Sarangworld Adventure Game Mapping FAQ

A spoiler is a piece of information that gives away a secret plot point of an artistic work. A common example would be someone telling you the end of a mystery movie you haven't yet seen. In the context of adventure games, a spoiler would be giving someone a piece of information (secret exit, an action you have to take, etc) that they're supposed to puzzle over and figure out for themselves.

2.2. Does this FAQ contain spoilers?

Yes. I've tried to avoid spoilers up until this section, but, starting with the next question, there are spoilers. If you haven't played Scott Adams (and related) adventure games, and don't wish to spoil your fun, stop reading now.

2.3. Do the maps contain spoilers?

Yes, though in some cases indirectly. For example, if you're in a room with obvious exists "north, south", but the map shows an exit to the east, you'll realize that there's something you can do in the room to open up an exit to the east. The map won't necessarily tell you what that is, but you'll know where to focus your efforts. In other cases, a map direction may read "say scotty", which is an obvious spoiler, since it tells you what magic word to use to go from one room to another.

3. Maps

3.1. What is the purpose of having black/white maps?

Black/white maps are probably easier to print out than color maps, especially since the background on color maps is black.

3.2. What is the color coding on the maps?

White represents the room name (sometimes abbreviated), purple represents items found originally in the room (sometimes in hidden locations), and green represents directions you can take to leave/enter a room. Additionally, rooms are indicated by red dots, and paths between rooms are dashed yellow lines. There is no significance to any of these colors, I just chose them at "random".

3.3. Do the maps preserve direction?

The maps attempt to preserve direction, but do not always succeed in doing so. So, if room X is north of room Y, X is ideally mapped one space "north" from Y. If this isn't possible, X is mapped "northeast" or "northwest" of Y. If neither of these is possible, X is mapped "east" or "west" of Y. However, sometimes it's not possible to map X in any of these spaces, and X ends up being mapped "south" of Y.

3.4. Do the maps preserve direction for up and down?

With the caveats above, "up" is mapped as "north" and "down" is mapped as "south".

3.5. I saw a direction labelled "n,s" meaning I could travel between two rooms by doing north or south. But which direction is which?

The maps attempt to preserve direction, so the room that's higher up is more likely the northern-more one. However, sometimes the maps fail to preserve direction, so there's no guarantee.

3.6. I saw rooms labelled MOP, BBO, etc. What do these abbreviations mean?

In order to keep the maps looking nice, long rooms names are abbreviated. Specifically, the abbreviations I use are:

MOP: maze of pits (Adventureland)

BBO: beach by ocean (Savage Island)

DW: dumbwaiter (The Count)

FH: fun house (Mystery Fun House)

GT: ghost town (Ghost Town)

MOC: maze of caves (Pirate Adventure)

3.7. I saw a room described as "MOP (NESW)". What does that mean?

The MOP means "maze of pits" as above. The NESW means there are north, east, south, and west exits from this room. Normally, exits are NOT listed as part of the room description (instead, they appear on the dotted lines leading away from the room). However, the rooms "MOP (UD)" (maze of pits with exits in the up and down directions) and "MOP (EW)" (maze of pits with exits in the east and west directions), are two different rooms. If I referred to them both as simply "MOP", the program that draws the map would get confused, and think they're the same room!

3.8. I looked at a map yesterday, and the same map today, and it's completely different now. Why?

I work on this project frequently, so the text files (which create the maps) change a lot. Because of the way the maps are created, a small change in the text file can sometimes lead to a big change in the map.

4. Text Files

4.1. What are the text files?

The text files represent the raw data from which the maps are created. I type in the text files by hand myself while playing the games.

4.2. What is the format of the text files?

Each file contains lines of the form "room X, direction, room Y, direction, room Z, ...". For example, the line "X,e,Y,d,Z" means if you start in room "X" and travel (e)ast, you will arrive in room Y. From room Y, if you travel (d)own, you will arrive in room Z. Each new line represents a new set of directions. For example:

 X,e,Y,d,Z X,w,C,w,D

shows how to get from room X to Y to Z, and from room X to C to D. However, the two lines and not related to each other, and say nothing about how to get from room Z to room X.

