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.