not all wander are lost

[Ben Collver]

Wander (1974) — a lost mainframe game is found!

Wander was probably the first computer game that is recognisable as what
came to be known as a "text adventure" (or "interactive fiction") -
pre-dating even ADVENT (a.k.a. Colossal Cave) by Crowther and Woods!

But Wander was more than that because it seems to have been designed to
be a tool to allow users to create "non-deterministic fantasy
stories" of their own. So perhaps it would be more accurate to say that
Wander was in fact the earliest known precursor to modern interactive-
fiction development-systems like Inform 7!

...

https://ahopeful.wordpress.com/2015/04/22/wander-1974-a-lost-mainframe-game-is-found/

[Kerr Mudd-John]

Wander (1974) =E2=80=94 a lost mainframe game is found!
Wander was probably the first computer game that is recognisable as wh=

at

came to be known as a "text adventure" (or "interactive fiction") -
pre-dating even ADVENT (a.k.a. Colossal Cave) by Crowther and Woods!
But Wander was more than that because it seems to have been designed t=

o

be a tool to allow users to create "non-deterministic fantasy
stories" of their own. So perhaps it would be more accurate to say tha=

t

Wander was in fact the earliest known precursor to modern interactive-=
fiction development-systems like Inform 7!
...
https://ahopeful.wordpress.com/2015/04/22/wander-1974-a-lost-mainframe=

-game-is-found/

Excellent.

-- =

Bah, and indeed, Humbug

[Marisa Giancarla]

Could someone post this to my text game rating site? Would love to have it!
http://empiredirectory.net/toplist

[John Geoffrey]

Post by Ben Collver
Wander (1974) — a lost mainframe game is found!
Wander was probably the first computer game that is recognisable as what
came to be known as a "text adventure" (or "interactive fiction") -
pre-dating even ADVENT (a.k.a. Colossal Cave) by Crowther and Woods!
But Wander was more than that because it seems to have been designed to
be a tool to allow users to create "non-deterministic fantasy
stories" of their own. So perhaps it would be more accurate to say that
Wander was in fact the earliest known precursor to modern interactive-
fiction development-systems like Inform 7!
....
https://ahopeful.wordpress.com/2015/04/22/wander-1974-a-lost-mainframe-game-is-found/

I wonder how much stuff just never will be found, because people just
don't realize it even existed.
Hell, I even found some story fragments from stuff I wrote in the 90s on
some old drives. It was uncanny to realize that I wrote that stuff.

Anyone know of some IF that is completely lost by now?

[Gyrev]

Hello :)

Post by John Geoffrey

Post by Ben Collver
Wander (1974) — a lost mainframe game is found!
Wander was probably the first computer game that is recognisable as what
came to be known as a "text adventure" (or "interactive fiction") -
pre-dating even ADVENT (a.k.a. Colossal Cave) by Crowther and Woods!
But Wander was more than that because it seems to have been designed to
be a tool to allow users to create "non-deterministic fantasy
stories" of their own. So perhaps it would be more accurate to say that
Wander was in fact the earliest known precursor to modern interactive-
fiction development-systems like Inform 7!
....
https://ahopeful.wordpress.com/2015/04/22/wander-1974-a-lost-mainframe-game-is-found/

I wonder how much stuff just never will be found, because people just
don't realize it even existed.
Hell, I even found some story fragments from stuff I wrote in the 90s on
some old drives. It was uncanny to realize that I wrote that stuff.
Anyone know of some IF that is completely lost by now?

Xerb, I fear:
<http://www.solutionarchive.com/game/id%2C7063/Xerb.html>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_(computer)#Games>
(it seems the author doesn't have a copy any more)

Btw, I played Castle by Peter Langston last summer and I enjoyed it.
Parser isn't so bad and the setting is intriguing. There are some
culs-de-sac and you have to eat often, otherwise you'll starve, but
there are also a lot of rooms to explore, objects to handle and a
princess (and a prince) to save.

I haven't played the other Wander games yet, but I think I'll do :)

[namekuseijin]

cool, but irrelevant. Influenced no one and is just a historic relic hardly anyone cares about today. Even modern parser IF seems on the brink of extinction, just imagine old code with no relation to past IF efforts.

[Peter Piers]

Post by namekuseijin
cool, but irrelevant. Influenced no one and is just a historic relic hardly anyone cares about today. Even modern parser IF seems on the brink of extinction, just imagine old code with no relation to past IF efforts.

People who dismiss the past are usually dismissed by the future.

Anyway, some of us are enjoying this parade, so bear that in mind when you next perform a rain-dance.