Nathan P. Mahney – The Retro Gaming Treasury

MUD1: Wading In Once More

On March 17, 2019March 17, 2019 By Nathan P. Mahney

Thought I was dead, didn’t you? I am in fact very much alive, and ready to resume blogging. Over the last year I’ve had a hellishly long commute to work, and I haven’t had the time or the mental energy for writing. But due to certain very positive changes in […]

Game 25: MUD1 (1978)

On May 27, 2018September 4, 2018 By Nathan P. Mahney

After that little detour into Richard Garriot’s DND1, it’s time to get back to my regular schedule with the similarly-named MUD1. MUD1 (which stands for Multi-User Dungeon) was created by a student named Roy Trubshaw in 1978 at the University of Essex, on a DEC PDP-10 mainframe (with development later […]

DND1: Played

On May 13, 2018September 4, 2018 By Nathan P. Mahney

Normally, my final post for a game would be titled with some variation of Victory, possibly modified with punctuation to indicate how emphatic said victory was. DND1 has no victory state though, and to be honest I’ve rather more abandoned playing it than finished it. The last month has been […]

Game 24: DND1 (1977)

On April 8, 2018September 4, 2018 By Nathan P. Mahney

I know, I said that the next game I played would be MUD1, but instead I’m taking a little side-trip into 1977 to play a CRPG called DND1. I’ll be back to my regularly scheduled games soon enough, but for reasons you’ll soon understand I couldn’t resist checking this one […]

Library: Anti-Climax!

On March 10, 2018September 4, 2018 By Nathan P. Mahney

Upon further investigation of Library, it appears that the game was never finished. I’ve explored it as extensively as possible and scoured the source code, and I don’t believe that there’s a way to beat it. Maybe I’m wrong, but at this point I’m going to write about the rest […]

Game 23: Library [designed using Wander] (1978)

On March 4, 2018September 4, 2018 By Nathan P. Mahney

Wander, as my regular readers may remember, is a programming language designed for creating text adventures that predates even Colossal Cave Adventure. I’ve played two adventures created using this language so far: Castle and Aldebaran III. Both were interesting, and somewhat unusual for their vintage, but ultimately flawed. I had […]

The Cottage: Victory

On February 27, 2018September 4, 2018 By Nathan P. Mahney

As of my last post, I had obtained seven of the treasures required to complete the game: the diamond, the cucumber, the coins, the shoe, the trilogy, the laurel wreath and the contract. That left me with six to obtain: the silver ingot (not “silver stick” as Google had translated […]

The Cottage: Laying It Out

On February 17, 2018September 4, 2018 By Nathan P. Mahney

My progress in The Cottage has been slow and painstaking. A part of that is because it’s not exactly setting my world on fire. There are many, many things I could be doing that I’d enjoy more than playing this game. Mostly, though, it’s that the puzzles are somewhat obtuse, […]

The Cottage: Nine Floors, Zero Clues

On January 28, 2018September 4, 2018 By Nathan P. Mahney

After mostly exploring the wilderness in my last post, I’ve moved onto the interior of the titular cottage. This gave me a taste of this game’s idiosyncratic method of navigation: it uses compass directions when you’re outside, and the commands LEFT, RIGHT, FORWARD and BACK to move around inside. To […]

Game 22: Stuga aka The Cottage (1978)

On January 14, 2018September 4, 2018 By Nathan P. Mahney

A while ago, it was Ultima VII that kept me from blogging. More recently, it’s been The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which is an incredible game, and probably the best in the series since at least 1998. It’s very hard to dig into text adventures from the […]

King Tut’s Tomb: Complete Victory!

On December 6, 2017September 4, 2018 By Nathan P. Mahney

OCD strikes again! As you can see from the image above, I managed to get the full score of 207 points in King Tut’s Tomb. I owe it all to Adamant, who has been doing a wonderful job of dissecting the code of this game in the comments section of […]

Game 21: King Tut’s Tomb (1978): Victory.

On December 3, 2017September 9, 2018 By Nathan P. Mahney

Apologies for the lengthy delay, but Ultima VII is real good, you guys. So good that when I finished it I launched immediately into Ultima Underworld II, and Serpent Isle following that. What can I say, I got that Ultima bug, and it caused me to neglect whichever of the […]

Acheton: Victory!

On October 10, 2017September 4, 2018 By Nathan P. Mahney

When last I left you, I had found 49 treasures and was preparing to gather them and see how close I might be to wrapping Acheton up. I had some minor fears about how difficult it might be to get all of the treasures before my lamp ran out, but […]

Acheton: I Get By With A Little Help From My FAQs

On September 23, 2017September 4, 2018 By Nathan P. Mahney

Since my last post, I’ve made all sorts of progress with Acheton. Some of that progress is legitimate, and some of it… Well, let’s just say that I consulted some walkthroughs. I’m only human, and even my patience has its limits. (I’m probably more patient with CRPGs than adventure games, […]

Acheton: Steady Progress

On September 9, 2017September 4, 2018 By Nathan P. Mahney

One difference I’ve noticed between CRPGs and adventure games, in general, is that it’s easier in the former to gauge how far you’ll progress within a certain timeframe. For the most part, CRPGs are pretty straightforward, and progress is often a simple matter of making your character stronger. With adventure […]

Acheton: Like Chipping Away at a Mountain

On August 27, 2017September 4, 2018 By Nathan P. Mahney

Given that it’s been three months since my last post, you might think that I’d have made a lot of progress. After all, that’s like 100 days – plenty of time to finish most games that aren’t Moria or The Game of Dungeons v8 (or Fate: Gates of Dawn, for […]

A Brief Hiatus

On July 27, 2017September 4, 2018 By Nathan P. Mahney

Yes, I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted here, but rest assured that the blog is not dead. I still want to post, but the last couple of months have seen me dealing with some difficult personal issues and the emotional stress that comes with them. I haven’t […]

Game 20: Acheton (1978)

On May 13, 2017September 4, 2018 By Nathan P. Mahney

The beginning of Acheton. I had a good run with a couple of one-post games, but it looks like my streak has been broken by Acheton. This game is big, it’s vindictive, and it’s difficult. It’s not going to hold me up for as long as Moria or The Game […]

Game 19: The House of Seven Gables (1978)

On April 23, 2017September 9, 2018 By Nathan P. Mahney

Evocative. The House of Seven Gables is the second game from Greg Hassett, twelve-year-old rival of adventure game legend Scott Adams. Hassett’s first effort, Journey to the Centre of the Earth Adventure, had all the hallmarks of a game that was incomplete; it was full of red herrings and areas […]

Game 18: Aldebaran III [aka A3, designed using Wander] (1978)

On April 18, 2017September 4, 2018 By Nathan P. Mahney

The closest thing it has to a title screen. Aldebaran III is the second of three existing games created using the Wander system. The first was Castle, which I covered last year. It was surprisingly sophisticated for being the very first text adventure, although it should always be remembered that […]