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Eamon (computer game)
Encyclopedia
Eamon, sometimes known by the longer title The Wonderful World of Eamon, is a computer adventure game
created by Donald Brown
and released for the Apple II
in 1980. The game is a text adventure similar to other early titles like Adventure
(1976) or Zork
(1980), though with many role-playing
elements not available in other interactive fiction
. Eamon software is non-commercial and is freely available in the public domain.
adventurer who undertakes dangerous quests against numerous enemies to earn riches and experience. Home base is the Guild of Free Adventurers, an association of heroes on the mystical world of Eamon, a vaguely Medieval place awash in magic
and populated with strange creatures. Most adventures take place in the dungeons, castles and forests of Eamon, though some occur on other worlds or in different eras.
Though influenced by such fantasy environments as The Lord of the Rings
and Dungeons & Dragons
, Eamon generally avoids stories, situations or other game elements that are particularly serious or complex, instead seeking to create an engaging, genial mood through quick play and in-jokes. Individual adventures, created by a wide range of authors, vary from the artful to the campy.
, with expansion pack
s written by users forming an integral part of the game experience. A master disk called the "Main Hall" is used to manage player characters and to facilitate their transfer between individual adventures. The character retains his or her attributes and statistics from adventure to adventure, as well as up to four weapons.
The game's interface is similar to that of most other text adventures — the game presents the player with descriptions of the character's surroundings, including events, artifacts, monsters and exits, then prompts the player to enter a command. These commands include such things as moving in certain directions (NORTH, EAST, UP, etc.), readying weapons, attacking, getting or dropping items, interacting with characters, casting magical spells or checking inventory.
Players also have varying abilities with five classes of weapons — axe, bow, club, spear or sword — expressed as a percentage. Scoring a hit in battle may increase the skill in the appropriate weapon class. An additional ability, "armor expertise", determines the extent to which the player's armor affects his chance to score a hit. The greater the expertise, the less the armor encumbers the player in combat. Players may wear leather, chain or plate armor, and can supplement this with a shield.
The final set of abilities describes the player's aptitude with magic. A player can hire a wizard to teach him four magic spells: "Blast" (which damages enemies), "Heal" (which helps to restore health), "Speed" (which temporarily doubles agility) and "Power" (a spell with unpredictable results). Various other spells are sometimes available in particular adventures, but cannot be used outside them.
All players begin with 200 gold pieces, which can be used to purchase weapons, armor, spells or other supplies, or can be stored in the bank. One earns more by collecting treasure during adventures.
A player character may die while on an adventure, either as the result of losing a battle or from some other poor decision or mishap. Though death generally spells the end of the character and all his skills and possessions, there are utilities one can use to "resurrect" the player.
s, goblin
s, orc
s and wizards, to wild animals, zombie
s, mummies
, ghost
s, machines, other humans (both friendly and hostile) and many more.
Monsters share most of the same attributes as player characters. A key exception is that monsters have "friendliness" rather than charisma, a rating that along with the encountering player's charisma determines how the monster will behave toward the player. Friendly monsters may accompany the player through the adventure and fight on the player's behalf, while unfriendly ones may ignore or attack the player. Monsters also possess a "courage" attribute that determines how likely they are to flee from combat or pursue the player.
.png)
-themed, some adventures occupy contemporary or science fiction
al settings. Most adventures include some degree of customization, adding new commands or other special game features above and beyond those included in the base Eamon program.
, but users continued creating and sharing adventures for the system.
After Don Brown's departure, several Eamon enthusiasts in the Des Moines area formed the National Eamon User's Club (NEUC) which in March 1984 released the first issue of the club newsletter, named Eamon Adventurer's Log. Published by Eamon author John Nelson, this newsletter supported the game community by providing information ranging from adventure reviews to programming design help.
