FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 5, 1992 CONTACT: Dave Malmberg 510-659-0533 SOFTWORKS ANNOUNCES WINNERS IN FIFTH ANNUAL ADVENTURE GAME WRITING CONTEST MISSION SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA -- Softworks today announced the winners in its fifth annual (1991) contest for the best computer text adventure game developed using the Adventure Game Toolkit (AGT) system. The Adventure Game Toolkit is a computer program which allows MS-DOS, Macintosh, Amiga and Atari ST computer users to create their own "interactive fiction" or text adventure games. Games developed on one of these computers may be played on any of the other computers. The 1991 Contest inundated us with excellent entries. Playing, completing, and rating over 20 mega-bytes of material was an endurance test with which our judges struggled...but proved themselves worthy. The excellence of the entries resulted in an unprecedented Honors Circle of eleven games. Picking a single winner from that distinguished group proved impossible. Instead, we have a tie. Both games are very unusual and both are truly outstanding adventures! So ... a forty-two gun salute for... the two First Prize ($100) winners for the 1991 Contest (in alphabetical order): COSMOSERVE - AN ADVENTURE GAME FOR BBS-ENSLAVED -- by Judith Pintar and THE MULTI-DIMENSIONAL THIEF -- by Joel Finch A little more about the winners ... COSMOSERVE - AN ADVENTURE GAME FOR BBS-ENSLAVED by Judith Pintar begins as follows: It seemed like such a good idea at the time. As a self-employed computer consultant, working at home was the logical decision: no more long commutes, no expensive office to lease, no boss. Unfortunately you also have no secretary, no janitor and no weekends. Your living room has become a glorified break room and your only human contact is by Electronic Mail. Thank God for your computer. It is 3:30 PM on Friday the 7th of September, 2001. Everyone else in your time zone is finishing up work and looking forward to a relaxing evening. But you, R. J. Wright, overtired undernourished overeager programmer that you are, have promised to deliver a finished program to a client by 8:00 tomorrow morning. Time to get to work.... You sit down at your computer and sign on to CosmoServe, your favorite BBS.... In COSMOSERVE your world and your adventure are inside a BBS (complete with sound effects for logging on, switching the computer ON and OFF, etc.) COSMOSERVE is a very, very original, innovative and unusual game! Judith "customized" the Turbo Pascal source code for AGT to create a game that is bigger than any game ever written with AGT. Available in a "ready-to-play" IBM version only. (Requires a hard disk and at least 512K of memory.) THE MULTI-DIMENSIONAL THIEF -- by Joel Finch. In this game, you are a thief; an exceptionally good one. Naturally, you aspire to join the largest and most prestigious of organized thieving bodies, the Multi-Dimensional Thieves' Guild. One day you are approached by a tall man wearing a long cloak. His face is hidden in the folds of the hood and his voice is deliberately muffled. Making no introductions, he tells you that your recent activities have been monitored with interest, and offers you a provisional membership in the M-D.T.G. All you have to do is pass a simple test. Since this is a childhood dream come true, you eagerly accept. The test goes like this; you begin in a specially prepared set of rooms, and your only objective is to get out of them. Your prowess as a thief is not in question, however there are other talents to be tested. The rooms are pieces "borrowed" from other universes and magically spliced together to test your ability to deal with rapid changes of scenery, a prerequisite for any work in the Multi-Dimensional Thieves' Guild. A number of useful items have been added to the rooms, to make your test just that much more interesting -- including the infamous "portable hole." Oh, and one more thing -- you must think small and symmetrically. Filled with wonderful puzzles that will remind you of Infocom's finest, THIEF is extremely well-written, clever and very funny. Joel was one of the co-authors of WHATEVER WE DECIDE TO CALL THE GAME, one of the "best of the contest" in last year's contest. THIEF has "pop-up" hints and uses a "beta" version of the new MASTER'S EDITION of AGT. A complete solution (walkthru) is also provided -- just in case. "Ready-to-play" IBM version only -- although the source code to the game is also provided. (Requires a hard disk and at least 512K of memory.) OTHER WINNERS In addition to COSMOSERVE and THIEF, the contest had a number of other excellent entries. Among them, the judges have singled out the very best adventures as deserving an "Honorable