As DOSBox doesn't actually output "text" screens (rather it draws a flawless picture of what the text screen would look like), it is currently not compatible with screen readers. I've talked to the creator of DOSBox and am confident that, given the time and energy, I can create a custom build that solves this problem.
In the meantime, there is an alternate way for vision impaired players to run the Linux version of Eamon Deluxe 5.0. I suspected this method was possible but didn't get a chance to test it before public release. Thanks to Trenton Matthews for forwarding the following instructions which he found on the Audio Games forums:
"The following is from a user on the AudioGames.net forums, who goes by the name of "fastfinge". It is a set of instructions on how to play Eamon Deluxe on Debian-based distros of Linux (including Ubuntu).
First, log in to your Linux system via SSH. If you are running on a server (like Linode) the way I am, you already have to do it this way. If you are running Linux on your local computer or on VMWare with Gnome, you will need to set up SSHD and log in to your system with SSH; if you do not do this, the DOS emulator will try to start up XWindows, and nothing will be accessible.
Once logged in via SSH and in your home directory you can install and play Eamon Deluxe:
1. wget http://www.eamonag.org/programs/EamonDX/Eamon_Deluxe_50_Beta4-X.zip
2. unzip Eamon_Deluxe_50_Beta4-X.zip.
If this command gives you an error, use "sudo apt-get install unzip" and then try the command again.
3. sudo apt-get install dosemu
This will ask if you want to install a bunch of stuff. Say yes.
Once Eamon Deluxe and DOSEmu have been installed, you can skip to step 4 whenever you want to run Eamon Deluxe:
4. dosemu
This command will give you some errors. Just press enter until they go away, and you get a c: prompt.
5. D:
6. cd Eamon_Deluxe_50_Beta4-X
7. cd edx
8. cd C
9. EAMONDX.BAT
At this point, you should now be running Eamon Deluxe! You'll get some first-run information that you need to press enter to bypass. When asked if you want VI mode, be sure to press Y and then X.
This is as far as I've gone, and I've never played these adventures before under DOS or anywhere else, but it does seem to be working. So...now I'm off to spend my entire evening adventuring! Best of luck, everyone."
Monday, March 04, 2013
Saturday, February 02, 2013
The problem with the RPG element
So, just some musings to pass the time until the next version of Eamon Deluxe is released...
I've often compared Eamon to a nascent version of the interactive fiction community with an RPG twist. That RPG twist made Eamon somewhat interesting, but lets face it, it also made it something of a pain as well. Here you are playing along with a well cultivated adventurer when *BAM*. You get killed by a sudden death trap. *BAM*. You lose a battle to some suped up boss monster (here's looking at you Guardian from Tomb of Molinar). Your character dies, and you have to start over from the beginning. Except you don't. You have three options. 1) Start over from scratch, Burly Irishman, Beginners Cave, Trollsfire, etc.; 2) Restore your character off the main hall and try again, or 3) Just simply use the plain vanilla approach of Fresh Sam to play your adventures. Thus, you either get to continuously rebuild your character over and over (if you're playing the honest way), play with the character you want (with subsequent restorations), or play a generic Fresh Sam. None of these are truly satisfying.
My point is that here we have one of the few things that distinguishes Eamon from the rest of the Interactive Fiction genre, yet actually utilizing the RPG features is tedious. Even Tom Zuchowski stated back in the March 1997 newsletter "Use the FRESH SAM program to play Eamon and don't use the Main Hall at all. That's what I have done for 10 years." But I don't give a damn about Sam. He gets killed a million times. He breaks his favorite sword. He drinks a potion and loses all of his charisma and agility. Doesn't matter.
How to fix this? Sam Ruby figured this out and wrote at least two adventures (Elemental Apocalypse and Boy and the Bard) where he provides the character to the player. The primary advantage of this is that it makes it much easier to balance the play to the player. You don't get some guy waltzing through with 1000 hd points and a 500x4342 sword, slaughtering everything in sight. Instead, you have a consistent approach to how things will be handled. The designer knows that to expect and can probably produce better programs for it.
