This is a classic text adventure first sold for the TRS-80 Model 1 in 1979 by Tandy. It is a little unclear who the actual author was, but the game was originally a machine language game in two parts, which was able to be played on an original 4K TRS-80. More info on the game can be found on numerous sites, such as the following very helpful homage site:
https://www.figmentfly.com/hauntedhouse/hauntedhouse.html
Now it is available for the TRS-80 MC-10 because Donald Foster ported the game to QB64 BASIC and posted his source online. I just had to add line numbers (instead of subroutine titles). I can't recall now or locate where I first spotted his source, but it was attached to a post in one of the innumerable retrocomputing forums that I visit. He has my thanks. If I recall correctly, his post asked folks to try out his port and report any bugs. I think I might have overcome some minor ones and some limitations in game logic in a few places, which I can't recall now. But there was one major bug I do recall. The 4th "chief" ghost was supposed to be "immune" to the attacks of the sword, but I think instead there was the same message printed about "killing" the ghost. But the ghost would still be there regardless of the message. I noticed this because published walkthroughs of the game kept mentioning how the main ghost was "immune" to your attacks.
This got me going on a kick to make some more changes to the game. I added an intro screen in semigraphics-4 mode of a creepy old house. I also made some corrections to the intro text that Foster had added (from the manual I presume). Thanks to some folks who posted some comments on my first video about the game I was able to correct some spelling mistakes and typos.
I've now made some substantial additions and a few subtle changes to the messages and the outcomes to try to create what I feel is a more coherent narrative for this classic. Even in the original game it was apparent that there were two warring metaphysical factions at work in the house. I have worked to clarify and highlight this tension. Each faction is contending with the other as a result of a terrible wrong that has trapped both in a seemingly interminable struggle.
-- Can you figure out which is on the side of right? Can you help right a historic wrong and bring resolution to a lost soul? It all depends on you!
I have added many messages that hint at this refined narrative to allow the player a richer more standard text adventure experience than the original spare 4K version could provide. For example, Jason Dyer of the Renga in Blue text adventure blog series expressed frustration with the lack of interactivity with the BUCKET object regarding the flames in the first floor master bedroom:
https://bluerenga.blog/2016/09/21/haunted-house-finished/
The bucket it turns out is a complete red herring because the fire is an illusion. But now with my changes you can at least try to use it and get some response instead of the original game's standard "I don't understand."
The player can now "examine" things and get some narrative hints at what might have occurred in the house to create the metaphysical deadlock. As noted above, the original narrative hints at some struggle between spirits-- malevolent versus benign. The knife doesn't want you to read the scroll for example. But the scroll points to a possibility of escape. The fire seems aimed at preventing you from getting to the room with the hole that will take you to the second floor, but if you get there the rope uncoils and allows you to go up. The three upstairs ghosts in the main rooms block your way, but a magic sword is left that allows you to vanquish them. Behind one of those ghosts is another who, if you get to him only lets you pass to the final room if you relinquish the weapon. I added the necessity of also "killing" (i.e. dispatching to hell) all 3 of the obstructing ghosts.
I made this addition because otherwise there appears to be no function for killing the other two ghosts, since they don't obstruct you from getting to the 4th ghost. And I take it as given that these are the three malevolent spirits of the house and that the 4th is benevolent (i.e. fundamentally non-violent) and that there is a issue of justice at stake. The intro mentions "a visitor." My take on the story is that the visitor was an innocent victim of the three sinister and grasping McDaniels who had made vast profits off of illegal hooch manufacture during prohibition. I've added clues that hint at this narrative that you can find by using the added "examine" command. For example, one clue you don't see in my walkthrough video above is that if you EXAMINE COINS you will see they are minted in 1932, which was a year before the end of prohibition.
I also changed the "suit of armour," which prevents you from getting to the key in the servant quarters, to a "spectral hound". The suit of armour seems out of keeping with the North American setting I am assuming for the house. If one assumes the knife is in the command of the evil McDaniel spirits, then the possession of the crumpled paper talisman with "Plugh" on it, is imbued with the power of the good spirt. Even in the original game you must be carrying that paper to be able to get hold of the floating knife. If you don't have the paper, you can't get the knife. But if you do get the knife then you can also scare the spectral hound/suit of armour. My take on this is that the knife of the McDaniels was often used to harm their old guard dog. So the control of that knife can actually be used to subvert their manipulation of the spectral dog to protect the servant quarters. If you get past the dog you can now also find bottles hinting at the source of the McDaniel's ill-gotten wealth.
So I am of the mind that somehow in around 1932 a federal agent by the name of Plugh was investigating the "hooch magnet" McDaniels when somehow he ran afoul of the murderous clan. They killed him, but somehow he was able to strike back, either metaphysically after his death, or before his death in some way that brought about their end as well, and perhaps inadvertently the end of their poor maltreated dog too. I'm thinking a gas leak or a series of fomented mishaps. Their house was obviously booby trapped to the hilt to prevent theft of their vast wealth, which can now be seen in the final room. Perhaps even Plugh was tempted by that wealth and the possibility of making off with it, which helped bring about his end. This might explain the somewhat cryptic/ambivalent/poetic clue scratched on the sign in the final room. I have added the treasure at the end to allow for this reimagined scenario. Can you maintain your honour and escape like Plugh perhaps did not? Can his failure to rise to the challenge of this temptation explain why he was consigned to his spectral existence-- to atone? Can you rise to the challenge? The introduction hints at what you must do.
Enjoy.
