

Dragon Adventure

This file is intended for teachers and parents wanting to find out 
more details of the game.

It also contains information explaining the game locations and puzzles 
which may spoil the game if you are intending to try playing it through. 
The information is provided so that a teacher or parent can help a child 
who is stuck in the game. The game can be played through in a minimum 
of about 100 moves (though about 400 is more usual), and generally takes 
a group 2-3 hours or so to finish.

Dragon Adventure is a text-based adventure with pictures and a few 
optional sound effects for players aged 9 and above. It should be 
suitable both for children and perhaps foreign English students, as well 
as beginners at these types of text adventure games. 
Its aim is to stimulate memory, language work and discussion within 
small groups, and to help foster a logical approach to problem solving. 
Within the UK National Curriculum for English, the program helps to 
develop oracy (both the speaking and listening), spelling and reading 
comprehension skills.

The adventure is set in a make-believe world, where the players are 
set the challenge of trying to get rid of the dragon. This can be done 
in either of two ways: by killing it with the enchanted sword, or by 
releasing the dragon from the bewitchment that has been put on it 
(by playing the magic pipe). 
Non-violent solutions earn a higher game score, encouraging players to use 
non-violent means. The players must then discover the dragon's hidden 
treasure hoard to complete the game.

Players must find either the sword or the flute, and discover the way 
to safely enter the dragon's tunnels and neutralise the dragon. To do this 
they must solve a series of simple problems involving gathering and using 
the objects that can be found in the various game locations. There are 
clues to this scattered throughout the game, and the game characters met 
can also be asked for information (this is often well worth doing). 
You can also type HINT to get specific clues at different points in the 
game.

The program works by describing locations on the screen, together with 
any objects that can be seen. Commands are typed in the form of two 
words, eg. GET SWORD or RING BELL, or by more complex sentences. 
Movements can be made by typing the direction (GO NORTH, SOUTH, EAST, 
WEST, UP, DOWN, IN, OUT), and most can be abbreviated to a single letter.
Commands such as ENTER COTTAGE or JUMP can also be used.

Some characters met in the game can be spoken to and can engage in 
rudimentary conversation. Phrases such as HELLO or ASK MAN ABOUT DRAGON 
will often get a reaction.

With children, ideally the game should be played by small groups of 
2 to 4 people. 
The current position can be saved and restored at a later date. It is 
advisable to save the position at regular intervals so that if anything 
disastrous happens in the adventure, the game does not have to be restarted 
from the beginning. There is also an UNDO feature in most game interpreters 
which will try to undo the consequences of the last move made. In some 
systems this can be used repeatedly several times to backtrack until the 
mistake is undone.

The command RESCUE is provided as a last resort to attempt to recover 
otherwise irretrievably lost items (that may have been eaten, broken 
or given away), and will attempt to recover from unwinnable game 
situations (such as being trapped). There is also the command RUN or 
ESCAPE which takes you away from immediate danger, but you will drop 
whatever you happen to be carrying.

Older children should be encouraged to make up their own map as they 
go along, though it may be found that a sketch-map of the main locations 
is best provided. 
The picture version of the game displays a map of the places visited 
so far, by entering the command MAP.

Game Vocabulary:
Disc commands:
	SAVE		saves current game position
	RESTORE		load and run a previously saved game position

Other commands:
	UNDO		will attempt to undo the last move made; can 
			sometimes be used successively
	MAP		shows a map of places visited so far (in picture 
			version only)
	INVENTORY or I	to list what you are carrying
	EXAMINE or X	to examine something
	LOOK or L	to see the description of the location again

To see in the dark of the tunnels and to move around safely the candle 
must be found and lit. The candle can be extinguished, but it will not 
run out and there is no limit to the number of moves that can be made 
once it is lit.

Up to 6 items can be carried at once, though if the sack is carried 
objects can be put into it, enabling many more things to be carried 
at once. The program takes care of this automatically. The sack is 
found in the reeds by the lake.