But once you go down that path, how different is this from other interactive fiction? The player in Infocom's Planetfall is also the same every single time you play. While that player ultimately "advances" to Stationfall, he doesn't carry over the RPG experience. To compare this to Eamon, you're only going to be walking around The Shopping Mall with Trollsfire if you've actually generated a character and gone through the Beginner's Cave. Fresh Sam addicts don't get that choice.
The other option (and one that should be included if possible) is to just allow the player to start that game over without having them go back to the Main Hall. While this fixes some of the RPG element, the designer is still left with some of the game play balance issues.
So, what are your thoughts? Do you like the RPG element, or are you quite frankly annoyed with it? Do you still use the Main Hall? Fresh Sam? Have you modified your Fresh Sam to the characteristics that you would prefer? What approaches do you think would work best from a game design prospective? I'm interested to hear your thoughts!
The problem with the RPG element
I've often compared Eamon to a nascent version of the interactive fiction community with an RPG twist. That RPG twist made Eamon somewhat interesting, but lets face it, it also made it something of a pain as well. Here you are playing along with a well cultivated adventurer when *BAM*. You get killed by a sudden death trap. *BAM*. You lose a battle to some suped up boss monster (here's looking at you Guardian from Tomb of Molinar). Your character dies, and you have to start over from the beginning. Except you don't. You have three options. 1) Start over from scratch, Burly Irishman, Beginners Cave, Trollsfire, etc.; 2) Restore your character off the main hall and try again, or 3) Just simply use the plain vanilla approach of Fresh Sam to play your adventures. Thus, you either get to continuously rebuild your character over and over (if you're playing the honest way), play with the character you want (with subsequent restorations), or play a generic Fresh Sam. None of these are truly satisfying.
My point is that here we have one of the few things that distinguishes Eamon from the rest of the Interactive Fiction genre, yet actually utilizing the RPG features is tedious. Even Tom Zuchowski stated back in the March 1997 newsletter "Use the FRESH SAM program to play Eamon and don't use the Main Hall at all. That's what I have done for 10 years." But I don't give a damn about Sam. He gets killed a million times. He breaks his favorite sword. He drinks a potion and loses all of his charisma and agility. Doesn't matter.
How to fix this? Sam Ruby figured this out and wrote at least two adventures (Elemental Apocalypse and Boy and the Bard) where he provides the character to the player. The primary advantage of this is that it makes it much easier to balance the play to the player. You don't get some guy waltzing through with 1000 hd points and a 500x4342 sword, slaughtering everything in sight. Instead, you have a consistent approach to how things will be handled. The designer knows that to expect and can probably produce better programs for it.
But once you go down that path, how different is this from other interactive fiction? The player in Infocom's Planetfall is also the same every single time you play. While that player ultimately "advances" to Stationfall, he doesn't carry over the RPG experience. To compare this to Eamon, you're only going to be walking around The Shopping Mall with Trollsfire if you've actually generated a character and gone through the Beginner's Cave. Fresh Sam addicts don't get that choice.
The other option (and one that should be included if possible) is to just allow the player to start that game over without having them go back to the Main Hall. While this fixes some of the RPG element, the designer is still left with some of the game play balance issues.
So, what are your thoughts? Do you like the RPG element, or are you quite frankly annoyed with it? Do you still use the Main Hall? Fresh Sam? Have you modified your Fresh Sam to the characteristics that you would prefer? What approaches do you think would work best from a game design prospective? I'm interested to hear your thoughts!
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Congtratulations!
Congratulations to our very own Frank Black, designer of the Eamon Deluxe system, on his recent engagement. How exciting!
Monday, December 31, 2012
Happy New Year! Plus a new Newsletter Preview (featuring the return of "Terminological Inexactitudes”).
I just wanted to wish everyone in the Eamon community a safe and happy new year. You are all fantastic, interesting people and I think it's amazing how many cool new friends I have made through our common interest that strange, unforgettable creation. I find it quite impressive that, not only is Eamon the oldest gaming system in history that is still in use today, but, in over 30 years, very little has changed regarding the look, design and game play between the current version (Eamon Deluxe 5.0) and Donald Brown's original incarnation (which, to this day, I still feel was nothing short of the work of a genius game designer and programmer.)