In late 1987, the operations of the NEUC had slowed down to the point that only three newsletters were published in a two year period. Nelson was interested in other pursuits including writing a PC version of Eamon. Eamon author Thomas Zuchowski assumed the responsibility of publishing an Eamon newsletter and started the Eamon Adventurer's Guild (EAG). The NEUC shut down operations and transferred its assets to the EAG.
The last Eamon adventure to be published with the EAG was announced in December 1997. By January 2001, Zuchowski had run out of new source material for his newsletter. The last issue of the EAG newsletter was published in January 2001. Efforts were made to ensure that Eamon would not disappear. Zuchowski created the "Eamon CD" which contains the entirety of Eamon resources available at the time. This CD was made available to the members of the EAG and the general public.
In April 2003, the Eamon Adventurer's Guild Online website officially opened. This website provides the entire archive of Eamon resources including adventures, newsletters, maps, news articles, and documentation for the system, as well as a disk image of the "Eamon CD". The existence of the website sparked a small revival in Eamon as ten new adventures have been published since the website was established.
based conversion of Eamon. Kunze converted most of the Apple adventures to the Deluxe system, making minor modifications and updates along the way.
app
created by Beijing-based AkeySoft.
Adventure game
An adventure game is a video game in which the player assumes the role of protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and puzzle-solving instead of physical challenge. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media such as literature and film,...
created by Donald Brown
Donald Brown (programmer)
Donald M. Brown is a computer programmer and creator of Eamon, a long-running non-commercial RPG computer game series for the Apple II computer released in 1980, and a system designed to allow authors to create their own adventure games. Brown subsequently developed SwordThrust, an expanded...
and released for the Apple II
Apple II
The Apple II is an 8-bit home computer, one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products, designed primarily by Steve Wozniak, manufactured by Apple Computer and introduced in 1977...
in 1980. The game is a text adventure similar to other early titles like Adventure
Colossal Cave Adventure
Colossal Cave Adventure gave its name to the computer adventure game genre . It was originally designed by Will Crowther, a programmer and caving enthusiast who based the layout on part of the Mammoth Cave system in Kentucky...
(1976) or Zork
Zork
Zork was one of the first interactive fiction computer games and an early descendant of Colossal Cave Adventure. The first version of Zork was written in 1977–1979 on a DEC PDP-10 computer by Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling, and implemented in the MDL programming language...
(1980), though with many role-playing
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
elements not available in other interactive fiction
Interactive fiction
Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, describes software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives and as video games. In common usage, the term refers to text...
. Eamon software is non-commercial and is freely available in the public domain.
Premise
Eamon casts the player in the role of a free-wheeling fantasyFantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
adventurer who undertakes dangerous quests against numerous enemies to earn riches and experience. Home base is the Guild of Free Adventurers, an association of heroes on the mystical world of Eamon, a vaguely Medieval place awash in magic
Magic (fantasy)
Magic in fiction is the endowing of fictional characters or objects with magical powers.Such magic often serves as a plot device, the source of magical artifacts and their quests...
and populated with strange creatures. Most adventures take place in the dungeons, castles and forests of Eamon, though some occur on other worlds or in different eras.
Though influenced by such fantasy environments as The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
and Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...
, Eamon generally avoids stories, situations or other game elements that are particularly serious or complex, instead seeking to create an engaging, genial mood through quick play and in-jokes. Individual adventures, created by a wide range of authors, vary from the artful to the campy.
Game play
Eamon is notable for being one of the first adventure games designed to be modularMod (computer gaming)
Mod or modification is a term generally applied to personal computer games , especially first-person shooters, role-playing games and real-time strategy games. Mods are made by the general public or a developer, and can be entirely new games in themselves, but mods are not standalone software and...
, with expansion pack
Expansion pack
An expansion pack, expansion set, or supplement is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game or video game. These add-ons usually add new game areas, weapons, objects, and/or an extended storyline to a complete and already released game...
s written by users forming an integral part of the game experience. A master disk called the "Main Hall" is used to manage player characters and to facilitate their transfer between individual adventures. The character retains his or her attributes and statistics from adventure to adventure, as well as up to four weapons.
