|  Too Many (Closed) Doors! | | Posted by Luca on 2019-10-31 |
 Closed doors...closed doors everywhere! It's now, that hour of the day, when a new branch of the DAAD adventures unstoppable avalanche push toward you all some new converted textual games, like coming from nowhere.
It's John Wilson again, under the sign of Zenobi Softtware/Pension Productions, continuing to port his own adventure games thank to the DAAD Plus/4 porting code by siz, and this time he has chosen a six-in-a-row target, in order to complete the whole series of "Behind Closed Doors" screenplay. Here they are in one shot: Behind Closed Door, Behind Closed Door 2, Behind Closed Door 3, Behind Closed Door 4, Behind Closed Door 5, and, unexpectedly, Behind Closed Door 6. With the previously released Behind Closed Doors 7, we can consider to bunch as complete!
So, what awaits us around the corner in the coming days? Stay tuned to Plus/4 World and you will know it for sure!
*** UPDATE! ***
Before the very end of the day, three spinoff stories have been added to the whole series: Behind Closed Doors - The Director's Cut, Behind Closed Doors 2 - Cat's Choice Edition, Behind Closed Doors 3 - Cockroach Edition. |
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| | YAPE 1.1.7 Released! | | Posted by Gaia on 2019-10-31 |
It's been quite a while but a much needed update of YAPE is finally ready. 2019's first release delivers some fixes, most notably:
- updated to new compiler versions (MSVC++ 2019 and MinGW-64 8.1)
- more DPI-aware on Win8/Win10
- digitized palette table lookup fix
- TED delayed DMA regression fixed
- fixed TED noise regression bug introduced by optimizations in version 1.1.3
- weird bug with autostart code ironed out
- maximize window positioning fixed for all resolutions
Download the new release from here. |
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| | ISS Emercency: Time For A Onefiler Fix | | Posted by Luca on 2019-10-30 |
 The avalanche of DAAD adventures goes and goes, and it's now time for ISS Emergency, written by John Whatson and adapted for several 8-bit machines plus PC by Gareth Pitchford.
This is a brand new Absence release, pushing on the conversion of the DAAD engine by siz in a brand new fixed version, which can now manage colorful text flawlessly. It's Chronos, who added a spacey bitmap picture and an intro to the finished pack, but this time they opted for a better manageable onefile version, quite comfortable at last!
Try it! it's a short but intriguing adventure, which sees you attempting to to reach the International Space Station main computer to fix it and...oh well no spoliers at all ;)
Another one type the past! On with further ones! |
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| | Advanced Adventures & Fixes | | Posted by Luca on 2019-10-28 |
 The sun goes down, few hours pass, the sun is back, and...surprise: new DAAD driven adventures have blossomed in the Plus/4 garden of John Wilson.
The avalanche of adventures to be easily converted on Plus/4 thank to siz's importing code is barely at its very beginning. And stuff come in from various sources too, but Pension Productions has just declared a potential index including up to 72 (!) games overall, from classics signed Zenobi Software till the '80s, to new stories involving old characters running a new quest.
So, what's for today? Ok, today is time to be released for: Escape To Murky Woods, The Secret Of Little Hodcome and the two parts adventure Return Of The Roach. Again, it's enough for any adventureer out there.
 Due to the high rate of releasing, something bad easily happens, especially because this cascade of conversions has just begun, and, as usual regarding fresh born mechanism, has to be initially lubricated. Hence, here come some fixes of previously released stuff:
- released with the title:"From Out of a Dark Night Sky", due to a wrongly edited title picture, it has been renamed with its real title, which is After The Dark, and the bitmap has been fixed too; so, delete the previous one, and download this;
- Bulbo and the Blue Dragon has been particularly hard to port on Plus/4, and when the author succeeded, a little graphic bug entered the title picture, so download it again to have it as clean right now;
- oops, Absence has released The Search For The Nether Regions too fast and didn't test the loader to part 2...which simply didn't work; but now, anything bad has gone, download the fixed and only working version.
Rumors about brand new conversions are for real, expect new entries into the archive very soon, for a crackling last part of the scene's year! |
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| | DIY DAAD! That Promised Avalanche | | Posted by Luca on 2019-10-26 |
 We have foreseen the arrival of dozens of new adventure games, after that siz has ported the DAAD engine's code to work on Plus/4, and now the gates are completely wide open. Literally dozens and dozens of adventure games, published in the '80s on ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC have now been freed to cross the threshold between Zilog and MOS.
We've just seen that third party aficionados has just started to take in the C64 counterparts, this time a heavy and well appreciated contribution to the completion of the long list of games written in DAAD comes straight from his author. Well, from his famous author we should write, because he's Mr. John Wilson, a distinguished Scottish born in 1947, also known as "the Rochdale Balrog" or "the Balrog" or recently "The Pensioner" of "Pension Productions". And, before all this, Mr. Wilson started Zenobi Software in late 1982 and it still operates to this day, even though for non commercial purposes. In the heydays, Zenobi Software counted up to 50 adventure writers, have you ever had a quick reading to the long relative list of releases?
Today, nine lucky ones have been picked up and chosen from that huge list, in order to see the light on Commodore Plus/4, and offer to all the adventurers wielding a black box more and more and more hours of adventuring that any known parser fighter would actually sustain. Those nine games are:  An Everyday Tale of a Seeker of Gold, Behind Closed Doors 7, Bulbo and the Lizard-King, From Out of a Dark Night Sky, Ramsbottom Smith and the Quest for the Yellow Spheroid, Fuddo and Slam, Retarded Creatures and Caverns, The Balrog and The Cat, and the brand new Alien Research Centre 2, sophomore of a game dated 1989 in which we find again the blessing presence of Stefan Vogt as author of a fantastic hires intro bitmap picture.
