Re: [stella] Skeleton - complete

[John Matthews <jvmatthe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Tue, 2002-09-10 at 09:50, KirkIsrael@xxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> > I think an old D&D handheld game used a similar gameplay element. It 
> > really stressed me out when I had to worry where I was stepping as 
> > well as hunt/avoid the creatures in the maze. Just an idea that, I 
> > thought, may be simple to implement. Maybe a selectable option?
> 
> Heh, I think I had that game. Marroon colored case?
> 
> I'm not 100% positive, but I think years later I looked at 
> "Hunt the Wumpus", a text-based classic for Unix (and older?) 
> systems, and it occurred to me that the handheld must've just
> been a graphical version of that game. Of course, by that point
> I hadn't played the handheld for years, and wumpus was a little
> too difficult for me to get into, so take it with a grain of salt.

Interestingly, I just got out my D&D handheld just the other day. Yes,
it is maroon, and plays like Wumpus. Here's a brief description.
- You only have 3 buttons: cursor (moves an arrow cursor, which can
point in one of the four cardinal directions), fire (shoots the arrow,
if you have it, in the direction you're pointing with the cursor), and
move (moves in the direction of the cursor).
- The display tells you where you are (10x10 grid, I think, enumerated
A0, A1, ... , B0, B1, ..., etc), whether you have the arrow, or the
rope.
- Other icons tell you whether an important object is in one of the four
adjoining rooms: dragon (wumpus), bat, pit. (Also, maybe arrow and
rope.)
- When the dragon moves from one square to another, there is a Jaws-like
sequence of tones.
- The bat can carry you to a random area of the maze, similar to
Adventure.
- If you fall in a pit, you die, unless you have the rope. You start a
new game with the rope.
- If you find the arrow, and can get one room away from the dragon, and
you think you know which direction he's in, you can fire your arrow and
win the game.
- If you die in a pit or walk into the dragon, you die.

It's doable on a 2600, for sure, and would certainly be an interesting
first game for someone.

Regards,
matt

-- 
Matt Matthews     \ ph: 919.660.2811        \ Use GNU/Linux  _o) w00t
Duke Univ., Postdoc\ jvmatthe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx  \____________   /\\
Dept. of Mathematics\ http://www.math.duke.edu/~jvmatthe/ \ _\_V

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