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Spectrum Conversion

Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2011 11:34 am
by catventure
Hi,

As a challenge to myself, I recently completed a conversion of a newly released Sinclair Spectrum 128k text adventure game written with the "Professional Adventure Writer". (PAW)

Titled: "THE WICKER WOMAN" it is written by Kevin McGrorty (c) 2011 and with his permission I have rewritten it using the UNPAW'ed files and my TAB adventure creator as a standalone game for the PC. (No emulator required)

The game is a fanfiction homage/sequel to the 1973 cult film "The Wicker Man" starring Edward Woodward. Difficulty level: moderate.

At the moment is just a basic straightforward conversion which has taken me roughly a fortnight (on and off) to complete.
Possibly the game may be expanded and sfx and gfx added.

If anybody interested would like to check it out and try out on PC then just PM me for the download link.

Cheers,
catventure.

Re: Spectrum Conversion

Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2011 7:13 am
by Mr Creosote
It"s a pity your system is MS only, because I'd definitely like to play that game. Does it have cheesy songs as well? ;) Could you, by any chance, point me to the original Spectrum version?

Re: Spectrum Conversion

Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2011 10:49 am
by catventure
Mr Creosote wrote:It"s a pity your system is MS only, because I'd definitely like to play that game. Does it have cheesy songs as well? ;) Could you, by any chance, point me to the original Spectrum version?
Hi Mr Creosote,

For now I just added a suitably atmospheric background music (pagan-type vocal)

The original Spectrum version is posted here:

http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseek ... id=0026599

You can download it or play it online in the emulator (128k button)

Regards,
catventure.

Re: Spectrum Conversion

Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2011 5:02 pm
by Mr Creosote
Great, thanks! I'll go looking for the landlord's daughter immediately ;)

Re: Spectrum Conversion

Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2011 4:01 pm
by Mr Creosote
I finished the game (solution to be added to CASA soon). It was very nice, but also quite buggy. Would it help your port if I posted a list of problems which struck me in the original? Some were quite substantial.

Re: Spectrum Conversion

Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2011 4:24 pm
by catventure
Mr Creosote wrote:I finished the game (solution to be added to CASA soon). It was very nice, but also quite buggy. Would it help your port if I posted a list of problems which struck me in the original? Some were quite substantial.
That was fast. Well done.
It is a standard basic game and I am in contact with the author in case he wants to add, expand, make more user friendly, use sfx or gfx etc... I believe the game would benefit from more responses to various inputs (necessary and unnecessary) and all this can be done with TAB to make it a more friendlier and enjoyable game even though in essence it is not too hard to solve.

I think I encountered the various bugs while playing, and also I notified the author, but they still remain in the WOS version so far... I also believe I fixed all of them in my rewrite - BUT yes it would be great if you could PM me the things you found - just in case I *have* missed anything!

Thanks for your interest.
catventure.

PS. Looking forward to "The Wicker Tree" movie release (sequel to original) any time now!
Preview at http://thewickertreemovie.com/

Re: Spectrum Conversion

Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2011 6:46 pm
by catventure
It would be great if you could PM me the things you found - just in case I *have* missed anything!
Hi Mr Creosote,
Thank you so much for your findings on the game.
I am happy (and relieved!) to report that all the issues and anomalies you raised that were spoiling the game had been found and corrected in the PC rewrite/conversion already. :)

Regards,
catventure.

Re: Spectrum Conversion

Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2011 6:49 pm
by Mr Creosote
That's good to hear! I agree by the way that the game would benefit greatly from having more things implemented on the side. The world could be much more alive.

Re: Spectrum Conversion

Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2011 4:06 pm
by catventure
Hi Mr Creosote,

From your solution:
Both the library and the doctor are unused in this solution. There should be a way to help the librarian with her sore throat with the help of the doctor. How?
You can climb down the well, but what to do there?
If you give the book to the librarian you get to do a favour for Holly the librarian that involves the chemist/doctor/well.

Regards,
catventure.

Re: Spectrum Conversion

Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2011 6:35 pm
by Mr Creosote
Thanks! This does not seem to go anywhere, either, though, because what to do with the key? I updated the solution file nevertheless, of course.

Re: Spectrum Conversion

Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2011 6:54 pm
by catventure
Mr Creosote wrote:Thanks! This does not seem to go anywhere, either, though, because what to do with the key? I updated the solution file nevertheless, of course.
The key is meant to open/unlock the door exit in the "Green Man" so you can visit the rooms upstairs...
I think there was plainly a bug there though as I believe you may be able to get to those rooms without the key!

It is one of the anomalies fixed in my PC rewrite.

Cheers,
catventure.

Re: Spectrum Conversion

Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2011 7:09 am
by Mr Creosote
OPEN DOOR without the key does the trick. Also, later on, once Willow is upstairs, the door stands open anyway. Oh wel, I will put it down to the list of bugs...