American Pie

This particularly enigmatic song has been discussed at least once a year
since Usenet had a newsgroup for discussing music. These discussions
frequently repeat themselves, but occasionally introduce new information
and new interpretations. Having tired of watching the same process repeat
itself for ten years, I've created this, the annotated "American Pie".

This posting consists of: the lyrics to the song (left-justified) with
comments (indented); the chords, for those who'd like to tackle it;
some miscellaneous notes; and references. Comments are most welcome;
comments backed up with references are *very* welcome. I have attempted
to note where the interpretation is questionable.

The roots of this posting are in the "Great American Pie" Usenet discussion
of 1983; much of it comes from wombat's (the original wombat, not me)
posting in net.music on June 16, 1985. As Robert Williams has pointed
out to me, the entire song can be viewed as one big projective test, so
interpretations vary quite a bit. I've tried to be inclusive while
also indicating which ones I buy into and which I don't; your mileage
may vary.


AMERICAN PIE by Don McLean

The entire song is a tribute to Buddy Holly and
a commentary on how rock and roll changed in
the years since his death. McLean seems to be
lamenting the lack of "danceable" music in
rock and roll and (in part) attributing that
lack to the absence of Buddy Holly et. al.

(Verse 1)
A long, long time ago...

"American Pie" reached #1 in the US in 1972, but
the album containing it was released in 1971.
Buddy Holly died in 1959.

I can still remember how
That music used to make me smile.
And I knew if I had my chance,
That I could make those people dance,
And maybe they'd be happy for a while.

One of early rock and roll's functions was to
provide dance music for various social events.
McLean recalls his desire to become a musician
playing that sort of music.


But February made me shiver,

Buddy Holly died on February 3, 1959 in a plane
crash in Iowa during a snowstorm.

With every paper I'd deliver,

Don McLean's only job besides being a full-time
singer-songwriter was being a paperboy.

Bad news on the doorstep...
I couldn't take one more step.
I can't remember if I cried
When I read about his widowed bride

Holly's recent bride was pregnant when the crash took
place; she had a miscarriage shortly afterward.

But something touched me deep inside,
The day the music died.

The same plane crash that killed Buddy Holly also
took the lives of Richie Valens ("La Bamba") and
The Big Bopper ("Chantilly Lace"). Since all three
were so prominent at the time, February 3, 1959
became known as "The Day The Music Died".
So...

(Refrain)

Bye bye Miss American Pie,

Don McLean dated a Miss America candidate
during the pageant. (unconfirmed)

Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry
Them good ol' boys were drinkin whiskey and rye
Singing "This'll be the day that I die,
This'll be the day that I die."

One of Holly's hits was "That'll be the Day"; the
chorus contains the line "That'll be the day
that I die".

(Verse 2)
Did you write the book of love,

"The Book of Love" by the Monotones; hit in 1958.

And do you have faith in God above,
If the Bible tells you so?

In 1955, Don Cornell did a song entitled
"The Bible Tells Me So". Rick Schubert
pointed this out, and mentioned that he
hadn't heard the song, so it was kinda
difficult to tell if it was what McLean
was referencing. Anyone know for sure?

There's also an old Sunday School song which goes:
"Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so"

Now do you believe in rock 'n roll?

The Lovin' Spoonful had a hit in 1965 with John
Sebastian's "Do you Believe in Magic?". The song
has the lines:
"Do you believe in magic/it's like trying to tell
a stranger 'bout rock and roll."

Can music save your mortal soul?
And can you teach me how to dance real slow?

Dancing slow was an important part of early rock
and roll dance events -- but declined in importance
through the 60's as things like psychedelia and
the 10-minute guitar solo gained prominence.

Well I know you're in love with him
'Cause I saw you dancing in the gym

Back then, dancing was an expression of love, and
carried a connotation of committment. Dance partners
were not so readily exchanged as they would be later.

You both kicked off your shoes

A reference to the beloved "sock hop". (Street
shoes tear up wooden basketball floors, so dancers
had to take off their shoes.)

Man, I dig those rhythm 'n' blues
Some history. Before the popularity of rock and
roll, music, like much else in the U. S., was
highly segregated. The popular music of black
performers for largely black audiences was
called, first, "race music", later softened to
rhythm and blues. In the early 50s, as they were
exposed to it through radio personalities such as
Allan Freed, white teenagers began listening,
too. Starting around 1954, a number of songs
from the rhythm and blues charts began appearing
on the overall popular charts as well, but
usually in cover versions by established white
artists, (e. g. "Shake Rattle and Roll", Joe
Turner, covered by Bill Haley; "Sh-Boom", the
Chords, covered by the Crew-Cuts; "Sincerely",
the Moonglows, covered by the Mc Guire Sisters;
Tweedle Dee, LaVerne Baker, covered by Georgia
Gibbs). By 1955, some of the rhythm and blues
artists, like Fats Domino and Little Richard were
able to get records on the overall pop charts.
In 1956 Sun records added elements of country and
western to produce the kind of rock and roll
tradition that produced Buddy Holly.
(Thanks to Barry Schlesinger for this historical
note. ---Rsk)

I was a lonely teenage broncin' buck
With a pink carnation and a pickup truck

"A White Sport Coat (And a Pink Carnation)", was a hit
for Marty Robbins in 1957.

But I knew that I was out of luck
The day the music died
I started singing...

Refrain

(Verse 3)
Now for ten years we've been on our own

McLean was writing this song in the
late 60's, about ten years after the crash.

And moss grows fat on a rolling stone

It's unclear who the "rolling stone" is
supposed to be. It could be Dylan, since
"Like a Rolling Stone" (1965) was his first
major hit; and since he was busy writing
songs extolling the virtues of simple love,
family and contentment while staying at home
(he didn't tour from '66 to '74) and raking
in the royalties. This was quite a change
from the earlier, angrier Dylan.

The "rolling stone" could also be Elvis, although
I don't think he'd started to pork out by the
late sixties.

It could refer to rock and rollers in general,
and the changes that had taken place in the business
in the 60's, especially the huge amounts of cash
some of them were beginning to make, and the
relative stagnation that entered the music at
the same time.

Or, perhaps it's a reference to the stagnation
in rock and roll.

But that's not how it used to be
When the jester sang for the King and Queen

The jester is Bob Dylan, as will become clear later.
There are several interpretations of king and queen:
some think that Elvis Presley is the king, which seems
pretty obvious. The queen is said to be either Connie
Francis or Little Richard. But see the next note.

An alternate interpretation is that this refers to
the Kennedys -- the king and queen of "Camelot" --
who were present at a Washington DC civil rights
rally featuring Martin Luther King. (There's
a recording of Dylan performing at this rally.)

In a coat he borrowed from James Dean

In the movie "Rebel Without a Cause", James Dean has
a red windbreaker that holds symbolic meaning
throughout the film (see note at end). In one
particularly intense scene, Dean lends his coat
to a guy who is shot and killed; Dean's father
arrives, sees the coat on the dead man, thinks
it's Dean, and loses it.

On the cover of "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan",
Dylan is wearing just such as red windbreaker,
and is posed in a street scene similar to one
shown in a well-known picture of James Dean.

Bob Dylan played a command performance for
the Queen and Prince Consort of England.
He was *not* properly attired, so perhaps
this is a reference to his apparel.




And a voice that came from you and me

Bob Dylan's roots are in American folk music,
with people like Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie.
Folk music is by definition the music of the
masses, hence the "...came from you and me".

Oh, and while the King was looking down
The jester stole his thorny crown

This could be a reference to Elvis's decline and
Dylan's ascendance. (i.e. Presley is looking down
from a height as Dylan takes his place.) The thorny
crown might be a reference to the price of fame.
Dylan has said that he wanted to be as famous as
Elvis, one of his early idols.

The courtroom was adjourned,
No verdict was returned.

This could be the trial of the Chicago Seven.

And while Lennon read a book on Marx,

Literally, John Lennon reading about Karl Marx;
figuratively, the introduction of radical politics
into the music of the Beatles. (Of course, he
could be referring to Groucho Marx, but that doesn't
seem quite consistent with McLean's overall tone.
On the other hand, some of the wordplay in Lennon's
lyrics and books is reminiscint of Groucho.)

The quartet practiced in the park

There are two schools of thought about this; the
obvious one is the Beatles playing in Shea Stadium,
but note that the previous line has John Lennon
*doing something else at the same time*. This
tends to support the theory that this is a reference
to the Weavers, who were blacklisted during the
McCarthy era. McLean had become friends with Lee Hays
of the Weavers in the early 60's while performing
in coffeehouses and clubs in upstate New York and
New York City. He was also well-acquainted
with Pete Seeger; in fact, McLean, Seeger, and others
took a trip on the Hudson river singing
anti-pollution songs at one point. Seeger's LP
"God Bless the Grass" contains many of these songs.

