INMATE by Phil Goetz March 2, 1991 Initially released for ftp on tybalt.caltech.edu [131.215.139.100], in pub/apple2/uploads. Inmate runs on any Apple // (][, ][+, //e, //c, //gs) with 64K RAM. This release only works if your disk drive is in slot 6 (sorry; I'll try to fix it in the future). The binary ftp distribution of Inmate is split into files in DUD format. You must use DUD to recombine the downloaded files into a disk (see dud.README, hopefully also available at this ftp site). Note that, to copy Inmate onto another disk, you must copy the entire disk, as much of the data is not in file format but is just accessed by RWTS. After putting Inmate on a disk, boot the disk, type ctrl-C immediately (to avoid running the game), and type ]VERIFY INSTRUCTIONS INSTRUCTIONS is a text file, with formatting commands for AppleWriter and escape commands for the Epson LQ-500 dot matrix printer. The disk created by DUD has HackerDOS on it, my variant of DOS 3.3, so VERIFY INSTRUCTIONS prints it to the screen (use ctrl-S to pause). Typing PR#1 first will of course send it to the printer, but if you have AppleWriter I advise using that to make a hardcopy. You might want to initialize other disks with HackerDOS. Some of its other useful features are listing free space on disk, allowing large files, using only 33 sectors for DOS, allowing '/' for 'CATALOG', 'UND' to undelete a file (deleted files show up in a CATALOG), 'ZL 49258' or 'ZL $300' to get hex/dex translations, and 'AL' to show the address and length of the last file BLOADED. It will give you problems with entering BASIC commands at the keyboard which start with Z or M (they are confused with HackerDOS commands). Options not implemented on the Inmate disk include double-column catalog and using more tracks per disk. To get the HackerDOS instructions and utilities (an options menu, a copier that allows you to specify the range in sectors for use in copying disks with over 35 tracks, and a lowercase-to-uppercase converter for ][/][+ owners), send $9 with your request to me at Phil Goetz 171 Berehaven, Left Amherst NY 14228-1837 before May, or to the address below after then. The major complaint people have had about Inmate is that it is too hard. One reason is that the basic plot is complex, and must be figured out by the player before many puzzles can be solved. This makes the game slower in the beginning than it should be; it takes time to get into it. Another reason is that, in Inmate, instead of figuring out how to do things yourself, you must often get other people to do things for you - sometimes by direct orders, sometimes as side effects of orders or suggestions, and sometimes by manipulating objects which you know another character will use. Note that, any command you yourself can do, you can tell another person to do: >TELL ED "TAKE OUT THE TRASH". Almost always, they won't do it. A few nonobvious commands which can be given this way are "FOLLOW ME" (not obvious, since you yourself cannot FOLLOW ED), and "WALK EAST" (which behaves differently when executed by a character, who continues to walk east, than when by you, who walks east 1 location). Another difficulty stems from the facts that several objects must be used in nonobvious ways (for instance, the flashlight is not used primarily to illuminate). Also, time and timing are important. There are a number of annoying features of the user interface. For instance, whenever you specify more than one object, Inmate executes your command on all objects that are specified, without asking for confirmation. So, for example, if you have a plastic bottle and a glass bottle, and type >DUMP BOTTLE Inmate will empty both bottles. Another annoying feature is that, if you do not specify an instrument when one is required, Inmate will ask, "With what?" People having played Infocom games then expect to be able to complete the sentence on the next line, i.e. >WITH SOAP but Inmate won't understand. BUGS This release of Inmate will work only if your disk drive is in slot 6. There are two other known bugs, both of which show up very rarely (say, about once every 5000 moves). One merely prints text to the screen incorrectly. The other crashes the program. The second only shows up when you have been playing a long time, say >1000 moves. If you enjoy Inmate, or don't enjoy it, or have any reaction at all, drop a line to me at Phil Goetz 4023 Huckleberry Row Ellicott City, MD 21043 goetz@cs.buffalo.EDU