I've created a new MC-10 version of "Survival" aka "Moon Survival Adventure" from David Ahl's 1984 book "Big BASIC Games". I only made minimal changes to get the source code to work properly. Renga in Blue (Jason Dyer) did a blog post about the game which made me aware that a version I had created a while ago (from source found online) was actually a modified version with the authorship attribution changed (as was common back in the day). My new version is a faithful rendition of the source code found in Ahl's book. In fact you should be able to simply type in the following changes recommended by Rush in the description of the game to make it easier:
350 T2=275
360 P1=320
370 P2=75
730 IF T1>485 THEN 2960
740 IF T1>380 THEN 3840
The following line is the specific one that sets the item max to 3 items:
2270 IF C>2 THEN 2390
I wouldn't bother using that one. As Jason makes clear, the game difficulty is set too hard for enjoyable adventuring set at the original numbers. Typing in the first five lines above (i.e. without 2270) should make for a more enjoyable experience.
I made a few other changes. The carried item count is not decremented when you get the fuel and then use it to refuel your rocket. This shrinks your carry limit to 3. I fixed it. Also, the following line was missing from the code listing in the book:
3750 O(6)=14
This "exposes" the location of the de-activator, which is absolutely required to complete the game. Now it will show up at the appropriate time. Jason suggests in his blog post that this is because you have seen the clue in the space station indicating the location of the item, but it is actually just timed to occur at 200 minutes into the adventure. In other words, it appears after you have likely been exploring long enough to have got into the station and back out on to the surface.
In the following screen you will see that I have added some comments at the bottom of the listing that allow for a simple way to modify the game to be played at a more reasonable level:
Just type 9070 and hit enter before typing RUN. However, this only modifies the oxygen level, line 350 in the list above. It leaves in place other timed events like the coming of the meteor, that crushes the station at line 730, if you take too long:
I have played the game through using the walkthrough by Garry Francis over on the CASA Solution archive. Here is the screen just before I blast off to game completion.
If you are looking for an authentic experience of the original 1981 version of the game published in Ahl's 1984 book, it can be played on the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/survival_202504
"Dracula's Diamonds" was originally published in German as a type-in for ZX-81 in the October 1983 issue of Homecomputer magazine, pp.30-35. I found out about it from Strident over on the CASA Adventure forum. He suggested it as a possibility for conversion and translation. Thanks Strident! He mentioned a VZ version and provided some useful info for tracking the game down. I was able to find it on one of the VZ repos under the collection of German Laser 200 programs. Using Google Translate I was able to translate the German messages and items into English.
Apparently, there are also Spectrum and C64 versions. The titles vary ranging from Dracula to Draculas Diamanten and also the more Germanic Drakulas. The main differences seem to be in tweaks to the graphics. I used techniques I've developed to translate the graphic characters from Laser/VZ-200 BASIC to something that works on the MC-10. Unfortunately, they all come over as red semi-graphic block characters. Then I have to "re-colourize" them.
A modern coder Frank Gerbig liked the game so much that he translated it into a modern Interactive Fiction (IF) creation engine (Inform), which can be played online (in German). Like him I couldn't resist reimagining the game. First I tweaked the graphics using my MC-10 screen editor software. It was very awkward back in the day to draw text graphics using only the keyboard to input characters. But today I can just transfer an entire screen to my special BASIC editor program. Then I can print out the screen and re-line number it and add PRINT statements and reinsert it back into the code using a modern text editor. So I was able to fix some clunky aspects of the line drawings, and fiddle with colours and change shapes to make the images look a little more coherent and the items a little more identifiable. For example, I tweaked the "fan" in the bathroom to look more like a fan (I initially thought it was some weird decoration).
Original Painting and Cabinet
I also fixed the operation of the fan switch so that when it is turned on, it prints a message about the "stench" disappearing. The walkthrough for the ZX-81 or Commodore version on CASA mentions such a message, but it didn't appear in the VZ version.
I fixed the two-word parser to accept more synonyms. Now you can TAKE or GET, PUT or PLACE. Nouns too. GET NOTE or GET PAPER. OPEN CABINET or OPEN CUPBOARD. PULL or MOVE. FRIDGE or REFRIGERATOR, etc.
I changed many of the "hints" and added a few more. Some of the original hints seemed to imply that Count D. is aware that you are there. The first one was weird. It said "YOU WILL NEVER FIND THE STONES." I didn't like this notion of D. being aware of the presence of the investigator., although this particular hint could have also been meant to give a hint about the puzzle in the Tower Room that involves a "stone" (seems a stretch). Another one was an outright instruction: "SOMETIMES PAINTINGS HIDE VALUABLES." I changed the notes to avoid threats, indications of awareness of your presence and outright instructions. I also altered the location of a few of them to make them slightly harder to find and more understandable as to why they might be there. In most cases I made them into notes of D. to himself, like the new one on the table in the first room: "REMEMBER: BUY MORE CANDLES." This seems more reasonable-- just a shopping list-- and that table is right below a chandelier with what might be recognized as having candles in it. Or I made them jokes or cases of possible doodling.
I added to the graphic images that appear when you take actions in rooms that show the results of your actions. I fixed the door of the fridge to make it look more like an opened door, for example. I also added a board to the bathroom when you figure out where to place the last piece of the puzzle. I made some significant changes to the way young Count D. looks (i.e. Count Dracula-- As if it is really a mystery). I changed the code number to the actual birthdate of the actual historical Count.
Finally, I added "C. Seibt" back to the title screen. Wolfgang Wesemann, seems to have felt his alterations to the code warranted the dropping of the original author (not an uncommon practice back in the day). I would agree that it must have been a lot of effort to get the game working on a Laser/VZ-200 so I kept Wesemann on the title page, but I thought it best in the Internet Age to add back a reference to the original author.
If you want to compare the changes I have made to something closer to the original Laser/VZ-200 version, watch my walkthrough at the top and the other Youtube video, then these snippets of the rooms as they now appear. In the snippets I show all the possible actions available in each room.
New BOARD animation and game completion. Ladder down added to hatch.
New Fridge door, New kitchen door to the east. Pipe added to cabinet.
New Count (scarier I hope). Now the blood can be opened anywhere.
Basement shows hatch above. Tweaked BLOOD RESERVES and CHISEL
New initial NOTE clue. Improved CABINET and PAINTING
New Bathroom clues re: BUTTON, toilet ROLL, BOWL.
New FRIDGE and STICKER clue. New Tower Room with WALL/STONES clue.
Added color to the window in the first room and changed an aspect of the game that prevented the curtain from being opened until you read the note on the table. Seemed somewhat confusing and arbitrary that players couldn't draw a curtain simply because they hadn't read a note.
Cyan Window
I also added the ability to open the stove. Seemed arbitrary that you could open the fridge and not the stove. I also added the ability to COOK the LAMB LEG you find in the fridge. This eliminates a needed item, and represents another possible obstacle to completion.