And we sang dirges in the dark

A "dirge" is a funeral or mourning song, so perhaps
this is meant literally...or, perhaps, this is a
reference to some of the new "art rock" groups which
played long pieces not meant for dancing.

The day the music died.
We were singing...

Refrain

(Verse 4)
Helter Skelter in a summer swelter

"Helter Skelter" is a Beatles song which appears
on the "white" album. Charles Manson, claiming
to have been "inspired" by the song (through which
he thought God and/or the devil were taking to him)
led his followers in the Tate-LaBianca murders.

Is "summer swelter" a reference to the "Summer of
Love" or perhaps to the "long hot summer" of Watts?

The birds flew off with the fallout shelter
Eight miles high and falling fast

The Byrd's "Eight Miles High" was on their
late 1966 release "Fifth Dimension". It was
one of the first records to be widely banned because of supposedly drug-oriented lyrics.

It landed foul on the grass

One of the Byrds was busted for possesion of marijuana.

The players tried for a forward pass

Obviously a football metaphor, but about what?
It could be the Rolling Stones, i.e. they were
waiting for an opening which really didn't happen
until the Beatles broke up.

With the jester on the sidelines in a cast

On July 29, 1966, Dylan crashed his Triumph 55
motorcycle while riding near his home in Woodstock,
New York. He spent nine months in seclusion while
recuperating from the accident.

Now the halftime air was sweet perfume

Drugs, man.

While sergeants played a marching tune

Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band".

Or, perhaps McLean refers to the Beatles' music
as "marching" because it's not music for dancing.

Alternatively, the "marching tune" could refer
to the draft. (See below)

We all got up to dance
Oh, but we never got the chance

The Beatles' 1966 Candlestick Park concert only
lasted 35 minutes.

Or, following on from the previous comment, perhaps
he meant that there wasn't any music to dance to.

'Cause the players tried to take the field,
The marching band refused to yield.

This could be a reference to the dominance of
the Beatles on the rock and roll scene. For instance,
the Beach Boys released "Pet Sounds" in 1966,
an album which featured some of the same sort of studio
and electronic experimentation as "Sgt. Pepper",
but the album sold poorly because the Beatles'
release got most of the press.

Some folks think this refers to either the 1968
Deomcratic Convention or Kent State.

This might also be a comment about how the
dominance of the Beatles in the rock world
led to more "pop art" music, leading in turn
to a dearth of traditional rock and roll.

Or finally, this might be a comment which follows
up on the earlier reference to the draft: the
government/military-industrial-complex establishment
refused to accede to the demands of the peace movement.

Do you recall what was revealed,
The day the music died?
We started singing

Refrain

(Verse 5)
And there we were all in one place

Woodstock.

A generation lost in space

Some people think this is a reference to
the US space program, which it might be;
but that seems a bit too literal. Perhaps this
is a reference to "hippies", who were sometimes
known as the "lost generation", partially because
of their particularly acute alientation from
their parents, and partially because of their
presumed preoccupation with drugs.

It could also be a reference to the awful TV
show, "Lost in Space", whose title was sometimes
used as a synonym for someone who was rather high...
but I keep hoping that McLean had better taste. :-)

With no time left to start again

The "lost generation" spent too much time being
stoned, and had wasted their lives? Or, perhaps,
their preference for psychedelia had pushed rock
and roll so far from Holly's music that it couldn't
be retrieved.

So come on Jack be nimble Jack be quick

Probably a reference to Mick Jagger of the
Rolling Stones; "Jumpin' Jack Flash" was
released in May, 1968.

Jack Flash sat on a candlestick

The Stones' Candlestick park concert?
(unconfirmed)

'Cause fire is the devil's only friend

It's possible that this is a reference to
the Grateful Dead's "Friend of the Devil".

An alternative interpretation of the last four
lines is that they may refer to Jack Kennedy
and his quick decisions during the Cubam Missile
Crisis; the candlesticks/fire refer to ICBMs
and nuclear war.

And as I watched him on the stage
My hands were clenched in fists of rage
No angel born in hell
Could break that satan's spell

While playing a concert at the Altamont
Speedway in 1968, the Stones appointed
members of the Hell's Angels to work security
(on the advice of the Grateful Dead). In the
darkness near the front of the stage, a young
man named Meredith Hunter was beaten and stabbed to
death -- by the Angels. Public outcry that
the song "Sympathy for the Devil" had somehow
incited the violence caused the Stones to
drop the song from their show for the next
six years. This incident is chronicled in
the documentary film "Gimme Shelter".

It's also possible that McLean views the Stones
as being negatively inspired (remember, he had
an extensive religious background) by virtue
of "Sympathy for the Devil", "Their Satanic
Majesties' Request" and so on. I find this a bit
puzzling, since the early Stones recorded a lot
of "roots" rock and roll, including Buddy Holly's
"Not Fade Away".

And as the flames climbed high into the night
To light the sacrificial rite
This could be a reference to Jimi Hendrix
burning his Stratocaster at the Monterey
Pop Festival.

It's possible that this refers to the burial
of Kennedy, but I'm not sure I buy this.
For one thing, it doesn't fit chronologically,
and for another, McLean seems more interested
in music than politics.

I saw satan laughing with delight
The day the music died
He was singing...

Refrain

(Verse 6)
I met a girl who sang the blues

Janis Joplin.

And I asked her for some happy news
But she just smiled and turned away

Janis died of an accidental heroin overdose
on October 4, 1970.

I went down to the sacred store
Where I'd heard the music years before

There are two interpretations of this:
The "sacred store" was Bill Graham's Fillmore East,
one of the great rock and roll venues of all time.
Alternatively, this refers to record stores,
and their longtime (then discontinued)
practice of allowing customers to preview
records in the store.
It could also refer to record stores as "sacred"
because this is where one goes to get "saved".
(See above lyric "Can music save your mortal soul?")

But the man there said the music wouldn't play

Perhaps he means that nobody is interested in
hearing Buddy Holly et.al.'s music? Or, as above,
the discontinuation of the in-store listening booths.

And in the streets the children screamed

"Flower children" being beaten by police
and National Guard troops?

The lovers cried and the poets dreamed

The trend towards psychedelic music in the 60's?

But not a word was spoken
The church bells all were broken

It could be that the broken bells are the dead
musicians: neither can produce any more music.

And the three men I admire most
The Father Son and Holy Ghost

Holly, The Big Bopper, and Valens
-- or --
Hank Williams, Presley and Holly
-- or --
JFK, Martin Luther King, and Bobby Kennedy
-- or --
the Catholic aspects of the deity.
McLean had attended several Catholic schools.

They caught the last train for the coast

Could be a reference to wacky California religions,
or could just be a way of saying that they've left.
Or, perhaps this is a reference to the famous
"God is Dead" headline in the New York Times.

The day the music died

This tends to support the conjecture that the "three
men" were Holly/Bopper/Valens, since this says that
they left on the day the music died.

And they were singing...


Refrain (2x)



Chords to the song:

The song appears to be in G; the chords are:

Intro: G Bm/F# Em . Am . C .
Em . D . . .
G Bm/F# Em . Am . C .
Em . A . D . . .
Em . Am . Em . Am .
C G/B Am . C . D .
G Bm/F# Em . Am . C .
G Bm/F# Em . Am . D .
G . C . G . D .

Chorus: G . C . G . D .
G . C . G . D .
G . C . G . D .

Em . . . A . . . (all but
Em . . . D . . . last chorus)

C . D . G C G . (last chorus)


Other notes:

"Killing Me Softly With His Song", Roberta Flack's Grammy Award-winning
single of 1973, was written by Charles Gimble and Norman Fox about McLean.

The Big Bopper's real name was J.P. Richardson. He was a DJ for a
Texas radio station who had one very big novelty hit, the very well
known "Chantilly Lace". There was a fourth person who was going to
ride the plane. There was room for three, ahd the fourth person lost
the toss -- or should I say won the toss. His name is Waylon
Jennings...and to this day he refuses to talk about the crash.

About the "coat he borrowed from James Dean": James Dean's red
windbreaker is important throughout the film, not just at the end.
When he put it on, it meant that it was time to face the world, time to
do what he thought had to be done, and other melodramatic but
thoroughly enjoyable stuff like that. The week after the movie came
out, virtually every clothing store in the U.S. was sold out
of red windbreakers. Remember that Dean's impact was similar
to Dylan's: both were a symbol for the youth of their time, a reminder
that they had something to say and demanded to be listened to.

