Playing Text Adventure games in Windows!
- From: "Beto Escobar III" <betoescobar3@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "JFW List Serve" <jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 20 Jul 2005 00:13:06 -0500
Hello Everyone:
My name is Beto Escobar III,and I am a JFW List Serve Member. What I am
pasting below has been sent previously, about a year and a half ago, but I am
going to re-send it again. It Involves playing all of those favorite Infocom
text adventure games that we played on our old MS-DOS PC's, but now in our
Windows XP environment! This information also has a link to download about 300
Public Domain games and I would like to note:Z Dungeon, the initial mainframe
Zork game constructed at MIT by the original Implementers of Infocom is in this
group of games. The second one I would like to make note of is Adventure 1
which is the original Colossal Cave game. This is for all of those who have
never played a text adventure game in a Windows based environment. Send this
to all of your friends....
WinFrotzTTS2002 Interpreter
by W. Scott Dillman
sdillman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Welcome to the most updated version of the popular WinFrotz Interpreter. This
is an updated version of David Kinders great Inform interpreter 'WinFrotz
2002'. The main goal of WinFrotzTTS2002 Interpreter was to design an interface
that was easy to use for the visually impaired gamer and to allow game play
without the use of a screen reader by leveraging Microsoft's SAPI 5 speech
Engine API. The application is freely available on my website for download
along with a module of over 300 games from the Interactive Fiction Archive.
This last version took a lot of hard work and testing, and still needs some
improvement in areas. WinFrotzTTS was developed in my spare time and is a bit
lean on good documentation. I advise anyone interested to stop by the forum
links listed below and contribute to the enhancements request list and general
conversation. The site will also run polls now and again to see which new
features are most needed. I encourage everyone interested to stop by and make
their voices heard. I have also briefly tested text-to-speech additions to
'Scare' which is another interpreter that runs Adrift text adventures which
there seems to be a fair number of games, and a modification to the Level9
interpreter mostly just for nostalgia sake. Please direct all questions about
this updated version of the WinFrotzTTS2002 to me at
sdillman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Here are the important links:
Main website:
http://www.binaryrevelations.com/iftts
Main download page:
http://www.binaryrevelations.com/iftts/modules.php?name=Downloads
Deep link to the updated WinFrotzTTS2002 Interpreter download:
http://www.binaryrevelations.com/iftts/modules.php?name=Downloads&d_op=viewdownload&cid=2
Deep link to the IF Archive game module download:
http://www.binaryrevelations.com/iftts/modules.php?name=Downloads&d_op=viewdownload&cid=5
Link to the forums for discussion:
http://www.binaryrevelations.com/iftts/modules.php?name=Forums
Below is a list of features and a brief introduction to how the application
works.
Game loading:
When the app is started it will search a directory for games, the default is
the directory where WinFrotzTTS is installed. You will probably never have
to change this so when the app starts just hit return when it asks you to pick
a directory to scan. After the app has scanned the directories looking for
games it will present you with a list by telling you how many games it has
found. At this point you can use the up and down arrow keys to move through
the list of games and it will read the titles aloud. You can also hit the first
letter of a title and it will skip to that letter in the list, the list
is sorted alphabetically, so you would hit the letter z and it would skip ahead
in the list to Zork 1 most likely. The arrow keys work well for the short
list of Infocom games, but I have 326 games installed and it is easier to jump
ahead to a letter if I know the game I want to play.
After finding the game you want just hit return and it will load up.
You can hit 'escape' to dismiss this dialog. If you click cancel the standard
file dialog is presented. Games loaded using the standard dialog are not
guaranteed
to work with the extra text to speech functionality, so be warned. It will also
ask you to type the title of the game so it can be added to the supported
list of games. If this is a game you plan to play often it is a good idea to
put the game in a folder under the main WinFrotzTTS application so it is found
on every startup.
Game saving:
When you type save the app will tell you to type some text. This text is used
to create a file name in the same directory that the current game is running
from. Text entered in the dialog is spoken aloud as well as deleted characters.
It also handles file overwriting. You can always hit 'escape' to dismiss
the dialog.
Game restoring:
When you type 'restore' the same kind of dialog for game loading comes up. The
app tells you it is going to search a certain directory for saved games.
You simply hit return and the app scans the directory for saved games. It then
presents you with a list of save game titles and the name of the game that
they were saved from, and you can use the up and down arrow keys again to find
the saved game you want and hit enter to load it.
You can also delete a game by highlighting a game and hitting the delete key.
The app will then confirm your deletion by asking you to hit 'Y' or 'N'.
The app will tell you whether it was successful or not.
