programming/agt/contests/agt7.txt

                                                       FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
                                                                     
                                                              April 24, 1994

                                                              David Malmberg
                                        Author of the Adventure Game Toolkit


     Softworks announces -- 

     THE SEVENTH ANNUAL CONTEST WINNERS


     Softworks today announced the winners in its seventh annual (1993)
contest for the best computer text adventure game developed using the
Adventure Game Toolkit (AGT) system.

     The Adventure Game Toolkit is a computer program which allows MS-DOS,
Macintosh, Amiga  and Atari ST computer users to create their own "interactive
fiction" or text adventure games.  Games developed on one of these computers
may be played on any of the other computers.

It didn't seem possible!  We got more and better entries in our 1993 contest
than ever before.  Our faithful judges played and replayed these wonderful
games.  They tirelessly rated and re-rated the innovative and the classic. As
we tallied the results, it became apparent that we could not possibly declare
one winner.  And so, for the third year running, we have two winners!   From
high atop a pile of entries, walk-throughs, and judges' ballots, we hereby
declare the CO-WINNERS in the 1993 contest (winning fame and fortune -- or, at
least $100 each) to be:
 
    THE JEWELED ARENA -- by David S. Raley

and

    KLAUSTROPHOBIA -- by Carol Hovick


More about the winning games:

    THE JEWELED ARENA takes place in Kumeran, the capital of Valdalan: a
    mighty city where commerce, craft, knowledge, and politics are a constant
    part of the scene.  Today, things are not at their best, as the city is in
    the grips of its worst influenza epidemic ever.  Unfortunately, the
    criminal element never takes a vacation, and they are very willing to prey
    while the city is weak.  As you play the game, you will take on several
    roles in the effort to keep the city safe during the crises.  The queen
    and the duchess are counting on you.

    This adventure is divided into four chapters, each building upon the
    results of earlier chapters.  In each chapter you will take on a new
    persona, so make sure you know who you are before you do anything.

    Chapter 1:     You are Dame Gwenden Temar, as she stumbles on a daring
                   robbery against The Jeweled Arena.

    Chapter 2:     You are Master Protector Leron Tesab, as he gathers
                   evidence against the thief caught in Chapter 1.

    Chapter 3:     You are once again Dame Gwenden, this time looking for
                   an important healer who disappeared just before
                   reaching healer Hall.

    Chapter 4:     You are Clara Telan (with too many titles to name), as
                   she searches for the person who attacked Dora Taren.

    The game has "pop-up" hints.

    THE JEWELED ARENA is available as Shareware directly from the author:

         Registration                            $10  US funds
         Postage outside US/Canada/Mexico        $ 2  US funds

         David S. Raley
         13523 Demetrias Way
         Germantown, MD 20874
         CIS:       72247,1153
         Internet:  72247,1153@compuserve.com


    KLAUSTROPHOBIA is a text adventure game which started out being a little
    ramble through a few of life's more annoying moments, somewhat along the
    lines of Bureaucracy by Infocom...  However, as time went on, the game
    kept growing and growing and has now grown into a torturous odyssey
    through a lot of life's more annoying moments, (many of which take place
    at airports or on airplanes).  In fact, the game grew so much that it has
    been divided into three parts.  At the end of each part, you can save your
    character and go on to the next part.

    During the adventure, the player will...

    *  Share a cab in New York with Willard Scott
    *  Deal with a herd of alligators blocking his/her path
    *  Figure out what to do with the nosehair puller
    *  Be a contestant in several game shows including "The Prize is Slight",
       "Schleopardy" and "Squeal of Fortune"
    *  Play volleyball and other games at Club Merde
    *  While away some time in Texas by eating grits, running over an armadillo
       and learning the Texas Two Step
    *  Have a "bad hair" day (or two)
    *  Buy a "Dolly Parton Inflatable Brassiere" at Wedrick's of Follywood
    *  Learn where to buy a Hold-O-Matic Door Stop for only $59.95 (not
       available in stores)
    *  Solve a cryptogram about BINGO and SCUBA DIVING
    *  Fix a toilet without calling the plumber
    *  Learn to drive a big-rig from the "Famous Trucker's Correspondence
       School"
    *  Stop your friend Graham from scaring the burros
    *  Discover the answers to the age-old questions: "Do you know the way to
       San Jose?" and "How do you get to Carnegie Hall?"

    The game may be played as a man or woman player by giving the commands MALE
    and FEMALE respectively.
 