The program counts the number of moves taken and keeps a score based on 
the puzzles solved. 
The current score and move count are shown at the top of the game window.

Typing the commands SOUND OFF and SOUND ON will switch the sound off 
and on, in the pictures/sound version (the sound is on by default).

Some of the actions recognised:

BLOW		FILL		LIGHT		RUN
BUILD		FLY		MAKE		SAY
BUY		FIND		OPEN		SPEND
CLOSE		GET		PLAY		STRIKE
DRINK		GIVE		POUR		TAKE
DROP		GO		QUIT		TIP
EAT		HELP		READ		UNLOCK
EMPTY		INVENTORY	RIDE		USE
END		JUMP		RING
EXAMINE		KILL		RUB


Some of the main game objects:

BANANAS		CANDLE		KEY		PARCHMENT
BELL		CHAIR		LAMP		SCREWDRIVER
BICYCLE		CLUB		MAN		SHEET
BATH		COIN		MATCHES		SIGNPOST
BOOT		DRAGON		MONKEY		STUMP
BOTTLE		HORN		MUG		SWORD
BOX		HANG-GLIDER	PARACHUTE	TROLL


Object names can usually be abbreviated to just the first three 
letters.

Scoring:	1	for buying the box
		1	for finding the screwdriver
		2	for finding the candle
		1	for finding the matches
		1	for for opening the castle door
		1	for building the hand-glider in the right place
		2	for getting the sword/booklet
		1	for escaping from the tower using the hang-glider
		2	for killing the Troll to get the horn
		5	for talking to the Troll to get the horn
		2	for killing the dragon
		5	for charming the dragon instead of killing him
		5	for finding the treasure

	= 25 points maximum total

                (minus 2 points for each RESCUE or 'dead' recovery)

Help:
By entering the command HELP some special help hints are available at 
certain points in the game:

With the magic lamp in the cottage:
"Remember Alladin..."

In the dark tunnels without the lit candle:
"You really need some light..."

At the castle door:
"You need a key..."

At the bird bath:
"Perhaps you should be kind to the birds..."

In the closed cottage (if you haven't found the key yet):
"Have you examined everything closely..."
otherwise:
"You'll need some magic to get out of here! - try RESCUE"

At the top of the castle tower when the monkey has the sword:
"You need to get him to drop the sword somehow..."

To get past the little man in the swamp:
"Perhaps if you bought what he was selling..."

At the top of the tower:
"You need to get from the tower to the ground somehow..."

Otherwise the standard response is:
"Look round and examine things."

Typing INFO will give a little help on playing the game (such the
actions of HELP, RESCUE, SAVE, RESTORE, UNDO etc). 
GAMES or INSTRUCTIONS will give advice on playing adventure games 
generally, as well as places to find other help or free games on 
the internet (this was produced by Emily Short as a general 
game extension).

A note on game versions:
Dragon Adventure is written in a computer language called Inform, 
which produces a compiled game file in one of two forms - the z5 
type, and the newer Glulx type. Both need a special program called 
an 'interpreter' to make them run as games on the computer. 

The z5 type, being an older system, has free interpreters 
(downloadable from the internet) that have been written for a 
huge variety of past and present computer types, but the format 
doesn't really handle pictures and sound properly. The z5 version 
of the game is text only, but should work on a very wide range 
of past and current computers, including some handhelds and 
organisers.

The newer Glulx type file can contain both pictures and sound as well 
as text, but games will so far only run on PC, Mac and Linux systems, 
where game interpreters have already been written. However, there may 
currently be some sound problems with Mac systems (to do with AIFF 
bit signing, or something).

The PC version of Glulxe seems to work on Windows versions from 95 
onwards, though there seem to be problems with the sound support on 
Windows 95. The picture version of the game hasn't yet been tested 
on systems other than the PC. 