American Pie is supposed to be the name of the plane that crashed,
containing the three guys that died. (Reported by Ronald van Loon
from the discussion on American Pie, autumn 1991, on rec.music.folk)

Dan Stanley mentioned an interesting theory involving all of this;
roughly put, he figures that if Holly hadn't died, then we would not
have suffered through the Fabian/Pat Boone/et.al. era...and as a consequence,
we wouldn't have *needed* the Beatles -- Holly was moving pop music away
from the stereotypical boy/girl love lost/found lyrical ideas, and was
recording with unique instrumentation and techniques...things that Beatles
wouldn't try until about 1965. Perhaps Dylan would have stuck with the
rock and roll he played in high school, and the Byrds never would have
created an amalgam of Dylan songs and Beatle arrangements.

Lynn Gold tells me that "Life" magazine carried an annotated version
of American Pie when the song came out; does anybody have a copy?

Andrew Whitman brings a sense of perspective to all of this by noting:

>As to what they threw off the bridge, Bobbie Gentry once went on record with
>the statement that it was the mystery that made the song, and that the mystery
>would remain unsolved. Don McLean later used the same device to even greater
>success with "American Pie," which triggered a national obsession on figuring
>out the "real meaning" of the song.

Well, probably not a national obsession, but certainly the life's work
of many talented scholars. According to the latest edition of the
"American Pie Historical Interpretive Digest" (APHID), noted McLean
historian Vincent Vandeman has postulated that cheezy country
songs may have played a much more prominent role in the epic
composition than had originally been thought. In particular, the
"widowed bride," usually supposed to be either Ella Holly or
Joan Rivers, may in fact be Billie Jo. According to this radical
exegesis, the "pink carnation" of McLean's song is probably what
was thrown off the Tallahatchie Bridge, and was later found by
the lonely, teenaged McLean as he wandered drunkenly on the levee.

Of course, such a view poses problems. McLean vehemently denies any
knowledge of Choctaw Ridge, and any theory linking the two songs
must surely address this mysterious meeting place of Billie Jo and
her husband Billy Joe. Vandeman speculates that Choctaw Ridge may
have been the place McLean drove his Chevy after drinking whiskey
and rye, and that McLean may have been unaware of the name because
of his foggy mental state. Still, there appear to be many tenuous
connections in Vandeman's interpretation - Tammy Wynette as the
girl who sang the blues, the proposed affair between Wynette and
Billie Joe which later led to d-i-v-o-r-c-e and Billy Joe's
suicide, the mysterious whereabouts of George Jones, and why
McLean insisted on driving a Chevy to the levee instead of a more
economical Japanese car.

My own view is that none of it makes much sense. Vandeman's theory
is intriguing, but it seems far more logical to hold to the traditional
interpretation of "American Pie" as an eschatological parable of
nuclear destruction and the rebirth of civilization on Alpha Centauri.

If you are interested in more about Hip Hop online, check out Broot Force Music. They have a lot of stuff on their website, including New Hip Hop Music Downloads. They also have services, like mixing services, here: http://brootforcemusic.com/mixing-services/.

Thanks, Andrew. I'll take it under advisement. ;-)

Read More

Archipelagos

Table of Contents

Earth Specs 4
The Earth: A Living Wasteland 3
Getting Started 5
Hoverspace Operations 6
Purifying an Archipelago 7
Purifying Procedures 9
Know Your Botany 10
Creating Land Bridges 11
Deactivating Nodes & Obelisks 11
A Word on Necromancers 13
Beware of the B-90 14
Using Your Maps 14
Energy Maintenance 14
Survival Tips 15

THE EARTH: A LIVING WASTELAND

Where humans once danced and played, mutated apparitions now roam in
eternal torment.

Where flowers and trees once thrived, plant-like viral mutations
now ebb their contaminating way across the land. And where massive
expanses of mountains, plains, forests and deserts once hosted a myriad of
life forms, vast oceans have buried their homes.

It was man himself who turned his living playground into a living
graveyard - with poisons, plastics, and nuclear waste. He melted the polar
caps, flooding the continents. And all that's left are thousands of
decaying land masses. Masses known today as the Archipelagos.

After most of the Earth's natural resources were covered by water,
man turned back to nuclear power. He built obelisk reactors an all
inhabited archipelagos. To distribute the power, he connected the obelisks
to node stations scattered across each island.

It's hardly surprising that this nuclear system eventually began to
fail. Rising radiation levels killed what little was left of warm-blooded
animal life. The only surviving plants are eerie genetic mutations created
in an attempt to clean up the environment.

Banshee Air Purifiers howl across many of the islands. And the
disembodied souls of lost spirits, called Necromancers, dance their
bloodthirsty dance along the water's edge.

You will enter this infernal nightmare alone. And alone you'll
begin purifying the islands - one by one.

3

EARTH SPECS

LOCATION

Galaxy Milky Way
Revolutionary Center Sun #689
Distance from Center 149,600,000 km
Diameter 12,756 km

AGE 4.7 billion earth years

COMPOSITION
Surface Nickel-iron, silicates
Atmosphere 89% CO, 1% 0, 9% argon
1% unknown

REMAINING PLANT LIFE Viral Trees
Eco-Eggs
Sand Pods

REMAINING ANIMAL LIFE None

SUPERNATURAL LIFE Necromancers

HUMAN ARTIFACTS Reactor Nodes
Obelisks
B-900 Air Cleaners
(BanShees)

4

GETTING STARTED

IBM PC and Compatibles

1. Insert the correct 'Archipelagos' boot disk into the drive and from the
MS-DOS prompt, select the correct drive specifier. 2. Type "ARCHI" and
press RETURN. The game will now begin to load.

ATARI ST and Commodore Amiga

1. Turn off the computer and insert the 'Archipelagos' disk into the drive.
2. Switch the computer on. The game will now begin to load.

Entering your Classified Counter-Code

You will be asked to type in a classified counter-code from your Hoverspere
Activation Codes. You will be given the following information.

Codebook Page - 0
Alpha Code - X
Numeric Code - 00

First find the correct page. Then look for the designated letter across
the top of the chart. Now locate the prescribed number along the left side
of the chart.

The box that falls where the designated alpha column and numeric
row coincide is your counter-code. Type in this number and press the
RETURN KEY.

5

Selecting an Archipelago

You can select any archipelago provided you have already completed the
archipelago preceding it.

For example, if you have purified Archipelago #9, you can type in
Archipelago #10 and begin there.

Once you've completed Archipelago #100, you are then free to select
any archipelago from 1 to 9,999.

PURIFYING AN ARCHIPELAGO

The concept behind purifying an archipelago is really quite simple:
deactivate the radioactive node/obelisk power system.

In order to shut down an obelisk, you must first eliminate all the
nodes scattered about that archipelago. Plus, there must be a direct land
connection between all nodes and the obelisk in order to completely drain
all radioactivity. Which means that on certain archipelagos, you'll
actually have to create land bridges to let the radioactivity flow.

6

Once all your nodes are eliminated, a self-destruct timer will be
activated. You'll have 90 seconds to return to the obelisks and shut it
down. Or else the entire island will suffer from a major meltdown, taking
everything (including you) with it.

Coming in contact with contaminated surfaces always means instant
death. The oceans the surrounding coastlines have also absorbed high doses
of contamination. So hover only above normal land surfaces.

HOVERSPHERE OPERATIONS

Your Hoversphere is a silicon-plasma ball. It hovers about 10 meters above
the ground, to give you an all-encompassing 360 degree viewing and to
protect you from most poisonous ground pollutants.

Hoversphere operations have been made intuitively easy - to let you
focus your energies on the task at hand. A simple crosshair is used to
direct all hoversphere movements.

The computer display system shows you what remains of the earth's
surface. As you can see, it is now sectioned into a grid of squares. This
makes it easier for you to target locations and move across the surface.
You can move in two ways - depending on how fast and how far you wish to
travel. The two wary are:

To Move By Squares - If the crosshair is not on the screen, press the right
mouse button. Using your mouse, position the crosshair on an empty square.
Then press the left button and you'll fly to that square.

7

To Make Sweeping Pans - Press the right mouse button. (The Crosshair will
disappear). Then move the mouse left or right.

To toggle between the above modes, press the right mouse button.

Keyboard users: Use the RETURN KEY instead of the right mouse button, and
the SPACEBAR instead of the left mouse button. Move the cursor using the
cursor keys.

IMPORTANT: Because there have been different models of Plasmic
Hoverspheres, operational specs may vary. Be sure to refer to the
operational guide specific to your system.

