Eamon Adventurer's Guild Online

Eamon Deluxe for Mac Screenshots.

2012-05-10T07:33:00.012-04:00

As I have mentioned previously, Eamon Deluxe 5.0 will be cross-platform compatible. The OS X version is just about ready for testing and the beta will be sent out at the same time as the next Windows version. Packages for popular Linux distributions are also in development at this time.

Eamon website server change

2012-05-09T22:50:00.002-04:00

The eamonag.org website is moving! However, you'll notice two outages to facilitate the move. The first one is currently underway, and the second will take place in the next week or so.

In the meantime, you can keep up to date with the Eamon world through the facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/EamonGuild or through the Eamon blog at http://eamon-guild.blogspot.com/

Thanks!
Matthew

Realm of Fantasy Upgrade and Review

2012-05-05T22:52:00.006-04:00

As promised, here is a review for Realm of Fantasy, an Eamon Deluxe original adventure from 2006 which has been upgraded to the 5.0 system as well as enhanced in many areas. I recently worked with the author on revising this strange but very fun adventure. Watch this blog for the upcoming release of another EDX original adventure, the very excellent A Runcible Cargo by Thomas Ferguson, which is in final development as I write this. It's a good year for Eamon.

A stand alone version of Realm of Fantasy can currently be downloaded from the Eamon Deluxe homepage.

Eamon Deluxe #21: Realm of Fantasy by Jared Davis
Reviewed by Luke Hewitt and Frank Black

New Commands: BUY, SELL
Special Features: Fun and manic pacing in a surreal and (literally) colorful environment.
Difficulty Rating: 6 (average 5.5 from two ratings)
Overall Rating: 5 (average 5.5 from two ratings)

This is the second adventure that was written specifically for the Eamon Deluxe platform. Though the name "Realm of Fantasy" is somewhat ambiguous, and the initial rescue-a-friend-from-a-cave quest you’re introduced to seems to indicate swords and sorcery, it doesn't take long before it becomes clear that "fantasy" in this case means dreamlike, fantastic or surreal, as you are introduced to a host of companions and situations from Alice in Wonderland, the Oz books, famous films and even the Super Mario Brothers games.

If the idea of having the likes of The White rabbit and Dorothy duking it out with the infamous Bowser doesn't appeal to you, then you will most likely not appreciate this adventure in its entirety. However, if you are the sort who has a surreal or literary mind then there are definitely some nice touches which will add to the fun. e.g. having the Wicked Witch of the West crushed by Dorothy’s house when she dies, or the freeing of a tin man from two evil trees.

One thing I particularly appreciated is that clearly the author was thinking of the Oz books, not the films, as characters like Momby and Tip from The Land of Oz appear. Dorothy also happens to be wearing silver shoes, not the ruby slippers which they are commonly mistaken for due to the popularity of the well known 1930's musical adaption. This deep knowledge however is rather a double edged sword, since there were some references I didn't understand myself.

The writing is adequate to the task at hand and often humorous in places, even though some of the descriptions are a little short. Some characters and places, such as the Queen of Hearts' Palace, might have done with a bit more description. Though certainly the short length of the descriptions in question is no worse than that found in many Classic Eamon adventures. Plus the surreal situations and settings are fun, light-hearted and much of an improvement over the average underground dungeon.

I didn't notice a large amount of specials (i.e. modifications to the standard Eamon Deluxe base adventure program), but the specials I noticed worked fairly well. Although it did seem as if most of the specials were located near the start of the game and the sort of tapered off where they could have been a bit more evenly distributed throughout the adventure. Indeed even the new commands BUY and SELL are only useable in one specific location and then only for a couple of items. Nonetheless, just having the shop there was a very nice touch, as it was nonexistent in the original, 2006 release of this adventure.

This is definitely a fighter's outing as the Realm contains a very large amount of combat, frequently against seemingly random opponents. I would recommend bringing at least a medium strength character into it, even though you do come across some fairly powerful weapons and healing items as you progress throughout the game.

One interesting fact which you will either love or hate are your many companions (sometimes you will find ten or more of them faithfully following you around), who are likewise pitted against large numbers of foes. In fact, it is fairly common in this adventure to find groups of 10, 20 or even 30 enemies at a time (all of whom die usually with a single hit from your trusty allies).

It can be said that this does make for a different style of battle which adds to the unique flavor of this adventure. I often found myself on the sidelines of the battles, playing healer and supporting my companions as they fought it out with my foes. On the other hand, this also means a lot of mindless tapping of the enter key to skip past combat text which can get somewhat repetitive and wearing. In all fairness though, the unusually large number of companions I met up with also meant that battles against groups of 20+ enemies took less rounds then one would initially imagine.

The small army of companions and extra enter hitting did complicate things several times while I was simply trying to go about exploring rooms and reading the full descriptions for everything. I found myself hitting enter one too many times and inadvertently causing new descriptive text to scroll away before it could be read. This can obviously get a little irritating, though it could also be argued that this was actually more of a symptom of my own impatience with reading the screen than a flaw in the adventure itself.

One feature I did enjoy about having an anomalous multitude of companions was having access to the various items they were carrying with them. In fact, you will most likely want to check the inventory of every companion you come across in order to get some of the bonus items that are sprinkled throughout the adventure.

Overall the system of sitting back and playing healer was a break from the standard combat found in most Eamon adventures which was rather fun (as was seeing Dorothy give the wicked witch what for). It might indeed have been nice if more weapons were found throughout the adventure, and also if those weapons were of random and varied types. An axe-wielding Dorothy or an AK-47 toting Princess Peach would have been a fun inclusion and still would have been within the limits of keeping in tune to the somewhat psychedelic feeling that this game presents.