The Glulx file type (which contains both the game and the pictures 
and sounds all packaged together) is called a Blorb file.  As Blorb 
files contain pictures and sound as well as text, they tend to be 
considerably larger than the equivalent z5 type and so take longer 
to download. 

Dragon Adventure was originally written on Acorn/RiscOS computers. 
Versions of the game exist which will run natively (with pictures) 
on later RiscOS machines (A5000 onwards); all RiscOS 3-onwards machines 
will also run the z5 text version, using the excellent freeware Zip2000 
interpreter.

So to sum up - if using a PC, Mac or Linux, use the Glulx Blorb game 
version with pictures and sound, if possible. 
If using RiscOS, use the RiscOS coded version of the game (in the 
absence of any Glulx interpreter for the platform as yet). 
For any other machine, use the z5 text-only game. 
If you have the VirtualA5000 or SE Acorn emulator on a Windows PC 
(www.virtualacorn.co.uk), you can play the original RiscOS version, 
as well as many other UK programs available for schools.

Interpreters:
For Windows, possibly the best z5 interpreter is called Windows 
Frotz, and the best Glulx Blorb interpreter so far is called, 
rather confusingly, Glulxe (note the 'e' on the end!). 
Both can be downloaded free from the Interpreters section of 
the Interactive Fiction website at www.ifarchive.org, which is 
the Alexandrian Library of all things to do with adventure games).
The site includes a huge range of other free adventure games to 
download of varying quality, complexity and suitability.

Most game interpreters allow you to choose and set your own preferences 
for things such as font size, style and colour, background colour, and 
window size, and they keep these choices for the future. It's well worth 
taking a few minutes to set these up as you like them, as it seems to 
make a huge difference to the playability of any game. 

The Glulx picture version was designed to work with screen resolutions 
of 640 x 480 up to 1024 x 768 (with higher resolutions the pictures start 
to look a little small), with at least 256 colours - the ideal display 
seems to be 800 x 600 or 1024 x 768 with 32K plus colours.

History:
Dragon Adventure started life on the BBC micro around 1982. 
The basic framework of game locations and puzzles (including any 
violence directed towards dragons and trolls!) was produced by a group of 
Year 5 children on a wet Friday afternoon (thanks to Tracey, Tracy, 
Julia, Joanne, Amanda and the others). I put this into a finished game 
so the children could try out their own work, and also wrote a version 
 
for the Commodore PET (the other Y5 class had loan of one - my class had 
the use of the only BBC in the school that term). The game was eventually 
distributed free to schools in the London Borough of Hillingdon, 
and was available from the MUSE (Microcomputer Users in Secondary 
Education) software library until its closure a few years later.

It was converted to run on the Acorn Archimedes around 1990, and 
was further updated in the late 90s for the more modern RiscPC 
with the addition of sound samples and pictures of the items carried.

It has been available in RiscOS format as a free internet download 
since 1999. Over the years it has been occasionally used in various 
classes I have taught. Various minor changes have been made in response 
to the sorts of things children tend to type in and try to do in the game. 

In 2003 I taught for a while at Shellingford Primary and used a 
similar game, Goblin Adventure, with the children using the 
VirtualAcorn emulator on a PC laptop. Several of them asked if the 
games were available to play at home, and I rewrote slightly extended 
versions of Dragon, Goblin and Fairytale Adventures for z5 and Glulx 
(with pictures). These newer versions make it easier to recover from 
unwinnable game situations without having to restart (demanding less 
teacher attention!). I put these on the school website, along with the 
original RiscOS versions. The new versions should now work directly 
on Windows and (in theory) on the Mac.

The program is copyright but may be freely copied and distributed,
as long as no charge is made.