    This game is hugh and has a total of 560 rooms, 571 nouns and 175
    creatures.  The game has a set of "pop-up" hints.

    KLAUSTROPHOBIA is available as Shareware directly from the author by
    sending a $15 check or money order to:

        Carol Hovick
        1033 Benito Ave
        Pacific Grove, Ca. 93950

    By return mail, registered users will receive a set of very funny and
    helpful "pop-hints" which will greatly add to the enjoyment of playing the
    game.


OTHER WINNERS

     The 1993 winners circle also includes 11 great Honorable Mention
Games:


CERCLA - FANCIFUL FUN WITH SUPERFUND -- A game by Jeffrey Robinson
                                                                               
    You are an employee of a world renowned and extremely profitable
    consulting engineering firm.  Recently, you completed the remedial
    investigation of the McArdle hazardous waste site.  Following a wonderful
    vacation in the Caribbean, you have returned to work to find that disaster
    has struck.  All the copies of the documents critical to the remediation
    of the site have vanished.  Even the computer files containing the
    documents have been wiped clean.  What is worse is that your boss has a
    meeting with (GASP) the U.S. EPA in a matter of days.  You must recover
    the documents before that meeting, or regulatory hell will break loose.
                                                                               
    Unfortunately for you, some, well, shall we say, supernatural beings have
    made off with the documents for their own mystical, nefarious purposes.
    It is your quest to outwit these creatures and recover the documents.  Be
    careful, but be quick.  Time's a-wastin'!


DUCKSOUP -- A PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR ADVENTURE -- By C. Evans

    She came into your office on a steamy city morning.  A small angel
    desperately trying to find someone.  Her name is Flood, and she wants you
    to find him. She is willing to pay you a handsome fee if you bring him
    back to her.

    You look her over and find she measures about five feet total (maybe an
    inch or so less), white-blonde hair, high forehead, thin nose, wide-set
    dark eyes, and a kind of thick chunky build you would call "buxom."  She
    is wearing wide-legged grey wool slacks over medium-heeled black boots, a
    white turtleneck pullover covered by one of those unstructured ladies'
    jackets, no hat, no jewelry that you can see, pale lipstick, too much
    eyeliner, and some rouge that doesn't quite hide the tiny scar just under
    her right eye.

    You decide to take the case.


SIR GUY GALLANT AND THE DEADLY WARNING -- by Eddie R. Wright

    `Sir Guy Gallant and the Deadly Warning' is a mystery/adventure game set
    in mid-17th century England, on the property of Gallant Hall.  The player
    takes on the role of Sir Guy Gallant, a cavalier-knight of that era.  As
    Sir Guy you must discover clues as to who killed your father, the late Sir
    James.  These clues are scattered about the scene of the crime (Gallant
    Hall).  Some clues may be obvious, others may not, while others may just
    be thrown in to put you on a false scent, or maybe not.  It's up to you to
    decide!  Once all of the appropriate clues have been found you will know
    who the killer is.  Then of course you can solve the mystery!  But that's
    not all!


LOST IN SPACE: DR. SMITH GOES HOME -- A mini-text game designed to play in
a single sitting -- by Graeme Cree

This game is based on the old TV series by the same name.  The game begins:

    Year:  2005.  You are Dr. Anne, ...er Zachary Smith.  It's been eight
    years since you became trapped aboard the Jupiter 2 with the tiresome
    Robinson family.  After your early attempts to convince them to return to
    Earth turned rather nasty, you've been lying low ever since, playing the
    buffoon and waiting for your opportunity.  You thought you had it two
    years ago when you traded the ship's fuel supply to the circusmaster
    Farnum for a starchart.  Boy was Major West angry, but it was for his own
    good as well as yours.  Then what did that irritating lot do?  They took
    the charts and went to Alpha Centauri, their original destination,
    refusing to do a simple neighborly thing like drop you off at Earth on the
    way.

    Since they were six years behind schedule, they expected to find an Earth
    colony already established, but the planet that had been discovered years
    before was still empty.  Apparently your sabotage of the Jupiter set the
    U.S. space program back farther than you had thought.  At least you were
    well paid for that job, by Aeolis 14-Umbra, an agent from the nation of
    [CENSORED FOR YOUR PROTECTION].  Now all that beautiful money lies rotting
    in a Swiss account and you can't get back to spend it.