Overall, if you like (in no particular order): combat, literary references, colorful famous characters, surreal settings, light-hearted fun and/or if you just have a sense of humour then you will enjoy this adventure. Likewise, I recommend the experience of at least one trip through the Realm of Fantasy to every fan of Eamon adventures as it is, in several different aspects, a very unique entry into the Eamon library.

A short review of Outsiders from Oz

2012-05-05T21:33:00.004-04:00

Jared Davis, the author of the Eamon Deluxe original adventure "Realm of Fantasy", has recently published his first novel which is based upon the mythos of L. Frank Baum's Oz series. I recently ordered a copy from his current publisher, Lulu.com, and received a very nice, professionally printed hardcover edition within a few days.

Even though I had read the entire set of Oz books many years ago, I remembered very little about them when I ordered this book. However, Jared does a good job of compensating for Oz fans and newcomers alike, as he peppers in various pieces of background lore as needed and in an efficient manor which doesn't slow the pacing of the story. I was able to easily understand what was going on right from the first page.

I found Outsiders from Oz to be a relaxing and entertaining read. A lighthearted, yet quite interesting and creative fantasy story from a first time author who knows his subject matter well. All in all, Jared did an excellent job and I would recommend his work to anyone who enjoys reading fantasy fiction or simply wishes to show support for a fellow member of the Eamon community.

Outsiders from Oz is printed to order and available in both hardcover and paperback.

Beta copy of The PC Eamon Museum released to play testers.

2012-05-04T23:16:00.010-04:00

The PC Eamon Museum is a compilation of the various known attempts at converting the Classic Eamon gaming system from the Apple II series of computers to the PC family. All of the conversion “exhibits” in the museum were originally written for the MS-DOS operating system and took a fair amount of work and technical knowledge to run on modern computers.

The Museum was created to preserve all of these relics of Eamon history in one place as well as allow convenient access to view and even play them on modern computers. By using some of the Eamon Deluxe 5.0 gaming system framework, including a modified version of the freeware DOSBox emulator, the PC ports of Eamon included in the Museum are now accessible with just a few clicks on a variety of modern computers and operating systems.

Those on the Eamon Deluxe 5.0 play tester list who have reported that they are using Windows and testing in Standard Mode (there is no VI Mode available for the Museum) should check their email for a message and download link regarding the Museum. (If you are on the list and do not receive a message, please email me.)

A public download will also be made available very soon, once the Museum has been initially tested and verified. Visit The PC Eamon Museum homepage on the Eamon Adventurer's Guild site for more details as well as future downloads and updates.

Joomla site down

2012-05-02T21:19:00.001-04:00

Due to technical difficulties, the joomla site is offline for the time being. I hope to be able to restore it soon. Thanks!

Technological Apocalypse

2012-04-27T00:12:00.002-04:00

I just thought I would take a moment to mention why things have been a bit quiet around here lately and also why all the estimated release dates mentioned in the last few blogs had to be pushed up a bit longer.

I was making very good progress on Eamon Deluxe 5.0 as well as the various side projects that have mutated out of it when my household became enveloped in what I can only describe as a technological apocalypse of sorts. It seems that over the period of a week or so nearly everything electronic or mechanical that I was using decided to crash or fail in some way, including two vehicles and nearly every computer in the house. I have never experienced anything quite like that and am really more amazed than annoyed. However it has kept me extremely busy since I do my own repairs on just about everything.

I had to reformat a few computers, including the one that I do all of my work on. Fortunately there was very little data loss, but I still don't have everything back in the order it was before. It also doesn't help that I had five open projects going on at the time of the crash so I have to retrace my steps and figure out where I was at with all of them before continuing work. As of right now, order has mostly been restored and if nothing comes up this weekend, I should be able to finish up a few projects and actually release some software instead of just blogging about it.

Projects that have top priority right now are:

Release the final Eamon Deluxe 5.0 beta to play testers. This is about 70% finished.

Release a stand alone version of Thomas Ferguson's fantastic Eamon Deluxe adventure, "A Runcible Cargo". At the last moment I decided that, since this was such a good adventure, it deserved a complete transplant and upgrade into the new Eamon Deluxe 5.0 adventure programs. This is about 80% finished.

Post reviews and more detailed info about Jared Davis' revised Eamon Deluxe original adventure, "Realm of Fantasy", which I recently released as a stand alone download. I also ordered a copy of Jared's recently published first novel and was planning to review that at the same time to give him a little publicity. I only manged to read a few chapters before everything crashed on me, however, so I'll probably just edit and post the adventure reviews this weekend and review his book at a later time.

Release the beta copy of The PC Eamon Museum project I mentioned in my last blog. The museum contains bundle of three different attempted ports of Eamon to MS-DOS, along with two old versions of Eamon Deluxe from my archives. Currently all of these systems are a lot of work to get up and running on any modern computer. The museum is a cross platform package, based on the Eamon Deluxe 5.0 framework, which makes them now easily installed and playable with just a few clicks to anyone who wants to explore these relics of Eamon weirdness but doesn't have the time or technical knowledge to run the obsolete source files. The PC Eamon Museum appeared to be around 99% done before my system crash so that may hopefully be ready this weekend as well. I'm going to send copies to my play testers first, then create a page for it on the Guild website with public download links.

I still have a few openings for play testers and am gladly accepting offers for help in any other areas (note: experienced Mac and Linux users would be especially helpful right now). Email eamondeluxe (at) gmail.com if interested in testing or contributing to these projects.

Eamon News (lots of it)

2012-04-04T03:15:00.002-04:00

There are quite a few Eamon related projects in the works right now. Most of them are very close to being completed so I thought it would be a good time to announce a few of them.

