Quest for the Crown

Whether it's Mire Mare or a BASIC tape you found in the attic, it needs to be preserved digitally. Post here and experts can help to do so.

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Andre Leao
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Quest for the Crown

Post by Andre Leao »

An old adventure from 1986 found and preserved by the author...

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https://planetasinclair.blogspot.com/20 ... n-mia.html

PROCESSED
DH 08/05/23
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Andre Leao
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Re: Quest for the Crown

Post by Andre Leao »

Created a .tzx and .tap, on the itch.io page now :)
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R-Tape
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Re: Quest for the Crown

Post by R-Tape »

Excellent recovery - thanks to the author. The release has been impeccably timed, it could describe King Charlie's predicament this very morning as he wakes following yesterday's bender.

It's classic oldschool - the first action is GET LAMP! I like it so far, some charming GAC pics and the puzzles are manageable so far.
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Re: Quest for the Crown

Post by ANDREWRYALS »

Just got this! 40/250 so far, that bloody snake!!!!! :oops:
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R-Tape
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Re: Quest for the Crown

Post by R-Tape »

ANDREWRYALS wrote: Mon May 08, 2023 9:41 am Just got this! 40/250 so far, that bloody snake!!!!! :oops:
Yeah same here. I've found lots of problems to solve, and I've got an idea how each one can solve the other, but I can't find the first way 'in'. Time for a walk inbetween bank holiday showers, that might help.

EDIT - aha! progress!
EdToo
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Re: Quest for the Crown

Post by EdToo »

ANDREWRYALS wrote: Mon May 08, 2023 9:41 am Just got this! 40/250 so far, that bloody snake!!!!! :oops:
followed by bloody quicksand :lol:

A fun game.
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Re: Quest for the Crown

Post by ANDREWRYALS »

Loads of problems a bit further on. I just need to make a map, it's actually not bad for a GAC game and it looks quite like a Quill game.

60/250 progress! :dance
EdToo
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Re: Quest for the Crown

Post by EdToo »

Two days after Charles I have been crowned king of Zaphris. Thank goodness for modern emulators and snapshots as on route I died a thousand horrible deaths :lol:

Glad this was saved from the lost tapes of time.
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R-Tape
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Re: Quest for the Crown

Post by R-Tape »

EdToo wrote: Mon May 08, 2023 12:58 pm Two days after Charles I have been crowned king of Zaphris.
No I'm the rightful King of Zaphris!

Scored 240/250, the 308 turns is moot as I used a few snapshots too. I wonder where 10 points went astray?
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Re: Quest for the Crown

Post by R-Tape »

R-Tape wrote: Mon May 08, 2023 1:38 pm I wonder where 10 points went astray?
I think that's down to the number of turns - I just did a quick runthrough and it scored the full 250.

Great game. Coded in 1986, who knows how few eyes saw it since then, to resurface in 2023!

If the author's reading - could you give us a bit of background on this game? From coding to recovery 37 years later. I couldn't find any evidence of it in the archive, so it'll have a new ID in ZXDB.
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Re: Quest for the Crown

Post by EdToo »

The author posted on Facebook World of Spectrum yesterday.

"So I managed to rescue one of the tapes of my own games "Quest for the Crown" that I created back in 1986 and it now exists in the form of a .sna / .z80 file. It's a graphic/text adventure - is there much of a market for these types of games these days? It has a very retro feel (obviously!) and I was thinking of possibly putting it out there for say £2 ish in digital only format - good/bad idea? It'd be nice if I wasn't the only person to play it 🤣 Sample screens below. Interested in what people know about the homebrew market nowadays. "

Among the replies were suggestion to contact PlanetaSinclair and upload the game to Itch.io. I'll message him to pop in over here.
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Re: Quest for the Crown

Post by EdToo »

R-Tape wrote: Mon May 08, 2023 1:38 pm No I'm the rightful King of Zaphris!
Have I been deposed already? :o
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Re: Quest for the Crown

Post by frankster1970 »

Hello everyone - glad it's bringing some fun to a few folks at last :D

It was a school holiday project in 1986 - took a few weeks to put together and no-one ever saw it. I do remember sending a couple of copies off to some software houses but got no reply. I recently found the tapes in storage prompted by my Mum in Law about to throw away the last working cassette player in the house. After finding out that I could load it up from a wav I decided to try and rescue it. It took around 8 attempts but finally got it to load!
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R-Tape
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Re: Quest for the Crown

Post by R-Tape »

Welcome @frankster1970!

That's more productive than any school holiday I remember. Great work. Maybe you would have had a better chance at being published just a few years later when the adventure boom started with Zenobi. I'm well chuffed it was saved - I shudder to think how many of these never-played symphonies do end up getting binned.

Sending you a PM btw.
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Re: Quest for the Crown

Post by ANDREWRYALS »

can someone send me a spoiler with respects to using dynamite to open the mine entrance, just can't seem to get the wordss.
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Re: Quest for the Crown

Post by R-Tape »

PM sent
EdToo
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Re: Quest for the Crown

Post by EdToo »

ANDREWRYALS wrote: Mon May 08, 2023 7:48 pm can someone send me a spoiler with respects to using dynamite to open the mine entrance, just can't seem to get the wordss.
After all the sudden deaths, I was convinced this would kill me.
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Re: Quest for the Crown

Post by ANDREWRYALS »

I think I've got all the other problems sorted. I'm just lacking in money for the pedlar. :oops:
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Re: Quest for the Crown

Post by R-Tape »

ANDREWRYALS wrote: Mon May 08, 2023 8:22 pm I think I've got all the other problems sorted. I'm just lacking in money for the pedlar. :oops:
Spoiler
You need to PLAY FLUTE to the old man. He gives you a coin (don't give the coin to the blacksmith)
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Re: Quest for the Crown

Post by ANDREWRYALS »

Yes I'd worked that out, I think I've done a puzzle in the wrong order. Back to the drawing board.
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Re: Quest for the Crown

Post by EdToo »

I like the way most items have 2 uses leaving your inventory fairly empty by the end.
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R-Tape
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Re: Quest for the Crown

Post by R-Tape »

EdToo wrote: Mon May 08, 2023 8:47 pm I like the way most items have 2 uses leaving your inventory fairly empty by the end.
Yeah me too. Normally I'd be stressed out by that, especially with the red herrings, but there's something about the way this is structured that left me comfortable it wasn't going to be a nightmare. Having fair puzzles certainly helps!
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Re: Quest for the Crown

Post by frankster1970 »

Really nice to see people solving these ancient problems :)
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Re: Quest for the Crown

Post by R-Tape »

frankster1970 wrote: Tue May 09, 2023 3:57 pm Really nice to see people solving these ancient problems :)
Are you tempted to make a new game? With all the tools available these days you won't even need to dedicate a full six week summer holiday to it :–)
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Re: Quest for the Crown

Post by frankster1970 »

Perhaps. I really enjoyed the process last time - I'd have to look at what tools are around these days.

As I've mentioned Quest was written during the summer of 1986. I was living at my Grandmother's house at the time. I had a small room upstairs at the back of the house. I can remember the distant sound of the factories through the open window combined with the soft rustle of the leaves that lined both sides of the backings outside. Many hours were spent attending to the graphics for the game - of course in those days on a small black and white portable TV. Fond memories.
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