HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: ddj+@cs.cmu.edu (Doug DeJulio)
Subject: Re: Info-flop and new thread (mild spoilers)
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 20:37:15 GMT

In article <1992Oct7.111433.3007@wkuvx1.bitnet> mollems@wkuvx1.bitnet writes:
>What is your all-time single favorite puzzle or problem in an IF game? 
>(by "problem" I define a single quandary or tightly defined section of
>a game - for example, the "12 cubes" puzzle in _Spellbreaker_ or the
>coal mine area in Zork I both qualify, but the whole endgame of
>_Trinity_ is too broad for what I'm talking about -- though I loved
>it).
>
>I would have to say that mine is the "meeting yourself" time quandary
>in _Sorcerer_.  That was too cool.  Honorable mention honors go to the
>Island Where Time Runs Backward in Spellcasting 101, for pure creative
>thought....

My favorate puzzles would be the Charlemange's Crown puzzle in
TimeQuest, or if that's too long to count as one puzzle then the
"cooperate with yourself" puzzle during the endgame of TimeQuest.
-- 
Doug DeJulio
ddj+@cmu.edu


Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
From: storm@summa.tamu.edu (Let it Rain)
Subject: Need help on A Mind Forever Voyaging
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: Texas A&M University, Academic Computing Services
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 09:34:00 GMT

I've reached the point in AMFV where Prof. Perelman has returned from
Washington with the news that your findings about the Plan were rejected.

At this point, I think I'm missing something because he leaves and says
that he's going to keep in touch.  But, I don't hear anything from him
until many turns later when I get a message saying something about the
maintenance core.  As soon as I get there - before I can do anything -
the Senator destroys my "brain" and the game ends.

During this time, I did figure out how to take out the saboteurs by 
shutting off the ventilation.  But, this doesn't seem to help.

Any hints or comments would be appreciated.

-Storm 

/--------------------------------------------------------------------------\
|-| Scott Shaw, also known as _sToRm_ | "They say true love is suicide"  |-|
|-| Texas A&M University - Psychology + -------------------------------  |-|
|-|      (storm@rigel.tamu.edu)       | "What fools these mortals be!"   |-|
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------/
Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
From: jmkaraka@eos.ncsu.edu (JOHN MARTIN KARAKASH)
Subject: Re: Info-flop and new thread (mild spoilers)
Originator: jmkaraka@c00000-118dan.eos.ncsu.edu
Reply-To: jmkaraka@eos.ncsu.edu (JOHN MARTIN KARAKASH)
Organization: North Carolina State University, Project Eos
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 21:11:17 GMT


|>>What is your all-time single favorite puzzle or problem in an IF game? 
|>
|>I'd have to see the Bable fish in HHGTTG gets my vote - such a simply
|>designed puzzle, yet still a b*tch. Very satisfying when you get through
|>it.
|>-- 
|>John Switzer               | Why am I voting for Clinton? Because... 


	Hear, hear!  For many moons the cryptic series of letters (IGTBF) 
would appear in oddest places in my e-correspondence.  When someone finally
broke down and asked, he get an earful of my trial with that damn piscene.

	-john-
From: xeno@iastate.edu (Gary L Snethen)
Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
Subject: Re: Draft of the FAQ
Date: 17 Oct 92 01:05:18 GMT
Article-I.D.: pv34ad.xeno.719283918
Organization: Iowa State University, Ames IA

In <zP6-0l_@engin.umich.edu> positron@engin.umich.edu (Jonathan Scott Haas) writes:

>An excellent FAQ. However, I have a suggestion.
>
>In the section about spoilers, you should include
>information about a certain control character.
>
>That character is ^L, or control-L.
>
>When inserted as the first character of a line, it
>will cause most newsreaders to pause and wait for
>a key.
>
>It's a better solution than inserting dozens of
>blank lines, which is what many people still do.

>-- 
>__/\__  Jonathan S. Haas         | Jake liked his women the way he liked
>\    /  University of Michigan   | his kiwi fruit: sweet yet tart, firm-
>/_  _\  positron@engin.umich.edu | fleshed yet yielding to the touch, and
>  \/    Marrou/Lord in '92!      | covered with short brown fuzzy hair.

Thanks for the suggestion... now tell us how it's done with emacs.

