Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!decwrl!mcnc!ecsgate!ecsvax!kms
From: kms@uncecs.edu (Ken Steele)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.games
Subject: Re: Dungeon on ab20 -- problems?
Summary: room placement is important
Message-ID: <1991Mar26.012056.17710@uncecs.edu>
Date: 26 Mar 91 01:20:56 GMT
References: <91082.012358MBS110@psuvm.psu.edu> <91083.153714MBS110@psuvm.psu.edu>
Organization: UNC Educational Computing Service
Lines: 75

In article <91083.153714MBS110@psuvm.psu.edu>, MBS110@psuvm.psu.edu writes:
> In article <1991Mar24.022236.8705@uncecs.edu>, kms@uncecs.edu (Ken Steele) says:
> >
> >In article <91082.012358MBS110@psuvm.psu.edu>, MBS110@psuvm.psu.edu writes:
> >> I got Dungeon (the almost-original adventure game that the commercial
> >> Zork Trilogy came from) off of ab20 and have started playing it, only
> >> to notice a curious thing: the topology is completely nonsensical.
> >> Generally, if you enter a room by going east, going east again brings
> >> you back to the first room, and so forth. Is it supposed to be like
> >> this, or do I have a copy with a subtly damaged map?
> >>
> >> / Mark "Remixed for Common Household Appliances" Sachs -
> >MBS110@psuvm.psu.edu

It might be instructive to compare the version ported by
Rittle to another port of Dungeon.  MS-DOS versions of
both Dungeon and Adventure (350 pt version I believe)
can be obtained by ftp from mibsrv.mib.eng.ua.edu
(130.160.20.80) in pub/games.

> >\
> >
> >Consider the following possibility.  You go north to leave a
> >room.  You expect to get back by going south, but there is no
> >south exit.  There is a west exit that does return you to
> >the original room.  How can this be?  It could be that your
> >passage way between the rooms makes a dogleg like this:
> >
> >                          -------
> >                     -----|     |
> >                     |    -------
> >                     |
> >                  +-----+
> >                  |     |
> >                  +-----+
> >
> 
> Yess, well... the topology is much more bizarre than I would think is natural.
> For example, here's part of the Bank of Zork, from my map:
>    _________________________________
>   /         __________________      \           Now to my untrained eye
>  |         /                  \      \          it would appear that the
>  |        \/                   \    \|/         Vault Room should be between
>  |  |--------|       |--------| \_|-----|       the two teller rooms here,
>   \_|W.Teller|       |E.Teller|   |Vault|__     but maybe Lebling & Co. just
>     | Room   _       _  Room  |__\|Room |  \    wanted to confuse us. If
>     |-------|\       /|-------|  /|-----|   |   this is what your map looks
>               \-----/      /\              /    like, then I guess I have
>   (up=north)  |Entry|       \_____________/     nothing to complain about.
>               |Hall |                           It's still real weird though.
>               |-----|

I haven't mapped out the bank yet, so I can't comment upon
the accuracy of that.  However, I also found that the
spatial arrangement of the rooms on the map is important
in making the passageways seem sensical or nonsensical.

> (Also, I have Zork I and it exhibits very little of the bizarre topology
> in Dungeon. Maybe they cleaned it up and made it sane for commercial release?)
> 

I just obtained a copy of the zork trilogy and have noticed
differences also.  And I agree that some of the topology
does seem a wee bit easier to follow in the commercial version. 

> / Mark "Remixed for Common Household Appliances" Sachs - MBS110@psuvm.psu.edu \
> | DISCLAIMER? You can't POSSIBLY be serious, can you?         ||   //        ||
> |   "Doctor, may I speak with you in private?" "All right..." || \X/  AMIGA  ||
> \== "Have you got a DEATH WISH?!" -- Romana & the Doctor, _Warrior's Gate_ ===/


-- 
Ken Steele   Dept. of Psychology    kms@ecsvax.bitnet
             Mars Hill College      kms@ecsvax.uncecs.edu
             Mars Hill, NC 28754    {some big name site}!mcnc!ecsvax!kms