Ok, with 5 days of October already gone, I know it’s cutting things a bit fine for putting my entry in for this seasons Retro Challenge – particularly as it started 5 days ago… but, better late than never, right?
So, what have I planned to do that is both retro and challenging? Simple, I’m going to play games! More specifically, I’m going to play Zork, on a CP/M enabled RC2014 that is connected to the internet so it can be streamed live to an audience of anybody that cares to watch me get eaten by a grue.
The first challenge is going to be hooking up the RC2014 to the internet, such that it can stream text. Kind of like Twitch, but in ASCII. Luckily, I’ve got a bunch of ESP8266 modules that have been sitting in a drawer, and I think these are likely to be ideal for converting serial data in to web pages. I should be able to hook up something on breadboard, and find a bit of code that does the job – although it would be nice if I can get some real PCBs made up for the job. With just over 3 weeks to go, though, that might be pushing it timewise.
Then there is the challenge of Zork itself. I often use it as a test game to show people what the RC2014 can do, however, I’ve never done more than a bit of random North, North, East, Look, Get Lamp etc. I’ve never really played many text adventures either, so this will be a big learning experience for me. I can’t promise that I won’t use the odd cheat/clue here and there, but if there are actually people watching along online, I’ll happily take suggestions over Twitter. If things happen to go really well, and I complete it in good time, then I will add Adventure as a stretch goal.