Eamon Deluxe 5.0 Progress.

The third and final Beta is nearly complete for Eamon Deluxe 5.0. There are still some Main Hall and VI Mode character editor bugs to work out and the manuals need a lot of tedious revisions but that is about all that is holding that project up. I also decided to revise the entire Beginners Adventures set (which contains the 5.0 Demo Adventure and six Classic Eamon conversions, including the original Beginner's Cave) and port all of the adventures into the new 5.0 base adventure program, fixing some issues and adding new content to each along the way.

For those who are nostalgic, have now fear: Donald Brown's classic Beginner's Cave has been left mostly untouched, except a few extra items were added which were in the descriptions but didn't actually "exist" in the game. The classic experience is still there though. The other adventures had the same treatment except some problems were fixed in each which involved seemingly missing, or just poorly implemented special effects and events. The revisions have set the release date back a bit, but are very well worth the extra wait.

The best news about the Beta 3 release, however, is that much of it will be available for public download, although the included adventures will be limited to those that have already passed version 5.0 upgrades and testing. The people on my play tester list will get a separate expansion pack which will include all of 175 converted adventures, whether upgraded or not. I still have 5 spots open for Standard Mode play testers and 2 spots for VI Mode testers, so email me if you want to be added to this list.

While anyone who writes software knows that proper release dates are near impossible to set, I'm hoping for the end of April at the latest. Once the base system is stable and fully tested, the adventure sets can be upgraded to 5.0 fairly quickly and the entire package, including unreleased adventures, should be ready by the end of summer.

Help Wanted.

There are a couple areas that are dragging down the release date and eating up a lot of my free time that I get to work on Eamon Deluxe. If anybody has experience programming in FreeBASIC, particularly in converting QBASIC source code into a format that will compile, please contact me. I have not been able to get my simple installer program for adding new adventures to work and have wasted a lot of time on it so far.

Any help revising and proofreading the new Player's Manual and Adventure Design Manual would be very much appreciated as well. I have most of the 5.0 technical details and changes documented already, it just all needs to be put together properly, with any missing details searched out and added in. For me, this is very boring part of the upgrade process and I would rather put my time and energy into programming and bug fixes and get a full public release ready sooner.

Introducing the PC Eamon Museum

A large part of Eamon Deluxe is what I call The Eamon Preservation Project. I currently have a working Beta that installs all of the known PC ports of Eamon in one package that is playable on any OS. Want to see what Jon Walker's Eamon looked like? Or Paul Gilbert's or even John Nelson's for that matter? I took all known source code, compiled programs, etc. and made an Eamon Deluxe style installer and menu that lets you launch and explore all of these relics easily. It also has an "Employee Entrance" to the Museum which lets you tinker around and explore on your own if you know your way around a DOS prompt.

The Museum will also include playable copies of the oldest version of Eamon Deluxe (from 1999) in my archives as well as the last version (4.5, from 2007) I had developed before I started the 5.0 upgrade project.

As noted, the Museum is still in Beta format and will be sent to my play testers before any public release. I have not had much time to develop, test and properly document the Museum as it has purely been a side project for my own amusement until recently. This is another project where any help would be appreciated and speed up release, particularly in the documentation area.

A Runcible Cargo Upgrade and Release
or
"With Apologies to Nathan Segerlind..."

The Eamon Deluxe original that I called "possibly the best Eamon ever written" in a previous blog is being ported into the brand new 5.0 base adventure program before official release. This was a last minute decision on my part, to which the author agreed. Like all good adventures, it isn't an easy job to port and has a lot of special code that has to be applied and tested carefully. While this pushes the public release date up much later than I planned, it is well worth the extra time and effort.

And last but not least, another Eamon Deluxe Original is now available in stand alone format:

EDX#21 Realm of Fantasy by Jared Davis

This was originally submitted as the second Eamon Deluxe original ever written back in 2006. I contacted the author recently and we worked together on a revised and expanded version using the new 5.0 system. While not as complex as A Runcible Cargo, it is a very unique, fun and (literally) colorful adventure.

Jared has also recently published his first book, Outsiders from Oz, a fantasy story set in the world created by L. Frank Baum. I ordered a hardcover copy and am halfway through it. I will be reviewing both Realm of Fantasy 5.0 and Outsiders from Oz in my next blog.

For those who don't want to wait, you can download Realm of Fantasy from the Eamon Deluxe home page and check out Jared's book at Lulu.com or read his blog about it.

New Eamon Newsletter

2012-03-23T14:43:00.003-04:00

I'm writing this blog to announce that an entirely original, 10-page Eamon newsletter was just added to the Guild website. While it is named "The Eamon Deluxe Newsletter", this publication is actually intended to be a place for content that relates to any platform or aspect of the Eamon community and is published in the spirit and fond memory of Tom Zuchowski's former EAG newsletters.

The formatted PDF version can be viewed here.

A standard text version can also be viewed from the Eamon Guild Newsletters page for those using screen reading software or similar devices.

The Eamon Deluxe Newsletter, Volume Two is a new incarnation of a project that failed to launch several years ago and is primarily a result of the superb work of Thomas Ferguson, who has volunteered to create more issues in the upcoming months. Thomas has also written a few adventure reviews which can be found inside this issue, as well as the opening article, "A Note on 'Lost Eamons'".

I found Thomas' article to be a very fun, interesting and informative read which sheds much needed light on some lesser known Eamon adventures and attempted ports to other systems that many Eamon fans may yet be unaware of.

The debut issue also features a taste of the contributions we have been receiving from Luke Hewitt, who eats Eamon adventures for breakfast, leaving nothing behind him except empty treasure chests and entertaining, in depth reviews. And, if you look closely, you'll even find a new review (or perhaps "roast" is a more appropriate title), written by myself and spotlighting upon one of the Lost Eamons mentioned in the feature article.

