This disk/ZIP file contains a complete, working, fully-functional text adventure game which was created using the Shareware version of the "Classic" Edition of Adventure Game Toolkit (AGT). In addition to the Classic Edition, Softworks has just released a follow-on product, the "Master's" Edition of AGT. OVERVIEW OF THE ADVENTURE GAME TOOLKIT: The ADVENTURE GAME TOOLKIT (AGT) lets you design/write your own high-quality text adventure games. Once created, these adventure games can be shared with others -- even if they do not have a copy of the AGT themselves. AGT has a number of features that make it a very comprehensive adventure game creation product. Some of these key features are: * "Look and feel" of Infocom adventure games with similar screen layout and standard vocabulary and routines. * Large standard vocabulary with potential to define many more words unique to your gam. Typical games can have a vocabulary of 500 words or more. * Sophisticated parser that can understand (1) complex input commands including pronouns (IT, HIM, HER, THEM, MY and ITS), and (2) compound commands separated by AND or THEN or punctuation symbols, and (3) commands addressed to characters within the game. Here are a few examples of commands AGT can handle with ease: GET THE FLASH LIGHT AND THEN SWITCH IT ON PUT ON THE CLOAK, THEN EXAMINE IT; READ ITS LABEL PLACE THE GREEN ROCK AND THE SMALL PEBBLE BEHIND THE TREE ENTER THE HOUSE; GET ALL; EXIT; SOUTH; SOUTH THEN DOWN SULU, SET A COURSE FOR ALPHA 14 SCOTTY, BEAM DOWN A TRICORDER AND THE QWERTY MODULE DROP THE FOOD, THE KEY AND THE BOTTLE THEN UNLOCK THE DOOR WITH THE BRASS KEY AND THEN LEAVE * Function and cursor keys predefined to input frequently used commands and move directions. * SCRIPT and UNSCRIPT commands to echo game output to printer. * Versions for IBM, Macintosh, Atari ST and Amiga. Games created on one of these computers can be played on all of the others without modifications to the game. WHAT THE REVIEWERS HAVE SAID ABOUT THE ADVENTURE GAME TOOLKIT "Using the Adventure Game Toolkit, anyone with an ounce of imagination can create a text adventure game ... similar in layout and sophistication to those made by Infocom and other commercial developers." -- Donald B. Trivette (PC Magazine) "The Adventure Game Toolkit (AGT) acts as a compiler which allows for creating remarkably complex and sophisticated games in a fairly simple way .... AGT's parser reminds me of Infocom's." -- Scorpia (Computer Gaming World) "If you have ever wondered what it is like to create your own adventure games, but didn't have the programming knowledge to do it, this product is for you .... The process is easy ... and you'll have hours of fun doing it." -- Resul DeMaria (Public Domain Software & Shareware) "The Adventure Game Toolkit from Softworks ... provides all the tools you need to build your own text based adventure games .... The Adventure Game Toolkit is an extremely powerful development package." -- Bob Napp (Big Blue Disk) Recently, the Adventure Game Toolkit was awarded the "Golden Chalice" Award by the Adventure And Strategy Club (of England). HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS FOR AGT IBM: The games created by the Adventure Game Toolkit requires a computer with at least 384K of memory, MS-DOS 2.1, and at least one disk drive. It is possible to use any kind of monitor and AGT will automatically adjust its output to best suit the monitor. THE "CLASSIC" EDITION OF THE ADVENTURE GAME TOOLKIT The "Classic Edition" (i.e., the version we have been perfecting for the last seven years) of AGT is very simple to use and can be used by programming novices or even by non-programmer's to create very professional text adventures similar to those from firms like Infocom. Versions of the Classic Edition are available for IBM, Macintosh, Atari ST and Amiga computers and games created on any of these computers can be re-compiled and played on any of the other computers. The Classic Edition is still supported and available from Softworks as Shareware for only $20 (or $40 including a 223 page printed manual with lots and lots of detailed examples). Anyone who orders the Classic Edition will get two disks filled with a number of "goodies" that are NOT included with the "unregistered" versions of AGT -- specifically, you will get a number of great games (in AGT source code format): QUEST Recover your magic spells and amulets from Blackwing's Pit. SQUYNCH Challenge the evils and mysteries of the Land of Squynch. Very clever! As good as Infocom! PARANOIA An adaptation of a classic fantasy role-playing game from "SpaceGamer/FantasyGamer" magazine. ELF Help Santa make it a merry, merry Christmas by discovering how to make Rudolph's nose shine bright enough to fly the sleigh through the fog covering the North Pole. UNDERGND A game of survival after World War III. Uses all of the tricks of the original GAGS (Standard Level) adventures. DEENA A woman warrior's struggle to escape from the lecherous Gendi tribe. (R-rated) DRAGONS An adventure in the Sultan's palace with side trips to his dungeon, the torture chamber and the harem. (R-rated) BIGDATE Get ready for your big date. An adventure told from a woman's point of view. CTA "Cristian Text Adventure" is an allegorical adventure where you battle figures like "Unbelief", "Greed" and "Lust" using such weapons as the "Sword of the Spirit" and the "Staff of Righteousness". FABLE An allegorical quest for meaning and understanding