/vr/ - Retro Games

For example, here's my Infidel route (with no bag glitch, i.e. 'put bag in air')

get up.s.s.get matchb.s.s.open sack.get cantee,rope,sack.n.nw.w.get all.e.n.w.open cantee
fill it.e.e.n.hit lock
ax.get it.open trunk.get beef,map.open it.s.se.se.e.dig
sand.g.g.g.g.put cube
hole.in.open jar.dip torch
it.light torch with match.tie rope
altar.put it
steep.eat.drop all but sack,cantee.get torch.d.get all.get head.tug statue ne.sip.drop head.sw
sw.sw.get.ne.ne.ne.get head.tug statue sw.g.drop head.ne.ne.ne.get.sw.sw.sw.get head
tug statue ne.tug it nw.drop head.se.se.se.get.nw.nw.nw.get head.tug statue se.g.drop head.nw.nw
nw.get.se.se.u.s.s.ne.nw.e.n.w.n.n.n.n.n.e.s.get.pour water in it.n.w.drop cantee,sack
put ring,all cluste
it.get it.w.s.get.n.e.s.s.s.s.s.e.s.w.n.e.d.w.get shim
e.u.w.get.s.se.sw.n.n.get ax.e.w.s.get first,third.drop it,first.get fifth.e.n.w.hit plaste
ax.w.w.w.put beam
niche.board it.hit plaste
ax.open.w.get.s.put beam
doorwa.open.w.drop sack.put opal
fourth.put ruby
second.put emeral
third.put diamon
first.tug slab.get book.e.get.n.n.put beam under lintel.hit seal
ax.open.n.e.put silver
right.put gold
left.get scarab.w.put scarab
small.put book
large.turn neith.turn selkis.turn isis.turn nephth
open sarcop

>>5543925
That is a NICE fucking cover.

Basically, optimizing these games comes down to the following strategies:
- Room/puzzle route optimization
- Item/inventory and bag (carrying object) management
- Using wait times productively (doing useful things instead of 'z')
- Food/water/light/sleep management
- Find shortest working words (e.g. close -> shut)
- Use available contractions (e.g., 'l' for 'look')
- Unambiguous pickups (i.e. see if 'get' alone works instead of 'get all')
- Use of it/him/her (object reference persistence)
- Using sentence completion
'cut wire with bolt' -> 'cut wire' then 'bolt'
- Using 'again' ('g') effectively

For games in the Enchanter series, there's also spell management (memorization, or just not using 'gnusto' and casting straight from the scroll)

>>5543981
Best cover of all time imo

>>5543981
It's a really fucking good game, too. Hard as balls though, and not for beginners.

So far I've got pretty solid optimized runs of Enchanter, Infidel, Lurking Horror, Planetfall, Nord and Bert, Sorcerer, Spellbreaker, and Stationfall.

Routing and optimizing Spellbreaker was very difficult. Oddly enough, I've found that the most fun game of all to optimize is [pic related].

Here's a higher quality shot of that cover.

And here's what it looked like from other angles. It's not a flat image! It's a fucking plastic mold of the face build into the game's box!

>>5543981
Infocom had the best packaging.

this is the creepiest thread of all time on 4chan

>>5544010
>>5544013
>>5544016
>>5544018
>>5544021
>>5544026
>>5544027
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esvlfbfBZLQ

>>5543981
Infocom had the best packaging

>>5544042
That reminds me, I still need to finish Starcross, never did beat that one

>>5544089
It's a pretty solid game. Fairly easy, and doesn't do anything overly new or interesting, but it's well made.

There are so many interesting things to play with in these games. For example, the copy protection scheme for Stationfall in the pic. Instead of programming the whole chart, I reverse engineered the function they used, which is

course = (103 + (132 - int(time/50))**2 / 4)

Probably the most interesting challenges are the green rock/brown rock puzzle and the cube weighing puzzle in Spellbreaker. To solve those in general, code and optimize the solutions was pretty damn hard.

>>5544248
oops forgot pic

So I'm not into any of this shit and you sound like a nut, but what are some good text adventures I can run on windows 8.1 or 10?

>>5544445
You can run any Infocom game using WinFrotz. Just have to download the games from Abandonware or wherever, then find either the .dat or .z5 file and load it in WinFrotz.

>>5544445
I would recommend starting with Planetfall, Enchanter, or Zork.

>>5543925
>>5544010
>>5544013
>>5544016
>>5544018
>>5544021
>>5544026
>>5544027
>>5544030

Trinity is awesome.

>>5544602
That's fucking hilarious.

Sell me on these games, OP, how do they compare to MUDs?

Well MUDs require interacting with others which is a hard pass from me.
Other than that, the games themselves are just really damn good.

Also, I find that optimizing solutions to these games is a unique challenge, insofar as they are deterministic. Generally I work out basic solutions while sober, then grind routes using adderall, then grind vocabulary and other reductions using cocaine.
I haven't made any of my work public before though and this is starting to feel like a mistake

Actually it is clearly a mistake, sorry all but I won't be revisiting this post, I usually never share anything I do with the world and I don't know what I was thinking here

>>5543925
You gonna show what's beneath the plastic case or you just gonna blueball us?

>>5544540

>>5546438
FUKKEN SAVED! That is seriously the best thing I've ever seen.

>>5546217
YOU COME BACK HERE AND EXPLAIN ALL OF THIS SHIT

>>5543925
I tried to get into A Mind Forever Voyaging, but the format is so dated I have a hard time following. My first system was an NES so I thought I could pick text games up but it's hard to know the command system well

My cover looked different. Maybe it's just the Amiga version that didn't get the cool 3D cover.

>>5547098
You have to read the manual first, and have some paper handy for mapping

>>5547098
A Mind Forever Voyaging is pretty dense for a first time text adventure. Even at the time it was considered a little dense and political. You may want to give a few others a try before giving up on the genre.

>>5546438
underrated

>>5547120
nigga, that is fucking TERRIFYING

>>5544445
>>5544481
Look for the "Infocom Universe Bootleg", includes all games, docs, hints, maps and images of all feelies and goodies inside the game boxes

>>5546220
this

>>5546217
OP here, sorry about that post, I had just started drinking and blow and was starting to get paranoid as I do. Back to relatively normal now.
Can't remember a lot of it, but I got my Nord and Bert run down to 1981 characters which is frankly approaching perfection.

>>5544445
>>5548316
here you go:
https://openload
.co/f/zpFwhvXSRu4/

>>5548467
Thanks!

>>5546438
This has to be the single best reaction image /vr/ has ever made.

i could imagine deadline to be a fucker to do

>>5545003
Trinity might be my favorite game ever.