Command line speech:
Most speech in the game can be interrupted. For example when the app is telling
you which directory it wants to scan you can just hit return instead of
sitting through the whole speech. When the game list comes up you can browse
from game to game with the arrow keys, as soon as you move to the next game
in the list, the previous game title read aloud is cut off. This is all done to
save time and cut out a lot of repetitious reading.
This also works on the command line in the game.. For instance when you
continue to move into the same room in the game and the app reads the
description
over and over again. Simply hitting the space bar will clear the speech. You
can also use the up and down arrow keys on the command line of the game to
scroll through commands you have already entered and it will read them aloud.
Don't worry about extra spaces before and after words, the game just ignores
them so use spaces to verify what you have typed even if it is just one word.
When backspace is used the deleted character is read aloud.
Read again:
Sometimes you want to hear a room description read again and not waste a turn
to hear it. This can be done by hitting CTRL R which will read the last bit
of text saved since the last command typed.
Word list spelling:
Many times, games use words that are not easy to spell or are not really words
at all. Some thing like Frobozz. You would not know how many 'z's are in
the word. To help with this you can hit CTRL Z after a room description, and a
word list will be presented to you. Using the up and down arrow keys you
can move from word to word or use a character to skip to a word in the
alphabetic list and the word will be spoken aloud. If you hit 'space bar' the
word
is spelled out loud. If you hit 'enter' while on a word, the dialog is closed
and the word is added to the command line so you don't have to type it. If
you know you are going to use the word a lot, you can hit 'insert' and the word
will be added to a scratch list that I will describe later. You can always
hit escape to dismiss the dialog.
Scratch list:
Sometimes you want to save typing or keep track of certain word. By using the
'insert' key in the word list, words can be added to the scratch list. hit
CTRL X to bring up the list. This list can be navigated just like the word
list. Arrow keys move between entries ( spoken aloud ), characters move to words
alphabetically, 'enter' adds the word to the command line, and 'space bar'
spells the entry. The only difference is that 'delete' removes the entry from
the list. The nice thing about the scratch list is that it is saved between
WinFrotzTTS uses, so the next time you play it is still there.
Input processing:
Text entered on the interpreter command line is processed and words are read
aloud after a space is entered. Since the interpreter ignores spaces, before
and after words it can be used to verify input or stop speech. This can be
useful if you are in and out of the same room over and over again and don't
want to sit through the same boring description; just hitting space will clear
the speech buffer. Hitting the 'delete' key will read the last deleted character
out loud. Using the up and down arrow keys will cycle though the command
history and read aloud the commands. Hitting enter on the command line will read
the whole entry aloud before the interpreter's response.
Options:
I have added an setting in the options dialog to disable speech is application
dialogs for people with screen readers. As well as fixed the voice selection
dropdown.
Voices:
Speech voices can be chosen by hitting CTRL+Y. This is the standard speech list
dialog used throughout WinFrotzTTS. You can use insert to hear a voice and
then hit enter to select it.
Code update:
I have updated the code base to David Kinder's 'Windows Frotz 2002 1.05'.
Games support:
In order to be able to have the interpreter recognize games despite their
filenames, and since serial numbers don't seem to be a constant. I devised a
fingerprinting
system that identifies games. These numbers are read in from a simple XML file
at interpreter startup and associates a file fingerprint with a game title.
This makes it easier to add new games to the supported list and remove games
that don't work and not have to make a new release. I will probably be making
the tool for creating entries for this file available for people who want to
add games to the list. At this time I have 328 games in the supported list.
A caching system keeps this from bogging down application loading. You will see
a performance slowdown when the first time the application is loaded and games
are
parsed.
POST SCRIPT:
I have done some things to modify the updated WinFrotzTTS2002 Interpreter, WITH
THE KNOWLEDGE OF W. SCOTT DILLMAN. This is replaceing the Microsoft Speech
Engine. The AT&T's Natural Voices is also a SAPI 5 compliant speech engine.
However, make note, there are some stipulations your PC **must have** in order
to use this fantastic speech engine. Contact the makers of the AT&T's Natural
Voices at http://www.nextup.com for further assistance.
The E-mail with the link to the interpreter written by David Kinder is below:::
The original version, without Scott's changes, is just called Windows Frotz
2002". You can get it here:
http://mirror.ifarchive.org/if-archive/infocom/interpreters/frotz/WindowsFrotz2002.zip
David Kinder
Hello Beto,
first I'd like to apologize for delay in respoding to your email, next time
I'll respond in 24 hours on business days.