---Xeno
From: mollems@wkuvx1.bitnet (Molley the Mage)
Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
Subject: Re: Zork 0 probs... (MILD spoilers)
Date: 13 Oct 92 12:10:25 CDT
Organization: Great Cthulhu 1992 Campaign HQ

In article <92285.154725MRM122@psuvm.psu.edu>, <MRM122@psuvm.psu.edu> writes:
> (Possible spoliers)
> OK, can anyone out there help me with some probs I have been having with Zork 0
> that just don't seem to have answers on it's on-line hints....

>  One: The lake bottom- it's dark and there is nothing I can do.  I can't go any
>  further until I get what is there, though. How do I light it?

There's a brass search light on the diving bell (or whatever it is). 
Turn it on.

>  Two: The oasis- you get points for getting there, but then what?  What are you
>  supposed to do there?

You will be sent there to obtain something much later in the game.

>  Three: The four orbs- again, what is their point?  They are the only thing bey
> ond the toll gate, so it must be important, but I don't see it...

They, too, are not important until much later in the game.  For a
brilliantly spoiling hint, look up ZILBEETHA in the Encyclopedia
Frobozzica.
 
>                                             Marsh

-- Sean 
---
M. Sean Molley, CS Department, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY
RealSpace - (502) 745-4027 | Why settle for the lesser evil?  Cthulhu in '92!
Xref: sparky rec.games.int-fiction:528 comp.sys.amiga.programmer:14374 comp.sys.amiga.games:13985
From: olsen@sourcery.mxm.sub.org (Olaf Barthel)
Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction,comp.sys.amiga.programmer,comp.sys.amiga.games
Subject: Re: anyone built itf 4.01 for amiga?
Date: 12 Oct 92 22:25:03 GMT
Organization: MXM Barthel & Paesler
X-NewsSoftware: GRn 1.16e (7/4/92) by Mike Schwartz & Michael B. Smith

In article <1992Oct9.190159.11880@rtsg.mot.com> earl@rtsg.mot.com (Brent R. Earl) writes:
> I am attempting to build itf with manx aztec c 5.2a, and gcc222
> (converted to amiga).  I was wondering if anyone else has
> successfully built to amiga, and if so, how, which compiler,
> what the makefile looks like.

   I am about to take a closer look at the new ITF source code. It's strange
that the InfoTaskForce have released the new revision now. As of this
writing I have working Amiga ports of the ITF v2.99 interpreter (including sound
support, proportional font support and lots of other goodies) interpreter and
Mark Howell's `ZIP' interpreter (same features as the ITF v2.99 port, but
also including type-4 game support) on my machine. Both are very close to
release.

-- 
Olaf Barthel       | Internet: olsen@sourcery.mxm.sub.org
Brabeckstrasse 35  |           o.barthel@a-link-h.comlink.de
D-3000 Hannover 71 |           cbmvax.commodore.com!cbmehq!sourcery!olsen
MXM, ECG127        |   Z-Netz: O.BARTHEL@A-LINK-H
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
                        Ceci n'est pas une pipe.
From: djohnson@cs.ucsd.edu (Darin Johnson)
Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
Subject: Re: Info-flop and new thread (mild spoilers)
Date: 13 Oct 92 18:22:19 GMT
Organization: =CSE Dept., U.C. San Diego

>As an additional question for this thread: What puzzles took a unusually long
>time/required outside help/made you feel stupid when you found the
>answer?

Well, the ones where I don't solve it because I think that I've already
tried the solution when I haven't :-)

maybe spoiler...

Then there are things like the bank in zork/dungeon, where I tried
"north", it failed, so I assumed the field was a force-field you
couldn't pass through.  The "feel stupid" part was that I would
ever so often get frustrated, and again try a "north", then give
up on that approach for another hour :-)
-- 
Darin Johnson
djohnson@ucsd.edu
    "Are you a doctor?"   "No, but I watched."
Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
From: adam@owlnet.rice.edu (Adam Justin Thornton)
Subject: Itf, .dat files, file permissions, and legal questions:
Organization: Milo's Meadow
Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1992 04:10:09 GMT

My question is really pretty simple: if I have compiled the itf interpreter
and am using it to play/view games, am I legally obligated (on a multi-user
system) to keep the permissions on my .dat files set so that I am the only
person who can read them and thus, only I can play them?

Side issue: does anyone know where the SunOS patches for itf v.4.x can be
ftped from?