4.3. What does the notation "[XXX+YYY]" mean in a room description?

This lists the items originally found in the room, separated by plus signs. Of course, many of the items can be moved around once found. On the map, these items appear in purple, one per line. In games where you collect treasures, a treasure is marked with asterisks *LIKE THIS*.

4.4. I saw a room described as "room x [item+item]" and then later described as "room x". Isn't this inconsistent?

The program that creates the maps is smart enough to figure this out. The list of items only needs to appear the FIRST time a room is listed, not every time.

4.5. What does the "#" symbol mean in a textfile?

It means the remainder of a line is a comment, and not used in creating the map.

4.6. If I travel north from a certain room, I get back to the same room itself (eg, traveling north from the forest in Adventureland). Are "loopbacks" like these listed in the textfiles?

No. Only exits that lead to other rooms are listed.

4.7. The textfile has a line that reads "X,e,Y", which means if you start in room X and go east, you end up in room Y. Doesn't this also mean if you start in room Y and go west, you'll end up in room X?

Alas, no, and this was one of my motivations for creating the maps. A classic example is the starting room (forest) in the Adventureland game. If you go east, you'll get to the meadow. If you go west, north, or south, you'll remain in the forest. So, if you travel west for 10 turns and then go east, you'll still end up in the meadow. There are other examples where you can travel east, then south, then west, and then north, but not end up where you started. Scott Adams realized this and suggested a method of mapping that would compensate for this. See Personal Goals for more details. See also the next question.

4.8. The textfile has a line that reads "X,e,Y", but no line that reads "Y,w,X". However, I happen to know that if you go west from room Y, you end up in room X. What gives?

This is an error on my part, and a result of my being lazy. Normally, when I map a game for the first time, I travel along one path for as long as possible, without reversing. So you'll see an entry like "B,w,C,w,D,n,E,w,F", which shows me traveling along one path until it ends. Only later do I go back and determine whether the path is reversible. If you see an error like this, however, please do report it.

4.9. What does the direction "say yoho" mean, for example?

The six "cardinal" directions are (n)orth, (s)outh, (e)ast, (w)est, (u)p, and (d)own. However, it's not always possible to travel to any room in an adventure game just using these six directions. Sometimes you have to use magic words (like "say yoho") or take special actions (like "look ball") to move from one room to another. Additionally, some rooms can only be entered by specifying their names (eg, "go fireplace"). The "direction" in the text file indicates what action you have to take to move from one room to the next.

4.10. I followed a direction on your map, but ended up dying when I reached my destination!

The maps only indicate the directions between rooms; in some cases, you may need special equipment to enter a room safely (eg, safety sneakers to get to the ledge in Pirate's Cove, a suit of armor to enter the lab in Voodoo Castle).

4.11. What does the room "DARK" or "GAME END" mean on a map?

Sometimes, I create these maps while I'm still trying to solve the game. If I enter a dark room, I may put down "DARK" on the map temporarily as a note to myself to re-enter the room when I find a light source. Similarly, if I notice the game ends when I take a certain action/direction, I might note that down as well. These maps represent works in progress, so my own notes are part of the maps, too.

4.12. Whenever you die in game X, you go to a special room that lets you live again if you take the right exit. Why don't you map rooms like this?

The classic example is of course the "Limbo" room in Adventureland. Unfortunately, this would clutter the map unnecessarily. There are so many actions you can take that will kill you, there would be too many lines leading to Limbo. Additionally, I don't think of Limbo as an actual room -- if you enter Limbo, you're essentially dead, but Scott Adams is just being nice and giving you a chance to continue.

5. Walkthrus

5.1. What is a walkthru?

It's the set of commands you need to finish an adventure game.

5.2. Did you create the walkthrus yourself?

No. I got them from The C64 Adventure Game Solutions and Walkthrough Site. I did make some corrections to the walkthrus found there.

5.3. What is special about your walkthrus?

Some sites just include the commands you need to finish a game. I actually show you the game as it's being solved. Of course, that doesn't make my walkthrus better, just different.

5.4. How did you create your walkthrus?

After downloading the list of commands required to finish a game (from the site mentioned above), I converted them into a format I could use (one command per line), and then wrote an Expect script to pump the commands into a modified version of Scott Free, a Scott Adams game driver.

5.5. What modifications did you make to Scott Free?

Very trivial ones -- I modified it to no longer use the 'curses' library-- basically, this means everything in my modified version is output as plain text, so I can redirect it to a file.

