Letters

Dear XYZZYnews:

I first encountered bits and pieces of your magazine after a friend sent me some excerpts downloaded from Peter Scheyen's Infocom home page. I found the complete version of XYZZYnews while wandering around GMD's IF archive, and downloaded the ASCII versions of the first 3 issues. I was a bit frustrated with the double-spacing, but I was fascinated by the content. Then I downloaded a .PDF version of Issue #4 and printed it out.

(Insert lengthy pause here to indicate prolonged speechlessness.)

...I am in AWE. I had no idea there was anything like this available. Your magazine's layout is breathtaking, but the relevance of the contents far outstrips mere superficial attractiveness. Granted, the download time for the .PDF format is about 3 times greater than the text version, but I'll just have to ration my online time next month to get the other back issues.

Please send me XYZZYnews in the .PDF format. I'm hopelessly hooked, even though I have to endure the relative eternity required to print it out. ; )

Jay A. Goemmer
jgoemmer@magiclink.com

To XYZZYnews:

In Issue #7 of XYZZYnews ["Interface Changes: A Brief Look at the Evolution of the Adventure Game Engine," by C.E. Forman], you talk about Mystery House and parenthetically state "I'd recommend that IF history buffs pick up a copy if you can locate one."

Mystery House was released into the public domain by Roberta Williams on Sierra Online's 10th Anniversary. (I seem to remember it being '87, but you state it was released in '79.. Whatever, it's public domain now.)

You can find it at ftp://ftp.gmd.de/if-archive/games/appleII/mystery.dsk.

Other stuff: Tass Times in ToneTown is available for many platforms, including the GS. It can still be bought from Bill Heineman who did the GS version.

The ICOM series also was done for the GS, and may still be available.

Matt Ackeret
unknown@apple.com

To XYZZYnews:

Just found out about XYZZYnews and have been reading back issues to catch up. I read in issue #4 about your difficulties with IF, commuting, and balancing a coffee cup at the same time.

This is something in which I have some experience. I'm an engineer, and do some traveling. I carry a laptop most places, and usually end up using up my battery on one IF adventure or another.

For me, half the fun of adventures is mapping everything out. I maintain a master copy of my current adventure map in Autosketch, and work off the latest printout. Any new areas I discover, I draw by hand and add on the computer later on. I keep a file in my briefcase with my latest notes and scribblings. All this I can fit on the surface of my briefcase or on an airline tray.

Sorry, the cup of coffee doesn't fit with the above scenario. I found that out the hard way.

Great job, keep it up, and I'm looking forward to the next issue!

Don Vande Polder
DVandep@aol.com

To XYZZYnews:

It was only recently that I discovered the sizeable coterie of people who continue in their devotion to text adventures. I remember playing Adventure back when those who had 512K RAM were thought of as show-offs. What a joy to find that people still play (and, better still, write) interactive fiction.

I just read issue #5 of XYZZYnews and loved it. Nothing gives me more pleasure than the knowledge that there are other eccentrics out there, who, though not unimpressed by DOOM, nonetheless persist in their attachment to the GUE and its cousins. Imagine! Other people out there who will not finish their PhDs because they insist on procrastinating with text-games!

Thanks for your devotion.

Stephen Ramsay
sjr3a@virginia.edu

To XYZZYnews:

I just discovered your XYZZY homepage and let me tell you.... IT'S awwwesome. They should definitely have more pages like this one. I have been a fan of Infocom games since the early '80s and anything else I could get my hands on. I even would settle for the graphics/text games like Amazon. I have just began playing around with computers again (sparked by interest when I wandered through the software department and saw The Zork Anthology and the Infocom compilations) and couldn't believe some of the cool stuff I found when I entered in a search for Infocom on Yahoo.

Also do you have any suggestions on text-based games I might want to try out since I've been away for so long? I used to love Enchanter, Sorcerer, all the Zorks, and Hitchhiker's guide to name a few.

crash@sun.tir.com

If you haven't yet discovered it, let me suggest you check out Carl Muckenhoupt's Baf's Guide to the Interactive Fiction Archive. -- EM

Infocom Bugs List Updates

Saw that you created/maintain the Infocom bug list, and I have two contributions.

Bug #1: You can steal the thief's stiletto. When the thief is in the room, TAKE STILETTO. He'll swing it out of your reach. Type AGAIN or G. Keep doing this until you're dead or he leaves the room. If he leaves, do it again and you'll see the message

Taken.

If you check your inventory, you'll find no stiletto. Type LOOK AT STILETTO to check out your ghost stiletto, which you can drop, pick up and otherwise use, though it will never show up on room descriptions or inventory lists.

If the thief meets you in the dungeon after you do this, you'll see a message something like:

You feel a light-fingered touch, and turn around to see the thief smiling at you.

He has stolen back his stiletto. However, if you go to the Treasure Room while you have the ghost stiletto, he won't be able to steal it back. He will still attack you with a stiletto (which can kill you), but if you attack him (with any weapon) while holding the ghost stiletto you'll see the message

The unarmed thief cannot defend himself: he dies.

Entertainingly enough, if you give the thief one of the game's other weapons, he will be able to dodge and parry your attacks, though the game will still insist that the thief is attacking with a stiletto. After giving the thief a weapon, though (except the stiletto), you can always simply TAKE it back -- while he's in the room! -- and kill him as though he is unarmed again.

AGAIN may be buggy elsewhere throughout Zork; it doesn't make the same checks full commands do. I know for a fact that I can't use it to take anything from the unicorn or Wizard, though both attempts resulted in the game behaving as if they were still in the room when they weren't.

Bug #2: in Beyond Zork, you can get a grue in a lighted room.

Kill the Ur-grue, but leave the other grues alive. Don't take the coconut. Wander around the Underground and wait until a grue enters the room. Then LIGHT LANTERN. You will be able to examine, fiddle with, and otherwise harass a helpless "lurking presence" (which does nothing entertaining, but oh well). If you attack the grue in a lit room, it will register damage but will not counterattack and will not run away when slain. Turning off the lamp or leaving the room will allow the grue to flee if it has received its deathblow. Continuing to attack a grue after dealing it a decisive blow generates no response.

Both of these work with LTOI.

I always hated grues and I always hated the stupid thief. Killing that lean-and-hungry not-so-gentleman with his own stolen stiletto is one of the more satisfying things I've ever done with my computer.

David Gildemeister
dgildeme@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu

To XYZZYnews:

I noticed a very minor bug in Enchanter, version: Release 29 / Serial number 860820

When the adventurer gives you something, no check is made to see whether you are carrying too much already, so you can end up carrying more than you would be able to normally.

For example:

>get pencil
Your load is too heavy.
>ask adventurer for pencil 
The adventurer, not seeing any use in keeping the badly worn pencil anyway, hands it to you gladly.

Neil B.
neilb@khoral.com

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