    But now your opportunity has arrived.  After two years of colonization the
    Robinson family has established themselves firmly on Alpha Centauri.  With
    aid from you they have built several shelters, and are living off the land
    quite comfortably.  Surely they wouldn't mind too much if you borrowed the
    ship, just to go back and inform Alpha Control where they are, mind you.

    The Robinsons are just setting off in the chariot to check the weather
    station, or dust the atomic pile, or some fool thing.  You have learned
    enough to pilot the ship, but you must fuel it up, find the course data to
    Earth and make the ship spaceworthy before they return.


THE GAME OF RECOVERY -- AN ALLEGORICAL ADVENTURE -- by Daniel J. Pallotta
                                                                               
    The Game of Recovery is an allegory based on the twelve suggested steps
    orginated by Alcoholics Anonymous, now widely used by many support groups.
    The Game was developed to illustrate some of the concepts involved in the
    steps.

    The game is intended for entertainment purposes only and is not intended
    to support, replace or otherwise supplement any group, program or
    philosophy. However, if you know of the steps, you have a head start and
    can refer to them.  If you don't, then this game may illustrate what the
    steps are about.

    Remember, this game does not attempt to explain or define the Twelve
    Steps. "Take what you like and leave the rest."

    The game has "pop-up" hints.


THE DARKEST ROAD TRILOGY -- by Clive Wilson.

    This trilogy consists of three related games: THE DARKEST ROAD, THE UNBORN
    ONE, and TWAS A TIME OF DREAD.

    THE DARKEST ROAD

    As the great sadness spread over the land and the darkness drew ever
    closer from the north, the whispers around the campfires were of some
    strange dark magic dispensed by the evil one known as the BLACK WANDERER.
    Far to the north, over the Darklen Moor and beyond the Eagleshorn, is
    where he is said to dwell, in a vast, grotesque fortress known as 'The
    Pinnacle'.  From within its confines the 'Black One' deals out his awesome
    powers and covers the land in the creeping darkness that threatens to
    envelop all who occupy it... even the beast of the field and the fowl of
    the air are not safe from this dark malignancy.

    Then one morn as the sky grew ever greyer and the sun ever weaker, a
    Stranger entered the village... ragged and drawn he begged for sustenance
    and was grateful for the warm bread and cold milk that was offered him.
    In return he told of the darkness and of the BLACK WANDERER and his thirst
    for power. However, he also told of the means to prevent this happening
    and of the one person who could carry out this task.  He told of the power
    of the SILENT SONG and of the bearer of this power.  Of the person who
    could use this power... of YOU.... for you possess the gift of SILENT SONG
    and YOU alone can drive the darkness from the land.

    THE UNBORN ONE

    Once more, the Mysterious Stranger had appeared from out of nowhere and
    sought your assistance in putting right the problems besetting the land.
    For a vile plague had befallen the people... killing them in their
    thousands... and the Southlands were in dire need of some form of
    salvation.  Unless this happened soon the Southlands would become no more
    than a barren wilderness, devoid of all life, save the warped beings that
    now stalked the night.

    This plague was brought about by the one known as 'The Unborn One'.  An
    evil concocted by the Black Wanderer and hidden away until now, just
    waiting to heed his call.  The Unborn One had risen and taken the Citadel
    of Gor as his nest and it was he who dispensed the plague in all its vile
    glory.  The Citadel is protected by the Hosts, an evil breed of creature
    that only the legendary 'Silent Song' can destroy.  But be warned, The
    Unborn One cannot be harmed by the 'Silent Song' ...

    It is a creature more deadly than the Black Wanderer and as such is immune
    to the powers of the Song.

    You must gain access to the Citadel and somehow stop The Unborn One from
    destroying the Southlands, whilst all the time avoiding the evil creatures
    that protect him.

    TWAS A TIME OF DREAD

    For three thousand years nothing has been heard of The Mysterious Stranger
    but now on a dark, wet and windy night he returns.  To you, a descendent
    of the 'Singer of the Song'.  You, a mere child, still flush with the
    vigour of youth.  To you he comes.  You who have done nothing remotely
    heroic in all of your seventeen years.

    The Mysterious Stranger tells you that although the Silent Song has been
    lost, it too has mutated.  It has mutated within YOU.... into something
    more than what it was.  But he cannot tell you what.  That is for you and
    you alone to discover.  He leads you to the giant bird Sebac, who is to
    carry you over the Eagleshorn to the realm of Legion and there he bids you
    farewell.  You must now set out upon the giant bird in the direction of
    Legion and there do what you will to stop the evil spreading to the
    west.......