I believe it's been a very long time since two people collaborated on an Eamon project, let alone three, so several rounds of Double Dragon Blombs are in order tonight, as we toast to the runcible Mr. Ferguson for all of his efforts on a job that was, most certainly, well done.

Eamon Deluxe 5.0 Demo Adventure Now Available (update: 03/21/2012)

2012-03-12T05:08:00.007-04:00

This is a small adventure that shows off the new base program and the enhanced 5.0 system features. It uses a stand alone system that was created for the sake of releasing adventures while upgrades are being completed on the rest of the Eamon Deluxe 5.0 system.

Click the link below to download:
Eamon Deluxe 5.0 Demo Adventure (stand alone version)

This is a zip file containing a folder called "Eamon Deluxe Demo Adventure". Extract the folder to anyplace that you wish and do the following to start playing:

Windows users:
Open the folder and double-click "Eamon Deluxe Demo Adventure". Press "N" when asked if you need to use VI Mode.

VI Mode for the visually impaired (Windows only):
Open the folder and double-click "Eamon Deluxe Demo Adventure VI Mode". Press "Y" and then "X" to confirm VI Mode.

Mac and Linux users:
Currently you must have the DOSBox emulator installed. Mount the "DX_FILES" folder to DOSBox, switch to the mounted directory, then use "EDX_SA1.BAT" to start.

Please send comments, reports, thoughts, suggestions etc. to eamondeluxe (at) gmail.com (or just leave them in the comments section of this post).

Watch this blog for more Eamon Deluxe original adventures. I'll be releasing A Runcible Cargo next, with two more adventures to follow. Below is a review of the 5.0 Demo Adventure from the upcoming Eamon Deluxe Newsletter.

Eamon Deluxe 5.0 Demo Adventure by Frank Black
Reviewed by Luke Hewitt

Difficulty Rating: 6.0 (out of 10)
Overall (fun) Rating: 7.0 (out of 10)

This adventure is, like the Beginner's Cave, a fairly simple slash and grab scenario for starting level characters intended as an introduction to the world of Eamon Deluxe. There are however a number of very nice points that make the Demo Adventure stand out from the other Beginner Adventures such as the Beginner's Cave.

Firstly, though there is indeed a classic dungeon with treasures, this isn't in fact all that the setting contains. It's entrance and introduction set the scene with you exploring an abandoned building which quickly turns out to be the home of a thief who's gotten himself into trouble with an underground criminal gang which employs brutish monsters as its extra muscle.

While not an original or highly fleshed out plot, this does at least give a little more explanation to what you are doing, and means that the enemies, albeit the usual giants and ogres, have a little more purpose than just random wildlife which got in your way and the treasure was slightly more logically explained than just being a natural feature of underground dungeons.

This plot also gives something of a quest feeling to the game even though there aren't any actual objectives, especially since the final showdown is rather a tough one for a beginning level character and you do get to rescue the thief himself. It even has a very nice exit at the end of the dungeon to go back to the Main Hall, rather than making you backtrack to the entrance as many other adventures do.

Another major factor in this adventure as opposed to the others is the huge range of embedded artifacts. Though there are no puzzles such as passwords, you still do have to make far more use of the EXAMINE command than the others in the Beginner Adventures set. In fact, just about every single piece of furniture mentioned in the room descriptions is examinable, sometimes to your profit, and several monsters are carrying artifacts so using the inventory command on them certainly helps too.

The adventure isn't entirely stand alone either since, as well as some comical references to popular interactive fiction, there are also references to some other Eamon adventures which experienced Eamonaughts will of course pick up on, and new players will find as a tantalizing hint to what the rest of Eamon Deluxe has to offer.

Though it is a demo adventure and uses only the power of the Eamon Deluxe system itself with no fancy programming, the large number of embedded artifacts (those which only show up in the descriptions of other things and not directly until you have examined them) means that players should keep an eye out for objects to examine, since the game strategically uses these to create its puzzles without the use of extra programming. In fact, several points can't be passed without examining your surroundings carefully.

My only minor criticism is that several artifacts are a little fourth wall breaking, such as a "message" which exists only to test in-game error handling; or mentioning that a certain monster has specific attributes, a certain artifact is of a specific type, etc.. But there are very few of these instances when compared to all the other items in the game and this is, after all, a demo adventure for the entire Eamon Deluxe System.

Either way it's certainly worth a visit, and a fun introduction to your Eamon career.

New Eamon Announcement and Review

2012-03-11T11:04:00.002-04:00

Below is a review I wrote a new Eamon adventure that you won't want to miss. I've had it for a few months now and was going to wait until the Eamon Deluxe 5.0 system was finished so that I could release everything in one package. However, the 5.0 revisions are taking a bit longer than expected and I decided that this adventure has gone unreleased for long enough.

I am just finishing up a few details on a stand alone system for Eamon Deluxe adventures so the they can be played without having to download and install the entire system. As soon as that is ready, I'm going to publicly release all of the Eamon Deluxe originals in that format.

Watch this blog the next couple of days for download links to those adventures. In the meantime, enjoy the following review of what is one of the best Eamons I have ever played.

Eamon Deluxe Adventure #22
A Runcible Cargo by Thomas Ferguson

Reviewed by Frank Black

Eamon Deluxe version: 4.2 (with some 5.0 upgrades)
Playing time: 6-8 hours!
Reviewer rating: 9.5 out of 10 Average rating: 9.5/1

Description:

Admittedly, you don't know how you got here, but a relaxing, if uncanny, sunset greets your gaze.

But you have unexpected company, in the form of an incredibly large rabbit.

