info/tads-gamelist1.txt

The Uncomplete, Unoffical list of TADS games.

v3.00

This list of TADS games and sources is unofficial and casual.  I
started out of curiousity and will maintain it as time allows.  This
list is not an endosement of TADS or the games listed here.  TADS is
one of several excellant products.  The discussion of which
language/system is best re-occurs periodically and this is NOT IT!

In all cases I have attempted to be accurate and current.  If you spot
any inaccracy or descrepancy, please contact me.  In particular, I
don't know where to obtain some of these games.

TADS is shareware as are most TADS games.  Support shareware by
registering or else it WILL disappear.

Nathan Torkington (gnat@kauri.vuw.ac.nz) also maintains a list of IF games.

The majority of TADS games are not yet finished, and a good deal of
space is devoted to these in this list. Hopefully, announcing the games
here will encourage authors to release games in a timely fashion and
hopefully only serious efforts will be pre-announced here.

Many TADS authors have email access through Compuserve.  Bear in mind
that they must pay actual cash to read and reply to email.  Their
addresses are formed as xxxxx.xxxx@CompuServe.com .

Thanks to ...

DB   David Baggett (dmb@ai.mit.edu)
RLB  Russell L. Bryan (rbryan@Mail.trincoll.edu)

Comments, etc to: amead@s.psych.uiuc.edu


Existing TADS games

Curse of VengeanceA (CoV)

        Description/Comments:  Fairly typical Dungeons & Dragons meets
        Text Adventure.  Includes extremely (perhaps too much so)
        simple combat system, armor and weapon classes, and a save the
        princess plot.

        "Unfortunately, the programmer considered combat to be more
        important than puzzles, and the general course of a game
        involves a lot of slogging through extremely boring
        battles."-RLB

        Author:  Scott C. McNab


Deep Space Drifter (DSD)

        Description\Comments:  Sequel to Ditch Day Drifter, you crash
        land onto a mysterious, recently deserted space station.  At
        one point you have to fly, very interesting.  Was actually written
        before DDD, very large game.

        Available from mdsos.archive.umich.edu in /msdos/gammes as
        'deepspac.zip' or the HE BBS.  Source available to registered users.

        Authors: Michael J. Roberts and Steve McAdams


Ditch Day Drifter (DDD)

        Description\Comments:  Bundled (ie, with source) in the TADS
        distribution.  Break into the senior's dorm room on Ditch Day.
        Has a maze.

        "[S]et on the Caltech campus; Mike Roberts' answer to Lurking
        Horror I guess (which is set on the MIT campus, where the
        Infocom folks all hailed from) [except that it's not gothic
        horror]."-DB

        Author: Michael J. Roberts (73737.417@CompuServe.com)


High Tech Drifter (HTD)

        Description/Comments:  The very first TADS game!  Available
        with source from the HE BBS.  Described as not quite finished.

        Author: Jim Cser (no-net-access?)


Lost (Lo)

        Description/Comments: While searching for riches in the forest,
        you come across a spaceship which takes you to different places
        and times.  Difficult from what I have heard, whatever that
        means.  Available from???

        "The game is quite large (the code is over 10,000 lines long)
        and has the largest  vocabulary that the compiler would allow."
        -- JH, the author

        Author: Jeffrey Hersh (???)


Save Princeton (SP)

        Comments/Description:  You're a visitor to Princeton's campus.
        While you're there, mysterious invaders take over campus, and
        you have to oust them.  Mac version available from umich.  DOS
        version due 1 FEB 93.

        Neil K. (n_k_guy@sfu.ca) says,
        Might best be summarized by this line from the game:

          "Jacob takes the disk and reads the label.  "TADS?  This looks
           neat.  I've always wanted to write my own adventure game."  he
           says.  "I'll make a game with all my friends in it, and clever
           puzzles, and oodles of self-reference."

        Author: Jacob Solomon Weinstein (jacobw@phoenix.Princeton.EDU)


The Great Archeological Race (TGAR)

        Description/Commnets: Adventure where you play the curator of a
        museum...and it's your job to help increase failing patronage
        by finding new artifacts.  Your quest leads you deep into the
        heart of the South American jungle, where you discover a whole
        new world!  Shareware ($21.95), from Absolute Zero.

        The version currently available at the HE BBS uses TADS v1.2x,
        so no undo etc.  Also, this game seemed slightly easier than
        some (perhaps because of its initial setting is rather more
        familiar than castles or space stations).  The plot, though, was
        rather more developed and explicit than most.  Source available to
        registered users.

        Author: John LaBonney (jlabonney@aol.com)


Unnkulian Underworld: The Unknown Unventure (UU1)

        Description\Comments: The first third-party TADS game to be
        generally circulated on Internet.  Irreverent parody of
        contemporary IF games.  Has a medieval flavor.  Has a maze.
        Available from the HE BBS and most Internet FTP sites.

