The Game

Old Father Time is a traditional "text adventure". Your mission is to rescue Old Father Time's staff and hourglass before the sands of time run out. To do this you will have to exercise yoour brain a little, for you will find that you come up against many seemingly dead ends and unsurmountable problems in your task.

To communicate your wishes to the computer, use simple sentences. Two words will generally suffice (TAKE ROCK, PUNCH TROLL) but sometimes you may need more (PUT APPLE ON TABLE). Which words the computer understands, you will have to find out by trial and error - this is part of the fun of adventuring, and it would be a bit of a giveaway if we gave you a complete vocabulary and you found words like LEVITATE or ABRACADABRA amongst it, wouldn't it?

We have no intention of spoiling your enjoyment by giving away any hints - all necessary clues are in the program. If you get stuck, don't phone us - keep trying everything!

The following is a general description of the wonderful addictive world(s) of adventuring. It is for the benefit of the uninitiated and contains no information of specific relevance to this adventure.

What Is An Adventure?

Adventure is basically a game of exploration. The hero (you) has an objective (such as trying to stay alive long enough to enjoy your ill-gotten gains!).

You will have the opportunity to gather immense wealth (too bad if the ogre guarding it objects to you taking it from him - you'll have to settle it with a duel.) You'll be set mind twisting puzzles to solve - how, for instance, are you going to get across that bridge without giving up one of your hard-earned treasures as a toll...? You may have to learn how to use magic. (Now where did I put my wand...?) The list is almost endless - indeed, it's only limited by the imaginations of the player and the persons who wrote the program. Some games take place in the Wild West, others in the twistings and turnings of the Colossal Caves, whilst another might be on an abandoned spaceship, floating through interstellar space!

How is all this achieved without ever leaving your trusty computer? Well, the answer is all wrapped up in a lot of very clever computer programming. In the early days (way back in 1976 - that sort of prehistory), adventures took the resources of a mainframe computer and its disc drives. Today, a similar game, although not perhaps quite as extensive, can be crammed into the 16 to 32K of a typical home micro.

You talk to the micro using simple sentences such as GO NORTH or ATTACK TROLL. As you move about (and indeed after each instruction to the computer) the program will tell you where you are, what you can see, what there is to get - and who might be around to tear you limb from limb (or worse, if they're feeling nasty.) You can already see the sort of complications that you may have to face - such as how are you going to enter the dark cave if you haven't got a lamp? And what will happen to you if you do try your luck?

Suffice it to say that every problem has a solution, every difficulty can be overcome even though there are times you'll swear that something is 'impossible'. Remember the old adage "if at first you don't succeed..." Nothing is truer in Adventure. If you can't open the door in front of you, it might be because you have to climb the wall instead - and so on. There are no fixed rules in Adventure - so let me give you a few hints.

The first and foremost is make a map! It's all too easy in the first few goes to rush around discovering all sort of wonderful things - but what's going to happen to you if you can't find your way out again? There can be a few things more embarassing in life than being weighed down with jewels and then finding yourself condemned to wander round a dungeon - and eventually starve to death - just for the sake of a map.

The vocabulary that each game will understand will vary from game to game, but there are one or two words that you should find useful in just about every Adventure worthy of the name:

(I)NVENTORY. A list of what you're carrying. Since there is a finite limit to what you can carry at any one time, you'll need to organise yourself - you may need to strike a balance between loot and weapons, for example, at any one time.

TAKE/GET object. As implied, the universal method of acquisition.

LOOK. If the description of the room scrolls off the screen, this will refresh your memory.

KILL/ATTACK something. The universal method of making sure that you can keep what you just laid your hands on. (See GET.)

SEARCH/EXAMINE. Never, never take anything at face value - you didn't think it was going to be easy, did you? Always check the identity of something - it might hide something far more valuable (or dangerous!) than you first thought.

(N)ORTH, (S)OUTH, (W)EST, (E)AST, (U)P, (D)OWN and so on. I don't propose to give too much away - you'll have to experiment for yourself. Good luck.

Loading

CHAIN"" (RETURN)