Being a seasoned Eamonaut, a rabbit of this stature should seem pedestrian. You, after all, have battled wizards with rocket launchers and engaged in space opera with broadswords...

...so why does this rabbit unnerve you so?

Comment: Above is the ENTIRE intro text, which, when paired with the author warning me ahead of time that he had little programming experience and had never written an Eamon before, led me to believe I was in for a mildly entertaining, Alice in Wonderland type hack'n'slash fest. But looks can be deceiving and A Runcible (look it up) Cargo is a good example of that. Weighing in at 102 rooms, 140 artifacts, 39 monsters and *152* effects, this nearly 17,000 word Eamon Deluxe original is best described as an interactive novel, with a true feeling of adventure and rich with the flavor of Classic Eamon Lore. Indeed there are so many references to the Main Hall regulars and various classic adventures across the board that I was left dazed in a fantastic sort of way.

I initially sat down with my girlfriend at 1 a.m. one night, expecting to play through this adventure in an hour or less, make a few notes about bugs and typos and whip out a quick review. Three hours later I looked over to see her literally shudder while reading a description of a creepy figure outside a hotel window and felt a slight chill wash over myself as well. It had somehow become 4 a.m. and neither of us had noticed, being completely entranced in Mr. Ferguson's well crafted little world. I had to force myself to save the game and go to sleep. I did a quick 'seen flag' count which told me that, after three hours of game play, we had only been to less than half of the rooms in this adventure.

It took several days for me to set aside enough time to continue the adventure properly. I was playing it alone this time, picking up right where we had left off and it still took me another three hours to complete it. Six hours total game play! I know Eamon Deluxe inside and out, plus I was cheating slightly by already having a map and adding some code to list all the embedded artifacts in each room so I didn't have to spend time examining everything in the rich and interesting room descriptions. In fact there are very few descriptions in the entire adventure that are under 200 characters long or that are repetitious of each other. Even average "N/S corridor"-type rooms with nothing in them get treated to their own expository and unique descriptions.

I can't praise the author's excellent writing style enough and I felt completely drawn into his creation as I played through it. He has a definite mastery over words and you can feel how much fun he is having with them as he builds his interesting images around you. A Runcible Cargo is verbose to the point of almost being ridiculous at times with clever puns and inside Eamon references everywhere, and yet somehow manages to be light-hearted and often funny while still portraying a strong sense of mood and urgency. I have played over 200 Eamon adventures, some of them being extremely good, and I can honestly say that I have never been as entertained (or taken as many notes) as I did while playing this one.

While the area you start in has a sort of dreamy aimless feel to it (for a good reason), it matches up perfectly with the intro text and it isn't long before you move into another area and the action starts immediately! I had to laugh at myself as I noticed I was gripping my chair and my heart was racing at one point, something that doesn't normally happen to me from any form of entertainment. As you progress through the adventure the mood shifts perfectly to match the various settings and it is obvious that the author took great care down to the smallest details which make it much more realistic than an average adventure game.

As I mentioned, there is an area of intense action near the start which really gets things going. The pace slows down a bit afterwards and you are left to wander the large map at your leisure, but that sense of urgency never really goes away and, while, the author kindly lets you have your freedom to explore in your own way, he also makes sure you don't stray too far from your intended quest.

In fact you can mostly ignore the usual hints, heal spell and frequent saving that accompanies most complex adventures. The author is very fair to the player and seems more interested in entertaining you than killing you off, which is refreshing in an Eamon adventure. He also offers multiple ways for you to finish the game with varying consequences which further adds to the realism and leaves the player well satisfied as they exit the adventure.

The numerous references to Eamon Lore and the various shifting moods within a myriad of interesting settings make it a real treat to play for both experienced Eamon gamers and those new to the system. If you know your Eamon history and are fammiliar with most of the adventures then you will be amazed at the amount of "throwbacks" that are made throughout the game. The most obvious of all possibly being a wagon you come across near the start which contains a ray gun and a sword; this is no accident or random artifact placement but rather a well done symbol of the diversity and creative strangeness that has always been a part of Eamon. In fact, the whole adventure in itself could be described as one big tribute to/celebration of the Eamon multiverse. He even went as far as to incorporate one of the worst Eamons ever made, The Eamon Railroad, which is placed perfectly on the map and and I enjoyed quite a bit.

From the dreamy light hearted starting point, to the absolute chaos that follows, to the distinct feeling of abandonment and entropy in the Eamon Rail Yard (which is perfect for an adventure nobody has wanted to play for over 20 years), to the spine tingling creepiness in the town of Dodge, to the local inn which made me laugh out loud to myself as I explored and discovered that a bunch of jerks had ransacked it, locked the owner in his own appliance and invaded his quarters for a sleazy poker game. I particularly enjoyed dispatching them and then laughed again for letting myself get so involved in the story.

Nearly every area of Eamon is touched upon, including the obligatory sailing where you just walk between watery rooms in a perhaps imaginary boat, to the Eamon sewers...Even the rarely spoken of House of Ill Repute gets a quick and hilarious visit. In short, this is an adventure which the author took care to craft slowly, trying to cover every detail along the way and all of his hard work shows.

A Runcible Cargo has all of the traits of a great adventure. A steady pace; rich and realistic, yet fun, descriptions; a clear quest; lots of specials and action to keep the interest up; plenty of laughs and often amusing companions who seem to display real personality traits. The adventure seems to never be afraid to break the 4th wall, but yet remained, in many ways, the most realistic Eamon adventure I have played to date. Halfway through the game I was sure I was going to give it a perfect 10 rating, something I don't believe any adventure has ever gotten in the history of Eamon.

