Did these games exist, or am I going mad?!

[gedshaw]

Hi all,

Have been getting back into the BBC games I played as a child recently, but there are three that I can't find no matter what I search for on Google, and I'm starting to wonder whether they existed at all or whether they're a figment of my imagination.

The three were all of a similar premise: an adventure style "escape" game in three different locations: one desert, one cave (which had collapsed, leaving you trapped), and one polar region. I'm pretty sure they were written as educational games, as the first part was trying to pick what to take with you - in the desert you had the choice of water bottle (essential), a tent, a gun, and binoculars; in the cave you had the choice of a torch, candles, a rope and a helmet (plus the choice of wetsuit/drysuit) and in the polar one then the amount of food remaining was the key. You would type in the direction you wanted to move (N/S/E/W, or for the cave L/R/U/D) and see what came along the way.

Along the way you'd encounter various problems: in the desert there'd be sandstorms, nomads (which sometimes gave you a camel), raiders and oases; in the cave there were falling rocks, flooded passageways (and I'm pretty sure it ended by throwing holy water over a witch). My recollection of the polar one isn't as good.

Does anyone have the faintest recollection of what I'm talking about just here? If anyone has (or even recognises, so I know I'm sane) this game I'd be very grateful!

[Pablos544]

I remember exactly this game for the Commodore PET

[lurkio]

Does anyone have the faintest recollection of what I'm talking about just here? If anyone has (or even recognises, so I know I'm sane) this game I'd be very grateful!

It's not one of these, is it?:

• Countdown to Doom
• Adventure Island

[gedshaw]

Thanks for the reply, but no, I read in detail the posts on AI/CTD and it's neither of them. If no-one recognises it it'll be a case of getting all of the old 5" discs back at my parents and going through them!

[fuzzel]

I'd go through all your old discs if I were you. You never know, there may be some of the "long-lost" games among them:

http://www.stardot.org.uk/forums/viewto ... es#p192796

[iamaran]

Potholer?
http://solutionarchive.com/game/id%2C3270/Potholer.html

[gedshaw]

Alas, no, but it sounds/looks very similar. My dad still has all the old 5.5" discs in his loft (together with several - working - original BBC micros, which I'm constantly trying to persuade him to eBay) - at some point I'll get on to the previous posters suggestions and go through them all.

[gedshaw]

Guys,

Two years since I made this post, and after receiving a load of BBC computers/monitors and hundreds of discs, amazingly, the first disc I pulled out was this exact game.

So a question - I would like this to be available to all. Is there any facility for getting these games onto the internet - a website like the BBC micro one, where they can be enjoyed/reminisced over by everyone?

[leenew]

What did it turn out to be?!

Lee

[lurkio]

So a question - I would like this to be available to all. Is there any facility for getting these games onto the internet - a website like the BBC micro one, where they can be enjoyed/reminisced over by everyone?

How about a website that *is* the BBC Micro one?!

Please upload the games here (attach them to a post or posts in this thread) and I'll make sure they get uploaded to bbcmicro.co.uk

Or do you need help getting them off the floppy discs and into digital form in the first place? That can be arranged...

[vanekp]

Guys,

Two years since I made this post, and after receiving a load of BBC computers/monitors and hundreds of discs, amazingly, the first disc I pulled out was this exact game.

So a question - I would like this to be available to all. Is there any facility for getting these games onto the internet - a website like the BBC micro one, where they can be enjoyed/reminisced over by everyone?

What is the name of this game that you speak of?

[JasonStonier]

So a question - I would like this to be available to all. Is there any facility for getting these games onto the internet - a website like the BBC micro one, where they can be enjoyed/reminisced over by everyone?

If nobody else turns up to offer a better solution, I could archive the disk for you. It's a risk, though - I'm nervous about archiving my own disks, let alone someone else's. Maybe you could copy the disk on your beeb and send me a copy?

Other solutions for archiving things yourself:

UPURS - connects from the user port on the Beeb to a PC via serial to transfer disks by reading them on the beeb

XFER - https://github.com/rhargreaves/bbc-xfer ... aster/docs - connects from the RS423 (domino DIN) port on the beeb to a PC via serial - tried a very early version of this in about 1999 and it worked well.

TurboMMC/TurboSPI/MMFS - Userport SD card interface, and I <believe> there's a disk to SD transfer program on one of the flavours of this, but I haven't tried it. Someone with more expertise will doubtless correct/confirm me. This may well be the cheapest and easiest way if it's possible.

And the ones here viewtopic.php?f=12&t=20586

I've got one BBC-FDC board left (Raspberry Pi hat for connection of a BBC disk drive for archival purposes) if you want it - £9 including postage.

[lurkio]

So a question - I would like this to be available to all. Is there any facility for getting these games onto the internet - a website like the BBC micro one, where they can be enjoyed/reminisced over by everyone?