in life. LOTTERY An adventure in San Francisco with emphasize on the "red light" district. (R-rated) NMR "Adventures in NMR" is an example of how one might use an AGT game format to explain/describe something like a complex product or how to diagnois a problem with equipment, etc. Specifically, in NMR, the object is to purchase an NMR spectrometer and measure a spectrum without killing yourself in the process. EASTER A game aimed at and suitable for children from 7-12. Hunt for Easter Eggs around the house. Truly charming! VANPELT An orientation to the Van Pelt library at the University of Pennsylvania. Used to teach new students how to find their way around the library and how to undertake basic library research. Plus, anyone who orders the Classic Edition will get several great game creation utilities: AA "Adventure Author" -- a utility to create Standard Level games by "filling-in-the-blanks" using a form. The form is then turned into the basic data file that AGT needs. AGTMACRO A TSR that creates "templates" for ROOMs, NOUNs, etc. from within your text editor or word processor -- saving you both time, errors and typing. AGTNUM A utility than enables you to use meaningful "labels" rather than numbers, e.g., NOUN 233 can be expressed as NOUN [Big Ax], and MESSAGE 41 can become MESSAGE [Don't go near the dragon!]. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE CLASSIC EDITION AND THE MASTER'S EDITION OF AGT The "Master's Edition" is the long-awaited and long-promised version 2.0 of AGT and represents the response to over seven years of AGT user's requests for improvements and additional capabilities and features. The MASTER'S EDITION of ADVENTURE GAME TOOLKIT is designed to allow a game designer/writer to create and play his/her own high-quality text adventure games with optional graphic illustrations, sound effects and music. Once created, these adventure games can be shared with and enjoyed by others -- even if they do not have a copy of the Adventure Game Toolkit themselves. FEATURES OF MASTER'S EDITION OF THE ADVENTURE GAME TOOLKIT In addition to ALL the features and capabilities of the Classic Edition, the Master's Edition of AGT has a number of additional features, including: * Bigger games; approximately twice as large as "Classic" games, e.g., up to 300 rooms, 200 nouns, 900 messages, etc., and a typical game can have a vocabulary of 1000 words or more. * An OOPS feature that allows you to edit/correct your input commands. * Optional graphic illustrations using PCX formatted pictures for display on CGA, EGA or VGA screens. The PCX format is the most widely available of any picture format and is supported by most PAINT and/or DRAW programs. Plus -- a great deal of PCX "clip-art" is available. * Optional animation using FLI files (produced by Autodesk Animator, Animator Pro, 3D-Studio, PC-Animate, StrataVision 3D and other animation packages) that can be displayed on VGA screens (only). The FLI format is the most widely used animation format. Plus -- a great deal of FLI animation "clip-art" is available. * Optional music and sound effects that can be played in the "background" during the game. These sound effects can either use the PC's internal speaker or use an AdLib or SoundBlaster (or compatible) "sound card" (if one is available). * Optional user-definable "look-and-feel" interface including a menu-driven player input option that displays feasible commands for the player to pick from. * Optional "pop-up" hints available when the and keys are pressed at the same time. * Optional fonts (EGA and VGA monitors only) that can be changed to suit the needs of the game. The Master's Edition comes with over 30 sample fonts including Old English, Scrawl, Computereze. Plus, a Font Editor is provided that allows you to create your own unique fonts. The Master's Edition is totally compatible with the Classic Edition and games originally developed for the Classic Edition can be easily converted to (using a provided conversion utility) and used with the Master's Edition. The Master's Edition is available only for IBM (or compatible) computers. However, be warned: The Master's Edition is aimed at the more sophisticated and experienced programmer/game designer! The Master's Edition is available from Softworks for only $50. This price includes the cost of six ZIPped disks with over 5 megabytes of goodies including complete documentation on disk, a bunch of game creation utilities, several brand new sample games including the complete AGT source code to: * HUMONGOUS CAVE (believed to be the largest text adventure game available on any microcomputer). Based on the "Colassal Cave" adventure, but expanded to 1000 points, 300 locations, hundreds of objects, elves and other creatures, treasures and puzzles. * HURRY! HURRY! HURRY! -- an illustrated, musical text adventure about a mystery in a traveling circus with all of the game's related font, music, sound effects and pictures files. * SHERLOCK HOLMES -- a very unusual, menu-driven adventure where you play the famous detective and try to solve a total of 18 separate cases. This adventure illustrates the Master's Edition's vastly improved capability to handle questions and answers. * BRAINSCAPE -- an adventure that takes place inside the brain similar to the novels (and movie) by Isaac Asimov "Fantastic Voyage" and "Fantastic Voyage II: Destination Brain". * SQUYNCH -- a classic adventure in-the-style-of-Infocom in which you challenge