Just in order to stay in line with previous productions of the same kind, John Wilson opted for the dual system releases too, so any of these adventures supports both Commodore 64 and Commodore Plus/4 version of the game.
We hope you've saved enough vacation days in order to challenge'em all, 'cause you really need undoubtedly! Moreover, the general feeling is that this line of fire that advances is only the vanguard of the army of adventures holed up there, in the darkness, behind the portal that we have just opened wide. Stay tuned, there seems to be a lot more coming. And we are happy to be overwhelmed by it.
*** UPDATE! ***
Few hours passed, and we have two new games from John Wilson: the 4 disksides Bulbo's Intrepid Adventure, and From Out Of The Snow, both dated 2019! |
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| | The Search For The Nether Regions: A DAAD Avalanche's First | | Posted by Luca on 2019-10-22 |
 We were awaiting for this moment, the moment when the great avalanche of adventure games running on the DAAD engine would hit the scene with all its hidden potential.
The recover, improvement and distribution to the public domain of the now famous multiplatfrom DAAD adventure writer engine, straight by its father Tim Gilberts and its savior Andres Samudio, has opened the massive gate that has kept separate all the adventure games written with it, from all the other systems which were missing'em. Stefan Vogt has put a lot of effort to instill new life into it, and finally siz is the Plus/4 hero who included the Plus/4 into this large project, involving so many clever and passionate retro users. Doors are open, let the DAAD adventures swarm in, we're ready to play them all!
After the modern approach of Hibernated 1 and Eight Feet Under, The Search For The Nether Regions is the first one to land from its original ZX Spectrum-esque place, taking in with it the usual combination of fantasy environment and easygoing irony we appreciate from the legendary author Gareth Pitchford, and the game comes to Plus/4 under the Absence label: it's Chronos who materially converted the adventure, and made it run on the black box too.
Adventurers, collect this gauntlet launched at you all, and think about setting free a lot of your time, because...do you really know how many adventures might potentially it your spare time? World of Spectrum site counts 410 of them. Yes, you read it really well: 410! And there's no valid excuse to not having'em all on Plus/4! |
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| | RandTown Emailer! | | Posted by Csabo on 2019-10-19 |
 RoePipi is back again with another game in the RandTown series called RandTown Emailer. This time, you take on the exciting role of a secretary. As the town expands, you must quickly "email" the new residents by typing their initials. You win if you email 50 houses, but you must be quick, because if you miss 10, the game is over.
If you enjoyed the fast-paced quirky gameplay of the other games in this series, then you'll love RandTown Emailer as well.
Get to emailing! |
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| | DAAD's Home! Hibernated 1 & Eight Feet Under | | Posted by Luca on 2019-10-18 |
 It comes from an ancient Spanish code environment to write adventure games, and it has slept for 30 years. Just the pure desire not to make it fall by the wayside has given new life to DAAD, this time in English language, this time for multiple systems.
Stefan Vogt is the man who recovered, extended and translated the adventure game engine originally coded byTim Gilberts, by teaming up with him. That has been the push for him to write and release his adventures sci-fi saga: Hibernated 1 - This Place is Death, and its direct spinoff Eight Feet Under - A Hibernated 1 Addon, produced under the label of Pond Software Ltd., and already released on physical media by poly.play. Both the adventures hit the 8bit game, instantly becoming a must-have among the retro-enthusiasts, gaining high scores in several reviews.
And that's the part of the whole story we love the most: DAAD interpreter was still missing a Plus/4 branch, so our great friend siz came to save the day: his work about extending the DAAD to the 264 series too has allowed the original author to touch the Plus/4 shores with both the games, presented in a classy C64/Plus4 double system single D64 release. Needless to say, there's a clear smell of physical release for this.
 Have you ever dreamed about a journey far beyond the known regions of the universe? Close to Vega, Olivia Lund is on the trail of one of mankind's greatest secrets and a thousand-year-old mystery. After over 200 years in hypersleep, she wakes up alone on her stranded ship, the Polaris-7. The artificial intelligence Io seems to be her only remaining friend now.
The author reminds to all of you that of course is advisable to play them in a logical sequence. The game is a donateware, so you can download only from the author's homepage, and name your own price.
siz, Stefan: thanks guys for your effort! Hibernated 1, and Eight Feet Under: this place...is more alive than ever! |
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| | Felcsút Tycoon! | | Posted by Csabo on 2019-10-06 |
 RoePipi is back with another fresh game! Have you ever wanted to get into the exciting world of managing trains, tracks and routes? Why, this game will let you do just that, and in the most exotic locations of all: the neighborhood of Felcsút. With a population of nearly 2000 folks, this village is... surely... on the map of Hungary.
The game has been in development for 2 years, and it has the expected polish and off-kilter humor. Could all of this be some kind of social commentary? Nah :-)
Be sure to check it out! |
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| | Odd Animals From The Zoo: Igaku! | | Posted by Luca on 2019-10-05 |
 What's the paradigmatic symptom for a truly healthy scene? Easy answer: releases – coming – from – nowhere!
That's exactly what has just happened at the Zoo 2019 party in Findand, precisely in the Wild compo: unexpectedly, Igaku veni to compete; vidi the code by Visy, the graphics by ZanaGB and branch, and the music by spiikki, at last, it didn't vinci for just one point, yeah right: one point! Igaku has been ranked 2nd in the Wild compo.
Igaku is weird, an anime stylish oddity telling us a simple story of...wound care. It's an absolute first from Quadtrip, and now we wanna know more, see more, listen more, have more from them! |
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