Adam
-- 
"Man is conceived in sin and born in corruption and he passeth from the
 stink of the didie to the stench of the shroud.  There is _always_
 something." -- Robert Penn Warren | Vote Cthulhu in '92! | adam@rice.edu
If Rice shared my opinions I wouldn't have this disclaimer | 64,928
Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
From: chil@fraser.sfu.ca (Keith Lim)
Subject: Re: The History of Infocom
Keywords: infocom
Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada
Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1992 11:27:51 GMT

gt4476a@prism.gatech.EDU (Mike Alberghini) writes:

>     I have been doing a bit of research into the history of Infocom and
>after seeing the talk here I decided to do something about it.  I am
>trying to write the definitive history of Infocom from the MIT days to
>the present.

I've had something similar on my "Things To Do--Sometime" list for years now.
Not a history of Infocom, but sort of the Ultimate Book of Infocom Trivia--
things like lists ("All the Wizard of Frobozz's spells", "All the 
hallucinations in Infidel", "All the things the adventurer does in
Enchanter", "Complete list of Frobozz Magic _______ Company companies [from
all the games]") maps, in-jokes, Easter Eggs, index to all names, locations,
objects, etc. etc, etc.

Of course, all I've got is a totally unorganised collection of scrawled notes
made on scraps of paper (often the back of computer listings.)

Anyway, I digress. What I want to say is that I think your little project is
one of the greatest ideas I've heard in a long time, and if there's anything
I can do to help...well, I'll see what I can do. "Help", in this case, means
I'm willing to spend a fair amount of time, and do a fair amount of research/
writing as a contribution to the book-to-be.

BTW, I have *one* (1) copy of the Status Line (the one which announced
Bureaucracy was soon to be released, I think), but I've lost it (wouldn't
you just know it.) Can't help you there. I dunno, what do you have so far,
esp. re contacting past Infocom implementor-types?

-- 
 Keith_Lim@sfu.ca   Simon Fraser University, Burnaby B.C., V5A 1S6, Canada
 Hon Cog Sci; Min Psyc; Forum; Senate; CDSU; URC; ASC; FARSIDE; LEAD; CCCS
No, my opinions do *NOT* reflect those of SFU or of any of the above bodies.

"...many Christians today are content to send their children to the world to
 have their wits sharpened and then wonder that they have no faith in God."
                 --from "The Unequal Yoke and Related Dangers in Education",
                         Rod and Staff Publishers, Inc.
Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
From: cgordon@vpnet.chi.il.us (gordon hlavenka)
Subject: Re: WOLF 3D and more!
Organization: Vpnet Public Access
Date: Fri, 16 Oct 1992 04:19:32 GMT


 givanov@pixmap.seas.upenn.edu (George Ace Maverick) writes:
>I was wondering, is there an ftp site from which one can get
>some of the other levels of WOLF3D?

Can't help with this, but be aware that several Wolf 3D "editors" have
been found to contain malicious code...

>How do you go through the part where this huge GUY comes from behind
>this gate and kills you with his two machine guns?

(Mild spoiler alert)


You kill him.  Yes, it's possible.  Look around that level...

-- 
----------------------------------------------------
Gordon S. Hlavenka           cgordon@vpnet.chi.il.us
  Don't forget:  Dave Barry/Joe Walsh in November!
Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
From: mechalas@gn.ecn.purdue.edu (John P. Mechalas)
Subject: TADS and ANSI?
Organization: Purdue University Engineering Computer Network
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 92 19:01:03 GMT

Does anyone know how to get TADS to utilize ANSI codes?  I have instances
where I would like to create bold and/or colored type, and have tried
various conventions in an attempt to do so.  So far, no luck...

-- 
John Mechalas                                          "I'm not an actor, but
mechalas@gn.ecn.purdue.edu                                 I play one on TV."
Aero Engineering, Purdue University                     #include disclaimer.h
From: xeno@iastate.edu (Gary L Snethen)
Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
Subject: Re: Best and worst problems (was: Re: Info-flop and new thread (mild spoilers))
Date: 17 Oct 92 00:45:09 GMT
Article-I.D.: pv34ad.xeno.719282709
Organization: Iowa State University, Ames IA

In <1992Oct9.133153.20665@news.acns.nwu.edu> msr@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Michael Rosenberg) writes:

>>Then there are really stupid problems. The worst I've ever seen is the
>>"baseball problem" in Zork: I've had it explained to me, I've read
>>Infocom's InvisiClues, and I still don't get it - it's still
>>incomprehensible. (Maybe that's because I don't know anything about
>>baseball, not being American).

>That's weird, because I can't remember any problem in Zork relating to a
>baseball. It's been a long time since I played it, but I think I'd remember
>something along those lines.

