tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post7693186761152493410..comments2024-03-29T02:34:55.592-04:00Comments on The CRPG Addict: Game 93: Eamon (1980)CRPG Addicthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comBlogger46125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-45205267932160766062019-12-22T22:03:27.674-05:002019-12-22T22:03:27.674-05:00I can't remember when I start to read this blo...I can't remember when I start to read this blog, but since them it is an immense source of pleasure for my procrastination time at work xD <br /><br />When I was in college I already used to read too (procrastination time again!). I remember that one of the best moments was reading about Black Onyx (for the PC-88) and Nippon (for the C64, first time reading an on-going analises here IIRC) last year. It was during a bad moment in my life, thus those two games got an special place for me (played more Black Onyx tho, haven't finished either of them =/) and they played a big influence (along Nier Gestalt, that I was playing by the middle of that year) on a small homework I was doing, an script for an story taking place in Japan during the Edo period at the Himeji Castle.<br /><br />But about Eamon: I was pleased to discover such a nice game. Aside from the PLATO ones, it is the oldest one I had an huge interest, mainly for the possibility to create modules. I wished I had read this by 2013, would definitively joined the contest and this would also made me stick on an "right path" during college (dropped many projects, the first one being a text-only adventure/rpg). I really wish to play more (have only played the first module, died at the book and lost a nice char with high charisma =/). I guess this "insta-death" mechanic is the only thing I'm pissed about being an game with perma-death, but I guess this add to the "pen-and-paper RPG" feeling. I also do plan to try making a module later on.<br /><br />Anyway, will continue to read this blog (and play many of those games) as time pass. I'm very slow on RPGs, mainly because the way I play (reveal all the map, try to collect everything, finish all quests, etc). I doubt I could ever play so much ones like you (since August 2018, I have only played The Witcher 1 and 2, and still at the beginning of 3), but I still have hope xD Perhaps, by the time I manage to play most of my planned list, you'll be posting about some of my favorite ones like Dark Souls and The Witcher 2 xDArthurionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17367183013090636982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-92120013862901560822018-07-07T11:59:43.633-04:002018-07-07T11:59:43.633-04:00Greetings,
Please forgive the self-promoting; the...Greetings,<br /><br />Please forgive the self-promoting; the search engines have not been kind. If you are a fan of Eamon and are unaware this is worth knowing about.<br /><br />The Eamon CS gaming system is a modern, powerful Eamon with many enhancements, built in the C# language: https://github.com/firstmethod/Eamon-CS<br /><br />There are currently eight highly polished games built for it, with more to come as time goes by.<br /><br />Thanks, <br /><br />M. Penner<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00869486375683542556noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-78490486881788024802014-11-18T10:14:19.756-05:002014-11-18T10:14:19.756-05:00I think Matthew is correct. The opening Dragon pi...I think Matthew is correct. The opening Dragon picture in Eamon has been around as long as I've been involved, which was back in 1979. We had an artist friend draw a new version when we were publishing the National Eamon User's Club news letter and paid him for doing so. Even that image has been finding its way into other publications.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11697139349929179598noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-44071443070053079342014-11-18T10:04:38.049-05:002014-11-18T10:04:38.049-05:00I just found this site this morning. It sounds in...I just found this site this morning. It sounds interesting and I may be interested in participating. I would need to know some more details. I will send you an email.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11697139349929179598noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-30617782316108408032014-11-18T09:53:34.437-05:002014-11-18T09:53:34.437-05:00I am currently working on a new version of Eamon, ...I am currently working on a new version of Eamon, using Visual Studio and the Visual Basic language. It took me a while to get used to the Visual Basic under Visual Studio 2010, but it is a great programming environment for further development of the Eamon system. It has a console mode that lets the screens look very similar to the original, but better. Better in that the text is upper and lowercase, with 80 column screens. But that's really just the least important improvement. <br /><br />The thing I like most about it is that is allows me to write code 'natively' in a modern development environment that provides all the memory, speed and disk space I could ever want. <br /><br />When I was developing the Dungeon Designer 6.0 for Eamon, and later the extended version of Eamon called Knight Quest, I had to be careful not to run out of memory and disk space - which was a constant battle. This is not a problem at all under this environment. DOSBox is also a very nice tool for developing these, but still not nearly as nice as Visual Studio / Visual Basic. Since you can also get Visual basic express as a free product, it makes the environment available to everyone, even if they don't have the resources to but Visual Studio.<br /><br />When I complete this, I will be happy to distribute the code to anyone interested. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11697139349929179598noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-28359898794972524802013-10-25T23:02:03.836-04:002013-10-25T23:02:03.836-04:00This is a nitpick, but having now spent some time ...This is a nitpick, but having now spent some time looking into Eamon in preparation for a post on it on <a href="http://comparativecreation.blogspot.com" rel="nofollow">my own blog</a> (said post probably going up sometime tomorrow), I'm pretty sure you've misunderstood or misstated the role "complexity" plays for weapons in Eamon. While it's true that you start out with different abilities with different weapon types, this is a separate number independent of the weapon's complexity. Contrary to what you stated, bows aren't necessarily more complex than maces—there are maces with high complexity and bows with low. Indeed, the weapon shop in the Main Hall sells three versions of each weapon type, one with 0% complexity, one with 10%, and one with -10%. (Trollsfire, the sword you get in the Beginners Cave, is a prize because it has a complexity of 25%, higher than anything you can get in the Main Hall.)<br /><br />Granted, it would be wholly understandable if you misunderstood this, because using "complexity" to refer to a weapon's quality makes little if any sense. The manual even refers to "the quality of the weapon (also called the complexity)." So why didn't they just call it "quality"? That would have been a lot more sensible...Jalen Wandererhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00973042209003357278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-37831647104415660972013-05-16T12:27:36.371-04:002013-05-16T12:27:36.371-04:00I did find this Youtube vid comparing Dosbox Turbo...I did find this Youtube vid comparing <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/dosboxturbo/" rel="nofollow">Dosbox Turbo</a>,<a href="https://sites.google.com/site/andosbox/" rel="nofollow">AnDosBox</a> and aDosBox on Android: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ko8n9LUrAMc<br /><br />iPad, I don't know. Searches turn up something called <a href="http://www.litchie.com/?page_id=123" rel="nofollow">DOSpad</a>.Colinnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-61711178468175999132013-04-07T16:28:29.155-04:002013-04-07T16:28:29.155-04:00I'm glad I could spark the memories. Is your h...I'm glad I could spark the memories. Is your handle really "null," or is that a database error?CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-35744112678326064562013-04-06T15:23:12.196-04:002013-04-06T15:23:12.196-04:00Ah, thank you for bringing back my childhood. I re...Ah, thank you for bringing back my childhood. I remember killing Darth Vader on the Death Star and finding 'my father's light-sabre'. I remember the huge numbers of identically named guards on the Death Star, and the room with 100 guards. I remember drowning in the Zyphur Riverventure until I realized I had to use the boat. I remember the injury level descriptions 'takes damage but is still in good shape...is hurting...is in pain...is very badly injured...is at death's door, knocking loudly'...is dead! I remember letting the guy out of the Tomb of Molinar and blowing up the universe...nullnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-19094830149707867972013-03-31T14:13:43.344-04:002013-03-31T14:13:43.344-04:00Thanks for commenting, Raquel. I hope so, too.
I ...Thanks for commenting, Raquel. I hope so, too.<br /><br />I was thinking that <i>Eamon</i> would be a great platform for the "Lone Wolf" series of gamebooks that I remember fondly from my childhood. Like <i>Eamon</i>, they were largely about text-based story-telling while featuring a character sheet and occasional combats.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-91744712284655745952013-03-31T11:39:49.073-04:002013-03-31T11:39:49.073-04:00The code was also easy to modify because Donald Br...The code was also easy to modify because Donald Brown wrote a pretty good manual telling you what all of the variables and subroutines did. This is on the Dungeon Designer Disk.<br /><br />You could also open a dungeon directly in the dungeon designer and look at all of the rooms, monsters, and artifacts.TsuDhoNimhnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-15996760207825146562013-03-31T02:58:32.199-04:002013-03-31T02:58:32.199-04:00I think what PetrusOctavianus is talking about is ...I think what PetrusOctavianus is talking about is mentioned somewhere under "Terminological Inexactitudes" in the newsletter...I heard there was an old school picture of the designer in that issue too.<br /><br />http://www.eamonag.org/newsletters/acrobat/Eamon_DeluXe_NewsletterV3n01_03-2013.pdfAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-19352389777735702912013-03-31T02:30:49.079-04:002013-03-31T02:30:49.079-04:00Having a bit of a personal bias in favor of the Ea...Having a bit of a personal bias in favor of the Eamon Deluxe system, I feel it would be cordial for me to thank you for your interest and blog post here. The newest downloads available come in all the operating system flavors Mr. Black has had time to poke his head into..as long as he can find his glasses that is. ;) I'll be hoping you'll add your own submission too. You linked to the right page above for downloads but I'll add it to my comment once more for those reading here: <br /><br />http://www.eamonag.org/pages/eamondx.htm<br /><br />I'd like to add that I used the dungeon designer (only slightly fumblingly) without asking for help quite early on and managed a room with an item and a container with a removable item inside without a spot of programming knowledge at the time. I wanted to see if I could do it. Then later, as usual through the updates and the various versions being added; I tried to "break" whatever I could digging for bugs. Of course I did ask and learn a lot since that day as of now. Basic is a great place to start learning for anyone interested in even peeking into programming. I certainly hope that all the interest you've stirred here brings some entries in whether your followers are players or programmers. The contest is open to anyone after all. <br />Thanks again!Raquelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11176705697415847905noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-3775987538162794132013-03-26T14:29:46.778-04:002013-03-26T14:29:46.778-04:00innategamer: Which is such a lovely example of a q...innategamer: Which is such a lovely example of a quality product and good use of time, isn't it?