[02] Dice and Ladders

 I remember some of the games I played on Grandpa's XT, before I had one of my own.  Other than Castle Adventure, the earliest game memory from that PC I have is Willy the Worm.

Willy the Worm in color mode

Willy the Worm was released in 1985 as a shareware title from Alan Farmer in Charlottesville, Virginia.  Sadly, his name is one way too common to track down, the best I found so far is a few other game credits through about 1990.  This game is both simple, yet impressive for different reasons.  Firstly, it was distributed with the source code, in Pascal.  Secondly, it came with a level editor (also with the source code).  While admittedly not a very challenging game, unless you play it on a modern speed computer, I'm sure that, in the right hands, a challenging set of levels could be designed.

[01] My first computer, and my life of piracy at age 9

My grandfather was an early adopter of the IBM PC/XT, their early foray into the personal computing field inhabited largely by Apple and some others.  I was 7 or 8 at the time, so I don't remember all the details, but it initially had an amber monochrome screen and only one 5 1/4" floppy drive, to which he later added a second.  He also added a hard drive, likely a 10 megabyte one.

It looked very much like this, with a printer by its side.

Together, we played what was my first adventure game.  A shareware classic named Castle Adventure, written by a 14 year-old kid, although I hadn't noticed the typos and bad grammar at the time.  I do plan to do a detailed post on this game -- and try to solve it with a fresh set of eyes 30+ years later.  [Edit: I've since done this, for The Adventurer's Guild.]

[00] Introduction & Reboot

 A re-introduction to a blog I haven't posted to in over 12 years, and a fresh start.

This will be an exploration of my past -- as connected to computer games, technology, and other related things.  It won't necessarily be chronological, but at least to start, it will focus on a lot of firsts.  My first computer.  My first video game system.  The first week of 6th grade, when a new friend introduced me to my first Sierra game.  My goal is to explore everything around me, the books I read, the magazines, the ways I enjoyed that tech.

It may seem unfocused, but that's not entirely true.  My goal is to relive the fun of the past and try to look through my past eyes.  No play-by-play walkthroughs here, although I will definitely link to them if I feel one is a worthwhile read.  No ratings, other than me simply saying, why would I have played it then, and would I still enjoy it now?

Some inspiration for this blog is coming from other trips to the past:  The Adventure Gamer is a largely chronological replay of popular adventure games starting from the early 80s, full playthroughs and ratings.  The Digital Antiquarian is a little less focused, but a very well research delve into the past.  I'm sure we will cross some of the same paths, perhaps with different opinions.

It won't be revisionist.  This is a point I feel I should make.  I'll be judging things from the time they came out, even if something wouldn't be made by modern standards because of a change in our public morals.

Once I get this going, it'll be fun to make this a collaborative project.  That's a future goal.

But for now, sit back and enjoy the ride.