Adventure Forums - View Single Post

jalind · 09-07-2008, 01:14 PM

This digs back quite a few years and had to think back along the timeline of every type of computer I'd ever used . . . so I'll list a few classics along a timeline . . . which will undoubtedly date me as an Old-Timer.

Don't know if the "original" text version of Star Trek on a mainframe remote console counts, but it is the first computer game I ever played . . . dating to about 1972 or 1973 when I was an undergrad at Arizona State U. . . on a UNIVAC 1100 series or a GE 400 series (before GE sold off its mainframe business to Honeywell). ASU had both and don't remember which one ran Star Trek. Had to be very careful about computer time-share usage! That was a very precious commodity and was closely budgeted. I've no doubt quite a few time-share minutes got burned up with students playing it . . . to the consternation of the folks operating the university mainframe resources. If you're not familiar with the original Star Trek and its pure ASCII text graphics, see this Wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek_(text_game)

The next one was a couple attempts at "Adventure" (aka Colossal Cave Adventure) when it was ported to a Tandy Color Computer (in BASIC ??); some time around 1984 even though it dates back to the late 1970s. Never did finish it. The pure text dialog was too arduous for me. About 1987-1988 I also had Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards . . . running on a PC-AT clone with CGA graphics. Hilarious and fun a few time through . . . but got "stale" after a while.

Other than Star Trek being captivating as every new game was different . . . the next one that actually kept me returning was The 7th Guest in the early 1990's, and ultimately its (not quite as good) sequel, The 11th Hour. 7th Guest was ground-breaking in a number of ways . . . CD-ROM, 3-D graphics, 1st-person POV, live action video clips, extensive high-quality musical background, and the taunting voice of Stauf at every turn. That was quickly followed by MYST, another ground-breaker for many of the same reasons along with several possible endings. The original seems crude by today's graphics standards . . . but if you liked it and its concept at all, find RealMyst (by Mattel Interactive) and put it on a modern WinXP platform. I have the entire Myst series . . . loaded on a WinXP x64 machine . . . RealMyst replacing the original DOS Myst.

Note:
Getting Riven installed on an /x64 platform was a trick. Its installer is 16-bit which WinXP x64 cannot run. The game is 32-bit and will run if it can be installed. Installed it first on a WinXP x86 machine (which will run 16-bit apps) and copied the entire install directory over to the x64 platform as it doesn't need any registry entries to run. Don't ask me about getting any of this stuff running on Vista . . . that's yet another, bigger challenge . . . and that along with other reasons is why I have avoided Vista!

09-07-2008, 01:14 PM	#391
jalind Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 4	Star Trek (text version) -- on a mainframe console This digs back quite a few years and had to think back along the timeline of every type of computer I'd ever used . . . so I'll list a few classics along a timeline . . . which will undoubtedly date me as an Old-Timer. Don't know if the "original" text version of Star Trek on a mainframe remote console counts, but it is the first computer game I ever played . . . dating to about 1972 or 1973 when I was an undergrad at Arizona State U. . . on a UNIVAC 1100 series or a GE 400 series (before GE sold off its mainframe business to Honeywell). ASU had both and don't remember which one ran Star Trek. Had to be very careful about computer time-share usage! That was a very precious commodity and was closely budgeted. I've no doubt quite a few time-share minutes got burned up with students playing it . . . to the consternation of the folks operating the university mainframe resources. If you're not familiar with the original Star Trek and its pure ASCII text graphics, see this Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek_(text_game) The next one was a couple attempts at "Adventure" (aka Colossal Cave Adventure) when it was ported to a Tandy Color Computer (in BASIC ??); some time around 1984 even though it dates back to the late 1970s. Never did finish it. The pure text dialog was too arduous for me. About 1987-1988 I also had Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards . . . running on a PC-AT clone with CGA graphics. Hilarious and fun a few time through . . . but got "stale" after a while. Other than Star Trek being captivating as every new game was different . . . the next one that actually kept me returning was The 7th Guest in the early 1990's, and ultimately its (not quite as good) sequel, The 11th Hour. 7th Guest was ground-breaking in a number of ways . . . CD-ROM, 3-D graphics, 1st-person POV, live action video clips, extensive high-quality musical background, and the taunting voice of Stauf at every turn. That was quickly followed by MYST, another ground-breaker for many of the same reasons along with several possible endings. The original seems crude by today's graphics standards . . . but if you liked it and its concept at all, find RealMyst (by Mattel Interactive) and put it on a modern WinXP platform. I have the entire Myst series . . . loaded on a WinXP x64 machine . . . RealMyst replacing the original DOS Myst. Note: Getting Riven installed on an /x64 platform was a trick. Its installer is 16-bit which WinXP x64 cannot run. The game is 32-bit and will run if it can be installed. Installed it first on a WinXP x86 machine (which will run 16-bit apps) and copied the entire install directory over to the x64 platform as it doesn't need any registry entries to run. Don't ask me about getting any of this stuff running on Vista . . . that's yet another, bigger challenge . . . and that along with other reasons is why I have avoided Vista!