Operations for all systems

To pan left, move the crosshair to the left edge of screen.
To pan right, move the crosshair to the right edge of the screen.
To face the opposite direction, press F3
To discharge disinfectant or to create land, press F1
To view map, press F2
To leave map mode, press the right mouse button or the RETURN key.

System-specific Operations

For IBM PC and Compatibles

To change color palette, press F5
To terminate operations, press ESCAPE
Moving in keyboard mode, use the cursor (ARROW) keys.
To toggle between pan and action modes, press the RETURN key.
To move to the square the cursor is pointing to, press the SPACEBAR.

For the Atari ST and Amiga

To terminate operations, press HELP
To turn music ON/OFF, press F7

8

PURIFYING PROCEDURES

In observing the earth's surface, you'll immediately notice a pattern of
colored squares. The colors themselves may vary depending on which type of
plasmic hoversphere your looking through. But the effects - poisonous vs.
safe squares - will be the same.

Guide to Colored Squares

For IBM PC and Compatibles
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
COLOR TYPE EFFECTS
Purple or Blue NORMAL LAND SAFE
White NORMAL SAND NO ACCESS
Pink INFECTED LAND NO ACCESS
Light Pink INFECTED SAND NO ACCESS
Cyan THE SEA NO ACCESS

For the Atari ST and Amiga
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
COLOR TYPE EFFECTS
Green NORMAL LAND SAFE
Yellow NORMAL SAND NO ACCESS
Red INFECTED LAND NO ACCESS
Brown INFECTED SAND NO ACCESS
Blue THE SEA NO ACCESS

As you can see from studying the chart above, most of the earth's surface
is unsafe. (Which is precisely why you're here.) Your hoversphere's
computer will not allow you to move to an infected, or sand square. By
removing the obelisk you'll be able to render the entire surface of an
archipelago free from hazardous materials. But in doing so, you may have
to disinfect certain areas - square by square - to be able to execute your
strategy.

To Disinfect an Infected Square - Place your crosshair on the infected
square and press F1.

9

KNOW YOUR BOTANY

Identifying plant life on earth isn't very difficult. But you should be
well aware of the dangers surrounding each type of flora.

Viral Trees

Originally created to help fight pollution, this hearty species now does
just the opposite. Not only do these trees move towards you, but they also
infect the land around them with a deadly toxin. If a square you're
standing on becomes infected, you will too.

Eco-Eggs

It's egg-like flower was designed to soak up toxic waste. Unfortunately
Eco-Eggs are extremely fragile. When one of these flowers breaks open, it
can quickly infect an entire island.

Sand Pods

The chemical resins in these low-growing, clustered plants are not too
dissimilar from the disinfectant your hoversphere uses. Since there are no
fuel stations currently on Earth, you may wish to use these plants to
refuel. (See Energy Maintenance, page 14.)

10

CREATING LAND BRIDGES

In order to work your way around an archipelago, there will be times when
you need to create land where water or sand now exists. You also need to
build land bridges to connect radioactive node points to the obelisk. (See
Deactivating Nodes & Obelisks, below)

Creating land is a two step process. First you must turn water to
sand. Then turn the sand to land.

Here's is the procedure:

1. Locate the body of water which you want to change to land.
2. Place the crosshair on the square you wish to convert and press F1.
Water will change to sand.
3. To change sand to land, press F1 again.

DEACTIVATING NODES & OBELISKS

In order to successfully purify an archipelago, you must deactivate its
obelisk. But since all radioactive nodes are linked to the obelisk, the
nodes must be destroyed first.

Also, in order for the obelisk to absorb the energy from a
deactivated node, there must be a direct land path from the node to the
obelisk. So in certain cases, you'll have to create land bridges. (See
Creating Land Bridges, above) from the node of the obelisk.

11

To Deactivate a Node

1. If necessary, create a land bridge to the obelisk. NOTE: the number of
nodes remaining to destroy will be indicated in the bottom right corner of
the screen. A tone will sound if the node is not connected to the obelisk.

2. Move towards the node until it is in range of your crosshair. (Avoid
getting any closer than three squares from the node.) 3. Place the
crosshair on the square that houses the node and press the left mouse
button. The node will now collapse, and your hoversphere will absorb its
excess energy.

To Shut Down The Obelisk

1. Once all the nodes have been destroyed, a 90-seconds-to-melt-down timer
will be activated. You must approach the obelisk as quickly as possible.

2. Place your crosshair on the obelisk's square then press the left mouse
button. (Keyboard users: use the spacebar.) 3. Congratulate yourself!
You've just purified an archipelago.

12

A WORD ON NECROMANCERS

By now you've probably heard plenty about Necromancers, those other EP's -
like yourself - who didn't make it.

Necromancers are a very recent phenomena so we haven't had time to
do a thorough study on them. But from the reports we've received there are
a few things we know for certain:

1. They're dangerous paranormal entities! Direct contact with them is
almost certain death.

2. They eat away at island edges. Which means they can quickly destroy
land bridges you've worked so diligently to create.

BEWARE OF THE B-9000 (BANSHEE)

The Banshee is an Air Cleaner placed on earth only a few decades ago. And
it's doing a very good job.

But its creators didn't forsee our coming and - unfortunately -
didn't build a discrimination device into it. Which means that the Banshee
attempts to clean up everything. Including you!

The best way to handle them is simply to avoid them. A strange
moaning sound should alert you to their presence.

13

USING YOU MAPS

To help you figure out where you are - and where you need to go, your
hoversphere is equipped with a system that can generate a map of any
archipelago.

To access the map, press F2.

ENERGY MAINTENANCE

Throughout your mission on Earth, you'll continuously be using precious
energy. Disinfecting or creating land drains energy rapidly.

Fortunately, every time you destroy a node, you'll absorb its
excess energy. But that won't always be enough. So here's another method
of energy maintenance:

1. Locate a cluster of Sand Pods. (See Know your Botany, page 10).

2. Place the cursor on a square with Sand Pods and press the left mouse
button.

3. Absorb the Sand Pod's energy and your energy bar should increase.

14

SURVIVAL TIPS

Remember to point at the square, not the object.

Sand Squares - whether infected or not - DO NOT LINK the nodes to
the obelisk. But land squares, even infected ones, DO LINK the nodes to
the obelisk.

When traveling across a vastly infected area (red), disinfect a
square to give yourself a safe place to move from.

The terra-formed moon you see always hangs low in the norther sky.
Use it to orient yourself.

Deactivate the node closest to the obelisk last. That way you
won't have to worry about having enough time to get to the obelisk when the
90-second self-destruct timer goes off.

Necromancers can't cross water. So when confronted with a
persistent Necromancer, create an island or peninsula to try and lure him
away from the shore. He may then become permanently stranded out there.

Fortunately, you can usually hear the screaming Banshees before you
can see them. This gives you time to get out of their path. You'll have
to act fast, because these are the fastest moving objects in all the
Archipelagos.

When creating land bridges for the purpose of linking nodes to the
obelisk, remember that linked squares must share one side. Diagonal
connections will not suffice.

Lightning may cause Eco-Eggs to explode.

15

Read More

How To Start Developing Your Fan Base As A Hip Hop Artist Now

What used to be the best ways to get famous, or at least get some fame at all, in the Hip Hop game? The number one thing artists used to do was send in demos to the famous record labels and hope that someone notices you out of the millions of demos sent in every year. If you wanted any recognition at all, you probably had to perform countless shows locally as well. You could have went to the local radio station and hoped to get played if the DJ liked you. Luckily, today holds a completely different Hip Hop industry. Nowadays you can create an even bigger buzz using tactics that are ten times easier. This article will show you some great ways to build your buzz!

The number one thing you must do as a Hip Hop artist today is generate a buzz online. The number one place people listen to new music is the internet. There are plenty of radio stations that stream music online that have open submissions for music that they play. You can even find hundreds of music-based communities to submit your music to, get reviews, and gain new fans. Getting yourself out in as many outlets as possible is the best way to generate a buzz. The internet happens to be the biggest outlet that you can put your music on and gain thousands of new fans, with the right amount of talent and music, of course.

Don't get me wrong, doing shows locally is still a great way to generate a buzz. Performing at local concerts and building yourself online is necessary, since you need more than just a local buzz though. So, how do you generate a buzz online? After all, there is a lot more competition online than there is locally. Lucky for you, this article will show you a great way to market your music online. If you aren't using social media sites yet to market your music, you are definitely doing something wrong!

