It’s been a log time coming, but I’m pleased to announce that ‘Escape from the Troll’s Cave’ has finally been released. This is the first in a series of games that were originally written by John H Doolittle and have now been enhanced and brought up to date for a modern audience. You can play it online at Escape from the Troll’s Cave or download the z5 file to play with your favourite interpreter.
You play the part of a school boy who has wagged school to go to the carnival. When you run out of money, you enter a ride with free admission only to find that it’s not a ride at all, but an administration building that’s been taken over by a troll. The troll won’t let you leave until you pay the toll. Full instructions are on the web site and in the game.
This game is intentionally easy, as it is aimed at beginners to text adventures. The other games in the series get gradually harder. If you’ve never played a parser-based game or you have kids or friends that have never played a parser-based game, then this is about as easy as it gets.
The game has lots of in-game hints and a HINT command. It also has downloadable coded hints (in the Scott Adams style), map and solution.
Many thanks to @Hidnook, @Jade and @nephar for testing and @Dooriddle for his collaboration and feedback.