If nobody else turns up to offer a better solution, I could archive the disk for you. It's a risk, though - I'm nervous about archiving my own disks, let alone someone else's.

Thanks for the offer, Jason!

If you're not entirely confident about your archiving skills, though, then, as I was trying to say in my post above, there are a fair few expert disc-imagers and archivists on this forum who have helped users get their data off physical floppies many times over the years.

If gedshaw would be kind enough to reply to this thread and explain exactly what assistance they need, I'm sure we can sort something out.

It would also be good to know exactly what the names of the games are that gedshaw has found and wants to archive!

Btw, when I posted my previous reply, above, I sent a copy of it to gedshaw in a PM.

Please get back to us somehow, gedshaw!

[JasonStonier]

Thanks for the offer, Jason!
If you're not entirely confident about your archiving skills, though...

Oh I'm very confident, I'm just not very competent.

As my wife says, frequently, when I've broken yet another bone, jumping off, falling out of, or flying into, things: "I see your confidence has exceeded your competence again, dear"

[gedshaw]

Gents,

When I asked how I could get the game onto a website, I literally meant from scratch. I have the floppy disc and a working bbc micro setup, but not the faintest of how to get the code from the floppy to anywhere else. I don't have any of the hardware that has been mentioned.

That said, if there is anyone with the technical ability to do so, in furtherance of wider access I'm perfectly prepared to post the disc at my own cost if someone is prepared to promise that it will receive wide distribution.

Incidentally, the game is "polar desert jungle", not one but three games where you start stranded in said environment and have to make it back safely. Mainly an educational thing, I think, but still very nostalgic!

Ged

[lurkio]

That said, if there is anyone with the technical ability to do so, in furtherance of wider access I'm perfectly prepared to post the disc at my own cost if someone is prepared to promise that it will receive wide distribution.

I'm one of the maintainers of bbcmicro.co.uk, and I have personally archived quite a lot of educational and games software. Search through my history of posts on this forum for proof.

If you post the disc(s) to me, I promise they'll be treated with the greatest of care, and I'll transfer the games off the floppy discs, and I'll give them as wide a distribution as humanly possible, including uploads to bbcmicro.co.uk -- or whatever you wish.

I've sent you a PM (private message) with my email address. Please email me if you want to take me up on this.

[fuzzel]

How much is postage to Doomawangara ?

[Beardimus]

Sorry to necro an old thread, but this is the exact game I've been hunting for! @gedshaw what was the name in the end? Literally Polar Jungle Desert or?

@lurkio great work over on bbcmicro. Curious if this game made it over as I couldn't see it?

[lurkio]

Nothing ever came of this. No contact from gedshaw, as far as I recall. No idea what the game was!

Thanks re bbcmicro.co.uk. It’s Lee and Mick who do most of the work!

[Beardimus]

Ah that's a shame! I have fond memories but this thread is about the only mention of it online!!

Bbcmicro is an ace resource and to be honest this forum and it motivated me to restore my model B. Very grateful!

Fingers crossed @gedshaw makes a return!

[Beardimus]

Small world @lurkio just been playing a mathematical adventure and got stuck with the darn pig and came back here as knew id seen a the loading screen logo somewhere!!!

Still hoping the OP comes back as I really want to find the game from this thread

[awakeningcry]

Nothing ever came of this. No contact from gedshaw, as far as I recall. No idea what the game was!

Thanks re bbcmicro.co.uk. It’s Lee and Mick who do most of the work!

I'm pretty sure I had a similar game called Amazon Adventure, one of the screens required avoiding piranhas while crossing a river

[Sophira]

Sorry to be another person to necro the thread, but I was just looking through and I suspect based on the name given ("Polar Desert Jungle") and the clue that they were three different games, that it might actually be the same set of games as the one given in this post in the "Missing BBC Games HELP REQUIRED!" thread:

TREKKAsoft Adventures (includes Polar Traveller, Desert Trek and Jungle Journey)

Annoyingly, "TREKKAsoft" doesn't seem to have any matches in Google other than the thread I linked above and an old issue (October 1984) of A&B Computing from 1984 on archive.org. I took a look at the magazine. It seems that for a while A&B Computing had a software listings section, which would list the known software available for the various platforms and their developers/suppliers. Great! October 1984 turned out to be the first time these three games were listed there out of the issues available on archive.org... but rather annoyingly, the code given for the software supplier ("TR") didn't exist in the software suppliers list that you were supposed to refer to! I tried a few different issues and it was the case for all of them available on archive.org until the software listings themselves were eventually removed from the magazine.

I still don't know for sure that the name above is actually the one for the package that gedshaw had, but I'd argue it was very likely, so I think I might be justified in adding this update at the very least for the people who might be looking for the full name.

[edit: I should have looked closer in the thread I linked. The TREKKAsoft bundle is actually uploaded! And I believe it's even the right set of games, upon testing.]