Explore classic text adventure games from legendary publishers and authors including Magnetic Scrolls, Level 9, Infocom, Scott Adams, and Interplay. A podcast f...
Chewing the food of sweet and bitter fancy, Jason and Nick ask for a double-helping of Shakespeare text adventures. The chef heaps a challenging amount of "appetizer" Macbeth (1984, Oxford Digital Enterprises) on their plates, but main course Avon (1982/1988, Topologika) has its day. And that day may be foul, and/or fair, as you like it.
Macbeth on MobyGames
Macbeth on MOCAGH
Avon on MobyGames
Avon (Playable online, BBC Micro)
Avon mainframe source code
Topologika Ltd. overview
Topologika on The Digital Antiquarian
Macbeth solution (almost)
The Tempest (1997)
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1:18:30
Episode 11 - A Conversation with Ron Martinez
In this interview episode we're transfixed by the career of Ron Martinez, whose interactive fiction began as a writer for the Be an Interplanetary Spy book series, the Trillium/Telarium home conversion of Rendezvous With Rama, and the design and implementation of Star Trek: The Promethean Prophecy powered by his own TRANS Fiction System parser. Since then Ron has had a widely varied career, and a widely varied career since then including pioneering work in NFTs.
Ron and Jason discuss the wild experimental days at Electronic Arts, the nature of "post-linear" storytelling and the trade-offs of writing in the Star Trek universe, and Ron's brush with actual immortality.
Invention Arts
Star Trek: The Promethean Prophecy on archive.org
Rendezvous with Rama on archive.org
Full GET LAMP documentary interview
Ron Martinez MobyGames credits
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1:09:13
Episode 10 - The Lurking Horror and Crypt of Medea
Jason and first-time Retro Adventurer Nick Moffitt sample two courses of text adventure horror, featuring Infocom's "MIT with the serial numbers filed off" The Lurking Horror and Sir-Tech Software's "don't call it a Murder Hospital, call it the" Crypt of Medea.
Jason also speaks with Strange Studies of Strange Stories co-host Chad Fifer about how, when, and why the Lovecraftian school of horror became mainstream entertainment fodder.
The Lurking Horror
Crypt of Medea
The Call of Cthulhu (2005 film)
The Apple II Mockingboard
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1:31:10
Episode 9 - A Conversation with Robin Raymond
Seemingly from out of nowhere, Kingdom of the Seven Stones, a sprawling text/graphic adventure has just been published for the Commodore 64 by The Future was 8 Bit. Creator (and Retro Adventurers listener!) Robin Raymond joins Jason to talk about how the game took shape, why it's cartridge-only, and what the future might hold for his new C-based 8-bit adventure game engine.
Kingdom of the Seven Stones @ TFW8b
Martin Piper's technical analysis
Dithertron
The Coveted Mirror
Ulysses and the Golden Fleece
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34:56
Episode 8 - Valhalla and Swiss Family Robinson
Dave and Jason make another transatlantic cultural exchange in this episode, beginning with the youth-oriented Windham Classics' Swiss Family Robinson before heading to the deadly grownup world of Norse mythology for Legend's Valhalla.
Valhalla playable online (ZX Spectrum)
Swiss Family Robinson playable online (Commodore 64)
August 1983 ad for Valhalla (Sinclair User Magazine)
Explore classic text adventure games from legendary publishers and authors including Magnetic Scrolls, Level 9, Infocom, Scott Adams, and Interplay. A podcast for fans of GET LAMP, Eaten By a Grue, The Classic Adventurer, Renga In Blue, and Quest For Clues.
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