Frustrating Adventureland
Adventureland was the first text-adventure game created. After watching and playing Adventureland, it is easy to understand how the game is frustrating, but yet it is still fun to play. There is a high associated with moving forward in the game, the challenges make you want to continue.
It was interesting that Dr. Jerz's son played the game 9:05 first. The gameplay was shorter because there were more possibilities available, since 9:05 recognized more commands. Adventureland understood fewer, but because of that it, overall, takes longer to play, encourages replay-ability, and was more fun. So far, most of our gaming examples have made the class appreciate technological advances; however, these two examples made me appreciate the past.
I particularly enjoyed the comment about how making maps were part of the fun. I can remember having notebooks of maps and clues for some of my first Nintendo games. I also think that Adventureland (and maybe other text-adventure games) would be best suited for playing together with friends and family, since it adds value and allows you bounce ideas off of one another. After all that was why Adventureland was created in the first place - so Crowther could play with his daughters.
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Dennis G. Jerz on Frustrating Adventureland: Adventureland, the one Scott A
Adventureland, the one Scott Adams and the crowed played through in the audio, is actually a different game from Adventure, which is the one my son and I played.
I know it's confusing... even more confusing, in the 80s any text game was known as "an adventure game," meaning "A game like Colossal Cave Adventure."
As a teenager, I once told my mother I was programming "an advent game," and she thought I meant some kind of game relating to the Christian season of Advent (the four weeks before Christmas). I suppose I should call this game "Colossal Cave Adventure" more often, to emphasize the difference.
BTW, I found this beautiful map of Colossal Cave (the game)
http://www.spitenet.com/cave/
Yes I did find it a little confusing to keep all of the different versions straight, but I enjoyed all of them regardless. Thanks for the beautiful map. It is amazing the artistry that went into creating it.