        "Actually [Leary] wrote the first version in Pascal about eight
        years ago."-DB

        Author: D. A. Leary (76440.2671@CompuServe.com)


Unnkulian Unventure II: The Secret of Acme (UU2)

        Description\Comments: Sequel to sucessful UU1.  Seems to have
        more contemporary flavor.  Is, perhaps, wackier.  Available
        from the HE BBS and most Internet FTP sites.

        "Also has a maze, unfortunately.  Seemed like a good idea at
        the time.  (It wasn't.) [None the less, it's the] greatest
        thing since sliced bread!"  -DB  :-)

        Author: David Baggett (dmb@ai.mit.edu)


Forthcoming TADS games


Harold Jenkins, 30th Century Archaeologist: The Undergods Trilogy

        Description:  The beginning of a series with no visible end
        concerning the adventures of an archaeologist with the charisma
        and style of Indiana Jones and gadgets that would make James
        Bond blink.  The Undergods Trilogy: Unsavory characters
        forcefully hire Harry to recover three jewels from the temples
        of three rival cults on three different planets.  Part one,
        Firegods, is expected to be released in February of 1993.
        Seuqels Windgods and Watergods expected September 1993 and
        February 1994.

        Having seen the background materials to the Firegods game, I
        think it will be quite interesting.

        Author:  Russell L. Bryan <rbryan@Mail.trincoll.edu>

        Anticipated release:  FEB 1993


The Horror of Rylvania

        Author: D. A. Leary

        Comments: Leary's second TADS game.  A hard-edged gothic horror
        game that has been uploaded to a few BBS's but never officially
        released.  This probably won't be an official ADVENTIONS game
        but one of these days we'll make an archive of it and upload it
        to Internet sites.  (It's been on the "to do" list for a long
        time.)

        Anticipated release:  ???


The Legend Lives!
An Unnkulian Universe Unventure

        Author: David Baggett <dmb@ai.mit.edu>

        Comments: "The beginning of a new series.  We learn what life
        is like 500 years after UU2.  Needless to say, a lot has
        changed; unfortunately, the Unnkulians still appear to be
        around and causing trouble.  You take the role of a graduate
        student at Akmi Yooniversity who has made a terrifying
        discovery while exploring some old literature about the
        Unnkulians.  The fate of the galaxy rests in YOUR hands.
        (Surprise.)"

        "I'm working on this one now, and have been for many months.
        The game has several times as much text depth and density as,
        for example, UU2; hence it's been taking a *long* time.  Also,
        this one gets "serious" at points, though it still has plenty
        of humor scattered through it."

        Anticipated release:  early 93.


Unnkulia Zero: The Search for Amanda

        Author: D. A. Leary

        Comments: Finished and now in beta-test.  Quite possibly one of
        the biggest text adventures ever written, at least in terms of
        amount of text.  A truly mammoth game, it forced the switch to
        TADS 2.0 because 1.X couldn't handle it under DOS.  (Not enough
        conventional memory.)  In this game we learn about the early
        history of the Valley and the Unnkulians.  And we get a glimpse
        at the future.

        Anticipated release:  hopefully prior to MAR 93.


Unnkulia 1/2: The Salesman Triumphant

        Author: D. A. Leary

        Comments:  Somewhat smaller than UU1 and UU2.  Explores the
        trials and tribulations of a down-and-out Acme salesman.  Easy,
        especially compared to Unnkulia Zero or UU2.

        Anticipated release:  The schedule on this is the same as for
        Unnkulia Zero.



Unnkulian Unventure III: [to be determined]

        Author: Chris Nebel <nebel@wam.umd.edu>

        Comments: The sequel to UU2, wherein the cliffhanger ending is
        resolved.  May be the funniest one yet.  (Certainly the
        wackiest.)

        Anticipated release:  ???


A note about TADS

The Text Adventure Development System (TADS) is one of many systems
that make it easiler to write text adventures.  TADS currently supports
MSDOS, and Macintosh with a Atari ST port reportedly underway.  Game
sources and (v2.x) game files are portable.

TADS is shareware as are most TADS games.  Support shareware by
registering or else it WILL disappear.

TADS is available via anon-ftp from:

msdos.archive.umich.edu
mac.archive.umich.edu
atari.archive.umich.edu

and from the High Energy.


High Energy Software
--------------------
Distributing: TADS, DSD, DDD, HTD

BBS:                       US MAIL:         EMAIL:
High Energy BBS (HE BBS)   PO Box           Internet: 73737.417@compuserve.com
speeds up to 14,400        Palto Alto, CA   GEnie:    M.ROBERTS10
(415)493-2420  (N-8-1)     94303            CIS:      73737,417


Absolute Zero
-------------
Distributing: TGAR

US MAIL:                    PHONE:              EMAIL:
121 Park Avenue             (201)993-8146       jlabonney@aol.com
Convent Stsation, NJ 07961


Adventions
----------
Distributing: The Unkuulian Unadventures (UU1,UU2,etc)

EMAIL:
dmb@ai.mit.edu