About          A_Egypt.exe

This is an original – albeit very cliché - text adventure with a few peculiarities. One oddity is the use of colour in the text window background; this is dependent on the player having a torch (in hand or in the location) and on the location itself. The other is the use of colour on the directional controls (white for normal directions, red for blocked directions, yellow for special purposes).

The game is fully mouse controlled, written for the Windows platform and nearly text only; there are just two graphics used (for the GAME OVER bad and good screens) [the command buttons are pictures too to be honest – because it was easier that way for me to get the look I wanted]. The text window is quite small and the rest of the screen is very dark. This is intentional; I wanted the game to feel dark, to give the impression that the walls are closing in.

The program is just a single executable file that includes all resources, no installation is required. The save game file is a simple text file which is saved in the directory the game is run from; if no save game is found the in-game LOAD button label is painted dark red.

I started out making the game with a text parser but decided that it would make more sense to make it mouse controlled. I think that typing in commands is a somewhat outdated concept that forms a significant barrier to the enjoyment of adventure games for new users (specifically the guessing that is sometimes required if one wants to use some object).

About          Egypte_A.exe

This is the original, Dutch, version of the game. It is nearly identical to the English version of course; room descriptors etcetera have not been translated directly. There is a Dutch TV series, HET HUIS ANUBIS, which is the reason for using that deity for a specific purpose in the game (the TV series’ merchandising irked me slightly so Anubis wants your gold, ah ha ha ha). The save game name is different from the name used for the English version.