MURDER AT THE FOLKESTONE INN -- A WEEKEND ADVENTURE WITH VITA SACKVILLE-WEST
AND VIOLET TREFUSIS -- by Anne Laughlin

    You are Vita Sackville West, the lively and elegant British heiress who is
    married to the Foreign Office diplomat, Harold Nicholson.  You are in love
    with Violet Trefusis, a woman from a family not unused to scandal;
    Violet's mother had been the mistress of King Edward.
        
    The year is 1918.  Though both you and Violet have remarkably
    understanding husbands, it still remains a fact that in order for you to
    spend anything more than fleeting moments together, you and your lover
    must create the most elaborate of ruses.  Some of these can be rather fun,
    however, and you look forward to the coming weekend's scenario with
    particular relish.  You will dress as a man and accompany your lover by
    train to the sea-side town of Folkestone.  There you will spend the
    weekend at a quiet inn, and whenever you appear outside your room you will
    do so in your role as Julian North.  Both you and Violet are aching for
    the freedom to move about and act like lovers, to pretend for even a short
    while that yours is a world where you can love as you choose.  You are
    also both excited by the prospect of pulling off such a gigantic charade,
    and only hope you can stay out of the bedroom long enough to show off what
    a handsome, well-bred couple you are.

    You and Violet head off for Folkestone on the train.  You are dressed as a
    gentleman and very much look the part with your well-cut clothes and
    strong, clear features.  You sport a small beard to divert attention from
    your fair skin, a wig to cover your long curls, and gloves to hide your
    small, feminine hands.  In all other ways you are most natural in the
    masculine role.  You laugh boisterously, flirt with and tease Violet, and
    handle her with a relaxed but possessive hand, to which Violet responds
    most gaily.  You are both deliriously happy.

    So begins this very unusual adventure.


OCEANA -- AN ADVENTURE IN A WORLD OF THE FUTURE -- By Philip Boswell

    In the year 2201, the first colonies were set up on the third and fourth
    planets of the Centauri system.  The planets were named PIBOS and ERANOS.
    One of the most startling discovers made by the colony on PIBOS was the
    finding of ruins of an ancient undersea civilization.  It was decided that
    to make excavations easier that an undersea base would be constructed to
    coordinate all excavations of the ruins.  The base was named OCEANA and
    became fully operational in the year 2245.  OCEANA remained operational
    and excavations continued for 12 years.

    While the excavations were going on at OCEANA, political conditions
    between PIBOS and ERANOS decayed to the point of war between the two
    planets. The goal of this war, it was said, was to determine which planet
    would control the Centauri system.  In the year 2257, OCEANA became the
    main base of operations for the PIBOS war effort.  Powerful weapons were
    created that could destroy missiles or ships in space.  One of the most
    powerful was an energy cannon that was built into the structure of OCEANA
    itself.  The cannon could hit an destroy any object on the surface or in
    orbit.  The energy cannon at OCEANA was the only on ever built.  If not
    for some last minute negotiations between the leaderships of the two
    planets, war would have been inevitable.  The negotiations were successful
    and a joint leadership council was set up to allow both planets to control
    their system together.  After the peace was established, it was decided
    that OCEANA would be shut down.  The commander of OCEANA resisted this and
    tried to take control of the base, but was unsuccessful.  He did manage to
    let a small portion of a lethal virus loose in the base.  After releasing
    the virus, OCEANA's commander disappeared.  The virus killed many members
    of OCEANA's crew before a cure was found.  A search was undertaken to
    locate the commander, but he was never found.  He was finally listed as
    missing and presumed dead.  OCEANA was shut down after that incident and
    has not been visited since.

    The year is now 2304 and political tensions between the two planets are
    growing.  Speculators say that war is inevitable and that with the more
    sophisticated weapons now available,  the results of such a war are beyond
    imagination.  The government of ERANOS has given indications that it is
    still willing to negotiate, but the government of PIBOS is refusing all
    attempts to negotiate.  There are rebel groups on PIBOS that have tried to
    overthrow the government but haven't had the power to do it.  In secret
    communications between ERANOS and these rebel groups, it was decided that
    the only way to convince the government of PIBOS to submit to negotiations
    was to destroy its war machines.  To do this, it was decided to send
    someone, you, back to OCEANA to repair, if necessary, and take control of
    the weapons there and use them to destroy the government's weapons.

