Does anyone remember the old CompuServe text adventure game, "CastleQuest?"

September 11, 2011 5:10 PM

Does anyone remember the old CompuServe text adventure game, "CastleQuest?"

Back in the late 80s or early 90s, the public library in my hometown had a text terminal with some sort of leased line to CompuServe. I used to get on this terminal at every available opportunity in order to play a text [text-ONLY; no ASCII graphics] adventure game called CastleQuest. I would love to play this game again, to see its source code, or even to hear from anyone else who played it, but I cannot find anything about it on the Internet.

I only remember a few things about the game, but here they are:

In the room where you started at the beginning of the game, the description was something like this: "You are in a musty, dusty bedroom. Cobwebs hang from the ceiling. The shutters are closed." I know there was a key somewhere to the shutters, and there was also a pistol and I think a silver bullet.

Unfortunately, that's all I can remember. If anyone remembers this game or knows where I can find any information about it, I'd be grateful to hear from you.

posted by Juffo-Wup to Computers & Internet (9 answers total)

Are you absolutely sure there were no graphics? I recall a similar game that was text-base but had very rudimentary graphics to go along. It was this one. Also here.

If that's not it, then is it this? Conversation on how to download it here.

Perhaps it is one of these?

Good luck.
posted by mrfuga0 at 5:35 PM on September 11, 2011

I can't get it to work on my Mac with Firefox (it could be a java issue), but is THIS the game? It's a C64 text only adventure game.
posted by 1000monkeys at 5:40 PM on September 11, 2011

Castle Quest is an Interactive Fiction game. You can get the game file here. Download one of these interpreters to play it. I recommend filfre.
posted by troll at 5:54 PM on September 11, 2011

Response by poster: mrfuga0: Nope, sorry, it's none of those.

1000monkeys: Nope, not that either.

troll: I actually can't get that to open in filfre; it says "This does not appear to be a valid version 3, 4, 5, or 8 Z-Machine story file, nor a valid Glulx file."

To clarify: This was not a game that CompuServe offered for download. Rather, you had to play it "online" while connected to CompuServe. Additionally, the name of the game was definitely and exactly "CastleQuest".

Thanks for all your efforts so far!
posted by Juffo-Wup at 6:28 PM on September 11, 2011

Ah, my bad. MultiAdventures should run the game file I linked. It looks like a C64 file, so it might be the same game suggested by 1000monkeys.
posted by troll at 6:36 PM on September 11, 2011

Ugh - that's a Mac program. I have stuff to do, but you should look for a windows c64 interactive fiction interpreter. Sorry.
posted by troll at 6:40 PM on September 11, 2011

From Compuserve for Dummies (1995):

Did you ever want to get away from it all and take off to an exotic location where nobody can find you? Playing CastleQuest gives you that experience, with a little twist. In this game, you play the role of a tourist traveling through Romania (which is a country that most American high-school students can never identify on a map). As you travel through Transylvania, your Soviet-built car breaks down (no surprise there), leaving you stranded near a castle (what a coincidence!). Like a moronic character in a bad horror movie, you enter the dark, forbidding castle; find a spare bedroom; and drop off to sleep. The next morning, you wake with an inexplicable sense of dread. Rather than leave right away, you decide to repay the castle's hospitality by looting the place and killing its owner. (As most countries can readily testify, this behavior is typical of the average American traveler.) To play CastleQuest, use the GO CQUEST command.

posted by Knappster at 6:48 PM on September 11, 2011

Best answer: Okay, on doing some googling, it appears that this game is often referred to as "Bob Maples' Castle Quest" - for example this Wiki page. There isn't much info on Bob Maples, but he appears to have been writing adventure games since the early eighties since I guess he wrote "Black Dragon," a game which appeared on The Source around that time, and which was also apparently later on CompuServe. (Maybe CastleQuest originated before CompuServe, too?)

My biggest lead is frankly another guy who has apparently been trying for some years to locate a game he remembers from The Source. He mentions Bob Maples briefly in his web page about his search. In the same page, he maps out a number of people involved in CompuServe and their online gaming apparatus.

I'll bet that, if you emailed him, he would at least be able to point you in the right direction on where to look, and maybe even refer you to folks who would be able to give you more information.
posted by koeselitz at 10:21 PM on September 11, 2011

Please post it here if you do end up finding it. As a text adventure game enthusiast in my childhood, I'm kind of curious to see what it's all about.
posted by 1000monkeys at 7:12 PM on September 15, 2011