<br /><br />Vicarion: That would by why modders can often improve the graphics pretty quickly: They can put every night for weeks into getting the medkit to look JUST right, when the professional has a dozen more objects just like it to get working. Canageekhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03770924810559440307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-38699717373221054622013-03-26T14:20:42.096-04:002013-03-26T14:20:42.096-04:00This is from a few years later, in the 90s, but it...This is from a few years later, in the 90s, but it is from the Internet Raytracing Competition (http://www.irtc.org/stills/ ) and everyone was posting these tiny images they'd rendered that had taken like, 11 hours. Then one guy posts one with a render time of something like 12 minutes and a note saying 'the mainframe at work wasn't being used at midnight, so I slipped my job on' Canageekhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03770924810559440307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-86164949229510786762013-03-26T14:16:40.134-04:002013-03-26T14:16:40.134-04:00BASIC? Oh yeah, very very simple. That is what I l...BASIC? Oh yeah, very very simple. That is what I learned to code on. You can start learning it with a book in an afternoon. Higher level concepts are hard, and good programming near impossible, but you can make something that works quite easily. Canageekhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03770924810559440307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-68004031816201868532013-03-24T23:29:47.854-04:002013-03-24T23:29:47.854-04:00To be fair to commercial developers, they have to ...To be fair to commercial developers, they have to make back their development costs (and some profit), which limits the amount of time they can invest making the game to a couple of years at most. Whereas something like nethack can be (and has been) in development for *decades*.Vicarionnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-87538836851080952322013-03-24T22:22:14.890-04:002013-03-24T22:22:14.890-04:00It's worth a lot. Welcome!It's worth a lot. Welcome!CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-36902124249087720812013-03-24T21:54:52.193-04:002013-03-24T21:54:52.193-04:00...and when folks like you help keep interest aliv......and when folks like you help keep interest alive, it keeps the preservation work from being a waste of time. <br /><br />Great blog, by the way. You've gained a new reader, for what it's worth.T Fergusonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02878252997070039887noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-60226722431437024482013-03-24T14:43:54.816-04:002013-03-24T14:43:54.816-04:00Thank you for the correction. I read something too...Thank you for the correction. I read something too quickly. I appreciate all your work on the EamonAG site.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-37419388182703964862013-03-24T14:43:12.841-04:002013-03-24T14:43:12.841-04:00Arl Eamon in Dragon Age?Arl Eamon in <i>Dragon Age</i>?CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-54341024184187950342013-03-24T04:07:18.961-04:002013-03-24T04:07:18.961-04:00I remember playing some Eamon games by Tom Zuchows...I remember playing some Eamon games by Tom Zuchowski in a Middle Earth setting. From what I remember they were quite good (once I got Eamon working under emulation). The Tolkien Computer Games site has a couple of entries:<br /><br />http://www.lysator.liu.se/tolkien-games/entry/assault.htmlAcrin1https://www.blogger.com/profile/02424198775294748644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-10874887560340869142013-03-24T03:28:09.971-04:002013-03-24T03:28:09.971-04:00Very interesting post. Awesome that such an antiqu...Very interesting post. Awesome that such an antique, obscure game has a community after all those years!<br /><br />I know I've seen the name Eamon before, but I can't place it. And no, it's not that "R&B" crap Google first comes up with.PetrusOctavianusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-27762917263610843862013-03-23T22:23:14.968-04:002013-03-23T22:23:14.968-04:00Killias, that is actually something of a puzzle. T...Killias, that is actually something of a puzzle. The program file for the original main hall has an attribution written by Don Brown "Dragon picture shown during program by R.L. Phillips & friends of Ann Arbor, Mich. The beauty is greatly enjoyed."<br /><br />Eamon was developed in the late 1970s (and first mentioned in a magazine in July 1980) although it is unclear when the dragon image was added. Wikipedia says that the Odyssey game was published in 1980. <br /><br />I would suggest that given the timing that it was Odyssey that copied the graphic of the public domain Eamon system, not the other way around. Matthew Clarkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00617663765030963155noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-89802611651172440372013-03-23T22:10:27.692-04:002013-03-23T22:10:27.692-04:00Just a comment that the author of the Death Trap, ...Just a comment that the author of the Death Trap, John Nelson, ran the Eamon newsletter from 1984 to 1987. Tom Zuchowski took over in 1988 and published it until 2001. I launched the eamonag.org website in 2003 based on the knowledge base that had been established up until then.<br /><br />Eamon was a nice system for the time and if you think about it in terms of interactive fiction, was probably the most successful non-commercial IF language in the 1980s. Since it was released, about 270 modules/adventures have been created...Matthew Clarkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00617663765030963155noreply@blogger.com