Because there is many text adventures from Infocom/Activision on our site,
probably the best option is to use our fulltext search:
http://free-game-downloads.mosw.com/search.php?s=infocom
http://free-game-downloads.mosw.com/search.php?s=activision
Here are some deep links, however this list is not complete:
http://free-game-downloads.mosw.com/abandonware/pc/role_playing_games/games_n_r/quarterstaff_tomb_of_setmoth.html
http://free-game-downloads.mosw.com/abandonware/pc/adventure/games_g_h/hitchhiker_s_guide_to_the_galaxy_the.html
http://free-game-downloads.mosw.com/abandonware/pc/adventure/games_d/deadline.html
http://free-game-downloads.mosw.com/abandonware/pc/adventure/games_p_r/plundered_hearts.html
http://free-game-downloads.mosw.com/abandonware/pc/adventure/games_b/beyond_zork_the_coconut_of_quendor.html
http://free-game-downloads.mosw.com/abandonware/pc/adventure/games_b/ballyhoo.html
http://free-game-downloads.mosw.com/abandonware/pc/adventure/games_k_l/leather_goddess_of_phobos_solid_gold_.html
http://free-game-downloads.mosw.com/abandonware/pc/adventure/games_k_l/lurking_horror_the.html
http://free-game-downloads.mosw.com/abandonware/pc/adventure/games_p_r/planetfall_solid_gold_.html
http://free-game-downloads.mosw.com/abandonware/pc/adventure/games_sa_so/seastalker.html
http://free-game-downloads.mosw.com/abandonware/pc/adventure/games_m_o/nord_and_bert_couldn_t_make_head_or_tail_of_it.html
http://free-game-downloads.mosw.com/abandonware/pc/adventure/games_g_h/hollywood_hijinx.html
http://free-game-downloads.mosw.com/abandonware/pc/adventure/games_sp_sw/spellbreaker.html
http://free-game-downloads.mosw.com/abandonware/pc/adventure/games_sp_sw/starcross.html
http://free-game-downloads.mosw.com/abandonware/pc/adventure/games_t_z/zork_zero.html
http://free-game-downloads.mosw.com/abandonware/pc/adventure/games_t_z/zork_quest_1_assault_on_egreth_castle.html
http://free-game-downloads.mosw.com/abandonware/pc/adventure/games_t_z/tombs_and_treasure.html
etc. For more games, please use our fulltext search as mentioned above.
Is it only one game for that price, or are there
more than one game in the Gold Seriesrice?
We charge $4 or $6 fee for access to download section of our site. For $4
you'll able to download games without limitations for one day (24 hours), for
$6 you'll be able to use our download service for 30 days. This period doesn't
apply to playing the games, just for downloading.
Would you encounter any probems, please don't hesitate to contact me.
Regards,
Ondrej Muncinsky
http://free-game-downloads.mosw.com/
Block quote start
----- Original Message -----
From:
Beto Escobar III
To:
Ondrej Muncinsky
Sent: Wednesday, November 10, 2004 8:28 PM
Subject: Would You Please...
Hello Ondrej--
Hello, this is Beto (Bay toe) Escobar III, LMSW, and I am the guy who
E-mailed you a question regarding the Solid Gold Series of the
Infocom/Activision
games. Let me try to give you a brief synopsis of why I am asking these types
of questions. The deal is that I am totally blind, and use a program on
my Gateway PC entitled JAWS. JAWS is a screen reader, and reads out the text
to me on my PC monitor. The thing is, however, that it is only a text reader,
and as a result, the games I play are solely text. As a result, the games I
really enjoy playing are all of the old Infocom text Adventures. This is
not too bad because I really enjoyed playing all of these games when I
purchased them in the mid to late 80's when I **did** have my sight! Well, what
I want to ask of you Ondrej is if you would not mind sending me another E-mail
with all of the Infocom/Activision games you have on your website? Please?
I am specifically asking for the deep links to the exact pages where the links
are at to download.
One more thing, the only reason I am doing this now is that a new friend of
mine, W. Scott Dillmanm, who is a programmer, by profession, at IBM has updated
an Interpreter to play on Window N.T., 2000, and XP environments! You see
Ondrej, when I played these games in the 80's I had my sight, and the most
beautiful
IBM PC with an 8088 processor! Do you remember those days! Well, now that I am
blind, I was unable to get any type of Interpreter to work with a screen
reader like JAWS. My friend, however, took it upon himself to do something for
a community of people which would bring them some joy at this date and
time in their lives. I make this statement because I am blind, and I have
enjoyed being in the beta team helping Scott fix, and refix, and re-refix ,
the WinFrotzTTS2002 Interpreter!
I will ask the question one more time, but would you please put together an
E-mail with "deep links" to all of the Infocom and Activision games you have
on your website. Especially all of the Gold Series of games... Please send
the E-mail to both me and Scott... I will put both E-mail addresses below...
Beto Escobar III:
betoescobar3@xxxxxxxxxxx
W. Scott Dillman:
sdillman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Thank you my new friend,
Beto Escobar III
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