Island of Secrets adventure from C64, 40 cols (VIC +24K)

orion70 · Post by **orion70** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 8:48 am

Hello all,

I just played a bit with the C64 version of the funny text adventure "Island of Secrets", which was published as a textbook including the game manual and BASIC listing by Usborne Publishing in 1984.

Eliminating some pokes, text colours, and upper/lower cases, I obtained a VIC-20 version suitable for 40 column software such as FAT-40.

Here you can find the game disk, in-game clues, and a complete map.

The game itself is simple and the parser limited, but I find the atmosphere is good, thanks also to the excellent manual, with comic-style drawings and nice descriptions.

So, have fun, and whenever you find a bug, please report it. I simply took the C64 version and adapted some lines, so I won't be responsible for frustration coming from possible bugs. Remember to XSAVE often!

To play, just set full RAM blocks and

LOAD"*",8
RUN
(40 column mode starts, then)
LOAD"IOS",8
RUN

Sorry for memory requirements, but the 40 col mode itself is RAM consuming. Anyway, I just wanted to play a 40 column adventure, and here we are

.

ral-clan · Post by **ral-clan** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 9:44 am

Oh! This is just AWESOME!

Again: I wonder if we will ever get FROTZ for the VIC-20!

http://frotz.sourceforge.net/

Imagine that with a 40 column emulator! Wheeee!

nbla000 · Post by **nbla000** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 12:11 pm

wow, i will test it with Mega-Cart !!!

Pedro Lambrini · Post by **Pedro Lambrini** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 1:44 pm

I just tried to download the manual but I jsut get a 2k file. I've tried with Opera and Firefox...don't know what the problem is.

Mayhem · Post by **Mayhem** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 1:47 pm

Now if someone can produce a self booting version (ie. load the game automatically after 40 column mode program is loaded) I can put it in GB20...

Pedro Lambrini · Post by **Pedro Lambrini** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 1:57 pm

BTW: I should say great work there orion70! I really enjoy text adventures but they can be a bit of a nightmare on the VIC. I remember typing this into my C64 many moons ago. It really is a great wee game. Well done.

nbla000 · Post by **nbla000** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 3:14 pm

OK, tested with Mega-Cart using the PET-Loader Utility and it works.

The PET-Loader uses a 40 colums screen and since there aren't strange POKEs, seems that Island of Secrets works.

You may carefully test it by using PET-Loader with a Vic+32K

LOAD"PET",8,1
SYS64802

LOAD"IOS",8
RUN

Using Mega-Cart you need just to select PET-Loader from the utility and load "IOS"

orion70 · Post by **orion70** » Sat Jan 31, 2009 2:25 am

Pedro Lambrini wrote:I just tried to download the manual but I jsut get a 2k file. I've tried with Opera and Firefox...don't know what the problem is.

Alternatively, you can download the whole book - including BASIC listing and clues - here (7 MB).

Pedro Lambrini wrote:I should say great work there orion70!

Thanks, hope to see more 40 col adventures in the future (as Ral-Clan said, Frotz would be a great achievement for the VIC community

)

nbla000 wrote:OK, tested with Mega-Cart using the PET-Loader Utility and it works.

The PET-Loader uses a 40 colums screen and since there aren't strange POKEs, seems that Island of Secrets works.

Excellent, too bad it won't be on the Mega-Cart (I'm joking of course, I know how many modifications to the software list you had to do).

Mayhem wrote:Now if someone can produce a self booting version (ie. load the game automatically after 40 column mode program is loaded) I can put it in GB20...

It would be nice. Also, a 40 col version of the Frotz adventure interpreter would be much better than its 22 col counterpart!

Pedro Lambrini · Post by **Pedro Lambrini** » Sat Jan 31, 2009 5:32 am

Frotz would be just too good to be true, wouldn't it? Suddenly the library of text adventures for the VIC would go through the roof! Although, a fair few of them probably would not fit into the VIC's memory limitations even with 32k it would still be an achievment and a half to get Frotz off the ground...

formater · Post by **formater** » Sat Jan 31, 2009 6:31 am

Mayhem wrote:Now if someone can produce a self booting version (ie. load the game automatically after 40 column mode program is loaded) I can put it in GB20...

1 - Here http://rapidshare.com/files/192001307/I ... s.zip.html you have a copy in 1 part PRG. with a little problem, for center the image you must use NTSC screen.

I only added the first and the second program of the disk and this seem works OK

2 - Can someone put a link to Frotz?. I can try to create one part program too, but I dont have this program in my colection

Pedro Lambrini · Post by **Pedro Lambrini** » Sat Jan 31, 2009 6:56 am

^
ral-clan posted a link earlier in this thread but here it is again:

http://frotz.sourceforge.net/

Good luck!

Mayhem · Post by **Mayhem** » Sat Jan 31, 2009 10:26 am

formater wrote:1 - Here http://rapidshare.com/files/192001307/I ... s.zip.html you have a copy in 1 part PRG. with a little problem, for center the image you must use NTSC screen.

Ah hah hah... never underestimate the abilities of the people on here to get things sorted. Seems to be working good

Pedro Lambrini · Post by **Pedro Lambrini** » Sat Jan 31, 2009 10:42 am

How easy would it be to make a proper PAL version of this? I have only tried the game in VICE 2.1 and it runs under PAL video mode but the picture is way off centre. Once I finally receive my uIEC I fully intend to play this and I have a feeling that on a real PAL VIC it could look pretty bad.

orion70 · Post by **orion70** » Sun Feb 01, 2009 1:52 am

Thanks formater, very well done

.
A PAL version to play with on a real PAL-land VIC would be just perfect

.

formater · Post by **formater** » Wed Feb 04, 2009 2:19 pm

orion70 wrote:Thanks formater, very well done .
A PAL version to play with on a real PAL-land VIC would be just perfect .

For PAL users I added a line in the second part

1 POKE36864,14 : POKE36865,40

You can download the modified program here: http://rapidshare.com/files/193950876/I ... _.zip.html