William Stott, February 2004 (wstott@bigfoot.com)


Solution:

Go S, E, D, take the coin, examine the barrels and take the mug. 
Go U, W, W and give the coin to buy the box. Take the box (the 
hang-glider kit), examine it, open it and read the instruction 
leaflet (you need a screwdriver). Go W, read the sign, go S, read 
the sign, go W, N to the forge and take the magic lamp. Go S, E, 
N, E, S, S, E into the cottage. Take the key, examine the table 
and take the bananas then rub the lamp to be transported back 
outside (the lamp flies off and returns back to the forge). 
Go S, W, N, W, S, S into the lighthouse, tip the boot and take the 
screwdriver. Go N, N, N, N, N and get the silver bell, unlock the 
castle door, drop the key and go N, U to the top of the tower. 
Give the bananas to the monkey, build the glider, drop the broken 
screwdriver and take the sword and the instruction booklet. 
You can throw items down from the tower if you can't carry 
everything. Take the hang-glider and jump to float down to the 
wasteland, or you can rub the magic lamp if carried (earning fewer 
points). Go E and ring the bell to summon the wandering Troll, 
who will appear somewhere along the road or by the lake. Once you 
find him, you can either kill him with the sword, or say HELLO to make 
friends with him (which earns more points). Greet him, ask him 
any questions you want to, then give him the bell and take the 
hunting horn. Next, go to the lake and examine the reeds and take 
the sack containing the flute. Once opened, the sack can be used to 
greatly extend the number of items you can carry. Fill the mug with 
water and go S, E and fill the bird bath. Take the candle dropped 
by the bird and go W, examine the tree stump and light the candle 
with the matches. The number of moves that can be made with the lit 
candle is unlimited. Read the instruction booklet to learn how to 
play the flute then drop the booklet (no longer needed) and go 
W, N, N, E into the cave. Make sure you are holding the flute (it 
isn't in the sack) and go S, S and play the flute to break the dragon's 
spell. Ask him any questions you want to. It is also possible to kill 
the dragon with the sword, but this approach again earns fewer points. 
Examine the bones and take the bottle, examine it then break it 
and read the clue on the parchment. Go N, N, E, U to the inn then in turn 
examine the chair, the carvings than the goblin to find the next clue. 
Go D, W, S, S back to the dragon's lair and blow the horn. Go E to the 
treasure.Trying to ride the magic bicycle will deliver you to the 
dragon's lair, and can be used as a shortcut.
(Total about 100 moves)

Typing RESCUE will restore any lost objects - 
the troll's mother will put new bananas on the cottage table if the 
player has eaten them
the monkey will throw down any items left behind in the tower 
the hang-glider will be restored back in its box if built in the 
  wrong place
the screwdriver will be restored if broken
anything dropped in the dark will be moved back outside
the stairs in the castle tower will be rebuilt if they have collapsed

If your game character dies you will lose points, but you will be 
restored back to life again.

You will only die if:
you try to use the parachute to get down from the tower
you try to move in the dark
you try to kill the Troll or dragon without having the sword
you attack or try to kill the little man in the swamp
you spend too long with the suspicious Troll without speaking to him
you wake the dragon by going into its lair without quickly killing it 
  or playing the flute
you try to kill the dragon after playing the flute
you try to kill the troll after befriending him


Game Locations:
(numbers refer to the map)

In some rocky mountains (14)
This is your starting-point in the adventure. You need to go south 
to get to the inn.

Outside an inn (15)

Inside the deserted inn (21)
There is also a clue here to the 
way to find the dragon's treasure hoard. If you examine the chair, 
you will find some carvings. If you then examine the carvings, then 
examine the goblin, you see a goblin blowing a horn next to the dragon.

In a cellar under the inn (22)
Here there is an old coin that you need to give the little man in 
the swamp to buy the box with the hang-glider kit. If you examine 
the barrels you will find the pewter mug that you need to carry water 
for the bird-bath. There is also a short-cut here to the dragon's 
tunnels, but you need the lit candle to move safely. If you step 
into the dark, you can recover if you immediately return back the 
way you have come, otherwise you become lost in the tunnels and you
either fall in the dark or get killed by the dragon.

