Infocom but easier

Discuss text adventures here! The classics like those from Infocom, Magnetic Scrolls, Adventure International and Level 9 and the ones we're making today.

Moderators: AArdvark, Ice Cream Jonsey

User avatar
Ice Cream Jonsey
Posts: 28842
Joined: Sat Apr 27, 2002 2:44 pm
Location: Colorado
Contact:

Infocom but easier

Post by Ice Cream Jonsey »

This is a repo of Planetfall with some improvements: https://github.com/Kweepa/planetfall-gold

You can download the .z5 file from there, but if you don't have a Github account and want it, let me know.
the dark and gritty...Ice Cream Jonsey!

User avatar
pinback
Posts: 17672
Joined: Sat Apr 27, 2002 3:00 pm
Contact:

Re: Infocom but easier

Post by pinback »

Intriguing! Planetfall was (and still is) the only Infocom game I completed. Can it be the only Infocom game I complete... twice?
I don't have to say anything. I'm a doctor, too.

User avatar
Ice Cream Jonsey
Posts: 28842
Joined: Sat Apr 27, 2002 2:44 pm
Location: Colorado
Contact:

Re: Infocom but easier

Post by Ice Cream Jonsey »

https://www.joltcountry.com/downloads/p ... ll-gold.z5 if you just want to download the story file.
the dark and gritty...Ice Cream Jonsey!

Roody_Yogurt
Posts: 2175
Joined: Mon Apr 29, 2002 6:23 pm
Location: Milwaukee

Re: Infocom but easier

Post by Roody_Yogurt »

I actually don't have any hard feelings towards the Planetfall hunger daemon. Sure, it bites you on the ass a few times, but it does a good job of keeping you confined to the initial area until you discover faster ways to move around (and don't spend too much time exploring later-game things). By the end of the game, you sort of laugh at the hunger daemon alerts, because you remember how they used to terrorize you so... BUT NO MORE.

On the other hand, I'm still angry from all of the times I demagnetized the key card by holding it and the magnet at the same time and had to start all over again.

Still, this project is kind of cool. I first played a non-Gold version of Planetfall, and when I eventually played the Gold version (which was supposed to be the last and best), I ran into a game-ruining bug that hadn't been in the previous version, so it's nice that they're fixing that.

I've actually been loading up an old laptop with IF and graphic adventures for a nephew that I think is old and open-minded enough to get into them, so thanks, I'll swap in this version.

User avatar
Amiga Man
Posts: 34
Joined: Mon Sep 04, 2006 11:52 am

Re: Infocom but easier

Post by Amiga Man »

They were Good on the Amiga one or two of them absolute classics.

Zork III and Bureaucracy I remember a great deal.

User avatar
Tdarcos
Posts: 9329
Joined: Fri May 16, 2008 9:25 am
Location: Arlington, Virginia
Contact:

Re: Infocom but easier

Post by Tdarcos »

Ice Cream Jonsey wrote: Sun Apr 24, 2022 2:11 pm This is a repo of Planetfall with some improvements: https://github.com/Kweepa/planetfall-gold

You can download the .z5 file from there, but if you don't have a Github account and want it, let me know.
I just opened that link in a private window, and it opens fine. I was not logged in, and I was still able to request a download of a zip file of the repository. So you don't even need an account to download it.
Evil cannot create anything new
They can only corrupt and ruin
What good forces have invented or made.
- J.R.R. Tolkien

User avatar
pinback
Posts: 17672
Joined: Sat Apr 27, 2002 3:00 pm
Contact:

Re: Infocom but easier

Post by pinback »

Flack has been asking for your email address for two weeks.
I don't have to say anything. I'm a doctor, too.

Roody_Yogurt
Posts: 2175
Joined: Mon Apr 29, 2002 6:23 pm
Location: Milwaukee

Re: Infocom but easier

Post by Roody_Yogurt »

Roody_Yogurt wrote: Tue Apr 26, 2022 5:32 pm I've actually been loading up an old laptop with IF and graphic adventures for a nephew that I think is old and open-minded enough to get into them, so thanks, I'll swap in this version.
So, the laptop is a COMPAQ Evo N610c, which, according to wikipedia, came out in 2003 or something. I originally had Puppy Arcade on it, but the distribution was so old that the update servers it tried to connect to no longer existed and all I could really get running on it was DOSBox, as far as IF interpreters go. Finding a distribution that works fine on old hardware is often hit-or-miss as loaders often don't work with old BIOS's. I tried Batocera since I recently heard about that one, but it didn't work for me. I did not give Lakka a try because I thought its menus look more confusing than anything else.

What did work was Q4OS, which uses Synaptic Software Manager so installing and updating things is easy, familiar, and nice.

The distribution does have its quirks, though. It doesn't come with a GUI file decompression program so one has to do it all in a terminal (or download one, I guess, but I was too lazy). I ended up just decompressing everything I needed on another computer before I transferred it over. Also, the file manager is Konquerer, a web browser, so sometimes when you click on certain file types, instead of opening them in whatever program you have associated with the file type, it just is displayed in the file window since Konquerer thinks, I'M A BROWSER I CAN HANDLE THIS. I ended up making a bunch of shortcuts to certain files just to force the system to use the programs I wanted.

So, of course, I would not recommend this to anyone to use as their main operating system, but if anyone finds themselves trying to give some new life to a 20 year old computer, hey, it's not bad!

Image

User avatar
Ice Cream Jonsey
Posts: 28842
Joined: Sat Apr 27, 2002 2:44 pm
Location: Colorado
Contact:

Re: Infocom but easier

Post by Ice Cream Jonsey »

Bumping this, as I am going to solve Planetfall, the "easy" version before the end of the year.
the dark and gritty...Ice Cream Jonsey!

User avatar
Ice Cream Jonsey
Posts: 28842
Joined: Sat Apr 27, 2002 2:44 pm
Location: Colorado
Contact:

Re: Infocom but easier

Post by Ice Cream Jonsey »

I grabbed a pirate version of Planetfall and the gold .z5 file. I renamed it to be a .dat file. The pirate .COM loader complained about a missing jmp instruction and wouldn't run.

So I downloaded DOS Frotz from the archive.

For the PCjr.

It's all working!
the dark and gritty...Ice Cream Jonsey!

Post Reply