ANNOUNCE: Countdown to Doom, Return to Doom, Last Days of Doom
Peter Killworth
CtDoom.z5, RtDoom.z5 and LDoDoom.z5 in ftp.gmd.de/incoming/if-archive
and eventually wherever they are put
Peter Killworth
DOOMAWANGARA. Abbr: Doom.
Climate: varies dramatically
from desert to jungle, glacier to swamp [N.B. Reason
unknown; exogeologists baffled]. Atmosphere
intensely volatile; explorers must guard against rapid
corrosion of equipment and spaceship alike.
Dangers: Atmosphere, as above. Automatic defence
system. Also the artefacts, reputed to have been the
home, aeons ago, of the Ancients; none who has entered
them has ever returned.
Special features: The large number of crashed spaceships
littering its surface, many of which had been carrying
treasure from one planet to another, make Doom a
potentially lucrative source of income for that special
breed of explorer known as adventurer.
[Extract from Intergalactic Times, 3,7,187/qbf.]
*** Real-life insert ***
These games were first written for Acornsoft (Countdown)
and Topologika (Return and Last Days) in the 1980's to
early 1990's. I have converted them to Inform.
They are unashamedly puzzlefests; they contain
mazes (shock, gasp, horror from the back) none of which are
"normal" - indeed, one or two even let you design the maze
yourself; there is no chance of forgetting to ask some
character about something, since there is only one interactive
character, and his input is fairly basic; there are no "guess-
the-verb" situations, though there are some pretty weird
verbs; and I hope they are fun. I also hope there aren't
too many bugs in my conversions!
*** End real-life insert ***
Jump to:
1. Countdown to Doom
2. Return to Doom
3. Last Days of Doom
1. Countdown to Doom
You set off from Earth in your one-man ship, and are
soon orbiting Doom.Before you can contemplate a landing,
however, your ship comes under a violent attack from Doom's
automatic defence system. "No wonder most ships never come
back!", you tell yourself as your ship tumbles out of
control towards Doom's surface, with you playing the controls
like the expert you are.
Nothing you can do can prevent the crash-landing, however,
and your ship hits the ground with a force that would have
killed you had you not jumped up at the last moment to
absorb some of the momentum...
You are painfully aware that your ship will corrode
away to nothing in Doom's atmosphere unless you can take
off within 400 turns. Unfortunately, the ship's cargo
hold now needs
replacement equipment:
some dilithium crystals for power (very dangerous to handle)
a motor unit
a navigation unit box
a life support system
a medikit
and a nuclear reactor
Of course, should you be able to pick up the odd bit of
treasure while you're getting these, nobody - least of all
you - is likely to complain.
2. Return to Doom
You are flying through the universe, minding your own
business, when a desperate distress call hits your transceiver:
"Mayday! Mayday! The 'Galapoxi', taking the ambassador of
Regina on an important mission to Fluxo, has just crashed
on Doom! Ship disintegrating fast! We have left the ship for
safety - there are only three of us, plus the ambassador, left
alive. Rescue needed imminently. Please hurry ... heading for
cleft ...
You - as the only person ever to survive Doom (see 'Countdown
to Doom' - advertisement) immediately steer your ship
for that dangerous planet once again. This time you are
prepared!
(And your ship is now rather better equipped than last time.)
You land safely near to the last location of the signals. Now
could be your finest hour (or maybe longer)...";
3. Last Days of Doom
The message flashes out across the known universe (and quite a
bit of the rest of it, too): the planet Doomawangara (Doom for short)
is showing increasing signs of instability!
Its whole solar system is moving erratically - almost
as if someone (or something) were trying to attract attention...
Doomquakes, eruptions,
and other quite nasty things are happening on the planet's surface,
and goodness knows WHAT underneath it.
To cap it all, another artefact
has turned up, not far from a ruined, walled, city.
The experts reckon that the planet will probably explode in a few
days. Any sane individual would keep well away.
You, as the only person ever to survive Doom twice
(AND two artefacts!), lose no
time in preparing an expedition. You have many memories of
Doom, and - somehow - want to help if you can.
--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Peter D. Killworth, James Rennell Division for Ocean Circulation
and Climate, Southampton Oceanography Centre, Empress Dock, Southampton
SO14 3ZH, England.
Tel: +44 (0)23-80596202
Fax: +44 (0)23-80596204
Email: P.Kil...@soc.soton.ac.uk
Web: http://www.soc.soton.ac.uk/JRD/PROC/people/pki/pki.html
Ocean Modelling Newsletter: http://www.elsevier.nl/locate/omodol/
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Adam Atkinson
> These games were first written for Acornsoft (Countdown)
> and Topologika (Return and Last Days) in the 1980's to
> early 1990's.
Surely just "80s"? I playtested Last Days of Doom in Cambridge, and
since I left the UK in late 89 LDoD must have been written in the 80s.
--
Adam Atkinson (gh...@mistral.co.uk)
VOLCANO MISSING FEARED DEAD
Peter Killworth
>
> On 08-May-00 08:54:39, Peter Killworth said:
>
> > and Topologika (Return and Last Days) in the 1980's to
> > early 1990's.
>
> since I left the UK in late 89 LDoD must have been written in the 80s.
>
You may well be right. I'm only the writer and old and decrepit.
My memory isn't what it was (cue for violins), but then it never
was anyway...
At all events, they were originally written some time ago!
Peter Killworth
Adam Atkinson
>> Surely just "80s"? I playtested Last Days of Doom in Cambridge, and
>> since I left the UK in late 89 LDoD must have been written in the 80s.
>You may well be right. I'm only the writer and old and decrepit.
>My memory isn't what it was (cue for violins), but then it never
>was anyway...
>At all events, they were originally written some time ago!
I just didn't want to create problems for the historians amongst us.
I like other Phoenix people was quizzed about the release order and
dates of the Phoenix games, and I have to admit I didn't do a very
good job.
--
Adam Atkinson (gh...@mistral.co.uk)
I'm sure they'll listen to Reason. (H. Protagonist)
Peter Clifton
Peter
Many thanks for uploading the Doom trilogy, I may have discovered a possible
bug, it may not stop anyone finishing the game, (I haven't solved the
puzzles in the Ruined City yet), but thought I would let you know.
If I go to the roof near the west end of the seesaw, then go west to the
east end of the roof, then go east to return, I actually end up on the roof
near the east end of the seesaw.
As I said, I don't know how serious this is as I haven't solved the sliding
doors puzzle. I can catapault any objects using the seesaw, but haven't
found a use for this as I can carry as many objects as I like to the top of
the east or west roofs.
Game was played on WinFROTZ 2.32 r 5.3 and PilotFROTZ 1.00 REV 6 with the
same results.
Peter Clifton
Peter Killworth
which won't upset the game play, as it turns out, but neither I
nor gametesters had spotted it.
Well done. It isn't worth making a new version yet, though I've put
the edit into the source.
Bugs, as I said, welcome!
Peter Killworth