This is in Zork II...  Remember the club with the burnt end that said
"Babe Flathead?"  Remember the glowing plates on the ground?  Remember
how to get the plates glowing?  If you are like me, you just wandered around
aimlessly and got it right by chance...  ;)  But it WAS a baseball puzzle.

>mind you :)  The puzzle that leaps to mind is how to get past the cyclops. 
>I don't mind solutions that aren't obvious, but that one seemed a bit far
>fetched to come up with, without any other clues.

Seemed easy to me...  give him the sandwich...  ;)
Or do you mean the OTHER solution?  Oh...  Well, that was written in the
big black book plain as day...

>There are a lot of other games with dumb/simple problems, but what may seem
>simple to one person may drive others insane.  It all depends on how you
>think.  The answer to the riddle in Leather Goddesses seemed obvious to me,
>but I know other people who have racked their brains for hours trying to
>answer it.

That's easy too...  "Grapefruit!"


>*  Mike Rosenberg                   |   msr@casbah.acns.nwu.edu              *


---Xeno
From: lavonius@plootu.Helsinki.FI (Ville Lavonius)
Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
Subject: Re: Draft of the FAQ
Date: 13 Oct 92 16:10:33 GMT
	<1992Oct13.004845.8961@leland.Stanford.EDU>
Organization: Cthulhoid Entities for a Better Tomorrow

In article <1992Oct13.004845.8961@leland.Stanford.EDU> trump@leland.Stanford.EDU (Michael Jason Lewis) writes:


   You, sir, are a god among men.  That was wonderful.

Amen to that, I was glued to the screen at the first few lines. Truly a
work of art.

   You ought to point out iat some point, since it isn't always obvious, that
   non-Infocom games are acceptable topics.

Yes, perhaps a listing with companies and their games (both old and new), such
as Legend, Penguin, Magentic Scrolls etc. But lets do this in an organized
fashion, not as a shoutalong where everyone posts tons of notes to the 
newsgroup.

#include <bogus.excuse>
I'd do it, but I certainly took an overdose of courses this autumn :-(

   - Mike Lewis
   trump@leland.stanford.edu
--
Ville Lavonius	        University of Helsinki, Dept. of Computer Science
lavonius@cc.helsinki.fi : "Too much of a good thing is WONDERFUL" - Mae West
Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
From: jennings@halcyon.com (James Jennings)
Subject: Re: Info-flop and new thread (mild spoilers)
Organization: The 23:00 News and Mail Service
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 07:08:13 GMT

In a discussion of dumb puzzles Geoff Horne writes
>>I'd like to add _starcross_ and _SpellBreaker_ and all the other games
>>written by that guy

While I agree that Planetfall suffered from too many phony puzzles
(leaving one with the impression that there weren't many real puzzles) I
didn't have that problem with Starcross. I haven't finished
Spellbreaker.

There is a related issue. I have found that *every* Infocom game that I
have ever played has had at least one puzzle that would have stumped me
completely without outside help. In Zork I it was opening the egg. In
Zork II it was the oddly angled rooms with the diamond shaped window. In
all of these cases, it always seemed that I was making an assumption
that the writer of the game hadn't forseen. (Usually a *stupid*
assumption. ;-) 

As an additional question for this thread: What puzzles took a unusually long
time/required outside help/made you feel stupid when you found the
answer?

James
Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
Subject: All Games
From: gnat@kauri.vuw.ac.nz (Nathan Torkington)
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 01:42:53 GMT
Organization: Contract to CSC, Victoria Uni, Wellington, New Zealand

Okey dokey, I volunteer to keep a list of all the adventure games
known to mankind.  Before you start thinking "what the hey - there
must be bazillions", let me tell you - you're right.  But I will only
take a limited amount of information:

Title
Year of Release
Company
Author(s)
Machine(s)
Premise/Plot/Scenario

I already have the Infocom games sussed.  It's non-Infocom games that
I want information on.