Mention." These winning entries include (in alphabetical order): APPRENTICE -- THE TESTING OF A MAGICAL NOVICE -- By Bert Lee. Your Initiation as a Apprentice Magii has been approved, but you must prove yourself by taking a long journey. Along the way, you must listen, learn, hone your magical skills, pass some basic Apprentice-level tests, and guard the treasures entrusted to your care with your life. DEADLY LABYRINTH -- by Frank West. The Deadly Labyrinth is an adventure game loosely based on the Death Gate Cycle novels of Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman. To reach the final gate, you must struggle through eight different levels, each with its own monsters, puzzles, mazes, and spells to learn. There is no high score to reach -- survival is the only criteria of success, and losing all heath points is often too easy. DISENCHANTED -- by Joseph S. Licari. The members of the Circle had hoped to summon a Hero, a man of legendary deeds and valor; a Champion of the Ages, to save the world from falling into Darkness... Unfortunately, there was a mistake (sigh) and they summoned you. It is too late to correct this mistake. You are their only hope and you must return the Artifact to the Circle or the world is doomed. LIBRARY -- by Frederick D. King. You are a college student. The end of the semester is near, and you have a paper due at 8:00 in the morning. You have been working furiously on it for the past week, and you are almost finished. Unfortunately, just as you are revising the last page, you realize that you need to check a quotation on erotic symbolism in early pulp science fiction. The quotation was written by the professor who assigned the paper, and it is essential that you get it right. If you don't, you will fail the class and be sent home in disgrace... Your dog will pretend not to know who you are... The only job you will be able to get is mining coal in Vermont... At night... Without tools. Therefore, you must obtain this reference immediately. You sneak over to the library in the dead of night to begin your search. MOP AND MURDER - A MASTERFUL MURDER IN ONE ROOM -- by Brad Friedman. You must solve a murder mystery in the CIA Headquarters building where you work as a janitor. You must examine the various clues you find at the scene of the crime and ultimately apprehend the murderer -- before he/she kills again -- and you are the most-likely next victim. A very clever and original adventure that takes place in a single room. MOP AND MURDER comes with "pop-up" hints. NEW ENGLAND GOTHIC -- by Simba. Somewhere in New England, in the little village where the author grew up, exists this very house and its immediate surroundings. When you play this game, you are a young woman in the year 1899 who lives and works in New York, supporting herself as a secretary after her mother passes on. Suddenly you receive word that your Great Aunt (your grandmother's sister) in New England has died and left you an old colonial house and a lot of debts. You will need luck and patience even more than money if you are to solve the mystery surrounding your Great Aunt's reclusive life, realize the full potential of your inheritance and (of course) find true love. A classic Gothic tale of sinister intrigue and romance. SANITY CLAUSE or, WHY SANTA DIDN'T MAKE IT TO YOUR HOUSE THAT YEAR -- by Mike McCauley. In this game, you play the role of Santa Claus facing the challenge of making your rounds while staying within the night-time hours of Christmas Eve as you move around the globe. You must visit several key locations, but you cannot do it all in one trip. (The best combination of routes takes 5 trips.) Your trips will not be without obstacles, however. Your companion is an apprentice elf named Dudley who has a penchant for fouling things up. You also seem to be having a great deal of trouble with your "Christmas magic" getting cross circuited with various other forms of magic that you encounter -- with very disturbing results. You will need to stay on your toes to get through this night and complete your rounds successfully. Mike was the author of SON OF STAGEFRIGHT which won the 1989 AGT game writing contest. He says he has been working on SANITY CLAUSE for almost two years. SHERWOOD -- By Charles Williams. This game is a D&D-type adventure (complete with a unique scheme for MELEE) in which you play the role of Robin Hood in and around the area of Sherwood Forest. You must rescue Maid Marion from the clutches of the Sheriff of Nottingham and return her to safety in your hide-out deep in the middle of the forest. Your task will be difficult since you have a price on your head and all of the Sheriff's men have orders to kill you on sight. SHERWOOD is a big game with 300 rooms, 200 nouns and