In the spirit of celebrating New Years Eve and whatever interesting new things 2013 has in store for us, I have decided to post here a preview of an article I recently wrote for the upcoming January, 2013 Eamon Deluxe Newsletter. Thomas suggested that we include more variety than simply his editorial and a string of adventure reviews and I agreed. After much pondering of what exactly to to write about for my contribution, I decided it would be a lot of fun to bring back a popular section which used to infrequently appear in the old NEUC and, later on, EAG newsletters.
So, Happy New Year, everyone! And, without further ado, here's a preview from next month's newsletter...
In the spirit of celebrating New Years Eve and whatever interesting new things 2013 has in store for us, I have decided to post here a preview of an article I recently wrote for the upcoming January, 2013 Eamon Deluxe Newsletter. Thomas suggested that we include more variety than simply his editorial and a string of adventure reviews and I agreed. After much pondering of what exactly to to write about for my contribution, I decided it would be a lot of fun to bring back a popular section which used to infrequently appear in the old NEUC and, later on, EAG newsletters.
So, Happy New Year, everyone! And, without further ado, here's a preview from next month's newsletter...
TERMINOLOGICAL
INEXACTITUDES
Things
appearing in this column must not be confused with actual facts.
Are Don
Brown and Jon Walker really the same person?
According to longtime Eamon fan and Wikipedia enthusiast,
Huw Williams, the Father of Eamon donned the Johnny Walker moniker and created
an intentionally poor quality Eamon system for the PC to weaken the competition
when sales of his SwordThrust series were not lucrative. "I actually now
use Gmail for everything;" Williams stated on a recent Guild blog post "[and,
while corresponding with Don Brown, I] may have been talking to the [person
known as ‘Jon Walker’ all along.]"
"It makes sense," said Nathan Segerlind
(recipient of the 2005 Ackermann Award and
the Association for Symbolic Logic's 2004 Sacks Prize). Any logical programmer understands
numbering in the abstract and therefore will always start counting at zero
rather than one. If you exclude "The Beginner's Cave" and
"Search for the Key", Don Brown wrote exactly 9 Eamons. 9+0=9 and
there are 9 characters in the string "Don Brown," while the string
"Jon Walker" has 10 characters. 9+1=10, therefore "Jon
Walker" comes next in the sequence." Segerlind then laughed and said,
"It's so easy, even Mr. Roessler could have figured it out!"
Several messages were left for Mr. Brown to verify or
deny these rumors, but so far he has not replied back...
Adventure in
Interzone in IMAX 3D?
Why did the public release of Eamon Deluxe 5.0 take so
long? Some say it is because of the high amount of quality attached to the work
as well as Thomas Ferguson
constantly flooding the author with new material, dug from the bowels of the
"interwebs"; others believe it is because Eamon Deluxe creator, Frank Black, was also
busy writing and pitching his screen play for a full length movie based upon
his popular 1994 Eamon adventure.
According to sources close to the Black household "a
really major" movie studio has picked Interzone 3D up and hired
"Señor Spielberg" to direct. "John Depp" has agreed to play
the leading role of your old friend A.J., with a back up cast that includes
"Billy Crystals", "George Crooney" and "Sarah M.
Gellar".
When asked about it, Frank replied, "Have you seen
my glasses? I just set them down..." and, when pressed for details as to
the film’s impending release date for local theaters he added, "They
should be around here somewhere. They have tape on them, but the tape is the
same color as the frames so you can't really tell it is on there... Maybe I
left them upstairs?"
We are predicting a release date March, 2013.
Eamon fans
continue to torment confused rapper in a case of mistaken identity!
Sources report that a 5'8" Irish/Italian
"Ho-Rap" artist named Eamon Jonathan Doyle, who
has only once had a hit song in his 23 year career, continued to be flooded
with emails, blog posts and guest book signings intended for the Eamon
Adventurer's Guild last night.
The 30 year old entertainer who saw some brief record
sales from 2003 to 2004 reported that he was "frustrated" and
"upset" because every time he sees that his inbox has new messages he
gets excited with hope of his career being revived, only to have that dream quickly
shattered by a barrage of messages and posts which were actually meant for
users and fans of the various Eamon gaming systems.
