's  annoying to be told something that you would
    have thought of yourself...  any moment now.

    Similarly, in anticipation of clever adverturers listing  the  program
    and browsing through my files, I carefully encrypted the command list.
    This  is  particularly  Machiavellian  on  my  part,  I   think.    An
    experienced  programmer  can find out what might happen, but still not
    how to make it happen.

    I'm talking, of  course,  about  the  original  Adventure,  which  was
    written  by  Crowther  and  Woods.  It grew -- in organic manner -- at
    M.I.T., and quickly spread to all Digital Equipment Corporation  (DEC)
    computer  systems,  worldwide.   Many  big computer users d idn't even
    know they had it, but file advent was there, all right.  It took up  a
    huge amount of memory.  The architecture of large systems allowed such
    programs to be restricted to quiet times, so that  the  command  HOURS
    would  list  --  from  the system log -- the non-priority hours during
    which Adventure could be played.

    When micros started to gain attention, Adventure became a common  case
    in point for computer users.  Many users said:  "These small computers
    are all very well, but I can tell you one  problem  which  will  never
    fit..."  --  meaning  the  original  Adventure.  And w hen 8K machines
    expanded to 16K and then 32K, I decided I needed to take a shot at it.
    I  viewed  the game as a "classic";  I didn't want to change it or put
    in my own cute things.  For memory  and  run  time  considerations,  I
    abbreviated a few small parts of th e game.

    Let  me tell you a little about Adventure, if you've never been there.
    You begin by finding yourself at the end of  a  road  before  a  small
    brick  building.   A stream runs out of the building.  From that point
    on, you're on your own -- except for a rumour that somewhere nearby is
    supposed to be a Colossal Cave, filled with fabulous wealth.

    When  you  find  the cave, you're confronted by dozens of events.  The
    cave is populated by dwarves, a troll, a dragon, a giant clam, a  tiny
    bird,  a shadowy figure off in the distance, something that rustles as
    it follows you, a little plant that whispers "w ater," a fierce  green
    snake,  and  a  bear.   Some  of  the  treasures  seem to have special
    problems:  a delicate Ming vase can be picked up, but breaks when it's
    dropped;   a gold nugget makes the exit stairway vanish if you pick it
    up;  and a platinum pyramid is no t only invisible in a dark room, but
    won't  fit  through  the  tiny  exit hole.  But -- as is often said --
    there are no problems, there are only challenges.

    Even in the early days, Adventure inspired a host of emulators.   TPUG
    President  Michael Bonnycastle wrote Caves and Stygian Tombs, so as to
    devise an interesting adventure that would fit within  8K  of  memory.
    As  a  response,  I  wrote  an  "array"  adventure  cal led Explore to
    demonstrate how to fit the maximum  number  of  rooms  within  limited
    memory.

    As  systems  grew  in  memory  size  and  general capability, even the
    classic Adventure was overtaken by successors.  The Zork series allows
    much  more  flexible syntax:  where Adventure permits permits only two
    words, a verb and a noun, Zork will deal with a sent ence  such  as  :
    "Put the cake on the table."

    A  few  words of caution:  it's very easy to make adventure writing an
    ego trip:  putting in clubes that nobody will be able to solve if they
    aren't  "in."  Players  tire  very quickly of a game if they feel that
    it's not a challenge, just an exercise to show ho w clever the  writer
    is.   On  the  other  hand,  an adventure shouldn't be a dull recital.
    Nothing is more booring than proceeding along and  killing  everything
    in  sight.  Maybe your strength will give out, or maybe you'll make it
    through, but there's little exer cise for the mind here.

    I  recall  having  a  discussion  with   an   adventure-writer   about
    non-violent  adventures.  The idea was that you couldn't get killed or
    hurt, and couldn't lose the game.  The thought was laudable,  but  the
    game  was  a  little dull;  if you knew you couldn't fail, yo u didn't
    have the same  motivation.   In  contrast,  a  preschool  game  called
    Thirsty Nellan offers challenge and a good interest level.

    Educators  have told me that adventure games make a major contribution
    to reading skills.  Kids who are almost illiterate will learn to  read
    better  in  order to understand the adventure situations ...  and will
    learn to spell better.

    After all, if you want to take the necklace and  type  TAKE  NECKLISS,
    the computer won't give you the booty.

    (c)  Copyright  1985 Jim Butterfield.  Permission to reprint is hereby
    granted provided this notice is included in the reprinted material.