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From: erkyrath@netcom.com (Andrew Plotkin)
Subject: Re: IF CD
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Date: Thu, 17 Oct 1996 21:05:40 GMT
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Ben Fierce (sfierce@op.net) wrote:
> I've heard a few mentions of efforts to make an IF CD (Led by Andrew 
> Plotkin, if I'm not mistaken). Anyone wanna give me a little more info?

Well, I promised a report anyway...

I am the leader (producer) of this project, yes. It'll be called "Great 
Underground Adventures." The idea is to produce a CD containing 
approximately twenty TADS and Inform games. It will have direct support 
(stick-in-CD-and-run) for Mac, DOS, and Windows, and as much support as 
possible for other systems such as Linux, Amiga, Acorn. (For example, 
Acorn users will need a standard Acorn dearchiving program, and general 
Unix users will have to compile an interpreter.)

It will be sold mail-order, and we'll try to get magazines to accept 
review copies. Profits will be split between the game authors and the 
handful of people who are working on the project. It's a small-scale 
thing; we'll be printing 500 CDs. If they all sell, of course, we can do 
more.

The game list is finalized at this point. It's also at home, so I can't 
post it this minute. Basically all the "big" TADS and Inform games as of 
this past summer; I believe _So Far_ was the latest.

As for the status, you can probably figure it from this past week's 
posts. Generation of hint files is behind schedule due to unexpected loss 
of one person's free time (this is nobody's day job, of course.) I have 
all the game files I need, or will as soon as I trawl gmd.de for the ones 
already there. (In specific, I have updated, non-demo game files for all 
the Unnkulia games, as well as Rylvania.) There is a new version of TADS 
out which is freeware and runs correctly off a CD. (At least, the Mac 
version does, and we can handle the rest via batch/shell scripts.)

We have located a company to print CD booklets and a company to duplicate 
CDs. (Different companies. I get to throw a booklet-stuffing party at some 
point.)

I have not yet acquired the paperwork to actually be a company. I have 
purchased accounting software, though. :-)

A sample game is in production; I have to work on *that* this weekend, 
too. This is a four-room game which will serve as an introduction for 
complete newbies. (The transcript in the manual will be from it.)

Did I miss anything?

--Z

-- 

"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the
borogoves..."