Players
All player characters in Eamon possess a name, plus the three physical attributes of strength, agility and charisma in varying quantities. Strength affects how much a player can carry and how much damage he can both inflict and withstand. A strength of 12, for instance, allows the player to absorb 12 points of damage and lift 120 gronds (a fictional unit of weight used in the game). Agility influences the player's success using certain weapons and avoiding attacks, while charisma determines the his ability to make friends and influences the prices he pays for supplies. Common attribute values for player characters are generally between 10 and 20.Players also have varying abilities with five classes of weapons — axe, bow, club, spear or sword — expressed as a percentage. Scoring a hit in battle may increase the skill in the appropriate weapon class. An additional ability, "armor expertise", determines the extent to which the player's armor affects his chance to score a hit. The greater the expertise, the less the armor encumbers the player in combat. Players may wear leather, chain or plate armor, and can supplement this with a shield.
The final set of abilities describes the player's aptitude with magic. A player can hire a wizard to teach him four magic spells: "Blast" (which damages enemies), "Heal" (which helps to restore health), "Speed" (which temporarily doubles agility) and "Power" (a spell with unpredictable results). Various other spells are sometimes available in particular adventures, but cannot be used outside them.
All players begin with 200 gold pieces, which can be used to purchase weapons, armor, spells or other supplies, or can be stored in the bank. One earns more by collecting treasure during adventures.
A player character may die while on an adventure, either as the result of losing a battle or from some other poor decision or mishap. Though death generally spells the end of the character and all his skills and possessions, there are utilities one can use to "resurrect" the player.
Monsters
All non-player characters in Eamon, regardless of their form or disposition, are referred to as "monsters". The monsters that players must face depend on the style of the adventure and range from the conventional fantasy staples of dragonDragon
A dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits, that feature in the myths of many cultures. There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragon, derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Greek and Middle Eastern...
s, goblin
Goblin
A goblin is a legendary evil or mischievous illiterate creature, a grotesquely evil or evil-like phantom.They are attributed with various abilities, temperaments and appearances depending on the story and country of origin. In some cases, goblins have been classified as constantly annoying little...
s, orc
Orc
An orc is one of a race of mythical human-like creatures, generally described as fierce and combative, with grotesque features and often black, grey or greenish skin. This mythology has its origins in the writings of J. R. R. Tolkien....
s and wizards, to wild animals, zombie
Zombie
Zombie is a term used to denote an animated corpse brought back to life by mystical means such as witchcraft. The term is often figuratively applied to describe a hypnotized person bereft of consciousness and self-awareness, yet ambulant and able to respond to surrounding stimuli...
s, mummies
Mummy
A mummy is a body, human or animal, whose skin and organs have been preserved by either intentional or incidental exposure to chemicals, extreme coldness , very low humidity, or lack of air when bodies are submerged in bogs, so that the recovered body will not decay further if kept in cool and dry...
, ghost
Ghost
In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...
s, machines, other humans (both friendly and hostile) and many more.
Monsters share most of the same attributes as player characters. A key exception is that monsters have "friendliness" rather than charisma, a rating that along with the encountering player's charisma determines how the monster will behave toward the player. Friendly monsters may accompany the player through the adventure and fight on the player's behalf, while unfriendly ones may ignore or attack the player. Monsters also possess a "courage" attribute that determines how likely they are to flee from combat or pursue the player.
Adventures
More than 260 individual "Eamon Adventures" have been written by various authors to work with the Eamon system. These adventures range from very simple, 20-room outings to complex works spanning multiple diskettes. With few exceptions, each adventure stands alone and does not depend on the user completing any others. Although a majority of the adventures are fantasyFantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
-themed, some adventures occupy contemporary or science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
al settings. Most adventures include some degree of customization, adding new commands or other special game features above and beyond those included in the base Eamon program.
