Hamil
Acornsoft 
, Topologika 1982
- Aka:
- Kingdom of Hamil
- Language:
- English
- Authors:
- Jonathan R. Partington
- Systems:
- Inform, T/SAL
- Platforms:
- Amstrad CPC , Amstrad PCW , Archimedes , BBC/Electron , Mainframe , PC , Spectrum, Z-Machine
- Genres:
- Fantasy, misc.
- Entered by:
- dave, Garry, Gunness, iamaran, Starscream
- Added:
- 10-05-2010
- Edited:
- 03-04-2021
Synopsis
Plot
All your life you'd known there was something special about you, that you were extra-ordinary in some way. When you were young you'd chanced to hear unbelievable rumours, and, sometimes, sininster strangers seemed to be watching you. Finally, you found out just what was special about you: you were the rightful heir to the throne of the Kingdom of Hamil. But by then it was too late. You'd been kidnapped...Years passed, and the rescue you dreamed of failed to materialise. Finally, older and stronger, you escaped and, riding a mighty black stallion, set out to reclaim your throne, travelling for many a day and night, through swamps, jungles and icy wastes across deserts, knowing that for every step forward you took, your enemies would take two...
But luck was with you and, after many days in the saddle, you reached the neighborhood of your Kingdom, Hamil, and took shelter in a primitive chapel, desparately needing a good night's sleep before the next bizarre stage of your journey...
"Perhaps I was fated to come to this particular place", you told the damp walls of the chapel, as sleep, like a black tide, began to sweep over you, and you dreamed again of the legends that said that one day you would return to Hamil to claim your rightful inheritance...
Hamil - A land of sorcery and romance; of strange but loyal beings; of immense fountains; of castles, and a museum filled with bizarre antiquities which only a king could put to use. A land where the powers of darkness always threaten; of ancient and unusual mazes, constructed by powerful wizards in bygone days, waiting to ensnare even the most ingenious explorer. A land of mysterious beasts eager to exterminate you if you stay in the same place too long. Where a mighty vampire haunts underground caves. Where creatures wait, in deep and dismal pits, ready to grab the unwary passer-by. Where ancient spirits in huge rolling cornfields serve long-forgotten deities. Where something is spoken about only in hushed tones, something known only as the 'snark'...
Notes
Originally developed on the "Phoenix" IBM mainframe computer at Cambridge University, England in 1982. Renamed "Kingdom of Hamil" and ported to 8-bit platforms by Acornsoft and Topologika using the game assembler of Jonathan G Thackray and David J Seal. The Acornsoft release was 1983, and others were in the late 1980s - Topologika's release for the Amstrad PCW was in 1987, for example.Apparently at least some of the 8-bit incarnations have been cut down in comparison with the mainframe original.
Ported to Inform using a Perl script written by Graham A Nelson in 1999. Adam J Atkinson assisted with testing and tidying up damage to the original source code. David Kinder updated the Perl script in 2011.
Resources (Upload file)
- Solution
- by terri
- Solution
- by Richard Bos
- Map (BBC/Electron)
- by ?
- Map
- by Canalboy
- Map
- by Canalboy (Trizbort)
- Map
- by Canalboy (Trizbort - new map)
- Hints
- by Gunness
- Review
- by Canalboy
- Further Info:
- Search at Complete BBC Games Archive
- Search at CPC-Power
- Search at IFDB
- Search at Museum of Computer Adventure Game History
- Search at Spectrum Computing
- Search at The Tipshop
- Search at World of Spectrum
[+] Users who have solved this game
[+] Users currently playing this game
To answer a question someone raised about why the slab above the crypt has "O'Gram" written upon it; this is one of Dr. Partington's puns.
Put "crypt" and o'gram" together and you have "cryptogram" which is a puzzle to be solved in the same location.
I calculate the game as having a total of 137 rooms, not 124 as stated elsewhere. This isn't the most difficult of the Phoenix games, but it is still tougher than nearly every game outside of the idiosyncratic world of the Cambridge boys. If you don't like mapping mazes and cracking ciphers you'd best stick to the modern stuff.