    You were given a submarine capable of making the journey to OCEANA and
    told that if you weren't able to complete your mission in fifteen hours,
    it would be too late to stop the war.  Three hours after you left in your
    sub, you located OCEANA.  It looked like a giant hemisphere on the ocean
    floor.  You found the airlock and maneuvered your sub to connect with it.
    Your sub's automated docking system took over and docked your sub.  You
    are ready to explore OCEANA and complete your mission.  You have fifteen
    hours...GOOD LUCK!

    OCEANA is a "Master's Edition" game with its own font.


TOHO ACADEMY -- an AGT "Master's Edition" game with GRAPHICS -- by Simon Barber

    TOHO ACADEMY is a scenario of antropomorphic action in text and graphic
    form, currently running in such magazines as Rowrbrazzle, New Affurmative
    Action and the FurThest North Crew APA. Imagine the setting; an idyllic
    island on the Pacific Rim, in the halcyon days of the mid 2030's..... a
    nice place to be, you might think?  As a young ovine student on your first
    day, all you want to do is find out what's going on - maybe then you can
    survive long enough to start the Term!

    TOHO will appeal to fans of Japanimation, and "furry" stories.


THE STOLEN -- LANDMARK?! -- OF DELOS -- by M. M. Ezzell

    "The bargain is agreed!"  Your new employer, Sir Invers, has hastily
    granted your requests for expenses, equipment, and eventual reward.  Now
    he slides a heavy purse toward you across his beaten-gold desk-top.
    "Enough of this talk! My augarists say you must be off at once.  The worst
    threat to the holy Great Ankh is happening even now --"

    "Sir--" a timid old magician interrupts, giving you two rings still warm
    from forging "-- more news, and worse.  Augaries now say there may be
    difficulty in identifying the true Ankh.  So we have prepared this Ring of
    Truth.  And also--"

    "Enough, enough!" Sir Invers waves him away.  "Your horse is ready, just
    follow the main road south to Shadowvillage, go now!"  He gives you a
    searching look.  "Unless you have -- important questions."

    So begins THE STOLEN -- LANDMARK?! -- OF DELOS

    In Delos, few adventurers die of old age, and no one dies of boredom!  In
    this game the challenge is to figure what to do, not which commands to
    type.


SPACE MULE -- AN UNEXPECTED ENCOUNTER WITH THE UNKNOWN -- by Bruce David Loving

    You are the fourth child of a family of mid-level administrators.

    Unfortunately, the society into which you were born maintains the archaic
    custom of leaving just about everything to the first-born.  You have had
    the not uncommon experience of watching two older siblings take their
    meager inheritance and quickly squander it, leaving them to scrabble out a
    woeful existence.
 
    So, with nothing to look forward to on this world, you set your sights on
    other worlds and take a job as a loader on a freighter.  Many years of
    hard labor on the inter-world freighters finally allowed you to save
    enough to buy your own ship.  It used to be a bio-freighter, carrying
    exotic foodstuffs between planets, then it was used as a repair scow.  Now
    it is yours, and you have outfitted it to perform the task of asteroid
    mining.  Whimsically christening it the "HAC", you embark on a solitary
    life of mining asteroids.

    You have made several trips to various asteroid belts and been able to
    find enough raw ore to restock your ship each time.  You are happy with
    your lot and there is always the hope of a rich strike.

    Setting out on another expedition, you enter the co-ordinates of your
    latest mining location and settle down in your bunk to sleep as your ship
    heads outward into the great void between the stars......

    You awaken with a throbbing headache, not helped by alarm klaxons sounding
    throughout the ship.

    You find yourself lying in a heap against the wall with a blanket tangled
    around you. This is not a good sign as you are sure you started the night
    in the bunk.  Attempting to stand, you feel a sharp pain in your right arm,
    you are unable to put any weight on it.

    Softly shaking your head you try to piece things together.

    A. You are on the 'HAC', a MULE class deep space mining tug.
    B. You were enroute to your latest dig. An asteroid belt around an obscure
          planetary system.
    C. The MULE was in Skip-Space when you went to bed and should not have
          emerged for another 12 hours.
    D. As far as anyone knew, there was nothing that could harm a ship
          while it was in Skip-Space.
    E. If you do not turn that damn klaxon off immediately, your head is going
          to split into little pieces.

    So begins the Space Mule adventure.

    MULE is an AGT "Master's Edition" game with GRAPHICS.


