News

22-06-2018 (Gunness)

A warm welcome to Strident/Gareth Pitchford who joined the editorial team recently. He's very well versed in all things Amstrad and also has a humongous knowledge of the homegrown scene; we mentioned his book, Twilight Inventory, a while ago.
Apart from updating a huge number of games already, he also made a mini-interview with Jim MacBrayne, who wrote a number of ambitious adventure games for the Amiga.

Contributors: Alastair, GusBrasil, Gunness, Strident, dakidski, stevenjameshodgson, Alex, thomasboevith

• New Solutions: Syzygy, Toxic Dumpsite
• New Hints: Mansion Quest, Murder Hunt II
• Updated Hints: New Arrival
• Updated Maps: Catacombs, Tale of Spider Mountain, A
• Updated Solutions: Tale of Spider Mountain, A
• New Games: Adventure of the Rosetta Stone, The, Angelicus Answer, The, Angelicus Saga, The, Beyond the Dark Mirror, Brainchild, Brawn Free, Catacombs, Cornucopia, Dave Dangerous, Evilution, Excuse Me - Do You Have the Time?, Eyes of Medusa, The, Fortress of Almuth, The, Fortune En Mer Du Nord, Hero Select, House Sitter, Ichor, Juleadventurespil, Justice, Knights Abode, Last Dinosaur, The, Magic Shop, The, Menage, The, Oklib's Revenge, Power Curse, Project Annihilation, Sceptre of Hamloth, The, Search for the Lost Orb, Sir Ramic Hobbs and the High Level Gorilla, Smuggler's Haunt, Starprobe, Starship to Hell, Stryptische, Supastore, Tamoret, Tanland Adventures, The, Tealand, Travel, Trouble in Store, TrueFaith, Tube, The, Videoworld, Weird Tales, What the Dickens, WizardsTower, WYSYWYG

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22-05-2018 (Gunness)

This time around I'm pleased to give you an interview with Mike McKeown, co-author of Tower of Despair and its sequel, The Key of Hope, two fantasy games from Games Workshop. I had been on the lookout for the latter game for years, so I was pleased to finally locate someone who could clear up the fate of said game. As it happened Mike turned out to be a pleasant fellow with a lot of interesting tales to tell, so I hope you'll enjoy the interview.
I'd also like to mention the unofficial (but original author endorsed) sequel to The Big Sleaze, Mark Hardisty's follow-up to Fergus McNeill's 1987 crime thriller. Speaking of Mr. McNeill. I was in touch with him recently and he was kind enough to help me update the info on several of his more elusive titles, such as The Malinsay Massacre and Goodnight Cruel World. It's really nice to be able to close some of these cases.

Contributors: stevenjameshodgson, jgerrie, fuzzel, impomatic, Alex, Dorothy, terri, Gunness, devwebcl, iamaran, Strident

• New Solutions: Input Adventure, Sphinx d'Or, Le, Stranded on Iloofrax
• New Maps: Input Adventure, Ocean Dancer, Puff
• New Hints: Input Adventure, Puff
• Updated Hints: Indiana Jones and the Blue Diamond
• Updated Solutions: Majik, Microfair Madness, Microfair Madness
• New Reviews: Puff
• New Games: Big Sleaze 2.5, The, Casebook of Hemlock Soames 2, The, Casebook of Hemlock Soames 3, The, Champion of Destiny, Christminster, Doomsday Lost Echoes, Fugitive's Quest, Occult Connection, The, Smirking Horror, The, SpamCo Adventure, Sphinx d'Or, Le, Star Voyage 3 & 4, Xplosive - Seek and Destroy

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25-04-2018 (Gunness)

While I'm working on a new interview, with more to follow, here's the latest round-up. Oh, and a look at the lost Speccy game Crimble - if only because I just updated it and it looked positively odd!
Contributors: iamaran, impomatic, Dorothy, terri, fuzzel, rockersuke, Alastair, farique, Alex, Garry, Richard Bos, zenobifan, Vaxalon, Amby, QN, sky-non, Gunness, ahope1

• New Solutions: Bull Dog Runner, The, Castle of Doom, Jack the Ripper, Key to Paradox, The, Kingdom of Hamil, Kingdom of Klein, The, Labours of Hercules, The, Life-Term, Little Adventure, London Adventure, Lost City, Orb, The, Oxbridge, Please Find My Young 'Uns, This Place Is Death, Twin Kingdom Valley, Yukon
• New Maps: Amulet, The, Bull Dog Runner, The, Castle of Doom, This Place Is Death
• New Fixed games: Syzygy
• Updated Hints: Immortal Strain, The, White Cliffs of Dover, The
• Updated Maps: Adventure in Mythology, Banshee Castle, Black Pearl, The, Bob Esponja -La Aventura-, For a Change, Immortal Strain, The, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Message From Deep Space, A, One Dark Night, One Dark Night, Out of the Study, Rebel Force, Toverslot, White Cliffs of Dover, The, Zwaard van de Koning, Het
• New Games: Agrophobia, Alice In Wunderlab, Bomb Squad, Castle of Doom, Castle of Doom, Lost Treasure of the Aztec, Maze of Madness, Murdlok, Nomad of Time, The, Pit of Reshus, The, Sacrifice to the Spider Queen, Santa and the Goblins, This Place Is Death, Tombs of Arkenstone, The, Visitor, The