History
Creator Don Brown first released Eamon for non-commercial distribution on the Apple II in 1980, encouraging others to share and expand the game. All of Eamons fundamentals, including the original Main Hall, the first adventure design utilities and two manuals, were created by Brown, as were eight complete adventures. Brown subsequently left Eamon to develop a commercial version of the game entitled SwordThrustSwordThrust
SwordThrust is an interactive text adventure game for the Apple II computer, created by Donald Brown and published by CE Software in 1981. It consists of seven separate adventures and is the commercial successor to Brown's Eamon .- Premise :Players take on the role of a warrior/adventurer in the...
, but users continued creating and sharing adventures for the system.
Conversion to PC
In 1985, Jon Walker from Marshfield, WI converted Eamon to the PC and released several converted and new adventures. Eventually the disks were released through various shareware organizations and garnered a minor following. While the adventures attracted some modest interest, the direct conversion of the adventure creation program prompted much criticism among PC users for being too difficult to use and poorly written (the latter in later years by people who were probably never constrained by early versions of the BASIC language). By the time a serious attempt was made to upgrade the Eamon system to Foxbase, other adventures containing graphics and real time action were becoming popular and the project was scrapped. In 1997 an attempt was made to bring Eamon to the World Wide Web however the project never got beyond a beta version because of the rapid pace at which the web and content distribution was developing. The original PC GW-BASIC source code is almost impossible to find online anymore, and the author has only a few of the original disks archived on CD.National Eamon User's Club
In late 1987, the operations of the NEUC had slowed down to the point that only three newsletters were published in a two year period. Nelson was interested in other pursuits including writing a PC version of Eamon. Eamon author Thomas Zuchowski assumed the responsibility of publishing an Eamon newsletter and started the Eamon Adventurer's Guild (EAG). The NEUC shut down operations and transferred its assets to the EAG.
Eamon Adventurer's Guild
Zuchowski published the Eamon Adventurer's Guild Newsletter four times a year from June 1988 to January 2001. During this time, 94 additional games were published and the entire Eamon library was properly reviewed and documented.The last Eamon adventure to be published with the EAG was announced in December 1997. By January 2001, Zuchowski had run out of new source material for his newsletter. The last issue of the EAG newsletter was published in January 2001. Efforts were made to ensure that Eamon would not disappear. Zuchowski created the "Eamon CD" which contains the entirety of Eamon resources available at the time. This CD was made available to the members of the EAG and the general public.
In April 2003, the Eamon Adventurer's Guild Online website officially opened. This website provides the entire archive of Eamon resources including adventures, newsletters, maps, news articles, and documentation for the system, as well as a disk image of the "Eamon CD". The existence of the website sparked a small revival in Eamon as ten new adventures have been published since the website was established.
Eamon Deluxe
In 1999, Frank Kunze created Eamon Deluxe, an MS-DOSMS-DOS
MS-DOS is an operating system for x86-based personal computers. It was the most commonly used member of the DOS family of operating systems, and was the main operating system for IBM PC compatible personal computers during the 1980s to the mid 1990s, until it was gradually superseded by operating...
based conversion of Eamon. Kunze converted most of the Apple adventures to the Deluxe system, making minor modifications and updates along the way.
iPhone
Eamon is one of seven Apple II games included in iBasic, an iPhoneIPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
app
Application software
Application software, also known as an application or an "app", is computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks. Examples include enterprise software, accounting software, office suites, graphics software and media players. Many application programs deal principally with...
created by Beijing-based AkeySoft.
See also
- List of Eamon Adventures
- SwordThrustSwordThrustSwordThrust is an interactive text adventure game for the Apple II computer, created by Donald Brown and published by CE Software in 1981. It consists of seven separate adventures and is the commercial successor to Brown's Eamon .- Premise :Players take on the role of a warrior/adventurer in the...
, the commercial successor to Eamon.