EARLIER CONTESTS

     Softworks has sponsored six earlier adventure game writing contests.
The winner of the first contest was ALICE, written by Douglas Asherman.  ALICE
put the player in the role of Alice in Wonderland, meeting many of the same
characters described in Lewis Carroll's 19th-century book while also adding
some humorous 20th-century perspective.

     The 1988 contest winner was A DUDLEY DILEMMA, by Lane Barrow, a Ph.D
candidate at Harvard.  In this game, the player assumes the role of a Harvard
student in his/her quest for knowledge, adventure and a diploma.  Along the
way, the player experiences a student sit-in and meets panhandlers, MIT
students and other bizarre characters roaming Harvard Square.

     SON OF STAGEFRIGHT, by Mike McCauley was the 1989 winner.  In this game,
you play the role of an actor (or actress) trying to get out of an old,
abandoned theater. This is an adventure game in three "Acts", where each Act
has a different theme and a different challenge.  The game is fun(ny),
frightening and very clever.

     CRIME TO THE NINTH POWER by Patrick Farley was the 1990 contest winner.
In this game, the player helps Cliff Diver, a San Francisco private
investigator escape from the deadly milieu of the Zamboni crime family's
secret headquarters.  A "hard-boiled" detective adventure in the style of Sam
Spade or Philip Marlowe!

     In the 1991 contest, we had a tie for first place: COSMOSERVE - AN
ADVENTURE GAME FOR BBS-ENSLAVED by Judith Pintar, and THE MULTI-DIMENSIONAL
THIEF by Joel Finch.

     COSMOSERVE - AN ADVENTURE GAME FOR BBS-ENSLAVED -- as might be guessed
from the title -- is an adventure that takes place inside a BBS or Bulletin
Board System  (complete with sound effects for logging on, switching the
computer ON and OFF, etc.)  COSMOSERVE is a very, very original, innovative
and unusual game!

     In the game THE MULTI-DIMENSIONAL THIEF, you play the role of a thief
faced with the challenge of rooms "borrowed" from other universes and
permeated with a number of useful items including the infamous "portable
hole."  Filled with wonderful puzzles that will remind you of Infocom's
finest, THIEF is extremely well-written, clever and very funny.

     In the 1992 contest, we again had a tie for first place: CLIFF DIVER:
INVESTIGATOR FOR HIRE -- PURCHASED SIGHT UNSEEN by Pat Farley and SHADES OF
GRAY -- AN ADVENTURE IN BLACK AND WHITE by Mark Baker, Steve Bauman, Belisana,
Mike Laskey, Judith Pintar, the hercules/Assoc. SysOp, and Cindy Yans

     CLIFF DIVER: INVESTIGATOR FOR HIRE -- PURCHASED SIGHT UNSEEN -- "Contrary
to popular belief, the life of a private investigator is not one of hot cars,
flying bullets, and loose women." -- so begins this story about Cliff Diver,
P.I.  This game is the second of a series of interactive novels featuring
Cliff Diver, a private investigator living and working in San Francisco.
Cliff's first case was our 1990 contest winner.

     SHADES OF GRAY -- AN ADVENTURE IN BLACK AND WHITE --  Shades of Gray was
conceived, written and coded by seven people: two from England, two from the
East Coast and three from the West.  They have never met each other, never, in
fact, spoken to each other on the phone, nor even corresponded by mail.  The
entire project was managed through E-Mail, from within a private CompuServe
Gamer's Forum.   This is a marvelous, mammoth and innovative game.


AGT BACKGROUND

     The Adventure Game Toolkit has been favorably reviewed in a number of
personal computer publications including "PC Magazine", "Computer Gaming
World", "Big Blue Disk", and "Public-Domain Software & Shareware."  According
to those reviews, AGT "allows for creating remarkably complex and
sophisticated games in a fairly simple way,"  that "anyone with an ounce of
imagination can create adventure games...similar in layout and sophistication
to those from Infocom," and "the process is easy...and you'll have hours of
fun doing it."  AGT was the recent winner of the Adventure & Strategy Club's
Golden Chalice Award.

     Originally marketed as Shareware, the Adventure Game Toolkit is now
available as "freeware" in versions for MS-DOS, Windows, Macintosh, Amiga and
Atari ST computers.  "Freeware" means that any user of the program is free to
use AGT as they care to -- however, the authors of AGT still retain the
copyrights for the AGT programs and documentation.  Copies of the AGT program
disks may be obtained from user groups, bulletin boards, or a wide variety of
disk vendors for a nominal fee.