THE SPECTRUM GAMES DATABASE

THE VERY BIG CAVE ADVENTURE

PUBLISHER
CRL

AUTHOR
St. Brides's School

YEAR
1986

CATEGORIES
Text adventure

CONTROLS
Keyboard.

ORIGINAL INLAY CARD TEXT
Back Cover Blurb 

Somewhere, deep in the primordial forest know to man as Epping,
lies a valley which time has forgotten and everyone else would
like to. And in the depths of that valley, locked firmly into the
solid granite is an iron grate. A grate, which, if it could be
opened, would lead the hopeful traveller into a vast network of
underground caves in which he might find riches beyond his
wildest dreams or encounter grim death in a thousand lurking
forms.

Alright. Belt up. I know you've read all this sort of stuff
before. This is a cassette inlay, you know.  You've got to write
things like that on cassette inlays. Now if you don't zip your
face up and listen to the rest of it I'll throw that rotten
tomato right back at you. Only I won't miss. 

Well, now you've interrupted me, I might as well introduce
myself. My name is Trixie Trinian. I'm a prefect at St. Bride's
and a crackshot with a ripe tomato. I also happen to be the best
possible guide for grasping adventurers seeking fame and fortune
in the Very Big Caves.

And even if I'm not, I'm the only one you're going to get.

Inside Inlay text 

About this programme

If I were to tell you that you are hoilding in your hands the
very first computer adventure, you wouldn't believe me.

You wouldn't say so, of course, since I am still holding the ripe
tomato from the other side of this bit of paper. But you wouldn't
believe me.

And you'd be wrong.

Way back at the beginning of computer history, enshrouded by the
mists of time, (or perhaps it was just J*ck Tr*mi*i's cigar
smoke), there was a computer game called simply "Adventure". It
didn't need any other name because there were no other computer
adventures. It was set in a complex of very big caves which were
called simply the Very Big Caves for similar reasons.

Things were simple in those days, as you can see. But nothing
could be quite as simple as the minds of the people who wrote the
adventure. Indeed there are many who would argue that simple was
too mild a term and that something more expressive was needed
such as "cretinous", or perhaps "criminally moronic". 

I shall leave others to debate these finer points of language.
The gist is that this adventure was sillier than any computer
programme has a right to be. If it had been a chap rather than
a length of cassette tape, people would have rung for the men in
white coats on sight.

Those sniffy individuals who think that adventures are superior
to "mindless alien-zapping" obviously never played this one. When
it comes to sheer unadulterated mindlessness, the programme
leaves all arcade games at the starting post wondering what
happened. 

Even The G***t Sp*ce R**e.

Strong men who devote their whole lives to telling people how
useful and valuable computers are freeze in their tracks at the
mere mention of this programme.

Well, you catch my drift. It is the kind of programme which gives
computers a bad name. Come to that, it is the kind of programme
that gives idiots a bad name. So you won't be surprised to learn
that, in the interests of the good name of computing, the game
was banned.

The original programmers were persuaded that it would be in the
interests of their health not to publish the adventure. They were
offered a certain sum of many to part with all rights to the
adventure. It was an offer they couldn't refuse.

Then a couple of programmers were offered a contract to produce
a new sensible version of the game. In return they were given a
fresh start in life. New names. The names were C***ther and
W**ds.

So everything ended well. The original game was buried deep. The
good name of computing was saved.

Or so it seemed.

Some years later, however, the original game was unearthed by a
St. Bride's pupil. 

Like so many great discoveries it was made by pure accident. The
girl had been innocently hacking into a computer system owned by
a major American government agency with a view of diverting the
payment of the British national debt into her personal account.
She came to an area deep within the system which was so
rigorously protected by security codes that she felt sure that
this must be where they kept the boodle. What she in fact found
was the contents of this tape. 

Let there be no misunderstanding. We are well aware that the
publication of this game may deal a blow to the reputation of
computing from which it could take decades to recover. Nobody
could be more concerned with the good name of computing than
ourselves, so it is with much heartsearching that we have weighed
one consideration against another. On the one hand was the good
name, perhaps the very future of computer technology. On the
other was the chance of a fast buck.

It just wasn't a contest.

We proudly present to the public in general and to you in
particular The Very Big Cave Adventure.

Instructions 

To load The Very Big Cave Adventure type LOAD""

In this game the computer understands most simple English
sentences. "EAT THE FOOD", "BREAK THE DOOR DOWN", etc. 

The game plays in two parts. At the end of part 1 you will be
asked to save your position. This must be done to tape or disk
(not RAM). You will then be asked to load the position at the
beginning of part two. This will enable you to carry with you all
the objects you wish to take from part one as well as all the
money you have made up to this point.

Several special commands are used in the game:

INVENTORY (or I) will list the things you have with you.

EXAMINE will allow you to take a closer look at almost any object
in the game. Make frequent use of this command.

SAVE and LOAD allow you to save and restore your position to tape
or disk. There is also a special facility which allows you to
save position instaneously into the computer's memory. To do
this just type SAVE or LOAD as normal and answer RAM to the
prompt "Tape, or RAM?"

TEXT and GRAPHICS. Every location in this game is illustraqted.
If you prefer a text-only adventure just type "TEXT". Type
"GRAPHICS" to turn the graphics back on.

The Very Big cave Adventure was written with The Quill, Patch,
The Illustrator and lots of N*scafe.


GENERAL FACTS

NOTES