Took the plunge and I love it. Everything is just implemented so well, although I found the frequent pop-up tips (obviously meant to ease novices into the genre) quite annoying. The digital feelies, far from being a whimsical extra feature, are amazing for those of us who used to own these games in their original form. They're like concentrated shots of nostalgia. The only downside to this, is now I need to buy a Bluetooth keyboard.
I had the invisiclues back in the day for a couple of the games and they were great - allowed for very gentle nudges when you needed them.
Thanks for taking the additional 40 minutes out of your life to do that for people. Really brings back memories, too - and makes me wish that Hitchhiker's Guide was one of the games in this collection (although I understand licensing could make that impossible). My dad never forgave me for using the Invisiclues to get past a puzzle in that which stumped us for nearly four months. My dad and I ALSO played through Leather Goddesses of Phobos together ... that made for some interesting play sessions, when he'd tell me to "look away from the screen while I try a ... creative solution to this problem."
It's Christmastime, so I should be spending money on other people, but I don't think I can pass this up. Even though I have owned several of these in their original boxes, have Frotz on my iPad and recently bought most of the Zork series on GOG.com, the extra features look useful and I like to support developers when I feel like I'm getting my money's worth. Besides, Zork was my introduction to computer games. Up to eight of us from the dorm crowded around Todd's computer, making suggestions (mostly unprintable here) about what he should type to avoid being eaten by a grue. For the nostalgia factor alone, I have to buy this!
I think it's great the idea to make the maps usable during the game session, so you don' t have to print or draw them. This makes all games fully playable in mobility. I'd like some similar compilation for Magnetic Scrolls and Level 9 adventures as well, but maybe I'm hoping too much.
[DROP] everything else / everything else purged [GRAB] this app / downloaded [LOOK] / you're standing in the middle of retro-heaven. In front of you is bliss.
Did you guys notice that the Zork III manual is missing its cover (supposed to be dark wood with an F)? Check out the original here (3rd page down): http://infodoc.plover.net/manuals/zork3.pdf Wonder what else is missing?
Love that this app was made and I definitely don't want to steal the dev's thunder(I probably am anyway) but check this out if you want to save some the space on your iphone - http://www.portablequest.com/ There's at least 20 infocom games you can play for free through your browser. Originally this website was created to play infocom games on your kindle but it works very well on the iphone as well.
Anyone else having trouble to purchase the IAP? I'm always getting an error (Can't connect to iTunes Store).
No issues here with the Lost Treasures IAP, although my Scribblenauts Remix IAP hung yesterday. So this could be due to Apple's iServers screwing up.
How are you guys playing the Lost Treasures of Infocom? I am currently playing Seastalker, the junior game, and it is getting very irritating to have to keep exiting the game to refer to the manual. Developer needs to patch in a way to refer to the manual from the game and to save the page of the manual that the game requires you to refer to. It gets old real fast when having to scroll through the pages of the manual from page one again and again. /rant
I agree -- being able to access the manual from within the game would make things a lot more convenient. I'd also like an option to manually delete unneeded saves. I'm playing Suspect. Unfortunately, so many descriptions seem to be sparse and utilitarian than atmospheric or immersive. The cast of 'suspects' is sketchily defined; many characters mechanically saunter from room to room, having a limited repertoire of reactions and responses no matter what you show or ask. Right now I'm guessing it's a matter of tediously retracing steps, examining everything and being in the right place at the right time to stumble upon the 'correct' solution. I had a much better time reading through the manual/documentation while examining the 'feelies'. Maybe I've been spoiled by the more recent freeware IF releases? Oh well -- the nostalgia factor is always a bonus...
I wasn't going to buy these for a couple of reasons. 1 being the ton of games I've bought in sales and whatnot that I haven't completed. 2 being the fact that I own this: http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/classic-text-adventure-masterpieces which is a CD of 30 of these games including Beyond Zork and Zork Zero. However I've dug up that CD and it has a few shortcomings. The hints and manuals are all in a single PDF with no box art. It's also DOS and 16 bit windows only which won't run on my 64bit Win7 system. I do also have the Zork games via my complete Zork collection which came with all the maps and feelies for those games. But I can't be bothered to squeeze it through iDos so I think I'll take the plunge. Meanwhile did any of you guys play the final three Zork games (Return to Zork, Zork Nemesis and Zork Grand Inquisitor)?
I'd forgotten about all those stealth unwinable situations. In 1 of these games I'd taken a trip too far in a barge, turned a stool into an angle and let my companion get himself killed by tigers with an essential object left out of reach. Restart. In addition to invisiclues it would be great to have a list of things that will screw up the game without the player realising it. 10 save slots is never going to be enough.