In a swamp (10)
There is a little man in the swamp who won't let you go past. 
You need to give him the coin from the cellar under the inn to buy 
the cardboard box containing the hang-glider kit. You need this to 
get down from the castle tower after you have the sword. Once you 
have bought the box you can get past the swamp. If you try to kill 
the man, he will just kill you instead. If you open the box and 
read the instruction sheet, it says 'Acme Hang-glider Kit - all you 
need is a screwdriver'. If you build the hang-glider anywhere else but 
the top of the tower, it becomes too awkward to carry. The screwdriver 
breaks as you tighten the last screw, so you can't dismantle it.

Outside a cave (11)
This leads to the cave system where the dragon's lair can be found. 
You need the lit candle to go into the caves safely. If you go in 
without light, you can recover if you immediately return back the 
way you have come, though if you try to go in any other direction 
you will get lost in the caves and killed by the dragon, or else 
fall in the dark.

Beside a thatched cottage (12)

Inside the thatched cottage (24)
This is the Troll's cottage, which he has modified to trap any 
burglars and thieves (he is very security-conscious, as you will 
find if you talk to him). There is no way out of here without 
the magic lamp. The key to get into the castle door is hanging 
on a nail behind the door, where the Troll has placed it for 
safekeeping. If you examine the table, you will find a bunch of 
bananas (left by the Troll's mother) that are needed for the monkey 
in the castle tower. Rubbing the magic lamp will take you outside 
the cottage with whatever you are carrying, and return the lamp 
to the castle forge (where it can be re-used if needed). If you 
get stuck in the cottage without the lamp, RESCUE will return 
you back outside but replace the bananas and key in the cottage.

On a path in the forest (13)
There is an empty bird bath here. You need to fill the pewter mug with 
water from the lake and fill the bird bath. A bird comes down and drops 
a candle that you can use to move in the dark of the tunnels.

On a forest path by a tree stump (9)
If you examine the tree stump, you will find the matches you need to 
light the candle.

By a lake (8)
You need to collect water here in the old pewter mug from the inn cellar. 
The water is needed to fill the bird-bath. The water in the swamp is 
too dirty, and the sea-water is too salty. Amongst the reeds here you 
will find a sack containing a snake-charming flute, which you need to 
break the spell on the dragon. The flute cannot be played properly without 
first reading the instruction booklet, found at the top of the tower.
This tells you how to use the flute to 'charm serpents and other dangerous 
reptiles, and how to break enchantments'. Objects can be put into the 
sack, enabling more items to be carried at once. The program takes care 
of this automatically if the sack is carried.

At the south end of a road (7)
There is a signpost you can read to find the way to the castle.

At the north end of a road (6)
There is a signpost you can read to find the way to the castle.

In some wasteland near a castle (3)
There is a magic delivery bicycle here. If you try to ride it, it 
takes you to the dragon's lair, delivering you to the dragon, whizzing 
through the various locations on the way. The bicycle lamp comes on 
for a while so you can see your surroundings, but goes out shortly after 
the bicycle has entered the dragon's lair.

By a pebbled beach (4)
There is a parachute here. This has no use in the game, but if you 
try to use it to get down from the castle tower, it will not open 
in time and you will be killed.

By a forbidding castle (1)
To get into the castle you need the key from the little cottage. 
There is a silver bell here. You need to ring this to summon the 
Troll. He then appears somewhere on the road and wanders at random 
along the road and by the lake. If you meet him he will soon attack 
you and try to kill you, unless you either talk to him or kill him 
first with the sword. If you try to move away, he will follow 
wherever you go. You can run away to a location 2 places removed 
from where you are by typing RUN or ESCAPE, but you drop everything 
you are carrying as you go. The Troll will then continue to roam 
around, but he will not follow you unless you meet him again. 
If you talk to him, you may get extra information using phrases 
such as 'HELLO' and 'ASK TROLL ABOUT DRAGON' (or COTTAGE, BANANAS, 
INN, TREASURE, SELF, MAGIC, HORN, GIFTS etc), and you will find 
that he is looking for his silver bell. He will follow you around 
until you give it to him, then he will lend you his hunting horn 
in exchange. This is needed to open the secret door to the Dragon's 
treasure hoard. It is also possible to get the horn by killing the 
Troll with the sword, though this approach earns far fewer game 
points. If you try to kill the Troll after talking to him and 
befriending him, he will kill you with the club.

