mastodon 4.7.3Game designer making mathematics and science interactive.
This is, by my reckoning, the first "official" translation of an adventure game, possibly of any computer game.
The French version of Mystery House, original by Roberta Williams, translation by Tom Nalevanko.
I give a full history of how the translation happened.
https://bluerenga.blog/2026/03/17/mystery-house-the-french-version-1980/
#retrogaming #adventuregame #videogames #textadventure #interactivefiction #history #french #apple #appleII
Since 2012, Arthur O'Dwyer has had an updating web page called The Search for LONG0751 about a lost version of Adventure that was playable on Compuserve. It has long been one of the top early "missing" games.
It is now found and playable:
https://quuxplusone.github.io/blog/2025/12/29/long0751/
#retrogaming #retrocomputing #adventuergame #videogames #textadventure #history
The Missing People (1982) was technically "published", but it only sold one copy. It was rescued quite recently by the author from an old disk. I give the history behind the author (who I was able to interview) and play through the game.
https://bluerenga.blog/2026/03/22/the-missing-people-1982/
#retrogaming #adventuregame #videogames #textadventure #interactivefiction
Four years ago I wrote about a TRS-80 game from a (probably) Scottish author that had character-text errors that made it unplayable. The game is now repaired for the first time, and I play it through and discuss its context as a "learning" game.
https://bluerenga.blog/2026/03/20/the-lazurite-factor-the-repaired-version/
#retrogaming #adventuregame #videogames #textadventure #interactivefiction #trs80 #tandy #gwbasic #msdos
Next on All the Adventures, I embark on a story that starts during WW2 and the founding of a publishing company
passing through accounting textbooks and innovations in erotic scholarship
and landing at the first all-text adventure game written in Japanese.
https://bluerenga.blog/2026/04/05/phantom-ship-1982/
#retrogaming #adventuregame #videogames #textadventure #interactivefiction #history #japan #japanese
the grand conclusion of Intercept, which ended up being massively difficult in ways most games are not
perhaps the hardest TRS-80 game I've ever played
https://bluerenga.blog/2026/03/16/intercept-excessive-difficulty/
#retrogaming #adventuregame #videogames #textadventure #interactivefiction
in which I give a history of the famous D&D module Tomb of Horrors, and explain why it connects to adventure games more strongly than other modules
and return to a Sol-20 game with an open mystery about its mazes, even though we have a complete walkthrough
https://bluerenga.blog/2026/04/02/skull-cave-the-mystery-of-the-mazes/
#retrogaming #adventuregame #videogames #textadventure #interactivefiction #dnd #dungeonsanddragons #history
the messy conclusion to the Darryll D. Reynolds game Death Star, new ways for parsers to be terrible, and the consequences of a game reliant on six VIC-20 tape loads, including the destruction of planet Earth
https://bluerenga.blog/2026/02/28/death-star-the-view-from-outer-space-is-breathless/
#retrogaming #adventuregame #videogames #textadventure #interactivefiction #vic20 #commodore #australia
the grand conclusion of Dungeon of Derojhen
where a familiar foe returns
and I observe why Epic Hero 2's Experimentalism design philosophy didn't grate me as much as it has with other fantasy games
https://bluerenga.blog/2026/04/01/epic-hero-2-dungeon-of-derojhen-final-judgement/
#retrogaming #adventuregame #videogames #textadventure #interactivefiction #tandy #trs80 #ttrpg #dnd #dungeonsanddragons
All the Adventures reaches Misadventure 6 for TRS-80, and you think the "TOTALLY NEW CONCEPT" might be sarcastic but it appears to be the first text adventure superhero game
https://bluerenga.blog/2026/03/09/misadventure-6-1982/
#retrogaming #adventuregame #videogames #textadventure #interactivefiction #superhero
A new quest begins at All the Adventures: Epic Hero 2. In unearth more history of Marc Leduc and get stuck on performing an elaborate ritual (perhaps you, the reader, can help out?)
https://bluerenga.blog/2026/03/27/epic-hero-2-dungeon-of-derojhen-1982/
#retrogaming #adventuregame #videogames #textadventure #interactivefiction #trs80 #tandy #nottingham
In which I give the history of the founding of Enix, the (in)famous contest which they used to solicit their first round of games, and the utterly bizarre Seiko's Adventure, which comes close to being the most surreal game I've ever played for the blog.
https://bluerenga.blog/2026/03/25/seikos-adventure-1983/
#retrogaming #adventuregame #videogames #textadventure #interactivefiction #japan #japanese #pc88
my exploration of The Phantom Ship / Yuureisen continues, as I realize the "quantum state" of the LOOK command, hear the cries of the damned, and vanish into the depths of the ocean
also, more history including potential connections with a police framing plot
https://bluerenga.blog/2026/04/14/the-phantom-ship-yuureisen-cursed-defiler/
#retrogaming #adventuregame #videogames #textadventure #interactivefiction #japan #japanese
the conclusion to The Missing People, the recently rescued game that had only published one copy
including theorizing about subjective reactions in game design
https://bluerenga.blog/2026/03/24/the-missing-people-violence-is-the-answer-to-this-one/
#retrogaming #adventuregame #videogames #textadventure #interactivefiction #trs80 #tandy
in my second post on The Phantom Ship (Yuureisen), the first text-only adventure game in Japanese, I give a little more history including early ads, explore the map, and explore the verbs used and how each language gets a chance to reset their standards
https://bluerenga.blog/2026/04/11/the-phantom-ship-yuureisen-mounds-of-verbs/
#retrogaming #adventuregame #videogames #textadventure #interactivefiction #japan #japanese
I've been sick the last few days; apologies, my next post will be delayed a bit. Hopefully it will be worth the wait!
#retrogaming #adventuregame #videogames #trs80 #textadventure #interactivefiction
Bob Krotts wrote a series of "naughty" games for TRS-80; I had trouble getting number 5 to work, but I have now unveiled the mystery, which involves many deathtraps and a strange application of pants.
https://bluerenga.blog/2026/03/02/misadventure-5-1982/
#retrogaming #adventuregame #videogames #trs80 #interactivefiction #textadventure
Epic Hero 2 (Dungeons of the improbably spelled Derojhen) continues, as I theorize about Signalism vs. Experimentalism in game design and drag a vampire in to visit the king.
https://bluerenga.blog/2026/03/30/epic-hero-2-dungeon-of-derojhen-experiments-in-death/
#retrogaming #adventuregame #videogames #textadventure #interactivefiction
a new contender appears on All the Adventures!
This is by a new-for-us author, Michael Wile, who published for many different companies and formats, including the ultra-obscure JR-200 computer
includes a brief history of the PC-SIG public domain distribution group
https://bluerenga.blog/2026/03/12/intercept-1981/
#retrogaming #adventuregame #videogames #textadventure #interactivefiction #dos
in which I finish Time Warden, a lost ZX81 game and an attempt at referencing Dr. Who
and observe the curious difference between fantasy and sci-fi in early adventure games
and also, as, usual, come across a thumpingly bad moment of parser feedback
https://bluerenga.blog/2025/03/18/time-warden-you-have-saved-the-universe/
#retrogaming #adventuregames #videogames #textadventures #interactivefiction #zx81 #drwho
At All the Adventures, Zodiac Castle continues, with ornery secrets being hidden by an even more ornery parser.
Also, killing tiny dragons.
https://bluerenga.blog/2025/04/22/zodiac-castle-as-in-the-fairy-tale/
#retrogaming #adventuregame #videogames #textadventure #appleII #apple2 #apple