BobR@cup.portal.com (Bob BobR Retelle) (10/21/88)
Richard Alan Kaapke mentioned in his signature that he's a creative writer for FTL's Dungeon Master Hint Disk... Hmm... Richard, can you reveal any details about how the "hintdisk" will work..? I already have the "hintdisk" from Tony Severa, which has some graphically very nice maps (although somewhat inaccurate)... but... the worst failing of the "hintdisk" concept is that it's virtually useless without your having *two* computers available... one to run Dungeon Master on, and another to run the "hintdisk" on... I had hoped for something which would boot as a "shell" for Dungeon Master, and which would provide "online" help while playing the game, but in a normal, one-computer situation (like mine), the way I ended up having to use the current "hintdisk" was to make notes about where I was in the Dungeon, boot up the "hintdisk", check out the area, then boot Dungeon Master again... hardly the kind of thing I'd want to do allll the way through the game... There *is* a facility to print out the maps and hints on paper, but then I ended up with a pile of loose maps and fan-folded hints, much as I'd gotten from Public Domain sources, at a far lesser cost... Will the "official" hint disk from FTL be any easier to use..? BobR
Richard_Alan_Kaapke@cup.portal.com (10/23/88)
There will be little, if any, printed materials with the Dungeon Master Hint Disk. FTL is working hard to get release 1.0 out the door, and is stymied by the project's programmer who has gotten bogged down with college again.... You will either have a release 1.3 of Dungeon Master that has a HINT or HELP button at the front gate, or the disk will boot up and read your saved game file and comment on it. It is context sensitive, cleverly scripted ;-), and very informative. No graphical information is scheduled to be shown. The rendering method for text, background art, other effects, user interface, etc., is quite nice. No price presently. Richard Kaapke, Voice of the Running Giggler "Heh-HEE-Ha-Ha!" Consultant to, NOT spokesman for, FTL games Richard_Alan_Kaapke@PORTAL.CUP.COM