Twitter, Youtube, and Facebook should be your top priorities when it comes to marketing yourself online. You need to post your music and videos on Youtube all the time, and make sure you are staying active with the community as well. Get out there, comment on other musicians' videos, collaborate like crazy, which can build a great fan base, and keep at it. Posting videos with links to free music downloads is a great idea every once in a while as well. Every new video you put on Youtube should be posting to Facebook and Twitter, so your followers and fans can get it right away. Do whatever you can to get a huge following on Facebook and Twitter, including posting on many Hip Hop forums. You can find plenty of these types of forums by just searching for Hip Hop Forums in Google or Bing.

Some of the newest faces in Hip Hop, like Hopsin, have generated almost all of their fans through the internet. If you want to be the next act to do so, you need to have good music and a willingness to market yourself. If you find that you can't market yourself online, there are thousands of marketing agencies out there waiting to help you. I'm sure there are plenty out there that will even give you discounts if they like your music. Good luck with the music career!

If you are interested in more about Hip Hop online, check out Broot Force Music. They have a lot of stuff on their website, at http://brootforcemusic.com. They also have services, like logo design, here: http://brootforcemusic.com/graphic-design-services/.

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5 Fitness Mistakes To Dodge

Many people approach fitness the same way, they jump in as hard as possible, diet hard, train hard, and get burnt out within a few weeks. Jumping in too fast can lead to exhaustion and boredom with health and fitness, leading to many people calling it quits. It even happens to people that have been doing it for years if they aren't careful. It doesn't just affect newcomers. The best thing you can do to make sure this doesn't happen to you is continue reading this article to find out 5 mistakes thousands of people make!

1 - No Planning

Planning is probably the most essential thing that anybody successful with health and fitness does. Your diet, your training regime, your individual workout sessions, and your goals, both long term and short term, need to be planned before venturing into a new world. Failure to do any of these things listed could be catastrophic for your fitness lifestyle. Random workouts and meals are good sometimes, but if you rely on randomness all the time, you will probably fail!

2 - Excuses

Excuses are too common in our world today, and they are even more common in the fitness world. Maybe you have a cough so you don't feel like working out. Your friends may want to party later tonight so you can't workout today. You can't afford to eat healthy. Excuses are completely worthless so why even waste your time making them up. If you want a better body and better overall health, quit making excuses and step up to the challenge. Nobody has made it to their goals by making excuses.

3 - Frequency Of Exercise

A lot of people think working out once a week for 15 minutes is just fine. Do you think that you should workout everyday for 2-3 hours? Surprisingly, many people think so. They are both wrong. You have to workout the right amount every week to meet your goals, and that amount of time spent working out is different for everyone. If you workout too little, you will never meet your goals. If you workout too much, you risk injury and overtraining. Usually, the best routine to do is 3 to 4 times per week for about an hour per workout. In fact, thousands of people already follow workout routines that follow that schedule!

4 - Magic

There are no magic pills, magic diets, or magic workout programs. If you don't want to put in the hard work and effort, you aren't going to succeed. I hate to sound mean but it's the truth. Companies spend millions on advertisements hoping the consumers don't realize that magic doesn't exist.

5 - Comparisons

So many people lose motivation because they choose to compare themselves to somebody else, usually with more experience under their belt. If you want to succeed, you can't go around comparing your body to the next person. Your DNA makes you different from the rest of the world, so why would you compare yourself to someone else? You don't compare dogs and cats when it comes to their body. The only comparison you should be making is yourself now to yourself 6 months ago. That is something that should motivate you dramatically!

Now you have read the 5 easiest mistakes to avoid in the world of fitness. If you just avoid these mistakes alone, you are on your way to succeeding with your goals, as long as they are within reach. Feel free to bookmark this article and come back to it anytime!

If you are looking for more information on health and fitness, you should check out Milo Martinovich Fitness. It features an informational Health & Fitness Blog. If you are interested in personal training services in Reno, NV, check out the Official Webpage.

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I HAVE TRIED MANY TIMES, RESTARTED INNUMERABLE TIMES AND TRIED EVERYTHING, BUT THERE APPEARS TO BE NO WAY TO GET MORE AIR TOWARD THE END, SO THIS SOLVER WILL TAKE YOU TO THAT PIONT, USING THIS TUTORIAL TO TAKE YOU THERE, IF ANYONE CAN THEN FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET MORE AIR, THEN EXPAND ON THIS TUTORIAL, BUT IT SEEMS IMPOSSIBLE TO GO FURTHER, BECAUSE WITH THE THINGS Smoking Accessories YOU MUST DO THERE IS JUST NOT ENOUGH AIR........ :.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.: YOU START OUT ON AN UNSTABLE VOLCANIC ISLAND, WITH PERIL UP EVERY TREE.. WE WILL TRY TO GET YOU OUT SAFELY.. READ SIGN, E, GET SAND-DOLLAR, S, S, S, TALK MONKEY, W, LOOK TREE, N, N, GET FEATHER, W, W, S, S, U, GET CAN, D, W, U, GET SPEAR, D, E, N, N, N, N, E, GET OIL, E, E, WEAR OIL, N, THROW SPEAR, N. (AND WE DID IT.....) YOU ARE NOW ON THE REEF SURROUNDING THE MANY SMALL ISLAND IN THE DEVIL'S TRIANGLE AREA.... N, W, N, W, N, USE OIL, OPEN LOCKER, GET SUIT, WEAR SUIT, E, LOOK VASE-SPONGE, GET FLASHLIGHT, E, N, E, TICKLE CLAM, GET FISH, W, S, S, E, GIVE FISH, GET TANK, S, W, N, N, N, WEAR TANK, D, TALK MERMAID, D. THAT TAKES CARE OF THAT SECTION.. NOW WE'RE ON THE ABYSSAL PLANES.. N, DROP SAND-DOLLAR, DROP FLASHLIGHT, DROP CAN, DROP OIL, W, N, N, W, W, N, N, GET RECORDER, S, S, S, U, U, S, S, S, W, N, GET BOTTLE, S, E, N, N, N, D, GET NECKLACE, WEAR NECKLACE, D, N, GET SAND-DOLLAR, GET FLASHLIGHT, GET CAN, GET OIL, W. Bongs NOW INTO THE CITY AREA... W, N, N, W, N, N, GET KNIFE, S, U, U, N, U, GET COCONUT, D, EAT COCONUT, PLAY RECORDER, WEAR OIL, E, S, D, D, E, E, N, HIPPOCAMPUS, N, D. => THIS IS WHERE OUR AIR SUPPLY RUNS OUT! IF ANYONE CAN USE THIS TUTORIAL TO HELP THEM GET FARTHER, THAN EXPAND ON THIS TUTORIAL, BUT I DON'T THINK IT'S POSSIBLE, BECAUSE THERE IS JUST NOT ENOUGH AIR TO SOLVE IT WITH...

