Tim Gilberts published legendary text adventure creation systems The Quill and Professional Adventure Writer (PAW) through family publishing house Gilsoft in the 1980s. These products became the basis for hundreds of commercial games, many developed and sold as part of a late direct-to-consumer wave of adventure development in the late 1980s into the 1990s. Dave and Jason discuss with Tim the origins of The Quill and its successors, the reasons for its success and lasting impact, and Tim's connections to gaming today.

Gilsoft

Tim Gilberts' YouTube channel

Zenobi Software

Stranded by Dave Hawkins

Ghostship Delgado by Tony Kingsmill (2024 Quill game)

Dave and Jason seek revenge on the dread pirate Skarvench and go on an interplanetary hunt for the mysterious Wing. This episode of The Retro Adventurers explores the neo-retro title Down Among the Dead Men (originally published as a Virtual Reality Adventures gamebook in 1993, converted into ZIL (Zork Implementation Language) and Z-Machine binary format in 2020 by SD Separa) and the oft-overlooked Interplay launch title The Tracer Sanction, originally published by Activision.

The Tracer Sanction playable online

Down Among the Dead Men (includes play link)

Transporter by Andrew Laker (includes play link)

Solution and map for Transporter

Dead Flesh Retro

Terrormolinos

Slaine

Scott Adams of Adventure International and Clopas fame joins Dave and Jason for a conversation on this episode of The Retro Adventurers. We discuss the rise and fall of Adventure International, the Marvel Comics relationship behind the Questprobe games featuring The Hulk, Spider-Man, and The Human Torch & The Thing, building international business relationships, and more.

>GO WEST

Clopas LLC

Adventureland XL

Stereotypical by Clopas (in development)

Adventure International (Mobygames profile)

Portland Retro Gaming Expo

Retro Adventurers Jason Compton and Dave Hawkins explore iconic early text adventure The Hobbit (by Philip Mitchell and Veronika Megler, adapted from the novel by J. R. R. Tolkien) and Planet of Death (by Richard Turner and Chris Thornton).

Includes listener mail, an explanation for postponing the promised Knight Orc, and a dive into both games.

Special thanks to Robin Harbron of 8-Bit Show and Tell for final engineering.

Links

Planet of Death playable ZX81 edition

The Hobbit playable Spectrum 128 enhanced edition

AppleAdventures on YouTube

Renga in Blue's Planet of Death finale (featuring "Dusty Bin")

The Tracer Sanction

Down Among the Dead Men

(Please note that Episode 1 has some audio issues which are ironed out in future episodes.)

The premiere of The Retro Adventurers. Three old-school gamers talk about text adventures they have loved, hated, or are just experiencing for the first time. In this episode, Ben Collier, Jason Compton, and Dave Hawkins take a look at early text adventure Around the World and the first Magnetic Scrolls adventure, The Pawn. 

Includes news, biographical notes, and a dive into both games.

Links

Ronin by David Alzofon

Ghosts Of Blackwood Manor

PunyInform

Infocom Z-Machine interpreter source code

The Classic Adventurer

Softside adventure archive including Around the World (Apple II emulator image)

The Pawn at the Magnetic Scrolls Memorial (playable online)