ZX Spectrum (Text) Adventures - Additional Infomation
I've put together a document with addition information and/or corrections for 150+ of the text adventures in the database.
ZX Spectrum Text Adventures - PDF document
It's mostly additional details of the appearance of the games on other formats and the original Spectrum pricing but there are some corrections for details such as publishers.
I hope it's useful. All information came from copies of adventure magazines such as From Beyond, Red Herring and Adventure Probe.
ZX Spectrum Text Adventures - PDF document
It's mostly additional details of the appearance of the games on other formats and the original Spectrum pricing but there are some corrections for details such as publishers.
I hope it's useful. All information came from copies of adventure magazines such as From Beyond, Red Herring and Adventure Probe.
Post edited by Strident on
Comments
The comment about White Feather Cloak (G.I. Games first, Zenobi later) prompted me to reverse publisher and re-release publisher as well, which was confirmed by the magazine review.
Edit: heh, what I meant to say is I also did it for the Silverwolf adventure but forgot to give the name in my post.
Yeah, it's really confusing. A lot of back catalogues passed through the hands of several independent and homebrew publishers, sometimes within the space of a couple of months!
Are scans of magazines/fanzines like Tim Kemp's From Beyond something you would want for the site/database?
Yes, most certainly! Any magazine or fanzine that talked about the Spectrum (not necessarily exclusively) is welcome in the archive.
A few more random snippets of info re. White Feather Cloak. It was based on a poem that was written by ex-Beyond/Telecomsoft man Marc Peirson (who then went on to be a TV writer and novelist). It was also originally going to be published by Starlight Software before Ariolasoft pulled out of software and Starlight went under.
Splendid, thank you very much! This has been added as a comment to the database (almost) verbatim.
I noticed a comment about the Zenobi release Aura-Scope...
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0005974
...actually being just a rename of this game, Horrorscope...
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0010828
Took a quick look of the files and, yep, they look identical apart from the name change! :)
I must actually sit down and read through my old magazine properly... I bet there are loads of other information in there I've forgotten.
The two entries have been merged!
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0005936
is a PAWed game rather than a Quilled one.
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0010766
was also written using the Professional Adventure Writer, rather than the Quill.
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0005945
was written by Paul Gill
rather than Paul Gilbert as currently listed in the database.
It's also known as Al-strad
The Ellisnore Diamond
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0006247
The Domes of Sha
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0006196
The Enchanted Cottage
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0006250
Jack and the Beanstalk
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0006495
The Jade Necklace
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0006500
Both entries have been corrected.
All of the above has now been corrected. :-)
Here's another one for you...
Birthday Surprise
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0010731
was produced using The Quill rather than the Professional Adventure Writer.
This has been corrected.
Captain Kook
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0006060
The Inner Lakes
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0006485
...as The Silent Corner
(as referenced in the linked reviews/magazines)
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0006459
was written by Pegasus Software (Louise Wenlock)
and published by The Guild... rather than the other way around.
The game came with three little sealed envelopes that had to be opened at specific times during the game. The cards inside contained clues/information that you needed to solve the adventure.
My notes, from a review I wrote of the game for the Sam Adventure Club, state that a 128K demo of Tony Collins' sequel to The Hermitage, called Absolution, was on the B-side of the tape.
Magician's Apprentice, A
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0006634
was written using the Quill.
Prison Blues
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0010898
was written using the Quill.
Thief's Tale, A
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0007100
was written using the Quill.
This has been adjusted. I cannot find a Essential Myth reference either.
Also corrected is the name of "Essential Myth" itself, as it should be "The Essential Myth".
This entry has been corrected.
The information about the envelopes has been added as a comment.
Your notes are correct, of course. Absolution has been added as MIA, the series has been created and the demo version information cross-linked.
All three adventures now list their authoring tool.
From what I remember, I don't think Tony ever finished it which was a shame as The Hermitage was a great game and I really would've liked to play the sequel.
I'm sorry to hear so. :cry:
The game has been converted to Never Released, taking it off the MIA list.
Dungeon of Torgar, The
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0006231
Price: 48K Tape ?2, +3 disk ?4
The Taxman Cometh
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0007070
Price: ?2.49 48K Tape, ?3.49 +3 disk
From a SCAC review I've found, the author of...
Doomsday
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0010774
was Graham Burtenshaw (it also mentions him in the review Infoseek links to)
He also wrote...
Cell of the Ridges
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0010774
and...
Leotrope
Which is not in the database at the moment as far as I can see.
I don't know if he self published the other two games, via his Relion Software label, but Leotrope, at least, was re-released by Delbert The Hamster Software (I will try and find some references to see if DTH republished the other games)
+D versions were all available at one point (re-released?) from Quest Software which I believe was run by David Ledbury / Martin Scholes although I need to look up some more details about that... I remember Dave but I can't recall much about Quest...
see...
http://www.worldofsam.org/node/211