# King's Quest or similar game(s)



## Stellamaz (Aug 12, 2009)

Is anyone else here old enough to remember playing the adventure game King's Quest (early/mid-1980s)? Does anyone know whether it (or anything similar to it) is or will be available for the Fire?

I do know about (and already have) the app for Colossal Cave Adventure. It's kinda fun, but in reality (to me, at least) a poor substitute for King's Quest (and similar games) because it's pure text; the graphics were, to me, part of what made KQ so much fun.

Thanks for any help.


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## JoeDiver (Dec 4, 2011)

Leisure Suit Larry would be awesome to play again.....so would Space Quest's.....and the old Wizardry games!

Ahh....memories of my dear old Amiga 500......


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

Oh heck - Leisure Suit Larry, that takes me back! The hours I spent on that, Space Quest and King's Quest!    

You really had to think when you were playing those games too - I've never come across any modern style games that I've enjoyed like I did those. Or did I just get old?


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Stellamaz said:


> Is anyone else here old enough to remember playing the adventure game King's Quest (early/mid-1980s)? Does anyone know whether it (or anything similar to it) is or will be available for the Fire?
> 
> I do know about (and already have) the app for Colossal Cave Adventure. It's kinda fun, but in reality (to me, at least) a poor substitute for King's Quest (and similar games) because it's pure text; the graphics were, to me, part of what made KQ so much fun.
> 
> Thanks for any help.


And see, I always did love the text games...didn't care about the graphics. 

Betsy


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Wasn't there an app that someone mentioned a day or two ago that was essentially one of the old text adventure games. . . YES: Colossal Cave Adventure:


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## JetJammer (Jan 18, 2009)

I've been having fun with this one. Not free any more, but it's possible it'll show up again.



Reminds me of Zelda.


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## Patricia (Dec 30, 2008)

I loved Laura Bow.  Especially "The Colonel's Bequest".


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## markel (Oct 11, 2009)

My first text adventure game was Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy. I believe it predates Kings Quest. Also, if I remember correctly, the original KQ was strictly text as well.


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## DonWhitaker (Dec 10, 2011)

I think you may be in luck, Stellaz, if you are willing to get your hands dirty. 

There is an emulator for Android that lets you run all sorts of old (and new) adventure games. It's called ScummVM. Just found it after reading this post. I have it up and running on my Fire right now, with one of the freely available games and it seems to work well. It would most likely work with the real King's Quest games if you have the original discs, or buy them from Good Old Games.

http://www.scummvm.org/

I watched this vid o figure out how to load .apk files on a normal, unrooted Fire.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7giFM8Fmrg

ScummVM is totally legit and legal, as long as you have the proper original files for the commercial games.

There is also an emulator for the Infocom games and other text adventures. It's called Twisty. That seems to work, too.

http://code.google.com/p/twisty/

Glad I found this post, it led to some neat new toys.  I love those old adventure games.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Note that to do as Don suggests, you will have to set the Fire to receive apps from 'unknown sources'.  There's no guarantee such apps will work, of course, though Don seems to have had good luck.  Doing anything beyond that to the Fire to make them work -- e.g. 'rooting' -- would be against Amazon's Terms of Service.

Personally, I don't have any of the "proper original files for the commercial games". . . .they're long gone!


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Ann in Arlington said:


> Personally, I don't have any of the "proper original files for the commercial games". . . .they're long gone!


I do. 

Betsy


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## kcrady (Dec 17, 2009)

Zork I, Zork II and Zork III are available as free downloads from Infocom at

http://www.infocom-if.org/downloads/downloads.html...

Not sure yet if these files can be used with the Twisty or ScummVM software...


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## DonWhitaker (Dec 10, 2011)

Ann in Arlington said:


> Personally, I don't have any of the "proper original files for the commercial games". . . .they're long gone!


Here's a list of Scumm games that can still be obtained legally. http://wiki.scummvm.org/index.php/Where_to_get_the_games

No rooting or anything shady to do this, just a bit of tinkering. The Fire is designed so that you can 'sideload' apps and this is a legit way to do so. I wouldn't recommend it for computer newbies, but most of the difficulty was in actually figuring out how ScummVM worked after I installed it.

Nice to know it's not all locked down like other platforms.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

There's a great deal of interactive fiction (aka text adventure) that one can find; usually it's a matter of finding the text file and loading it into an interpreter that works with one's device. There's one I have for the iPad, and there's some freeware that you can get.

There are some archives of interactive fiction--there used to be an annual contest.

I'll see what I can find.
EDIT: Here's one of the major archives:
http://www.ifarchive.org/

Betsy


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## Hadou (Jun 1, 2011)

I was just about to suggest ScummVM, but I see that I've been beaten to the punch.  It's really quite fun to play some of the "old-school" games again using it.