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12-03-2018 (Gunness)

On the surface this might be one of our smaller updates, but behind the scenes there's been a lot going on. Some of you might have come across images that looked distorted. I thought only a few were affected, but as it turned out, there were hundreds of'em that needed updating. While we were at it, we also fixed a few hundred file names and replaced some of the less stellar images. It's an ongoing process, but we're slowly improving. A huge thanks to Alastair for assisting.

Unsurprisingly the database isn't growing as fast any longer when it comes to "new" games, but people are hard at work with updating the descriptions and credits. A particular nod to Sudders in that respect. Personally I've been plowing through old magazines to find more data on various lost games. I doubt we'll ever get to a 100% correct or complete database, but it's certainly a fascinating goal to work towards.

Contributors: auraes, Garry, leenew, Dorothy, Geoff, fuzzel, iamaran, terri, FredrikR, impomatic, Alex, Sylvester, Alastair, Porkbelly, Gunness, Richard Bos, DannieGeeko, Vicko Vitasovic, Juan, dave, Sudders, Strident

• New Solutions: Adult Adventure, An, Computorama, Deadly Mission, The, Dreamtime, Engine Failure, Gamma World, Gompie, Heer van de Duisternis, Imperial Castle, Into the Mystic, It's Magic, Jack and the Beanstalk, Jingle Bells, Jungle Adventure, Kaa's Kingdom, Labour Pains, Lost Slipper, The, Mad Painter, The, Mini-flykten, Monster's Final Hour, Pirate's Peril, Revenge of the Toothless Vampire, Taroda Scheme, The, Test of the Turnip, Where is Father Christmas?, Witch Hunt, Wizard's Challenge
• New Maps: Adult Adventure, An, Claws of Despair, The, Cutthroats, Deadly Mission, The, Enchanter, Engine Failure, Harvesting Moon, A, Jack and the Beanstalk, Jingle Bells, Jungle Adventure, Lost Slipper, The, Monster's Final Hour, Revenge of the Toothless Vampire, Vampire Castle, Witch Hunt
• New Fixed games: Engine Failure
• New Reviews: Adventure Guide
• New Games: Adventure in the Magic Land, Casablanca ni Ai o: Satsujinsha wa Jiku o Koete, Castle Tollenkar, Castles & Caves, Castles of Darkness, Chaos Maze, The, Death Star, Deathship, Escape from Alcatraz, Escape From Cannibal Island, The, Journey, Marooned, Matilda's Dilemma, Moon-Adventure, Mystery of Captain Kidd, The, Nessy, Nightmare, Skullduggery - Adventures in Horror, Squirrel Tree, Travelling, Where is Father Christmas?, Witch Hunt, Zero: The 4th Unit Act 4

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03-01-2018 (Gunness)

For any number of reasons, the final update of 2017 instead became the first update of 2018. But I would be remiss if I didn't thank all of you users and my co-editors for keeping us running. There have been a lot of material added throughout the year, and it wouldn't have happened without so many people lending a hand. So happy New Year, one and all!

In the great world of the Internet, various things are cooking as well. I've always been a fan of Jim Henson's 1982 fantasy film The Dark Crystal, which led to a text adventure by Sierra. Now the game has been made available to play in a browser. Neat.

Gareth Pitchford, who is an adventure author in his own right, has written Twilight Inventory, a book on the "forgotten text adventure games from the 1990s". Gareth reviews a mouthwatering number of homegrown titles from the likes of Zenobi, The Guild and Tartan, and there's plenty to dig into. Of course you're welcome to think "Forgotten! Bah! Not at all", but please keep in mind that the world as such don't necessarily share our educated view on classic text games! The book is available in print form or, for the time being, a free pdf version - however, you're encouraged to donate a bit of money and I think you'll find it money well spent.

Finally, a nod to Stuart Williams' new blog, Eight Bit Adventurer which started recently but sounds very promising indeed.

All in all, it seems like the text adventure community is thriving. Let's make 2018 a good year for the genre.

Contributors: Alex, impomatic, Gunness, Alastair, Dorothy, iamaran

• New Solutions: Kobold, The
• New Maps: I Will Survive!, Kobold, The, Manoir Du Dr.Genius, Le
• Updated Maps: Larkspur Waldorf Is Trapped, Quest of Kron, The
• Updated Solutions: Adventure 100, Larkspur Waldorf Is Trapped, Time Lords Amulet, The
• New Games: Alcatraz, Berg, Demonen, Dwell, Gamling På Äventyr. En, Grottor, Härskarringen, Haunted House, Input Adventure, Mini-flykten, Spökhuset