over 100 people/creatures. THE SPELUNKER'S TREMENDOUS CAVE ADVENTURE -- Converted to the Adventure Game Toolkit by Douglas Harter. This game was converted from an English adventure game creation product called CRL (a precursor to AGT) that ran on the Sinclair Spectrum computer. Doug converted the game (which was originally written by a bunch of students at an English "Public" Boys School named St. Brides) to work on AGT. The game is a parody of the Colossal Cave adventure and is quite funny -- especially if you are familiar with Colossal Cave. WINNING GAMES AVAILABLE All of the winning games are available from Softworks, the publisher of the Adventure Game Toolkit. Because of the shear magnitude of the games (almost 5 mega-bytes of code, hints, solutions, maps, plus a complete working copy of the latest AGT "BIG" version -- when completely unzipped), all games require a hard disk and at least 512K of memory. Three different options of the "Best of the 1991 Contest" disks are being offered this year: OPTION 1: A two-disk set containing just the two First Place winners, i.e., COSMOSERVE and THIEF. $17.50 covers the total cost of both disks. Available in IBM "ready-to-play" version only. OPTION 2: A three-disk set containing all of the games mentioned above -- EXCEPT COSMOSERVE and THIEF, i.e., only the "honorable mention" games plus the complete latest AGT "BIG" version. All three of these disks are available for only $17.50 (total for all three). OPTION 3: A five-disk set containing all of the games mentioned above -- COSMOSERVE and THIEF, plus the "honorable mention" games, plus the complete latest AGT "BIG" version. All five of these disks are available for only $30 (total for all five). All of the games on the "1991 Best of the Contest" disks are provided in AGT source code form -- with the exception of COSMOSERVE and SHERWOOD -- which are provided in "ready-to-play" versions only. These AGT source code games require AGT's COMPILE and RUN programs (version 1.2 or later) which can be ordered separately. EARLIER CONTESTS Softworks has sponsored four earlier adventure game writing contests. The winner of the first contest was ALICE, written by Douglas Asherman. ALICE put the player in the role of Alice in Wonderland, meeting many of the same characters described in Lewis Carroll's 19th-century book while also adding some humorous 20th-century perspective. The 1988 contest winner was A DUDLEY DILEMMA, by Lane Barrow, a Ph.D candidate at Harvard. In this game, the player assumes the role of a Harvard student in his/her quest for knowledge, adventure and a diploma. Along the way, the player experiences a student sit-in and meets panhandlers, MIT students and other bizarre characters roaming Harvard Square. SON OF STAGEFRIGHT, by Mike McCauley was the 1989 winner. In this game, you play the role of an actor (or actress) trying to get out of an old, abandoned theater. This is an adventure game in three "Acts", where each Act has a different theme and a different challenge. The game is fun(ny), frightening and very clever. CRIME TO THE NINTH POWER by Patrick Farley was the 1990 contest winner. In this game, the player helps Cliff Diver, a San Francisco private investigator escape from the deadly milieu of the Zamboni crime family's secret headquarters. Cliff Diver is cut from the same cloth as such famous PI's as Dashiell Hammett's Sam Spade and Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe. AGT BACKGROUND The Adventure Game Toolkit has been favorably reviewed in a number of personal computer publications including "PC Magazine", "Computer Gaming World", "Big Blue Disk", and "Public-Domain Software & Shareware." According to those reviews, AGT "allows for creating remarkably complex and sophisticated games in a fairly simple way," that "anyone with an ounce of imagination can create adventure games...similar in layout and sophistication to those from Infocom," and "the process is easy...and you'll have hours of fun doing it." The Adventure Game Toolkit is distributed as shareware, so that MS-DOS, Macintosh, Amiga and Atari ST computer owners can try out the program before buying it. Copies of the program disks may be obtained from user groups, bulletin boards, and authorized disk vendors for a nominal fee, or directly from Softworks. Included on the program disks are a dozen sample adventure games with complete AGT source code. Registration is only $20, or $40 including a printed copy of the 223-page manual, which can also be purchased separately for $25. Registered users may also purchase the Pascal source code for AGT for only $50. For more information, contact Softworks, 43064 Via Moraga, Mission San Jose, CA 94539. Telephone (510) 659-0533. - 30 - CONTACT: Dave Malmberg 510-659-0533