Category : A Collection of Games for DOS and Windows
Archive   : ADVENT2.ZIP
Filename : ADVENT2.HIS

THE HISTORY OF ADVENTURE (ABRIDGED)

ADVENTURE was originally developed by William Crowther and later
substantially rewritten and expanded by Don Woods at Stanford
Univ. According to legend Crowther's original version was
modeled after a real cavern called Colossal Cave which is part
of Kentucky's Mammoth Caverns. That version of the game included
the main maze and portions of the third-level (Complex Junction,
Bedquilt, Swiss Cheese rooms, etc.) but not much more. Don Wood
and some others at Stanford later rewrote portions of the
original program and greatly expanded the cave. That version of
the game is recognizable by the maximum score of 350 points.
Some major additions were done throughout the late 70's by David
Long while at the University of Chicago Graduate School of
Business. Long's addition included the seaside entrance and all
of the cave on the "far side" of Lost River (Rainbow Room,
Crystal Palace, Blue Grotto, Rotunda, beyond Joshua's wall
etc.) The castle probably was added in late 1980 by an anonymous
writer. The current cave is about 50% larger than the
Woods/Stanford model. In the process the code was heavily
rewritten to permit more generalized handling of objects and to
allow far more complex syntax. The current maximum score is 550
points. This version of ADVENTURE is written entirely in FORTRAN.
This is not because Crowther/Woods/Long love FORTRAN, but because
it is almost infinitely portable. There were indeed moments when
it took great strength to withstand the temptation to whip out
some character handling routine in MACRO instead of the
furshlugginer compiler. Thanks are owed to Roger Matus and David
Feldman, both of U of C, for several suggestions including the
Rainbow Room, the telephone boot and the fearsome Wumpus.
Further thanks go to J. R. Carlson for many debugging
suggestions. Most thanks (and apologies) go to Thomas Malory,
Charles Dodgson the Grimm Brothers Dante, Homer Frank Baum
and especially Anon. the real author of ADVENTURE!

(The above was extracted and edited from the "ADVTXT" file
accompaning the 550 point ADVENTURE game.) C. Sidener 12-10-86