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The Quest *
Contains TheQuest.txt
Source Code
VMC10​_073D.zip *
Contains VMC10.exe
Type CLOAD & hit ENTER. Select THEQUEST.​C10 in the Cassette directory. Type RUN...
Windows Application (Windows XP and later)
* Compressed with ZIP. Free Unzip tools are available for most systems at www.info-zip.org.

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The Quest

by Christopher Lampton

Mystery

Web Site

(based on 1 rating)
1 review

About the Story

A demo text adventure by Christopher Lampton from his book "How to Create Adventure Games." A version for the TRS-80 MC-10 was made by Eric Underhill.

All your life you had heard the stories about your crazy uncle Simon. He was an inventor, who kept disappearing for long periods of time, never telling anyone where he had been. You never believed the stories, but when your uncle died and left you his diary, you learned that they were true. Your uncle had discovered a magic land, and a secret formula that could take him there. In that land was a magic ruby, and in his diary contained the instructions for going there to find it.


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Member Reviews

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Number of Reviews: 1
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A simple adventure for a simpler time, July 5, 2015
by jgerrie (Cape Breton Island, Canada)

This game is not for serious gamers. It will be of interest only to those interested in BASIC programming and the modest programs that could be created on 8-bit home computers from the early 1980s. It might be worth a look for those with some nostalgia for such systems or with some acquaintance with the book it was published in.

"The Quest" is a very simple BASIC two-word parser text adventure meant to be an example of the programming techniques needed to create adventures of one's own. It was included in a book meant to teach those techniques to budding BASIC programmers using the early 8-bit computers. The code is very adaptable and fairly straightforward. Unlike more complex syntax parsing engines, such as the one created by Scott Adams (which was published in BYTE in December 1980), by the time Lampton was writing his book and sample program the conventions of text adventuring had become so formalized that undue complexities could be omitted. People were comfortable with the two word system and the basic vocabulary had become fairly standardized (GET,PUT,LOOK,EXAMINE,INV,GO, etc.). The program might be useful for someone wishing to write their own BASIC text adventure for an 8-bit computer. However, I would rate "The Tower" example program for Compute's Guide to Writing Text Adventures as more flexible and more feature rich. The Tower allows the use of single letter commands such as N,S,E,W for motion and I for inventory, while "The Quest" does not. Having to type "GO NORTH" continuously instead if simply "N" is a little tedious and annoying.

The game itself is simple. There is a small number of puzzles, only a couple ways to fail. The puzzles are coherent and so I would warn against giving up too quickly and sneaking a look at the code if you are stumped. This is not one of those BASIC adventures with incoherent puzzles requiring almost completely arbitrary acts to solve. I promise you, you will get there in the end with a little extra thought. If all you're looking for is an hour of reminiscence of what 8-bit computing was like when you were a kid, this game will fit the bill.

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This is version 4 of this page, edited by jgerrie on 19 January 2015 at 9:49am. - View Update History - Edit This Page - Add a News Item - Delete This Page