the evils and mysteries of the Land of Squynch. Very clever! * PORK -- a parody of the Infocom ZORK series of adventures. If you were frustrated by ZORK, play PORK and enjoy the sweet fruits of revenge. * ADVENTURELAND and PIRATE'S ADVENTURE -- two true classic games by Scott Adams converted to AGT. See how a real master of the genre does his magic! WHICH VERSION IS RIGHT FOR YOU? If you are a "power" gamer/programmer and know that you can use (or need) the full power of the Master's Edition, then by all means -- get the Master's Edition. If you have less experience with programming or game design, then you should probably start with the Classic Edition. If you select the Classic Edition, you can always upgrade later when you need the full power of the Master's Edition -- for a special "registered AGT user" upgrade price of only $35. REMEMBER: Softworks is a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals -- your guarantee of quality in shareware software. ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ÚÄÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄ¿ ³ (tm) ÄÄij ³O ³ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ ³ ÚÄÄÄÄÄÁÐÄÄ¿ ³ Association of ³ ³ ÃÄÙ Shareware ÀÄÄÄ´ O ³ Professionals ÄÄÄÄÄÄij º ³ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ ÀÄÄÄÄÐÄÄÄÄÙ MEMBER ADVENTURE GAME TOOLKIT (AGT) REGISTRATION/ORDER FORM Remit to: Softworks 43064 Via Moraga Mission San Jose, California 94539-5748 You can also order by phone using your Mastercard or VISA by dialing (510) 659-0533, 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM., PST ONLY, Monday to Thursday 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM., PST ONLY, Saturday and Sunday AGT Registration (Classic Edition)........................ $ 20.00 $ ______ includes: (1) Notice of future AGT upgrades, new AGT Adventures and related AGT products. (2) Latest version of the programs, sample Adventure game source files (CAVE, CRUSADE, UNDERGND, ALICE and others), and summary documentation on disk. Over one and half megabyte of program and data files -- ZIPped on two disks. (3) Telephone support from 7 PM to 9 PM PST (M-Th) plus Weekends. (4) The option to upgrade to the Master's Edition of AGT at any time for only $ 35. Above with printed AGT manual (Classic Edition)........... $ 40.00 $ ______ includes: Above items plus printed manual (223 pages) with numerous detailed examples on how to use the Adventure Game Toolkit to create very professional and very clever Adventure games. The printed AGT manual has approximately 300% the amount of information as contained in the summary disk documentation. Printed "Classic Edition" AGT manual (Only) .............. $ 25.00 $ ______ Master's Edition AGT Purchase ............................ $ 50.00 $ ______ The Master's Edition of AGT is for the IBM only and is aimed at more sophisticated programmers/game designers. The package includes: (1) Notice of future AGT upgrades, new AGT Adventures and related AGT products. (2) Latest version of the Master's Edition programs and utilities, sample Adventure game source files (HUMONGOUS CAVE, HURRY, PORK, SQUYNCH, PIRATE and others), and complete documentation on disk. Over three megabyte of program and data files -- ZIPped on six disks. (3) Telephone support from 7 PM to 9 PM PST (M-Th) plus Weekends. Orders are normally shipped by US mail at no additional charge. For UPS ground shipment, please add $5.00............. $ 5.00 $ ______ Shipments outside the United States are sent via Air Mail: For shipments to Africa, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand or Australia add ................................ $ 14.00 $ ______ For shipments to Canada or Mexico add............... $ 6.00 $ ______ For shipments to Great Britain and Europe add....... $ 10.00 $ ______ For shipments elsewhere outside the USA add......... $ 12.00 $ ______ Subtotal $ ______ (California residents please add 8.25% sales tax) Tax $ ______ ******** U.S. Dollars ONLY!!! -------------->>> Total $ ______ Payment by: ( ) Check ( ) MasterCard ( ) VISA ( ) Cash ADVENTURE GAME TOOLKIT (AGT) REGISTRATION/ORDER FORM -- PAGE 2 Name: ____________________________________________________________ Company: ____________________________________________________________ Address: ____________________________________________________________ : ____________________________________________________________ City : ____________________________________________________________ State: ___________________________ Zip:____________________________ Country: ____________________________________________________________ Day Phone: _________________________ Eve: ___________________________ Card #: _________________________________ Exp. Date: _______________ Signature of cardholder: ____________________________________________ AGT Version/Disk Size desired: ______ Macintosh ______ Atari ST ______ Amiga ______ IBM 5 1/4 ______ IBM 3 1/2 ------------------------ User comments ------------------------------ I heard about the Adventure Game Toolkit (AGT) from [ ] - Friend [ ] - Disk Vendor [ ] - Computer Club [ ] - Computer Store [ ] - CompuServe [ ] - BIX [ ] - GEnie [ ] - Electronic Bulletin Board [ ] - Other - Please Specify ________________________________ We would also appreciate any input you would care to give concerning AGT. If you have any ideas or comments that would make AGT a better system, then please let us know. 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