Why did I lower the rating to 9.5 then? Well there were a few things, mostly towards the end, that didn't sit well with me personally.

First off, most of the monsters are cardboard cutout "bandits". While this goes with the clear storyline and quest, it also gets rather tedious. At first I was impressed with the author's ability to write rich entertaining descriptions for each one of these cutouts, but by the end I was less amused and somewhat bored with each new way to verbosely say "You see a bandit." I found myself just skimming the bandit descriptions and blankly looking around my house as I repeatedly tapped the Enter key until they were dead and I could move on with my explorations.

The order in which I chose to pursue the map most likely worked against my rating as well because apparently I came across the most vacant and perhaps somewhat unfinished section of the game at the end of my explorations. This struck me with an anti-climactic feeling lingering after all of the interesting places I had visited previously. Here I found myself in a nearly empty college campus with a bunch of doors that were practically left wide open (I am guessing the author had some programming problems and gave up on trying to get them to work right at some point).

On that subject, there were way too many doors in this adventure in general, especially given the fact that few of them seemed to actually work right. Locked door puzzles can get old fast and that, combined with the cardboard cutout bad guys, brought the excellent material in the rest of the game down with it a little.

Once I acquired the Runcible Cargo there were some good special effects which brought the tension and interest back up again. I expected more of these effects as I journeyed on with it, but nothing else happened which was another small let down. The end of the game routines also seemed a bit rushed to me and not nearly as smoothly done as the beginning.

Keep in mind that these are all just my personal opinions and others may rate this adventure differently than I did based upon their own preferences.

With the few gripes I just listed aside, A Runcible Cargo is nothing short of a complete masterpiece of interactive fiction and definitely one of the top five best Eamons ever written. It's well crafted, well written, detailed and also a perfect example of the powerful capabilities Eamon Deluxe has over previous Eamon versions as well. This is an excellent yet somehow precisely humble entry for a first time author and I hope Mr. Ferguson sticks around for a long time and decides to write more adventures in the future.

Overall, I give it a difficulty rating of around 5 and part of that reflects the amount of time one needs to set aside just to play through and see everything rather than dangers of character death. I highly recommend this adventure to everyone. It is Eamon flavored interactive fiction at it's best.

Facebook Cover Contest

2012-03-10T20:58:00.003-05:00

As you may know, facebook is converting most of their pages to the new timeline format. The Eamon page will be forced to convert as well on March 30, 2012.

One of the features of the new timeline format is a "cover" image. That's the "big" image at the top of the page when it loads. Unfortunately, none of the dozens or so graphic files that I have of Eamon really fits into this slot appropriately. The required dimensions are a width of 850 px and a height of 315 px. Cover images tend to get pixelated, so it’s best to load a high-res image. Don't have many high-res images in Eamon!

So, I'm putting this out as a contest. Design an Eamon appropriate facebook cover that will fit the required dimensions. The winner will have the honor of having their cover chosen to represent the Eamon facebook group and, of course, bragging rights!

The deadline to email your entries to me at eamonag@gmail.com is March 29, 2012.

Thanks and good luck!

Eamon Deluxe 5.0 Update.

2012-03-05T23:29:00.002-05:00

I know it's been a while since I posted an update so I just want to let everyone know that the Eamon Deluxe 5.0 revision is still in full development and getting closer to being polished up and released.

The first round of play testing went very well with surprisingly few bug reports. I got a lot of suggestions for new features and tried my best to implement all of the reasonable suggestions I received. Currently there isn't a whole lot of new programming left to do. The Main Hall and character editors need some bug fixing and a few other random things here and there, plus the manuals need updating, but for the most part the 5.0 system is looking pretty stable now.

There are still a lot of classic adventures which were already converted and now need 5.0 update patches applied and then testing of those patches so I will be sending a final Beta copy to play testers before I release it for public download. However, I may release a stand alone copy of the Demo Adventure for public download as soon as I make sure it's fully ready so Eamon fans can get a taste of the new Eamon Deluxe without having to wait for the entire package to be finished.

Cheers,
-Frank

Eamon Trivia 01: The Curse of Talon

2012-02-03T12:54:00.006-05:00

Progress is going well on Eamon Deluxe 5.0 and I'm close to sending a Beta 3 copy to my testers and hopefully a public release in the near future. Until then I need a few fun distractions to take away from the tediousness that comes with parts of the revision process.

When converting Classic Eamon adventures to Eamon Deluxe, I get to see into every nook and cranny of that adventure and often find things the average player would be likely to miss or never even see at all. This can be due to a number of reasons, including obscure special events, erroneous code or the author's personal Easter eggs to name a few.

Although I haven't kept a list of what I have found over the years (and I wish I had), I usually left notes about anything interesting I found in that particular adventure's hint files. I thought it would be fun to make semi-regular blog entries to share some of these amusing oddities and include some screen shots as well. I'll list the Official Eamon Guild number and the Eamon Deluxe number, followed by the adventure name. So, here we go...

Today's trivia: EAG#SD156/EDX#09-3

THE CURSE OF TALON by Sam Ruby.

There is an unused room in The Curse of Talon called The Butt. I have no idea why it was there and will probably never know but I find it pretty amusing nonetheless. I converted that adventure several years ago and had forgotten about the Butt Room until recently when I was reorganizing The Sam Ruby Adventures for the Eamon Deluxe 5.0 revision. Apparently I found it amusing back when I converted it too because I expanded on it, placing "monsters" from the database that were no longer needed in the Butt Room and leaving an Easter egg that could be used to access it.

To enter the Butt Room in the Apple II version, use Control-C to break the program and enter the command shown in the screen shot. To leave the Butt, use the same method, but change "R2=51" to "R2=R3".