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games/adventure-systems

From gnat@kauri.vuw.ac.nz Tue Sep 6 01:06:59 1994 From: gnat@kauri.vuw.ac.nz (Nathan Torkington) Newsgroups: rec.arts.int-fiction,news.answers,rec.answers Subject: Adventure Authoring Systems FAQ Supersedes: Followup-To: rec.arts.int-fiction Date: 31 Aug 1994 12:00:04 GMT Organization: Dept. of Comp. Sci., Victoria Uni. of Wellington, New Zealand. Distribution: world Reply-To: Nathan.Torkington@vuw.ac.nz NNTP-Posting-Host: kauri.vuw.ac.nz Originator: gnat@kauri.vuw.ac.nz Archive-name: games/adventure-systems Maintained-by: Nathan.Torkington@vuw.ac.nz Last-changed: Thu Jun 30 11:13:13 NZT 1994 ---------------------------------------- Changes: * ftp.gmd section ---------------------------------------- This is a list of systems that can be used to author adventure games. Information about TADS, ADVSYS, ADL, OASYS, INFORM and ALAN can be found here. Where possible, pointers to existing information (such as books, magazine articles, and ftp sites) are included here, rather than rehashing that information again. If you haven't already done so, now is as good a time as any to read the guide to Net etiquette which is posted to news.announce.newusers regularly. You should be familiar with acronyms like FAQ, FTP and IMHO, as well as know about smileys, followups and when to reply by email to postings. For more information on interactive fiction in general, pointers to books and dissertations, and this group's focus, see David Graves' "Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)" posting, which appears periodically in rec.arts.int-fiction. This FAQ is currently posted to rec.arts.int-fiction and news.answers. All posts to news.answers are archived, and will then possible to retrieve the last posted copy via anonymous FTP from rtfm.mit.edu as /pub/usenet/news.answers/games/adventure-systems Those without FTP access should send e-mail to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with "send usenet/news.answers/finding-sources" in the body to find out how to get archived news.answers posts by e-mail. This FAQ was mostly written by Nathan Torkington, with numerous contributions by readers of rec.arts.int-fiction. Credits appear at the end. Comments and indications of doubt are enclosed in []s in the text. Each section begins with forty dashes ("-") on a line of their own, then the section number. This should make searching for a specific section easy. If you suffer loss in any way, shape or form from the use of information in this file, then Nathan Torkington expressly disclaims responsibility for it. It's your own damn fool fault if you go broke, detonate your computer or eat broccoli as a result of anything you read here. As a final note, this FAQ should be regarded as volatile. If this version is more than two months old, you should consider acquiring a new version. See the instructions above for details of how to do this. Contributions, comments and changes should be directed to Nathan.Torkington@vuw.ac.nz ---------------------------------------- List of Answers 1 What to look for in a system 2 Writing your own adventure 3 TADS 4 ALAN 5 ADVSYS 6 ADL 7 OASYS 8 INFORM 9 Interactive-Fiction FTP Site Z Credits ---------------------------------------- 1 What to look for in a system --> Sample adventures, written using the system. This will make learning how to program the system easy. It will also show you the workarounds for any clumsiness in the language. Hookahs --> The ability to handle non-player characters. This means that players should be capable of being addressed, eg "amy, take the cat" should be a valid command to type. Players should be capable of having turns in the background (to allow movement, thieving, etc). --> The ability to handle events that occur independent of players actions (often called fuses and daemons). Fuses are scheduled events, such has having the bomb detonate three turns after the fuse is lit. Daemons are routines that are called once every move. --> Documentation. You need, at least, a reference page. Sample code helps, and a full explanation of the order that routines are called by the game kernel (eg ADL calls the following for each direct object: the actor's action, the verb's preaction, the indirect object's action, the direct object's action, then finally the verb action. If any one of these procedures returns a true value, then that procedure is assumed to have completed the command handling for that direct object, and processing continues for the next direct object. After all the direct objects are handled this way, the room's action is called and the kernel continues). --> Distribution mechanism. Is the game code fully yours to use? Do you have to pay a fee for commercial distribution? For shareware distribution? For free distribution? Are you obligated to offer the source code to the game interpreter as well as your compiled adventure? --> Is it object oriented? If so, you will probably have an easier time of writing your adventure -- text adventure worlds lend themselves to object orientation better than some other forms of simulation. Of course, learning the subtleties of the OO method might be harder than writing your game using a traditional (non-OO) system. --> Is the game language functional or procedural? That is, does the language look like LISP (lots of parentheses) or a kind of cross between BASIC and C (curly braces {} are a dead giveaway for C lookalikes). You might have to learn a whole new programming style if you write your adventure in a language style that you are unfamiliar with. ---------------------------------------- 2 Writing your own adventure Dave Librik posted Dave's Quick Guide To Getting Started with TADS, which was so good that I've generalised it to cover most adventure systems. Above all else, the key to learning how to write adventures is to start writing one. Practice not only makes perfect, but trial-and-error makes passable too. You will need the following: --> a language/kernel reference manual for your adventure system. You might have to register your system to get this. --> printouts of sample adventures. Staple each printout, so the printouts won't get lost or confused. Also print out any standard libraries that the system comes with (eg adv.t in TADS or standard.adl in ADL). Now: --> familiarise yourself with the basics of the language. Subtleties (syntax details, daemons, fuses) should be left for later -- just the basic ideas of objects, inheritance (if your language is OO), printing text. It might help if you already knew a language in the same style (procedural or functional) as the language you will have to program in. --> read the sample adventures. Get a feel for how items and rooms are defined. This step is fairly important -- you will write most of your adventures by strategically stealing the way someone else has written theirs (software professionals call this "code reuse" -- we call it laziness). --> make a copy of one of the simpler sample adventures. Take out all the stuff specific to that adventure (rooms, players, objects, etc) and just leave the verbs, the initialisation code, and the definition of the player's character. Now start writing your own adventure. Start simple -- a couple of rooms and some objects to take. --> add more complicated things. For ideas of things to add, it helps to have played some adventures. Try adding code for doors, containers, other actors, new verbs, fancy verbs that need indirect objects. Use the sample adventures that came with the system as a reference for using things. --> if the sample adventure you modified included standard code for players or startup (std.t in TADS), then include those libraries and customise them to your taste (you should have no trouble reading and understanding the code by now). Add any of your own initialisation code to this. --> when you want to start making significant changes to the behaviour of the adventure, you will have to change any standard libraries that your adventures includes (standard.adl in ADL, adv.t in TADS). Whenever you make a change, comment at the top of the file why you make the change, and exactly what you changed. This is so that when your later adventures need any of the features you have added, it will be easy to add them. It also helps when newer releases of the adventure system arrive -- you can make the changes to the new standard library with minimal hassle. --> now realise that what you have written is a practice game. It probably wasn't well laid out, or well planned, or even consistent. To write your Real Adventure, you will have to go through some serious Design and Implementation. The classic Colossal Cave adventure has been rewritten in TADS by Dave Baggett and is available in source from the IF archive (see Section 9) in the directory if-archive/games/others/ccr.tar.Z The documentation to INFORM (see section 8) contains a wealth of material relevant to designing adventure games under any system. This is highly recommended for those wishing to write their own games. ---------------------------------------- 3 TADS TADS stands for "Text Adventure Development System". It is available for MSDOS, Atari ST, Macintosh, Sun, SGI, Linux, DEC/MIPS, and NeXT computers at the moment. It is available via anonymous FTP as msdos.archive.umich.edu:msdos/games/adventure/tads.zip mac.archive.umich.edu:mac/game/gameutil/tads2.1.cpt.hqx atari.archive.umich.edu:atari/Games/Tads/tads.lzh ftp.gmd.de:if-archive/programming/tads/ but these are not the latest versions (at the time of writing). The latest version, TADS 2.1, features virtual memory, expanded C-like syntax, improved documentation and an improved debugger. TADS is released by High Energy Software, and is shareware. Shareware games can (and have) been written using TADS, and commercial distribution of games written using TADS seems allowable. TADS consists of a compiler (which converts the source code to adventures into TADS game code) and an interpreter (which reads the TADS game code produced by the compiler and lets users play the game). Registered users get a form of the interpreter which can be combined with the game code file to form a single executable for distribution. The interpreter is licensed for shareware use, you don't have to pay a penny if you distribute your games via shareware. If you plan to sell it commercially, contact Mike Roberts for information on getting the rights. The TADS language is declarative and object-oriented. It appears very C-like, and the syntax shouldn't be too difficult to learn by people who know C or Pascal. The language provides a basic syntax, some text manipulation and support for object-oriented programming. The interpreter provides parsing, question-and-response I/O format, and activation of the appropriate methods in objects depending on what the player types. The language has support for actors, fuses and daemons. TADS comes with the source to a trivial adventure, and source to an Infocom quality game ("Ditch-Day Drifter"). On registration of the package, a manual can be obtained. The manual for v1.