"I don't know what these people want from me!"
an anxious Doyle stated, going on to say, "I can't even understand what
they are saying! It's like they are speaking in some sort of codes half the
time.
“I was supposed to open for Brittany Spears from June to
August 2004," Doyle later informed us without provocation, "but ended
up staying home after she [Spears] hurt herself making a video and cancelled
the tour. I've pretty much just been living with my folks since then, trying to
get another record deal or go on a tour with someone.
Scrunching up his eyebrows in thought as he tried to read
yet another message meant for the Guild, Doyle mumbled, “I bought this computer
back when I had a Top Ten hit on the charts...but I really only use it to find
adult material and look for rap jobs on Craigslist now." Adding, "It
still uses Windows 95, so it can be kind of slow on the internet. That gives me
time to write more rap songs though, so I don’t mind it most of the time..."
Doyle then appeared to express a sense of hope and relief
as he showed us the message inbox at his hotmail account which glowed with the mark of over
100 new messages across his beaming face. The glow quickly faded, however, and
Doyle returned to a confused state of dismay as he started another attempt to read
the series of messages intended for members of the Eamon Adventurer's Guild. "This may take a
while," he warned us, “you can go watch TV if you want or see what’s in
the fridge...”
Requests to forward the misdirected mail over to the
Adventurer's Guild were met with only more confusion as an exasperated Doyle
offered, "Maybe I should just change my name... Or upgrade to Windows 98
and get a mouse with one of those little wheels in between the buttons? I don't
know, it's a lot to think about right now."
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Happy Holidays from the Dungeons (of Interzone).
[Edited to ATTACK TYPOS on: 12/23/2012]
I just wanted to say best wishes and happy holidays to anyone who reads this blog and/or is a fan/creator/past associate/groupie of any version of the Eamon gaming system.
Extra special thanks to everyone who helped me play test, improve and promote the Eamon Deluxe 5.0 revision. That "little" project, which I initially predicted would take two or three months, ended up taking approximately one year of nearly-full time work to finish up into a public-download-friendly release and I hope people are now having fun with it.
Extra, extra special thanks to Matthew Clark and Bill Martens for the web hosting and server access which has been an incredible help and resource to me, and also to Thomas Ferguson for all his fantastic editorial contributions, successful "lost adventure" archeological expeditions, and plethora of other contributions he has made to the Eamon community.
I'm quite exhausted from the Eamon Deluxe 5.0 project so I'm officially taking the rest of the year off to enjoy some mental R and R. I'm still checking my email and will happily reply to any messages, bug reports, etc., it just may take me a little longer than usual.
So, once again, happy holidays to all the Eamon aficionados out there; best wishes, I hope everyone is doing well, and I'll see y'all next year.
-Frank
I just wanted to say best wishes and happy holidays to anyone who reads this blog and/or is a fan/creator/past associate/groupie of any version of the Eamon gaming system.
Extra special thanks to everyone who helped me play test, improve and promote the Eamon Deluxe 5.0 revision. That "little" project, which I initially predicted would take two or three months, ended up taking approximately one year of nearly-full time work to finish up into a public-download-friendly release and I hope people are now having fun with it.
Extra, extra special thanks to Matthew Clark and Bill Martens for the web hosting and server access which has been an incredible help and resource to me, and also to Thomas Ferguson for all his fantastic editorial contributions, successful "lost adventure" archeological expeditions, and plethora of other contributions he has made to the Eamon community.
I'm quite exhausted from the Eamon Deluxe 5.0 project so I'm officially taking the rest of the year off to enjoy some mental R and R. I'm still checking my email and will happily reply to any messages, bug reports, etc., it just may take me a little longer than usual.
So, once again, happy holidays to all the Eamon aficionados out there; best wishes, I hope everyone is doing well, and I'll see y'all next year.
