More history.

[open-adventure.git] / history.adoc

diff --git a/history.adoc b/history.adoc
index f64fef91296d467dd492802b24c8890cdda99d15..1686645f08430c74d070059ff43a7d5aac1bae7d 100644 (file)
--- a/history.adoc
+++ b/history.adoc
@@ -1,15 +1,15 @@
 = A brief history of Colossal Cave Adventure =
 by Eric S. Raymond
 
 = A brief history of Colossal Cave Adventure =
 by Eric S. Raymond
 

-Adventure is the fons et origo of all later dungeon-crawling games,
-the grandaddy of interactive fiction, and one of the hallowed artifacts
-of hacker folklore.
+Adventure is the fons et origo of all later dungeon-crawling computer
+games, the grandaddy of interactive fiction, and one of the hallowed
+artifacts of hacker folklore.

 
 The very first version was released by Crowther in 1976, in FORTRAN on
 the PDP-10 at Bolt, Beranek, and Newman. (Crowther was at the time
 writing what we could now call firmware for the earliest ARPANET
 routers.) It was a maze game based on the Colossal Cave complex in
 
 The very first version was released by Crowther in 1976, in FORTRAN on
 the PDP-10 at Bolt, Beranek, and Newman. (Crowther was at the time
 writing what we could now call firmware for the earliest ARPANET
 routers.) It was a maze game based on the Colossal Cave complex in

-Kentucky, lacking most of the D&D-like elements now associated with
+Kentucky, including fewer of the D&D-like elements now associated with

 the game.
 
 Adventure as we now know it, the ancestor of all later versions, was
 the game.
 
 Adventure as we now know it, the ancestor of all later versions, was


@@ -69,6 +69,7 @@ he replied on 15 May giving both permission and encouragement.
 Here is what Don said about differences between the original Adventure
 and 2.5:
 
 Here is what Don said about differences between the original Adventure
 and 2.5:
 

+............................................................................

 > The bulk of the points come from five new 16-point treasures.  (I say "bulk"
 > because I think at least one of the scores included some padding and I may
 > have tweaked those.)  Each of the new treasures requires solving a puzzle
 > The bulk of the points come from five new 16-point treasures.  (I say "bulk"
 > because I think at least one of the scores included some padding and I may
 > have tweaked those.)  Each of the new treasures requires solving a puzzle


@@ -105,6 +106,29 @@ and 2.5:
 > succumb even given access to the game source.  You really need to fit
 > together not only the goals and the map and use of inventory space, but
 > also details like just what _can_ you do in the dark...?
 > succumb even given access to the game source.  You really need to fit
 > together not only the goals and the map and use of inventory space, but
 > also details like just what _can_ you do in the dark...?

+............................................................................
+
+== Earlier non-influences ==
+
+There is record of one earlier dungeon-crawling game called "dnd",
+written in 1974-75 on the PLATO system at University of Illinois
+<<DND>>.  This was in some ways similar to later roguelike games but
+not to Adventure.  The designers of later roguelikes frequently site
+Adventure as an influence, but not dnd; like PLATO itself, dnd seems
+not to have become known outside of its own user community until
+rediscovered by computer historians many years after Adventure
+shipped.
+
+There was also Hunt The Wumpus <<WUMPUS>>, written by Gregory Yob in
+1972. Though the wumpus was (much) later included as a monster in the
+Nethack roguelike game, this was done in a spirit of conscious
+museumization well after early roguelikes. There is no evidence that
+Yob's original (circulated in BASIC among microcomputer enthusiasts)
+was known to the ARPANET- and minicomputer-centered culture Crowther
+and Woods were part of until well after Adventure was written.
+
+Neither of these games used an attempt at a natural-language parser
+even as primitive as Adventure's.

 
 == Nomenclature ==
 
 
 == Nomenclature ==
 


@@ -115,11 +139,16 @@ versions 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and for all I know higher than that.  It seems
 best just to start a new numbering series while acknowledging the
 links back.
 
 best just to start a new numbering series while acknowledging the
 links back.
 

-I have reverted to "Advent" for the binary to avoid a name collision
+We have reverted to "advent" for the binary to avoid a name collision

 with the BSD Games version.
 
 == Functional changes in Open Adventure ==
 
 with the BSD Games version.
 
 == Functional changes in Open Adventure ==
 

+By default, advent issues "> " as a command prompt.  This feature
+became common in many variants after the original 350-point version,
+but was never backported into Crowther & Woods's main line before now.
+The "-o" (oldstyle) version reverts the behavior.
+

 A "seed" command has been added.  This is not intended for human use
 but as a way for game logs to set the PRNG (pseudorandom-number generator) so
 that random events (dwarf & pirate appearances, the bird's magic word)
 A "seed" command has been added.  This is not intended for human use
 but as a way for game logs to set the PRNG (pseudorandom-number generator) so
 that random events (dwarf & pirate appearances, the bird's magic word)


@@ -145,6 +174,10 @@ which is then linked to the advent binary.
 
 - [[[IFA]]] http://rickadams.org/adventure/
 
 
 - [[[IFA]]] http://rickadams.org/adventure/
 

-- [[[[DA]]] http://www.filfre.net/sitemap/
+- [[[DA]]] http://www.filfre.net/sitemap/

 
 - [[[SN]]] http://www.digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/1/2/000009/000009.html
 
 - [[[SN]]] http://www.digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/1/2/000009/000009.html

+
+- [[[DND]]] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dnd_(video_game)
+
+- [[[WUMPUS]]] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunt_the_Wumpus