A long, long time ago, in the fateful year of 1984, I purchased my first computer -- a 30 lb. Compaq luggable. The keyboard snapped to the case to cover the screen and floppy drives and made it look like a suitcase, complete with handle. It was state of the art -- 8086 processor, dual 5 1/4 inch floppy drives, 10 inch monochrome (green) monitor, 20 MB hard drive, MSDOS 2.something, and 640K RAM. Inside the off-white plastic case, protecting critical components, were a metal chassis and shock absorbers (think under your car). How could anyone ever want more? And games? No problem! While programmers of today require more and more horsepower, my first game screamed on my state-of-the-art machine. It had a forest, cave, advisors, trolls, magic, and mystery, plus all of the other trappings of a modern fantasy game. Except the video. And sound. Those were provided by description and imagination. Exchanges were riveting:
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YOU ARE IN A 20 FOOT DEPRESSION FLOORED WITH BARE DIRT. SET INTO THE DIRT IS A STRONG STEEL GRATE MOUNTED IN CONCRETE. A DRY STREAMBED LEADS INTO THE DEPRESSION.
THE GRATE IS LOCKED.
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THE GRATE IS NOW UNLOCKED.
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YOU ARE IN A SMALL CHAMBER BENEATH A 3X3 STEEL GRATE TO THE SURFACE. A LOW CRAWL OVER COBBLES LEADS INWARD TO THE WEST.
THE GRATE IS OPEN.
Really, who needed a high powered XFX video card or surround-sound? Wireless gaming mouse or game-box controller? Unheard of! Keyboard input ruled.
I recently found the game again via Wikipedia. The version I had was Advent. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossal_Cave_Adventure) Windows, iPod, and Mac OS X versions are linked. Some have graphics added, but I am old school on this one, relying on my personal organic RAM.