In the Eamon Deluxe version, simply cast your POWER spell to be teleported into the Butt. [snicker] Going in any direction will take you back to the room you came from. (Note: GIVE 5000 to a neutral monster in Eamon Deluxe to turn them into a friend.)

Eamon Deluxe 5.0 Beta sent out to playtesters!

2012-01-27T03:25:00.003-05:00

I have just finished sending out the Windows installer to those who volunteered to play test Eamon Deluxe 5.0. If you were on my list, please check your email for a message from Eamon Deluxe that has the installer attached. If you were on my list and did not get a copy by now, please email me and I will send another. I currently have 20 play testers and have room for 10 more, if anyone is interested in trying out the last 10 Beta copies, send an email to eamondeluxe ( at ) gmail.com

Eamon Deluxe Beta 98% Ready to Go (and Other Info)

2012-01-26T16:40:00.000-05:00

Eamon Deluxe 5.0 Beta status:

For those who are waiting to play test the beta version of Eamon Deluxe 5.0, it is roughly 98% ready to send out. I'm only about a month late for when I wanted it to be ready which isn't bad in the programming world and [fingers crossed] hoping to maybe even send it out tonight, so be sure to check your inboxes. Thanks again to the play testers, and yes, I still have openings if anybody else is interested. Just email me with your preferred OS info.
-Frank

Classic Eamon -> Eamon Deluxe converted adventures chart:

The most frequent questions I have been asked over the years all tend to involve "missing" adventures. Well, I actually got around to counting the number of Eamon adventures that have been converted to EDX for the first time ever and compiled a little chart (which I hope makes sense) and even I was impressed with the sheer volume. I think in a few more years ALL Classic Eamon adventures will have been converted. Note that I haven't really gotten the hang of text formatting on this blog right yet so the text wraps around in unwanted places which I am choosing to ignore. :-)

Eamon Deluxe Adventure Conversion Chart
Update: 25 JAN 2012

Adventure type codes:
EAG = Eamon Guild Numbered Official Eamons (Apple II only)
C&P = CLONES/PORTS/MISC (Unnumbered, Softdisk, Swordthrust, PC, Atari, etc.)
EDX = Eamon Deluxe Original Adventures

Format for conversion list:
Eamon Deluxe Adventure #/Total number of adventures in set
/(Conversion Notes (+)=converted, (-)=awaiting conversion), tech notes)

01: 06/00/01 = 07 (+06 EAG, +01 EDX)
02: 09/07/00 = 16 (+09 EAG, -07 C&P:SwordThrust)
03: 05/00/00 = 05 (+05 EAG with 50% New EDX-original Material Integrated)
04: 20/00/00 = 20 (+20 EAG technically the last 2 were EDX Originals First)
05: 05/01/00 = 06 (+02 EAG, -03 EAG, -01 C&P:Unnumbered)
06: 04/00/00 = 04 (+00 EAG, -04 EAG missing)
07: 03/01/00 = 04 (+03 EAG, +01 C&P:Softdisk)
08: 09/00/00 = 09 (+09 EAG)
09: 15/03/00 = 18 (+05 EAG, -10 EAG, +03 C&P:SoftDisk)
10: 07/00/00 = 07 (+07 EAG)
11: 19/00/00 = 19 (+19 EAG)
12: 15/00/00 = 15 (+02 EAG, -13 EAG)
13: 21/00/00 = 21 (+21 EAG)
14: 21/00/00 = 21 (+21 EAG)
15: 20/00/00 = 20 (+04 EAG, -16 EAG)
16: 20/00/00 = 20 (+00 EAG, -20 EAG missing)
17: 20/00/00 = 20 (+00 EAG, -20 EAG missing)
18: 14/00/00 = 14 (+10 EAG, -04 EAG missing)
19: 21/00/00 = 21 (+21 EAG)
20: 00/00/01 = 01 (+01 EDX)
21: 00/00/01 = 01 (+01 EDX)
22: 00/00/01 = 01 (+01 EDX)
23: 00/04/00 = 04 (+01 C&P, -03 C&P:Atari & unnumbered)

Total: 254/15/04 = 274
Converted: 164/05/04 = 173
-----------------------------
Conversions left: 090/10/00 = 101

(Conversions currently in progress: 05/01/00 = 06, leaving only 95 left to convert)

So there you go. 173 fully converted/EDX original, 6 in progress and 95 left to go.

Eamon Deluxe Updated Adventure List:

This is my most recent list which shows the current Eamon Deluxe Library (including "missing" chapters in their proper placement):

;(Lists updated: 25 JAN 2012)

LIST 1: EAMON DELUXE ADVENTURE LIST

Adventure # Eamon Deluxe Classic Adventure Conversion Sets
-------------------------------------------------------------
00 Eamon Deluxe 5.0 System Environment
01 Beginner's Adventures
02 The Donald Brown Adventures
03 The Jim Jacobson Adventures Deluxe
04 The John Nelson Adventures
05 The Tom Zuchowski Adventures
06 The Pat Hurst Adventures
07 The Frank Kunze Adventures
08 The Nathan Segerlind Adventures
09 The Sam Ruby Adventures
10 The Roger Pender Adventures
11 The Robert Parker Adventures
12 Best of the Classic Adventures
13 Classic Eamon Adventures, Vol. 1
14 Classic Eamon Adventures, Vol. 2
15 Classic Eamon Adventures, Vol. 3
16 Classic Eamon Adventures, Vol. 4
17 Classic Eamon Adventures, Vol. 5
18 Classic Eamon Adventures, Vol. 6
19 Worst of the Classic Adventures

Adventure # Eamon Deluxe Original Adventures
-------------------------------------------------------------
20 Journey across the Muerte Sea
21 Realm of Fantasy
22 A Runcible Cargo
23 The Lost Treasures of Eamon

Eamon Deluxe 5.0 Progress Update and More Screen Shots.

