So, you and your youngsters are really smitten by adventures. Your classroom is bursting with all the art & craft work and creative writing, and your assemblies have included some of the best dance and drama your class has ever produced. You've just read a children's book, or had an original idea, which you think could be better than Dragon World, Dread Dragon Droom, Magic Adventures... but you have no idea how to start programming it.

You'll be pleased to know that that needn't be the barrier it might have been not so long ago, because there are several authoring or generating packages available which enable the user to create adventures (or simulations), such as Anita Straker's Make An Adventure, Mick Trott's Your Adventure (LTS), Bob Hart's Tombs Of Arkenstone (Arnold/Wheaton) and A&B's own Adventurescape. If a text only adventure doesn't appeal then you'll need to look at The Last Adventure from the keyboards of Mick Trott and John Walden.

The pack consists of two discs: the main program and Wiz, a sample adventure, and an A4 folder of documentation. An additional datafile, Spr (which is based on an environmental studies trail around the Springfield EVS Centre, Birmingham), is available as an extra and shows a different application.

Each adventure created by the main program can have up to sixteen scenes, but longer ones can be achieved by linking datafiles together, the entry to the second being dependent upon success in the first - as in Granny's Garden.

Graphics can be added to these locations using the effective graphics editor and there's space for ten lines of text. Each location is reached by means of the function keys but access to a location can be restricted until a problem has been solved or questions answered. Alternatively, several optional keyboards can be used. The Last Adventure was designed with Star Microterminal's Concept Keyboard in mind and the documentation includes detailed instructions in preparing overlays plus blanks.

Other alternatives now available include the Tandy Book and Pressfax - requirements need to be specified when ordering. These alternatives make it particularly helpful for use with young children and if you've seen the excellent map overlay Star Devices have produced with their adventure, Rescue, you'll know this facility can add a new dimension to the work (I understand this is also shown to good effect on the Spr overlay, although I haven't seen it). The documentation suggests that the children should develop their own adventure map on a blank overlay and this could be quite an exciting idea.

The documentation for the main program covers 65 A4 pages. While this is typed in double spacing, it is nevertheless a lot to take in, and one reviewer suggested that it needs to be made "less intimidating by producing easy-to-follow documentation". Perhaps this is one of those cases where the designers are on a hiding to nothing - to wade through a wad of documentation is time-consuming and it can be difficult to follow: too little and it's even worse. I saw Mick Trott demonstrate this program at last year's MAPE Conference, which no doubt helped, but LTS are prepared to arrange sessions at Teachers' Centres if there's sufficient interest!

Yes, it does take some getting through (who said creating an adventure of any quality is simple?) and yes, it does take quite a lot of time. No doubt like most things, the more you use it the easier it becomes, but I don't think you can complain about inadequate instruction. I'd have welcomed a summary card for each section which I could refer to when reasonably accustomed to the program - this would save a great deal of thumbing through the pages.

At first I found the finished product as demonstrated by the sample file, Wiz, somewhat disappointing, but I was comparing the results with the likes of Dragon World and that's like trying to compare a piece of creative writing with one of the classics - totally unfair. LTS have, I think, produced an example which will leave users feeling reasonably confident of being able to produce something as good if not better, and that's not a bad idea. There are teachers and children who will enjoy the challenge of producing their own adventure or simulation and this program will provide them with some very interesting problem-solving situations. I suspect it will be used mainly with older children in primary schools but, personally, I think it offers tremendous opportunities to our colleagues in the language and humanities departments in secondary schools.

The Last Adventure may not be the program you'll want to use every day; on the other hand it may turn out to be one of your most frequently used programs. Certainly, it's the sort of program that should be available in all schools.