-Frank
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Eamon Deluxe 5.0 Public Beta is Ready
The public beta of Eamon Deluxe 5.0 is now available for download and ready to serve all of your dragon-slaying, dungeon-exploring, spell-casting, and Shopping-Mall-shopping needs. Eamonauts can download all flavors of Eamon Deluxe 5.0 here.
In addition, this will be the first time that Derek C. Jeter's "Stronghold of Kahr-Dur" is available. As mentioned in an earlier post, the adventure is superbly written and ought to please both salty Eamon veterans and newcomers alike.
So mix yourself a Double Dragon Blomb and fire up the computer (or your Nintendo Wii). There's adventuring to do!
Note: VI Mode currently only works with computers using a 32 bit Windows operating system. Alternately, Windows 7 64 bit users can install Virtual PC for free from Microsoft's website; Win 7 Pro users can the run Eamon Deluxe in "XP Mode", however Win 7 Home users have to build a virtual machine using a real XP disc or ISO. VI Mode will not work on OSX but may work in Linux via the "DOS Emu" emulator, though this feature has not yet been tested.
Tuesday, December 04, 2012
Eamon Deluxe 5.0 for Nintendo Wii
I now have Eamon Deluxe running on the Nintendo Wii. It is a fully functional copy which contains all of the options and features of every other version available. The only requirements are a writable SD card, the DOSBox app and a USB keyboard. Go count rats in the Beginner's Cave or get lost wandering about The Shopping Mall... all from the comfort of your living room.
I do apologize for the poor picture quality, I took them using my phone and a stone age TV, plus I didn't have time to edit them as I had not planned to have something this cool working tonight. It was kind of a spur of the moment idea and the actual screen display is much clearer than these pictures would indicate. Even if they were a bit fuzzy, though, who would complain? It's Eamon on the Wii. How fun is that? It has been a good year for the Guild indeed.
This version will be available for download within the next few days, along with packages for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. And, as a holiday gift to the Eamon Community, I'm adding the option to launch other DOS programs instead of Eamon Deluxe at start up, including an interactive menu that lets you navigate folders and select programs manually saved in the Eamon Deluxe home folder on the SD card and attempt to launch it. Want to play oh... say, "Wasteland" or "King's Quest" on your Wii? Simply copy them onto your SD card, pop it in the Wii and let Eamon Deluxe do all the mounting, configuring and other such work for you.
And, yes, I know that there is a big question which will be first on everyone's mind, so I will save us all time and answer it right now: Yes, Eamon Deluxe on the Wii really does have 100% of the features and functionality as the other versions, so no worries, I assure everyone that they can still play the beloved Beagle Bros game, Hang Person!
Eamon Deluxe was made cross-platform compatible by the work of the DOSBox Team. Stop by their homepage and give them a hug (or a small donation) sometime. Happy holidays and best wishes to everyone in the Eamon community.
-Frank
I do apologize for the poor picture quality, I took them using my phone and a stone age TV, plus I didn't have time to edit them as I had not planned to have something this cool working tonight. It was kind of a spur of the moment idea and the actual screen display is much clearer than these pictures would indicate. Even if they were a bit fuzzy, though, who would complain? It's Eamon on the Wii. How fun is that? It has been a good year for the Guild indeed.
This version will be available for download within the next few days, along with packages for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. And, as a holiday gift to the Eamon Community, I'm adding the option to launch other DOS programs instead of Eamon Deluxe at start up, including an interactive menu that lets you navigate folders and select programs manually saved in the Eamon Deluxe home folder on the SD card and attempt to launch it. Want to play oh... say, "Wasteland" or "King's Quest" on your Wii? Simply copy them onto your SD card, pop it in the Wii and let Eamon Deluxe do all the mounting, configuring and other such work for you.
And, yes, I know that there is a big question which will be first on everyone's mind, so I will save us all time and answer it right now: Yes, Eamon Deluxe on the Wii really does have 100% of the features and functionality as the other versions, so no worries, I assure everyone that they can still play the beloved Beagle Bros game, Hang Person!
Eamon Deluxe was made cross-platform compatible by the work of the DOSBox Team. Stop by their homepage and give them a hug (or a small donation) sometime. Happy holidays and best wishes to everyone in the Eamon community.
-Frank
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