In the old castle forge (2)
There is a magic lamp here, with some writing on it, 'Merlin's 
Lamp Company - Alladin model'. If you rub the lamp, you will be 
transported to the outside of the little cottage, and the lamp 
will return to the forge, where it was found. You need the lamp to 
get out of the Troll's cottage. If you try to light the lamp with 
the matches, it will return to the forge.

In the castle hallway (23)
If you go up the stairs to the top of the tower, they collapse 
behind you and you can't get back down.

At the top of the castle tower (25)
As you go up to the top of the tower, the stairs collapse. There is 
a monkey here waving a sword. You need to get him to drop the sword 
by giving him the bananas or dropping them here. You also find the 
instruction booklet for the dragon-charming flute here, but the monkey 
will keep snatching it away from you until you give him the bananas.
If the silver bell has been rung, the Troll can be glimpsed far away 
on the road looking for something (his bell). To get down from the 
tower, you need to make the hang-glider from the kit using the 
screwdriver, and then use it to get down to the wasteland near 
the castle. If you try to use the parachute, it will not open 
in time and you will be killed. You can also use the magic lamp 
to transport to the path by the cottage (earning fewer points).
If you cannot carry everything you need when you go down from the tower, 
it is possible to THROW DOWN objects to the ground below. RESCUE will 
take you down to ground level, but without the sword and booklet.

Outside the ruins of a lighthouse (5)

In a room in the old lighthouse (19)
There is an old boot here. You need to tip or empty the boot to find 
the screwdriver. You need this to make the hang glider at the top of 
the tower.

In a secret passage (20)
This leads from the room in the lighthouse to the dragon's lair. The 
passage collapses behind you as you go, so the only way is forwards 
to the lair.

Deep in a damp cave (16)
You can get here either by entering the cave, or by going from the 
cellar under the inn.

In a great chamber in the rock (17)
This leads to the dragon's lair to the south.

The dragon's lair (18)
You get here from the great chamber in the cave system, by riding 
the magic delivery bicycle, or by going through the secret passage 
from the lighthouse. Here the dragon is asleep, and you wake it when 
you enter. It will soon attack you unless you do something to stop 
this happening - either by playing the pipe or by killing it first.
It will spend a little time watching you while pretending to be 
asleep, giving you the opportunity to play the dragon-charming 
pipe. Once the spell on the dragon has been broken by the music, 
you can speak to the dragon and find out more of his story with 
phrases such as 'HELLO' and 'ASK DRAGON ABOUT TREASURE' (or SPELL, 
WIZARDS, GOBLINS, MEN, TROLL, GIFTS, WINGS, BELL etc). The
spell broken, the dragon now has its freedom and will leave the 
land, and in return it gives you its gold, which you will have to 
find. It is also possible to kill the dragon with the enchanted sword, 
but, as with the Troll, this approach earns far fewer game points. 
If you try to kill it after playing the music and befriending it, 
it will quickly kill you instead - enchanted swords only work on 
enchanted dragons here. To find the treasure, you need to blow the 
Troll's ancient hunting horn to open the door to the hoard. There 
are some clues to help with this - amongst the bones in the lair 
is a glass bottle containing a parchment scroll. You have to break 
the bottle (which happens if you DROP it) to get the scroll and read 
it. The clue given is: 'Search the mountain inn with care, to find an 
answer lying there'. You need to go to the inn and examine the chair 
and its carvings to find the next clue, a carving of a goblin blowing 
the horn next to the dragon.

In the dragon's store (26)
The dragon's treasure hoard is here. You need to go in here to end 
the game.