* is very good (although it doesn't explain well the contents of the standard library file, adv.t). The v2.1 manual is apparently twice the size of v1. The prices for versions < 2.0 are: TADS shareware fee: 25.00 Includes printed TADS Author's Manual, the current TADS software on specified media, plus the source code for "Ditch Day Drifter," a complete sample game. Deep Space Drifter: 10.00 Includes "Deep Space Drifter" on the disk media specified above, plus a complete map of the game and the DSD Hint Book. California residents please add 7% sales tax. The price of v2.1 is US$40 (+ California sales tax for California residents, $3 for shipping and handling within the US and Canada, or $8 for international air mail). If you register "Deep Space Drifter" at the same time, the total is only US$50 (plus sales and shipping). For more information, contact: --> BBS: 415 493 2420 (set modem to 14400-N-8-1) --> CompuServe: 73737,417 --> GEnie: M.ROBERTS10 --> Internet: 73737.417@compuserve.com --> US Mail: High Energy Software, PO Box 50422, Palo Alto, CA 94303. ---------------------------------------- 4 ALAN The Alan System is a special purpose language for creating interactive fiction or text adventures. It consists of a compiler which compiles Alan source to an intermediate form and an interpreter that interprets such an intermediate form. The Alan language was designed to give the maximum functionality from as little code-writing as possible. This means: --> the system provides default behaviour for many things (which the author can override). --> the system directly supports locations, objects, actors and other concepts natural to the domain of interactive fiction. --> the author can extend the allowable input of the player, and connect actions to that input. It is also a safe language in the sense that extensive compile-time checking makes it nearly impossible to produce a game that crashes or behaves inconsistently. The language is declarative and very close to English. It supports fuses and daemons by use of events, and is object-inspired (all declarations are local to entities, but no inheritance). The Alan System is request-ware. The complete system is available without charge through electronic mail. Send a message with a single line: SEND INFO to alan-request@softlab.se for more information. The complete distribution includes the compiler, the documentation, a 100+ page manual in plain text and postscript versions, some examples and the interpreter with debugging support. The interpreter can be redistributed with your games, so this seems to open the way for commercial and shareware release. The manual is available from the IF archive (see Section 9) in the directory if-archive/programming/alan/manual.zip The current version of Alan is 2.4 which runs on Sun/UNIX, Amigas, PCs (MSDOS and OS/2) and VAX/VMS. A major revision of the manual is planned, and a larger game is also being worked on for release. The authors may be contacted at: alan-request@softlab.se pseudo-mail-server for deliveries thoni@softlab.se gorfo@ida.liu.se ---------------------------------------- 5 ADVSYS ADVSYS (ADVenture SYStem) was written by David Betz, and the latest version (1.3) is based on the 1986 release of 1.2 which seems more prolific. This package consists of LaTeX and ASCII documentation, C source code for the compiler and interpreter, and the source code for several sample adventures (as well as a demonstration library). It was written up in Byte magazine [reference here]. The language is LISP-like, and object-oriented. The game has no knowledge of the difference between actors, objects, locations, etc -- all this must be present in the game code. As such, the runtime library is rather more complex than might be desired. Actors, fuses and daemons can all be implemented easily. There is [somewhere] a library of code developed by the (now-defunct) ADVSYS mailing list. This provides rather better code than the library distributed with ADVSYS, and includes containers and limits to containment. The documentation says "Permission is hereby granted for unrestricted non-commercial use". You might have to contact David Betz to ask about commercial and shareware distribution. ADVSYS was posted to comp.sources.games, and appeared in volume 2. It can, therefore, be found on any FTP site that archives it. Two such FTP sites are: ftp.uu.net:/usenet/comp.sources.games/volume2/advsys wuarchive.wustl.edu:/usenet/comp.sources.games/volume02/advsys An ANSI C version is available, on the IF Archive site (see section 9). ---------------------------------------- 6 ADL ADL (Adventure Design Language) was written by Ross Cunniff and Tim Brengle. The package posted to comp.sources.games consists of plain ASCII documentation, C source for a compiler, interpreter and debugger, and several sample adventures (ranging from the complex to the very simple) which illustrate the various features of ADL. ADL is a declarative, semi-object-oriented language. It has the concept of methods (procedures that are attached to objects) but not inheritance. This means that an object-oriented style of programming will be rather inhibited. The language recognises actors, locations and objects as being distinct. Fuses and daemons are supported in the language. A standard library comes with the package, that gives a firm foundation to write games on. The documentation is very close to being excellent, and contains a full language reference. The documentation doesn't appear to contain any guide to distribution of anything but the source code. Therefore it may be legal to distribute the compiled interpreter with your game. For more information, you should contact the authors at: USMAIL: Ross Cunniff 636 La Grande, #7 Sunnyvale, CA 94087 ---------------------------------------- 7 OASYS OASYS stands for Object-Oriented Adventure System. It was distributed in comp.binaries.ibm.pc in 1992, and is available from any FTP site which archives cbipc. It was written by Russell Wallace, who is reachable via e-mail as RWALLACE@vax1.tcd.ie. The package has documentation, two sample adventures, C source for the compiler and interpreter, and MS-DOS binaries for the compiler and interpreter. The source is missing an include file (Russell will provide it on request) and shouldn't be very difficult to port to non MS-DOS systems. Glass Pipes The language is declarative, and (not really) object-oriented. The major limitation of the parser is that it forces the player to type the adjectives along with the noun ("ceramic key" must be typed, even if there are no other keys accessable). This may be fixed later. Actor support is provided, and players can issue commands to other actors. [fuses? daemons?] There don't appear to be any legal restrictions, so you can probably distributed compiled interpreters with your commercial/shareware/free games. ---------------------------------------- 8 INFORM INFORM was written by Graham Nelson at Oxford University, UK. It is a compiler that produces Infocom story files. There are many public-domain interpreters for these files, available from the Interactive Fiction archive site. The compiler is written in ANSI C, and is freely available (but not public domain). It produces version-3 files from a fairly C-like source language, and can produce version-5 files as well (an important innovation since they are twice as large --- Trinity-sized instead of Zork-1-sized). The documentation (in the same package as the source) contains a description of INFORM, as well as a specification of the story file form. It also contains enough articles for a short book on game design, which are not specifically about INFORM. Two example games are included, one medium-sized and one trivial. Both the source files and the story files are included. There are also fully modifiable libraries, which are heavily commented. INFORM is genuinely free, and the rights to a game it produces belong to the author of the game. ---------------------------------------- 9 Interactive-Fiction FTP Site The FTP site ftp.gmd.de:/if-archive contains most, if not all, of the software mentioned here as well as interpreters for Infocom games, source and binaries for many other games and sundry information files too numerous to mention. ftp.gmd.de:/if-archive is mirrored in wuarchive.wustl.edu:/doc/misc/if-archive. The latest FAQ is stored here as if-archive/info/authoring-systems.FAQ and as if-archive/programming/general-discussion/authoring-systems.FAQ ---------------------------------------- Z Credits Nathan Torkington , David Librik , Dave Baggett , Thomas Nilsson , Graham Nelson , Volker Blasius and the documentation for the various systems mentioned here.