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## JoeDiver (Dec 4, 2011)

Ahh the days of playing Zork.....that was way back when. Most of us had Apple II's....a buddy got the new IIc for Christmas....oh, the hours we spent sitting around that little IIc playing Zork....drawing maps....working on puzzles.... spraying grue repellent.....that had to be back in '82 I think.....

Back in the late 80's and early 90's, when I had my Amiga 500....that was really a golden age of computer games. PC's were the old IBM models running DOS....Windows wasn't around yet.....Commodore really had it nailed with the Amiga's (at that time).....Leisure Suit Larry was very controversial! I remember that the PX was waffling on even carrying the game at the time. So much time spent playing Wizardry: Bane of the Cosmic Forge.

It's funny...every time I listen to Enigma's MCMXC.....I harken back to that barracks room in Germany....cold and snow outside, but toasty warm inside with hot water radiators....playing LSL, SQ, Wizardry......and the "new" Enigma CD playing over and over and over.....


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## VKScott (Apr 14, 2011)

I'll just leave this here...


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## B. Justin Shier (Apr 1, 2011)

VKScott said:


> I'll just leave this here...


Bah! Tis nothing compared to my collection of dehydrated water capsules*.

B.

*Caution - Do not attempt to open or rupture container! Misuse could result in personal injury and/or flash flooding.


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## ajhunter (Aug 23, 2010)

They actually re-released the entire King's Quest saga to run on WinXP and beyond.  I bought it just to play King's Quest VI again.  We played that game so much when we were younger!


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

I love those text based games. I got that Collossal Cave one, but the text is so small and I see no way to make it larger. I can't play it like that.  . Darn. 

I wouldn't even know where to start to get any others on my Fire.


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## jason10mm (Apr 7, 2009)

"Beneath a Steel Sky" is out on iOS, might be an android version as well. It is a point & click style adventure game from the late 90's IIRC.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

DonWhitaker said:


> There is also an emulator for the Infocom games and other text adventures. It's called Twisty. That seems to work, too.
> 
> http://code.google.com/p/twisty/


This did not work on my Fire?

Betsy


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## DonWhitaker (Dec 10, 2011)

Betsy: I tried the version 2 beta and it seemed to work, although I didn't test it extensively. The 0.82 did not work for me.

http://code.google.com/p/twisty/downloads/list


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

DonWhitaker said:


> Betsy: I tried the version 2 beta and it seemed to work, although I didn't test it extensively. The 0.82 did not work for me.
> 
> http://code.google.com/p/twisty/downloads/list


Thanks, I'll check that one out...

Betsy


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## QuantumIguana (Dec 29, 2010)

Here's a link to a web site where you can play King's Quest in a web browser. http://sarien.net/kingsquest


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

I wanted to update on the issue I had earlier with colossal cave adventure and the small type. I got an update that installed and I can set it to extra large now  

Simple and fun time waster that one.   I keep going in circles with the bot though. I think its making fun of me.  

Its also helping me to learn how to type on a touch screen. I don't know how you guys post from these tablets on boards. I never typed on anything but a computer keyboard or my netbook. 

Maybe I can get the hang of it after walking around the darn brick building 5 times in this game


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Atunah,

was that an upgrade to Colossal Cave?  Off to check...

Edit:  It was!  Updating now.

We can start a Colossal Cave game thread here if you want....I'd love it.  I haven't played it in years and I'm sure I've forgotten a lot of the solutions.  Main recommendation?  "Look" at everything, and take everything that you can.

Betsy


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

go south to where the stream flows into a rock, then "go down".... (I won't give you more of a hint unless you ask.)


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

We can have a Colossal Cave thread.  And put real hints in spoilers so those who aren't at that point yet won't have to read them....

Betsy


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

Yeah, I am a bit clueless with that game. I don't think I am using the right words. Some of the answers I get are snarky, I swear  
So using "look" and "take" are good words to use here? I been trying to find a door and such. Trying to walk around that brick building. As you can tell I haven't gotten far. I am sure with time I get more of a sense of what words I need to use. 

I can see wasting away a few evenings with that one.   So I need to take notes? I am getting old and my mind is turning into a sieve  . Might need a map too. Plus I have no sense of directions. You should see me driving


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Atunah, 

I think you can type in the word "Help" and it will give you a list of words that are good.

Also, drawing a map is a good idea.  I start with a box with the first location.  I draw lines out of the box indicating the possible directions, and add boxes for new locations, and write down if there's an object to use.  Note that you might go east to go from location one to location two, but to go back, you might have to go southwest to go back to location one.  In those cases, I label the exits from the boxes.

Betsy


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

Thanks, that helps.


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