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Retrogaming |
Retro-GamingSome observations and articles about my own experiences with pre-Windows 95 gaming. Might only appeal to you if you are at least as old as I am.Interactive FictionAn Infocom IF Collector's Checklist (pdf). You want Infocom text adventures. All of them. And in their original boxes. Yes you do; no use denying it. This overview can help you complete your collection. (October 2013) Postcards from Kerovnia. The first text adventure I played was The Pawn, written in the mid-eighties by Magnetic Scrolls for a number of platforms such as the Amiga and the C64. Its irreverent attitude towards IF cliches and the 30 beautiful bitmap images that illustrated the story created quite a buzz at the time. I certainly found The Pawn to be very memorable; enough to visit Kerovnia once again, thirty years on. (March 2016) Aspects of Zork I. Infocom games were something tantalizingly exotic for a continental European like me. I had heard about them, but knew no-one who had them. Eventually, as the 1980's rolled on, I managed to get hold of Zork I. (March 2017) Mini-Zork. A continuation of Zork indulgence; here I walk through an abridged version of Zork I, known as Mini-Zork. (December 2017) Mainframe Zork. Before there was Zork I, there was Dungeon, and before there was Dungeon, there was Zork. (March 2019) Lord of the Rings Game One, part one. The somewhat bewildering or disconcerting text game that is the first half of the first part of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. (May 2019) Mapping the Colossal Cave Adventure. "Cave", or "Advent", is the earliest example of interactive fiction as we know it today. Here is an attempt to compare a number of its many versions. (January 2023) By other authors (no infringement intended; added here for preservation and relevance): Two for Infocom (pdf). Article by Boris Schneider originally published in PowerPlay Ausgabe 1, a December 1987 special issue of Happy Computer magazine. (Translated from German by De Blauwe Schicht, April 2015) Adventure anecdotes from the U.S.A. (pdf). Article by Gregor Neumann and Boris Schneider originally published in PowerPlay Ausgabe 5, a June 1988 special issue of Happy Computer magazine. (Translated from German by De Blauwe Schicht, April 2015)
OtherFeelies, trinkets, and props. For a time in the last part of the twentieth century, some game titles came with additions; maps, fancy booklets, stickers, coins, et cetera. Sometimes these were included to help the player get into the story of the game, sometimes they were just cool to have. Complete with my own top-5 of old-school game props. (February 2017) On collecting vintage computer games. A somewhat pompously written inquiry into aspects of games collecting, including examples of my own collection and a listing of various problems and issues a collector may encounter. (November 2017) Dramatic cover art on 8-bit era game boxes. Sometimes a game could sell itself by simply sporting a really awesome picture on the front. Here is a list of my own favorites from the Olden Days. (February 2019) A few speech synthesizers. The voice of a computer instills fear in some and affection in others. Sound samples of past and present computers reciting a little Coleridge are included. (October 2020)
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