November 9th 1994

                         Infocom Routines for QDOS
                         -------------------------

       Here are a few public domain routines that enable you to play (and
       cheat at) Infocom text-adventures on the Sinclair QL. They were
       converted to QDOS by Luke Roberts.

       You'll need TKII, a disk-drive, and plenty of memory.


  Contents of Disk
  ----------------

  zip            - Infocom Interpreter
  txd            - Infocom Disassembler
  infodump       - Extract information from infocom datafiles
  *_dat          - game datafiles



  ZIP
  ---
     This program allows you to play Version 1 - 5 Infocom text-adventures
     on the QL. Only a tiny minority are Version 6, e.g. Shogun, Journey, Arthur
     and Zork Zero - these cannot yet be played with the ZIP utility.

     If you confuse the name of this program with the zip archiving program
     then simply rename it to something else, e.g. 'infozip'

     Several game datafiles are included on this disk, to play them you have
     to type a command such as

                ex zip;"gamefile"     e.g.   ex zip;"curses_dat"

     (assuming you have correctly set the program and data directories)

     This will run the interpreter with a small sized screen, suitable for
     use with a television. If you wish to use a different screen size
     then specify the details like this:

               ex zip, con_512x256a0x0;"curses_dat"

     This will play 'Curses' with the full QDOS screen. Some games won't work very
     well with small screens (the main problem is that the status line will get
     cluttered), some will even complain and refuse to run (e.g. Bureaucracy).
     
     Zip multitasks, so (if the game doesn't complain) you _could_ run two copies
     of it - the first using the top half of the screen, the second using the
     bottom half. This way, you could play two different games at once, swapping 
     between games with ctrl-c. You could even play two copies of the same game. 
     There is nothing to stop you playing several games at once, though your 
     screen is likely to get cluttered. Most games are best played one at a time.


  INFODUMP
  --------
     Infodump is a utility that allows you to cheat at infocom text-
     adventures. It can extract the vocabulary and object tree from
     the gamefile.

     The command
                  ex infodump;"-a curses_dat > ram1_curses_dump"

     will extract all sorts of interesting information from the Curses
     text-adventure and save it in the file ram1_curses_dump.

  TXD
  ---
     TXD disassembles an infocom gamefile into the underlying ZCODE (a
     little like machine-code). This is a great way to cheat at adventures
     because it decodes all the game text.

          ex txd;"curses_dat > ram1_curses_zcode"

     will disassemble Curses, and save huge ammounts of data to
     ram1_curses_zcode. All text in the game will be decoded, but
     everything else in the file will be confusing, unless you know how
     ZCODE works.


   Datafiles
   ---------

     None of the datafiles on this disk were actually produced by
     Infocom, it's just that they share the infocom gamefile format.

     If you want to play infocom games (such as zork, lurking horror,
     trinity,...) then you need to get hold of their gamefiles (many are
     included in the Lost Treasures of Infocom I and II packages). You could
     buy the PC version of these, then copy the .DAT files onto a QDOS device
     using a PC->QDOS utility such as Digital Precision's XOVER. (Try ordering
     from your nearest Virgin Megastore, if you live in the UK).

     The adventures included on this disk were produced using Graham Nelson's
     INFORM, a utility which allows you to create your own infocom-style
     adventures. The QL port of INFORM will appear on the maya.dei.unipd.it
     ftp-site as soon as Graham's latest version has 'settled down'.

     Balances is one of Graham Nelson's games that demonstrate the features
     of INFORM. It's quite small, but has a nifty magic system - type
     'spells' to see which spells you have memorised, 'memorise <spell>'
     will learn a new one.

     Curses is another of Graham's games, and it's huge (close to the size
     limit of version 5 games). You'll probably get stuck many, many times,
     but the game does contain a lot of clues.

     Betatest versions of a few other games are included, this will
     probably be a little buggy!

     Most infocom games have the following useful commands:

               save  - save your position
            restore  - reload a saved position
             script  - save all text to a file
           unscript  - stop script
            verify   - check that a gamefile isn't corrupt
                  g  - repeat last command
                  z  - wait

     A few version 5 games let you 'undo' your last move.


  NOTES
  -----

1)   A (very) few infocom games have the commands:

            o   'color'   (change colour of text)
            o   'define'  (define function keys)
            o   'refresh' (re-draw screen)

     These commands will NOT work with ZIP, though this shouldn't spoil
     your enjoyment of the games. 

2)   The program halts completely while you are typing in a command. Some games
     (I can only think of one: BorderZone) will not work properly due to this,
     as they call a routine every few seconds when waiting for input. You
     can still play BorderZone, but the clock will not keep ticking if you
     have to leave the keyboard to answer the door! Getting this to work
     correctly would be too much trouble, sorry  };^)*

3)   In ZIP, ALT-ENTER will bring back your last command for editing. (This is
     a feature of TKII). The cursor keys can be used to edit your commands
     in the usual way.

                                                lukey@coventry.ac.uk