Cheers;

Nat
(Nathan.Torkington@kauri.vuw.ac.nz)
Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
From: jmkaraka@eos.ncsu.edu (JOHN MARTIN KARAKASH)
Subject: Re: WOLF 3D and more!
Originator: jmkaraka@c00078-100lez.eos.ncsu.edu
Reply-To: jmkaraka@eos.ncsu.edu (JOHN MARTIN KARAKASH)
Organization: North Carolina State University, Project Eos
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 20:19:13 GMT


>
|>	Hi people!
|>I was wondering, is there an ftp site from which one can get
|>some of the other levels of WOLF3D?
|>How do you go through the part where this huge GUY comes from behind
|>this gate and kills you with his two machine guns?
|>Thank you.
|>
	Included with the game is the mailing address of the company
you can order the other games from (I forget what menu it's in).
	I'm assuming you're not asking for FREE versions of games
that are for sale.  If you are, I hope you get no replies.  Wolfenstein 3D
is a GREAT game, that was released as freely distributable to encourage
sales for the authors.  I'm sure no more needs to be said.

	If you've got the best gun in the game (I forget what it's called)
just blast him like mad as soon as the door is opened (make sure you
have enough ammo and full health!)  No trick to it.

		-john-
Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
From: mcrosby@nyx.cs.du.edu (Matthew Crosby)
Subject: Re: The trend in adventure games
X-Disclaimer: Nyx is a public access Unix system run by the University
	of Denver for the Denver community.  The University has neither
	control over nor responsibility for the opinions of users.
Organization: Nyx, Public Access Unix at U. of Denver Math/CS dept.
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 92 23:00:25 GMT

In article <92272.212323MBS110@psuvm.psu.edu> Norman St. John Polevaulter <MBS110@psuvm.psu.edu> writes:
>Be fair, though. Graphical adventures aren't ALL bad. Monkey Island II, for
>example, depends on silly sight gags and slick animation/stills for a lot
>of what it does. It would certainly lose something transferred from graphics
>to all-text. Just like the best text adventures -- Planetfall or Spellbreaker,
>say -- would lose their impact blown up to 22 megs of graphics and chrome.
>(I can still remember the escape capsule scene and climactic chase from PF,
>and the end of Spellbreaker -- full of drama and tension. These would cough
>and die as graphics.)
I agree!  But don't forget Floyds Death!!!


>
>Just as movies of books tend to lose something, books of movies also usually
>turn out pretty bad. There's room enough in the universe for both movies and
>books.
>
>Of course, the problem in Interactive Fiction Land is that movies have
>largely crowded out books, but that's a slightly different topic. (Come to
>think of it, there was hardly anyone making text adventures except Infocom,
>wasn't there? So once the Big I went belly-up there was nobody to fill the
>gap remaining behind. I think that may be the reason for the graphics glut...)
>
Well, I don't know.  In the old days, a huge number of places put out AG's with
the ability to turn the graphics off, and they where always static.  Magnetic
Scrolls, Melbourne House, etc, etc...


--
-Matt
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the net!
mcrosby@nyx.cs.du.edu  -or-  crosby@kinglear.cs.colorado.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
From: arromdee@jyusenkyou.cs.jhu.edu (Ken Arromdee)
Subject: Re: Best and worst problems (was: Re: Info-flop and new thread (mild spoilers))
Organization: Johns Hopkins University CS Dept.
Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1992 07:51:24 GMT

In article <dpn2.6.718692896@po.CWRU.Edu> dpn2@po.CWRU.Edu (Damien P. Neil) writes:
>>The dumbest puzzle in an Infocom game that I can think of would definitely
>>be Zork I's Echo Room. :)
>Ha! That's what _you_ think! :-) There are two ways to do this one...one 
>stupid, one smart. (I figured out one, and had to be told the other.)

>echo (stupid)
>[smart deleted]

Actually, my _first_reaction_ in that room was to say the word echo to try
out the room.  I didn't even realize it was more than a cute feature for
a very long time....
--
"the bogosity in a field equals the bogosity imported from related areas, plus
the bogosity generated internally, minus the bogosity expelled or otherwise
disposed of."  -- K. Eric Drexler

Ken Arromdee (UUCP: ....!jhunix!arromdee; BITNET: arromdee@jhuvm;
     INTERNET: arromdee@jyusenkyou.cs.jhu.edu)
From: uerics@mcl.ucsb.edu (Eric D. Shepherd)
Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
Subject: Re: Draft of the FAQ
Date: 14 Oct 92 00:53:59 GMT
Article-I.D.: mcl.uerics.719024039

There are _no_ graphic games in the LTOI II package.

- Eric S.

--
Eric Shepherd  |  Internet: uerics@mcl.mcl.ucsb.edu  |  AOL: Sheppy
-------- ACM Member ----- Apple II Alliance Charter Member --------
"Apple II Forever!"   is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc.
						 Isn't that ironic?