This is a dungeon-crawling game for the TRS-80 Model III 48K. It has elements of rogue-like games. It is primarily turn-based, although the combat occurs in real-time.
It is based on the game "The Valley" which appeared in the British computing magazine, "Computing Today" in 1982, as a type-in listing.
The original game listing was for the Commodore Pet computer, but the game was designed to be convertible to other systems, and some specific instructions were provided in a subsequent issue for conversion to the TRS-80 system.
I completed this conversion from the original Pet version on a TRS-80 Model 4P in the Model III compatibility mode, using LBASIC, under LDOS 5.3.1.
I haven't tested it with any other OSs or BASICs, though I believe it will work with any Model III-compatible BASIC. The only part that might not is the game load/save, on lines 1060-1210 and 50040-50190.
The included "VALLEY.BAS" file is a tokenised BASIC file. To use it, transfer it to a disk (or disk image for an emulator or gotek), and load it from BASIC using the LOAD command.
This version requires 48K. Our original version (see Personal History below) worked inside 16K, but I've no idea how - if there's interest, maybe I'll try to create a 16K version.
The best way to learn how to play the game is to read the attached article which explains all aspects in detail. See Source Material below.
It's fairly complex - you're unlikely to be able to work out how to play it through experimentation.
If you want to try, here are some hints:
The main Valley scenario provides access to other scenarios.
SS and WW lead to the the "Swamp" and "Woods" scenarios, respectively.
T leads to the "Black Tower of Zaexon".
# indicate safe castles, from where the game can be saved.
Once in the SS and WW scenarios, each has a lake, and a building on the island in the centre of the lake.
Movement is using the numeric keypad.
When in combat, use H, B or L respectively to aim for head, body or legs.
Alternatively, you can try one of three spells using S and, when prompted 1, 2 or 3.
Be quick though! Your time to act is severely limited during combat.
Really, go and read the excellent introductory story in the first magazine article!
These magazine articles were retrieved from the archive of John at https://flaxcottage.com/ and it's thanks to people like John who give up their time to scan and make available these historic publications that we're able to enjoy so much that might otherwise be lost to us.
The full issues are available on John's website at https://flaxcottage.com/ComputingToday/default.asp - just the relevant articles are provided here.
Article 1 - Instructions and the main listing for the PET
Article 2 - Some hints for converting for the TRS-80
When I was a child, our first family computer was a TRS-80 Model I. I can't remember exactly when this wonderful thing first arrived in our home. My dad was a computer programmer, but I had never seen anything like this before and, as far as I remember, I was instantly obsessed.
I know that I was already very familiar with a computer by age 10 because I remember helping a teacher at school with the school computer, due to my previous experience.
Anyway, one day, dad arrived home with a copy of this magazine, Computing Today, which contained the listing, and we worked on it together to its completion - though I can't remember how much each of us contributed - perhaps I was patiently tolerated, rather than a significant contributor.
Unfortunately no remnants of this previous work remain.
On one fateful day, I switched on the TRS-80, and it made a loud bang and was never used again - being disposed of soon after. I know now that replacing one electrolytic capacitor would probably have brought it back to life, but I didn't know that then!
I moved on to other machines after that, made by Sinclair, Acorn and Atari (amongst others), before eventually falling in with the PC crowd, but I never forgot the TRS-80 which started me on the journey.
Recently, in a fit of nostalgia, I started to build a collection of some of these machines I previously owned and, eventually, settled on a TRS-80 Model 4P.
Obviously, not quite the same machine as we had, but it had a few things to recommend it - a built-in CRT monitor, and a couple of floppy disk drives, amongst others.
Once I got it up and running, I knew the first thing I wanted to do was to recreate this game.
The Model 4P has a larger text mode, 80x24, which would have made an easier conversion from the PET original, but I decided to stay faithful to our old Model I version - at least for now!
A Model III compatibility mode is included in the 4P, which has the original 64x16 text mode.
Anyway, here it is. I can't say it brought back specific memories, but it has certainly brought back some warm feelings of nostalgia typing in, converting and playing this game again - and that's what it's all about.
I hope somebody else gets as much pleasure from this as me.