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FrobozzCo International Annual Report

[FI logo - a capital 'F'] FrobozzCo International Annual Report 778 GUE FESTERON TOWN LIBRARY 05/18/781 01/32/811 09/11/846 02/07/902 02/21/948 Please take care of me... library books belong to everyone. A MESSAGE TO OUR SHAREHOLDERS ----------------------------- [The first paragraph is actually partly obscured by the library date slip standard packaging!] 778 was a year of continued growth for FrobozzCo and its many subsidiaries. Gross income rose 14% and our revenue increased by 22%. The employment rate now stands at 98.7% for the entire workforce of the Great Underground Empire and is limited only by the birth rate and the size of the Royal Family. Following the completion of the Royal Museum, the Frobozz Magic Cave Company, our largest subsidiary, moved to increase its staff even more as the well-publicized dam and volcano projects moved into full gear. The Cave Company will also be creating the new 400-story FrobozzCo world headquarters in Flatheadia, scheduled to open sometime in 781. More than 18,000 additional subsidiaries were formed or taken over during the last year, further increasing the scope of our industrial empire. FrobozzCo now produces everything from aardvarks to zwieback. I trust that you, as a stockholder, will take the time to read through this report and learn about at least a few of the many exciting things that are going on here at FrobozzCo. It's certainly been a tremendous year, but we're looking forward to an even tremendouser year in 779! John D. Flathead President and Chairman of the Board, FrobozzCo International FROBOZZ MAGIC CAVE COMPANY [Picture] The Frobozz Magic Cave Company has won an unequaled amount of honors, including the much-coveted Dirtiest Shovel in the Great Underground Empire award. The first of FrobozzCo's myriad subsidiaries, the Magic Cave company was formed over a century ago to implement King Duncanthrax's massive tunneling project. Today, the Magic Cave Company is an umbrella for a wide range of underground construction projects. Two of the most ambitious construction projects ever attempted are now on the Magic Cave Company drawing boards. Construction has already started on a dam of staggering proportions that will span the Frigid River. Tentatively called Flood Control Dam Number Three, the dam is scheduled for completion in 783 G.U.E., and comes with a price tag of 37 million zorkmids. Magic Cave Company engineers are planning an amazing project to quench and then hollow out a mighty volcano. The project is being conducted under very tight security, and Lord Dimwit Flathead himself is personally reviewing the plans at each stage. In addition to these landmark projects, the Magic Cave Company created an additional 46,000 linear bloits of tunnel this year, including nearly 200 bloits of Great Underground Highway extension, as well as 8,000 cubic bloits of additional cavern space. FROBOZZ MAGIC TWEEZERS COMPANY [Picture] Our top-of-the-line Model X-1 tweezer is as functional as it is good-looking. One of the newest and brightest members of the FrobozzCo family, the Magic Tweezers Company was formed after a 652,000-zorkmid market research survey revealed a widespread need for a high-quality technologically advanced tweezer. Following several years of planning and development, the Frobozz Magic Tweezer Model A-1 is now ready to roll off the assembly lines and into millions of homes all across the Great Underground Empire. The A-1, which will retail for Zm0.29, has sold briskly in test markets. Within six months, a top of the line Model X-1 tweezer will be introduced and will retail for Zm0.89. Six more models, as well as various add-on accessories, are currently on the drawing board. The Board of Directors of FrobozzCo welcomes the Frobozz Magic Tweezers Company aboard, and is confident that this new division will pluck a lot of business for the parent conglomerate. FROBOZZ MAGIC SPELL COMPANY [Picture] Some truly amazing things materialize at the Frobozz Magic Spell Company. While the well-heeled Enchanters Guild remains the primary customer of the Frobozz Magic Spell Company, the invention of self-casting spell scrolls has created a huge new market for magic technology. Sales increased 11% during 778, marking the twentieth year of steady growth for this lucrative FrobozzCo subsidiary. In response to the growing demand for magic spell accessories, several new FrobozzCo divisions were formed, including the Frobozz Magic Scroll Rack company, the Frobozz Magic Spell Book Company, and the Frobozz Magic Scroll Mailing Tube Company. Four new spells were added to the Magic Spell Company product line this year, a Magic Spell Company record and a tribute to the wizards in FrobozzCo's famous Magiclab. The four new spells are DRILBO (strips a floor of yellowed wax), BORCH (puts insects to sleep), GIZGUM (predicts visits by relatives) and QUELBO (transmutes coconuts into gold). Bongs FROBOZZ MAGIC GRUE REPELLENT COMPANY [Picture] Encouraged by the runaway success of their old socks/burning rubber- scented repellent, company scientists increased the product line with seven new odors. The Frobozz Magic Grue Repellent Company is one of FrobozzCo's fastest growing divisions. Sales of grue repellent nearly tripled last year, spurred on by drastic extensive improvements made in the product and by an aggressive marketing campaign. Magic Grue Repellent Company executives can proudly point to a 31% drop in grue-related deaths during the last year, and a consequent 31% drop in the grue population. The discovery of a particularly effective new additive by the Magic Grue Repellent Company's research division has increased the efficiency of the product by 45%. Studies have shown that most grues will not come within 70 feet of someone sprayed with New Improved Repellent. The new additive, dubbed G-17, is also longer-lasting, requiring fewer sprayings, and it can be made from ordinary sand! The Magic Grue Repellent Company also increased the product line with the introduction of seven new odors of repellent, in addition to the regular old socks/burning rubber odor. The new odors include rotting eggs, dead fish, swamp gas, three-week-old meatloaf, gym locker, wet dog and mint. Several ingenious sales strategies were highly successful. The Free- Noseplugs-With-Every-Can campaign, in association with the Frobozz Magic Noseplugs Company, ran for one month and increased sales by 92%. Advertisements featuring grue-mangled corpses ran before and during the peak travel season. Finally, a joint packaging effort with the Frobozz Magic Lantern Company to produce a Frobozz Anti-Grue kit paid off with remarkable end-of-year sales. FROBOZZCO FINANCIAL REPORT [Six times the same diagram:X = "Year" (773-778), Y = "Zorkmids (in millions)" (10-50); but with 6 different captions: SALES, PROFIT, NUMBER OF SUBSIDIARIES, NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES, NAME RECOGNITION, GRANOLA SUBSIDIES] FrobozzCo International Income Statement (Zorkmid Amounts in Millions) Year end Year end 778 777 Revenues: Sales of goods and services Zm5,431,922 Zm5,108,113 Sale of property 350,585 -- -- -- -- Other revenues 812,913 656,106 ----------- ----------- TOTAL REVENUES 6,595,420 5,764,219 ----------- ----------- Expenses: Cost of goods and services 2,773,119 2,655,288 Selling, administration, bribes 1,243,984 1,256,712 Depreciation 127,353 112,499 Contributions to Royal Charities 888,307 888,307 Printing of Annual Report 285,238 279,540 ----------- ----------- TOTAL EXPENSES 5,318,001 5,192,346 ----------- ----------- NET INCOME Zm1,277,419 Zm 571,873 =========== =========== Earnings per uncommon share: Continuing operations Zm 2.72 Zm 1.54 Discontinuing operations (0.03) (0.02) ----------- ----------- NET INCOME PER UNCOMMON SHARE Zm 2.69 Zm 1.52 =========== =========== FrobozzCo International Retained Earnings Statement (Zorkmid Amounts in Millions) Year end Year end 778 777 Retained earnings at year opening Zm1,204,445 Zm1,162,556 Net income 1,277,419 571,873 Dividends paid on uncommon stock (894,017) (529,971) Dividends paid on unpreferred stock (24) (13) ----------- ----------- Retained earnings at year end Zm1,587,823 Zm1,204,445 =========== =========== FrobozzCo International Balance Sheet (Zorkmid Amounts in Millions) Year end Year end 778 777 Assets: Cash Zm 393,459 Zm 219,067 Inventories 566,790 465,634 Loans to Royal Family 1,125,000 900,000 Executive Party Fund 107,374 132,252 Plant and Equipment 778,833 596,025 Other assets 325,939 294,606 ----------- ----------- TOTAL ASSETS Zm3,297,395 Zm2,610,584 =========== =========== Liabilities: Short term loans Zm 456,872 Zm 388,431 Accrued payroll deductions 594,311 435,923 Deferred bribes 216,343 209,575 Other liabilities 95,647 80,293 ----------- ----------- Total Liabilities 1,363,173 1,114,222 ----------- ----------- Shareholder's equity: Uncommon stock 345,287 291,054 Unpreferred stock 1,112 858 Retained earnings 1,587,823 1,204,445 ----------- ----------- Total shareholder's equity 1,934,222 1,496,357 ----------- ----------- TOTAL LIABILITIES AND EQUITY Zm3,297,395 Zm2,610,579 =========== =========== [Picture] Original Headquarters Building Constructed 667 [FI logo - a capital 'F'] FROBOZZCO INTERNATIONAL "You name it, we do it" from Interactive Fiction Archive ftp://ftp.gmd.de/if-archive/

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-Any Key Quits-

-\!/-\!/-\!/-\!/-\!/-\!/-\!/-\!/-\!/-\!/-\!/-\!/-\!/9!/-\!/-\!/-\!/-\!/-\!/-\!/-\!/-\!/-\!/-\!/-\!/-\!/-\!/-\!/-\! -Any Key Quits- MSG LEFT BY: THE WISE CRACKER DATE POSTED: WED MAR 28 5:29:27 PM HERE'S HOW TO MAKE A SUPER ROMSWITCH! OBTAIN AN OLD MONITOR ROM AND MAKE SURE YOU HAVE AN APPLE LANGUAGE CARD. REMOVE THE LANGUAGE CARD AND LOCATE CHIP#5, TTL 74LS20. LOCATED AT THE TOP OF THE FIRST ROW NEXT TO THE ROM. BEND OUT PIN SIX (DON'T BREAK IT OFF!) OBTAIN AN SPST SWITCH. SOLDER ONE LEAD FROM A POLE TO THE PIN BENT OUT. SOLDER THE OTHER TO THE BOTTOM OF THE CARD WHERE THE HOLE 6 IS. NOW REMOVE THE AUTOSTART ROM FROM THE LANGUAGE CARD AND REPLACE IT WITH THE MONITOR ROM. NOW YOU CAN SWITCH BETWEEN THE AUTO- START ROM ON THE MOTHERBOARD AND THE MONITOR ROM ON THE CARD BY FLIPPING A SWITCH! Purchase Facebook Fans
OR BURN YOUR OWN 2716, MAKE A JUMPER SOCKET, AND PUT IT ON THE LC FOR A SUPER CRACKING ROM! THIS PUBLIC SERVICE MESSAGE HAS BEEN BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE WISE CRACKER! MSG LEFT BY: DOCTOR WHO DATE POSTED: SUN APR 1 1:50:53 PM TO CRACK INFOCOM LOAD COPYA CALL -151 B925:18 60 B988:18 60 BE48:18 B8FB:29 00 CTRL-C RUN AFTER COPYING RUN A SECTOR EDITOR TR-0 SEC-2 CHANGE BYTE 5D TO AD FB TO 29 FC TO 00 DOCTOR WHO. General Dbase #11: (?=Menu, 1-20) ->: !/-\!/-\!/-\!/-\!/-\!/-\!/-\!/-\!/-\!/-\!/-\!/-\!/-\!/-\!/-\!/-\!/-\!/-\!/-\!/-\!/-\!/-\!/-\!/-\!/-\!/-\!/-\!/-\!/-\

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