New Zealand Adventures

Games for Spectrum, C64, Amstrad, Amiga, Apple ][ and the rest of the 8-bit and 16-bit platforms. Pleas for help, puzzles, bug reports etc.

Moderator: Alastair

Post Reply
Message
Author
User avatar
Strident
Posts: 1001
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 2:57 pm

New Zealand Adventures

#1 Post by Strident » Sun Aug 29, 2021 1:06 pm

While I've been looking for SC-3000 text adventures, I've been coming across a lot of other interesting software titles created in New Zealand... several of which could potentially be text adventures.

I'm going to dump some of my findings into this thread and then write them up as entries at a later date, once I've trawled through various other sources.

Antarctic Computing of Auckland
has three potential adventures for the ZX Spectrum, ZX-81, TRS-80, and Video Genie/system80
Detention Center on Nebulon
The Caves of Time
Robots on Terminus-IV
antarctic-computing-computer-input-1983-11.jpg
antarctic-computing-computer-input-1983-11.jpg (89.48 KiB) Viewed 835 times
antarctic-computing-computer-input-1983-12.jpg
antarctic-computing-computer-input-1983-12.jpg (117.38 KiB) Viewed 835 times

User avatar
Strident
Posts: 1001
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 2:57 pm

Re: New Zealand Adventures

#2 Post by Strident » Sun Aug 29, 2021 1:09 pm

Gryphon Software of Dunedin

Some of these could potentially fit our definition of a text adventure...
gryphon-software.JPG
gryphon-software.JPG (24.77 KiB) Viewed 834 times
Source: https://sites.google.com/site/retrowemuseum/nz
...written by Gryphon Software, Box 7044 Dunedin. There are three role playing adventure titles and one compilation: Dragon Tower, Holiday in Transylvania, Treasure Island, Toad on the Road/Artillery/Lunar Lander
I wonder if Holiday in Transylvania could merely be a port of the Steve Lucas type-in http://solutionarchive.com/game/id%2C79 ... nture.html but without the game file it is impossible to know.

User avatar
Garry
Posts: 468
Joined: Sun Oct 28, 2012 11:43 am
Location: Sydney, Australia
Contact:

Re: New Zealand Adventures

#3 Post by Garry » Mon Aug 30, 2021 2:54 am

I found a ZX-81 snapshot of Robots on Terminal IV at http://bukstergames.bizhat.com/. This is definitely a text adventure. It's a bit difficult to play because you need to press the dot key for a space and the keyboard appears to be partially crippled, e.g. no backspace.

User avatar
Garry
Posts: 468
Joined: Sun Oct 28, 2012 11:43 am
Location: Sydney, Australia
Contact:

Re: New Zealand Adventures

#4 Post by Garry » Mon Aug 30, 2021 3:08 am

There's a reference to 'Robots on Terminus IV' in the the Adventure Helpline in Computer & Video Games, issue 34, August 1984, p. 138.

User avatar
Strident
Posts: 1001
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 2:57 pm

Re: New Zealand Adventures

#5 Post by Strident » Mon Aug 30, 2021 9:16 am

Garry wrote:
Mon Aug 30, 2021 2:54 am
I found a ZX-81 snapshot of Robots on Terminal IV at http://bukstergames.bizhat.com/. This is definitely a text adventure. It's a bit difficult to play because you need to press the dot key for a space and the keyboard appears to be partially crippled, e.g. no backspace.
Excellent find, Garry! (The period/space issue is the least of my worries in that game, though... I can't even leave the first location :) )
Edit: Aha, you can go down... I only tried the compass directions.

As a bonus, that page also has at least (non-adventure) another game (Toad on the Road by Griffin (sic)... actually Gryphon) that is completely unlisted and missing from the big archive sites.

User avatar
Strident
Posts: 1001
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 2:57 pm

Re: New Zealand Adventures

#6 Post by Strident » Mon Aug 30, 2021 11:56 am

The New Zealand vintage computing community is great... They've already shared a picture of a load of Antarctic ZX81 titles... with at least one new adventure in there...
antarctic-cassettes-thanks-Michael-Lasham.jpg
antarctic-cassettes-thanks-Michael-Lasham.jpg (156.78 KiB) Viewed 804 times

Post Reply