2012-01-16T02:32:00.005-05:00

I'm happy to announce that the beta version of Eamon Deluxe 5.0 is nearly finished and I hope to be sending copies to the play testers very soon now. There is still room for a few more testers so email eamondeluxe (at) gmail.com and include a description of what OS you are using if you are interested. Here are a few more screen shots which show some newly added features.

Eamon Deluxe 5.0 Screen Shots

2012-01-11T00:41:00.007-05:00

I took a few screen shots of my pre-test beta version of Eamon Deluxe 5.0 over the past few days so those that are following the progress can get an idea of what it will look like. Keep in mind that this is a rough unfinished copy with no icons or final design decisions yet but it DOES work perfectly in Windows so far and that is good news.

The following are shots showing Eamon Deluxe running on Windows 7 and Win XP and give samples of the revised Main Menu (no more bad color usage and awful 40-column text!), adventure selection menu, Graphic Main Hall, Beginner's Cave, and a couple comparison shots that show the new "VI Mode" setting which allows full compatibility for visually impaired gamers. VI Mode implements dual menus and extra descriptions to things those players previously missed while not sacrificing any convenience or visually-oriented special effects that caused problems in the past. Progress is still moving fairly well and I still hope to have those beta copies sent out very soon.

Eamon Deluxe v5.0 Progress Update.

2012-01-09T17:21:00.002-05:00

I am very pleased to announce that late last night I managed to produce what I believe to be the first ever one-click fully installed and playable set of Eamon adventures in history. My installer worked perfectly on both the Win XP and Windows 7 64-bit computers I used to test them, complete with desktop icon, start menu shortcuts and an uninstall option. (Hmm... What form of lunatic would want to UNINSTALL Eamon adventures from their computer? I am providing that option merely for the sake of completeness.)

Production has been coming along much better than I ever would have predicted with merely finding the free time to get it done being my biggest obstacle so far. The Eamon Deluxe system was in much worse shape than I had thought and the perfectionist in me has taken over adding more to the workload. Nearly every program is getting some sort of revision and I also have several new submissions that have to be fine tuned and added as well. One of those submissions is a brand new Eamon Deluxe adventure by a first time author who has created what I can only describe as a masterpiece.

I am still taking requests for play testers, send a message to eamondeluxe ( at ) gmail.com and please include a brief description of your computer and Operating System as I need to know which installer package to send.

To those that have already volunteered to help with testing, thank you very much and as you can tell by this blog, you should be getting your Beta copies very soon.

Cheers!
-Frank

Needed: Playtesters for Eamon Deluxe v5.0

2012-01-06T20:37:00.004-05:00

There is a new version of Eamon Deluxe very close to being finished and anybody who is interested in helping with testing it out for bugs, OS compatibility, or just has random opinions, suggestions, etc. is invited to email me and request a pre-release beta copy to play with. Send your request to: eamondeluxe (at) gmail.com

Right now I am especially looking for testers using Windows Vista, Windows 7 (32 bit), experienced Mac users and anyone with visual impairments who uses screen reading software.

There are too many details to list right now but I will say that a major overhaul and upgrade on the entire Eamon Deluxe system is being done and the upcoming release should run on any popular OS. All of the classic Eamon adventure sets will be included as well, albeit in a partially unfinished format for a few, but still playable. All in all I think I last counted about 20 previously unreleased Eamon conversions that will be included. There is also a VERY excellent Eamon Deluxe Original Adventure that I recently received and am in the process of playing and adding as well, but that will be the subject of a separate blog post soon enough.

That's all for now. Keep your swords sharp and I hope to hear from some of you soon,
-Frank

Welcome Frank!

2012-01-05T22:57:00.000-05:00

Have Eamon Deluxe questions? Frank has rekindled his interest in Eamon Deluxe offered to contribute to our little Eamon community to help answer any questions you may have about Eamon. Welcome Frank!

Guests writers wanted

2011-12-09T19:00:00.000-05:00

Eamon is not, and has never been a one voice medium. There are definitely people out there who have something to say about Eamon, even if it's been twenty years since they last played.

So, I'd like to offer this soapbox. Want to write something about Eamon? Write it up and send it to me and I'll repost it here. Not only will it appear on the blog, it'll get reposted to the website (the Eamon news section of the front of http://www.eamonag.org/) and the facebook group (http://www.facebook.com/EamonGuild).

Have a lot to say? Let me know and I can set you up as a co-author of the blog.

Your input is welcome in whatever form... Tell us about your first experience playing Eamon... About that great adventure you wrote, but never sent in to be published... that piece of fan mail you received from someone who played your adventure... Your excitement in finding Eamon again after all of these years... Whatever it is, we want to hear about it!

Matthew

Maher part III

2011-11-20T23:20:00.001-05:00

In his third post about Eamon, Maher looks at the divergence of Eamon and Swordthrust, and how John Nelson got involved in the world of Eamon. Check out http://www.filfre.net/2011/09/eamon-part-2/

Maher looks at Eamon

2011-10-16T12:00:00.001-04:00

Part two of Jimmy Maher's examination into the history of Eamon is now available at http://www.filfre.net/2011/09/a-journey-into-the-wonderful-world-of-eamon/

What do you think? Do you agree with his assessment of Eamon?

A new history of Eamon

2011-09-21T23:18:00.000-04:00

Jimmy Maher has been busy writing a history of the early days of Eamon. There's some pretty good stuff here and it's worth checking it out: http://www.filfre.net/2011/09/eamon-part-1/

Special thanks to Ken Gagne for sending me the link!