5.6. What does 'interact' mean in the walkthrus?

For some games, it's not possible to simply type a series of commands to finish the game. Instead, you have to wait for certain things to happen before taking certain actions. For example, in The Count, you have to wait for the bell to ring before you can pick up the package. The 'interact' command is where the automatic Expect script stopped temporarily, allowed me to type in commands myself (so I could take whatever manual steps where necessary), and then resumed when I told it to. If I were really clever, I'd have a found away to keep the word 'interact' from appearing in the walkthrus... but I'm not that smart!

5.7. Why do there seem to be silly, redundant commands following 'interact' in some of the walkthrus?

In some cases, you simply have to 'wait' for certain actions to occur. Unfortunately, the 'wait' command makes you wait more than one turn (I think!). In games where each turn is important (like The Count), you don't want to waste any more turns waiting than is necessary. So, instead of typing 'wait', I simply wander around aimlessly.

5.8. Why is it dark in some portions of the walkthrus? Isn't it dangerous to move in the dark? I could get eaten by a grue!

I didn't create the walkthrus myself, so I'm not sure why this happens. My guess is that the walkthru-writer was looking for the shortest path to finish a game, which sometimes means walking in the dark. Note that you're only eaten by a grue if you're in a dark room and try to exit in an invalid direction. As long as you keep using valid exits, you're safe from grues! Another possibility is that the walkthru-writers used a modified version of a Scott Adams game driver which lets you see even in the dark.

5.9. If you have a walkthru for a game, does that mean the map is complete?

Not necessarily. Walkthrus often provide the shortest route to solve a game, without exploring all of the rooms. For example, the "memory chip" room in Adventureland can be ignored completely in solving the game, but should still be on the map. Also, in Voodoo Castle, if you know the magic word "ZAP", you can skip some steps there as well.

5.10. I followed your walkthru command for command, but I still died, or failed to get all the treasures!

Some adventure games contain random elements, which may not have affected me when I did the walkthru, but which may affect you if you try to repeat the steps I took. As an example, the "chigger bites" in Adventureland are random -- if you don't take care of them, they can kill you. However, if you're lucky, you won't get bitten by chiggers at all (or the bites won't get infected), and you can just ignore the chiggers.

5.11. Do you have walkthrus for all Scott Adams games?

No, but I'm working on it. In some cases, I do have the walkthrus, but they're not working properly. I will fix them first, and then post/use them.

6. Errata

6.1. What errors are there in the maps?

There lots of errors in the maps, probably many of which I'm not even aware. A short list of map errors:

Rooms that are adjacent in the game are not adjacent on the map. This also means the yellow dotted lines cross each other in odd ways sometimes.
Items text, direction text and room name text all overlap each other sometimes.
Most maps are highly incomplete.
The maps aren't topographically accurate -- room X may be north of room Y in the game, but may appear to the left of (or even below) room Y.
Because the maps are computer-created, rooms are sometimes placed in odd locations.

7. Technical

7.1. What assumptions do you make when mapping?

I assume that if you start in one room and go in a certain direction (or perform a certain action), the results will be consistent-- ie, you will always end up in a specific other room. This actually isn't always true, but, so far, it's been easy to handle the exceptions.

7.2. Can I have a copy of the program you used to create the maps?

The code is pretty ugly (and contains a lot of unused/incomplete subroutines), so I don't want to post it publically. However, if you have an interest in helping out, please send e-mail and I will consider your request.

8. Game-Specific Notes/Status

8.1. What is the status of various game maps?

As of 10/21/2001, here is the status:

Voodoo Castle: mostly complete, walkthru exists
Pirate's Cove: mostly complete, walkthru exists
The Count: mostly complete, walkthru exists
Adventureland: fairly complete, but not 100%... yet.
Ghost Town: mapped a bit, but quite a bit of work still to do
Savage Island: minimal mapping, lots of work to do
Strange Odyssey: minimal mapping, lots of work to do
Mystery Fun House: minimal mapping, lots of work to do
Sorcerer of Claymorgue Castle: minimal mapping, lots of work to do
Return to Pirate's Isle: no work done, no map available, but I will probably work on this soon.
Secret Adventure (Mission Impossible): no work done, no map available; not really my genre (no offense), so, unless someone else wants to work on this, probably will not be mapped anytime soon.
The Hulk: no work done, no map available; not really my genre (no offense), so, unless someone else wants to work on this, probably will not be mapped anytime soon.
Savage Island, Part II: no work done, no map available; I plan to map/play this after completing Savage Island I (and, at the rate I play/figure things out, that could be a long long time!).
Pyramid of Doom: I'm aware this game exists, but don't have the file(s) to run it on my system.
Golden Voyage: I'm aware this game exists, but don't have the file(s) to run it on my system.
Buckaroo Banzai: I'm aware this game exists, but don't have the file(s) to run it on my system.
Spiderman: I'm aware this game exists, but don't have the file(s) to run it on my system.

9. Minutiae

9.1. I saw a room described as "room (animal heads)". Wouldn't it be more accurate to describe this as "room" and have "animal heads" as an object in the room?

Technically, yes. However, in order to distinguish between rooms, the program I use requires a different name for each room. In Voodoo Castle, for example, there are many rooms described simply as "a room in the castle". In order to keep them separate, I refer to them as "room (item)", where (item) is some distinguishing item in the room.

9.2. Shouldn't "walkthru" be spelled "walk-through"?

Hey, if it's good enough for street signs... :)

10. Future

10.1. Will you be putting up maps of Zork and other non-Scott-Adams games?

I am thinking about doing this in the future, yes. However, I have no definite plans for this at the moment. I believe Zork maps are already available on the Internet (though I don't have a URL for them).

10.2. Have you considered mapping MOOs/MUDs/MUSHs/etc?

I have considered doing this, and may do so in the future. One additional challenge (especially with MUSHs/MOOs/MUDs that allow players to create rooms) is that new rooms/exits are created all the time. Note also that many existing MOOs/MUDs/MUSHs/etc already have their own maps, which would make mapping them redundant.

10.3. What improvements do you plan to make to the maps?

There are many improvements that can be made to the maps. Here's what I hope to do someday:

Place directions text sideways for north/south lines.

Game-adjacent rooms should always be adjacent on the map.

The map should not be a fixed grid-- it should be possible to place some rooms closer to others.

10.4. What improvements do you plan to make to the walkthrus?

The ideal walkthru should be from the perspective of someone who has never played the game before -- no walking in the dark (you can only do this if you know what exits are valid, which a beginner would not know), no using magic words unless you've discovered them as part of the walkthru, no taking shortcuts unless you've learned about them legitimately, etc. Also, a beginner would examine all objects, read all notes, enter all rooms (even those not required to win the game), try things that don't work, etc. For example, an ideal walkthru would include trying to "move rug" in Pirate's Cove, even though it's nailed down initially; an ideal walkthru would also try the command "sail ship" to see Scott Adams' joke, and so on. I'm not sure how close I'll get to "idealizing" the walkthrus, but it is one of my goals.

11. Miscellaneous

11.1. Where can I get the games you map here? Are they free?

The games are not in the public domain, but are available at no cost from the following pages:

12. Personal Goals

12.1. What are your personal goals for this project?

When I first started playing Scott Adam's adventure games (way back in 1981 or so, though I don't recall the exact year), the instructions included a section on how to map the game. Instead of recommending graph paper (with the usual convention of mapping "room X east of room Y" by putting X to the square immediately right of Y), which wouldn't work anyway, Scott Adams recommended creating a "mathematical graph" with arrows indicating exits. My personal goal was to create this kind of map for all Scott Adams games that I had played.

12.2. How well would you say you've met your personal goals with this project?

Fairly well, though far from perfect. The program I wrote does an ok job of mapping games, but not a great job. I'd like to improve on it.

12.3. How long has it taken you to meet these goals?

From the time I first started playing Scott Adams adventure games to the time I first tried writing a computer program to map these games: about 20 years.

13. Legal

13.1. What is the legal status of these games?

To the best of my knowledge, these games are still copyrighted by Scott Adams and/or the original authors. All company names, games, etc, belong to the individual copyright holders and companies, and appear on my page for reference purposes only.

13.2. Can I rely on the information on these pages?

No. As with any of my webpages, I make no representation that anything here is accurate or useful for any purpose. I disclaim everything!