WANTED! Beta-testers for Larry Horsfield’s new PAWED (well, err, ACEd) text adventures

Our much-admired Master of the Guild of PAW Writers, HE Larry Horsfield, the creative talent behind those & many acclaimed PAWed text adventures published as FSF Adventures – The AXE OF KOLT saga or the MAGNETIC MOON saga among many others – back in the eighties and a regular reported star in the magazines of the age - Sinclair User or Your sinclair, to mention just a couple -, has kept on working on his PAW creations over the years and is now, in 2011, ready to release respectively a brand-new adventure, Fortress of Fear, plus an updated version of The lost children, both authored using the PAW language and compiled using the ACE Adventures package (available for download at the software tab of the Reservoir), a 100% compatible tool with the original PAW language but with much extended capabilites in line with the requirements of the modern times.

Larry is looking for beta-testers so as to fine-tune both adventures to perfect release candidates in the very next months to come. So if you like IF and text-adventures and would like to have the privilege of collaborating with him for the release of these two long-expected & excellent pieces of text adventuring to the world, please write Larry at lazzah2000@yahoo.co.uk.

Happy adventuring!!

WANTED! … and obtained!

Despite the void that seems to have engulfed this reservoir for the last months, we have endured the hard work at the backstage to keep the PAW alive.

As yet, we have not been able to get hold of the SWAN nor the DAAD, but, thanks to the contribution of Dave Webb, you can now find the Opus discovery A080 version of the PAW at the software tab of the reservoir. Dave advises that the image contains the abandoned database of an unfinished adventure of his and, although he has been unable to delete it from the file, he has still decided to contribute it to the reservoir.

We thank Dave for approaching the reservoir with such a contributive attitude and invite him get further involved in whichever way he may feel like.

Do you want to contribute your own suggestions here? Please don’t hesitate to do it and WRITE NOW to paw@artematopeya.es.

FEATURE! The PAW Programming Bible

The How to… section of The PAW Reservoir is intended to contain the intel about the software: manuals, tutorials, code snippets and routines, source codes, programming aids, how-to articles…

At this very early stage of the reservoir, we are mainly focused on getting hold of contents and stuff rather than making them look neat & nice. That’s why the Programming Bible, our own particular first-folio of the PAW culture, contains scanned documents, merely attached one to another and as yet is not organized at all. Every single piece of new PAW intel we may come across will be added to the file in due course.

One of the things we’re after is Cristopher Hester’s Adventure Code pages, one of the most reputed fanzines of the time. But we seem to be unable to get hold of Chris, of his editor (Mandy Rodrigues) or of anyone who may have these valuables in store. 

Does anybody know how to get in touch with either of them nowadays?

All contributions in this respect are much more than welcome.

The PAW Monster Edition

The PAW Monster Edition is a project of The PAW Reservoir for the development of a PAW replicant.

Another PAW replicant?!?!

The PAWME will replicate the original PAW design (database and language interpreter embedded within an editor) on the PC. The application will be self-contained and compact (no external libraries, no multiple executables, no file renaming, no compiler-interpreter architecture anymore… ). An .exe file will launch an editor that will provide the functions of the original PAW…

But why do we need another PAW system for Windows? We already have Doug Harter’s WinPAW, among others…

… hmm, that will provide the functions of the original PAW plus all many of the advanced features of the existing clones. This reset intends to upgrade the PAW design to the modern times and, while retaining all of the look & feel of the original software, make of it a serious tool able to produce top level games as many of those produced with the big ones. No object-oriented programming, no simulation paranoia, no endless lists of unaffordable plug-ins…

• indexed database-driven system like the PAW but with extended capabilities: up to 65.000 locations, objects, dictionary, processes, flags, messages… (eventually unlimited).
• expanded database structure with new data fields.
• programmable PROCESS 0 (zero).
• new PROCESS * (simultaneous to player’s input).
• up to 20 user-defined windows for screen layout.
• up to 65.000 flags (variables).
• up to 100 local flags for locations and objects.
• automatized behaviours via location and object flags: define attributes (container, non-player character, visited, foe, liquid, opaque… whatever) once and the system handles accordingly.
• location routes.
• stacks for FIFO operations with flags.
• buffers for text ‘maths’.
• flag indexation.
• location routes.
• authomatic & customizable light, hour and weather systems.
• distant objects reporting and ‘atmospheric’ messaging for dynamic description effects.
• simple macro programming
• expanded PAW grammar: WINDOWx, WHATL(loc), WHATP (process), BITWISE condacts, OOPS and AGAIN, NPC interaction condacts, a power-boosted DOALL…
• hard wired ’start’ database with real and advanced functionality.
• Hopefully, multiple target compilation: PC, DS, Java, Windows CE, etc.

… all interfaced via a user-friendly and simple editor similar to that of the original PAW. Plus some other nice and useful embellishments.

So, what are we supposed to be able to write with the PAWME?

Regardless of their beauty and retro-feeling, the 8-bit based windows versions of PAW are unfortunately too limited and cannot be used for large and text-plenty games or interactive fictions. To put it simply: they do not accommodate enough text nor database resources. SINTAC (which is, in fact, not a replicant of the PAW but of its elder brother DAAD) or CAECHO do in fact have most of the functions and the required expanded grammars that could in fact produce large and meaty text adventures. But SINTAC (absolutely beautiful) insists on the 8-bit limit of 256 of each class except for messages. There’s no use in having 65.000 messages if you can only use 256 flags to control such a monster, 256 objects and rooms with no local flags or attributes, if there’s not any bitwise operation grammar, etc. And the CAECHO system is a prodigy of design (the database is, simply, superb and massively fillable with so many values and flags and text maths and the language is so varied and so proficient…) but the paw-like grammar has been translated into a strange C-like spanish dialect. A beautiful software design by a computing engineer for computer engineeers. Mortals cannot simply make any sense of it, let aside write a game with it. And both of them only run under MS-DOS plus their authors have turned their back on the PAW forever and reject to update and recompile these fantastic tools to run under Windows. Sic.

We are starting to evaluate Superglús and ACE as both are superb PAW replicants. But we still feel that a rewrite, a new design and an editor version would be much better. Among the reviewed programming packages for our rewrite, Multimedia Fusion has taken the pole position for the time being…

You can report to the Project tab at for further information about the PAWME.

Spacerogues #1: Design

WANTED! Infinite Imaginations’ SWAN and Tim Gilberts’ DAAD

Once the PAW had become the market standard benchmark for text adventuring all around the world (meaning in the UK, which in fact was meant the world as to text-adventuring),  Yeandle and Gilberts joined Hugh Hamer-Powell to create Infinite Imaginations and develop the next generation parser. It was known by the name of System without a name (SWAN) and put to good use by Fergus McNeill for his Mindfighter game. Along all the bells and whistles already available in PAW, the new system allowed for the use of digitised graphics instead of a line editor, an even more advanced English parser, advanced intelligent interactive characters, an alternative icon-driven system control and many, many, many other beautifulities.

Time later, Tim Gilberts was hired by the spanish company Aventuras AD to create a tailor-made, all new in-house parser featuring PAW’s and SWAN’s tools plus new enhancements suggested by Andrés Samudio. The Diseñador de Aventuras AD (DAAD) reached version 2.6 and only a few may be aware of the secret location of the vault where the DAAD backup files are kept today.

These systems belong inasmuch to the PAW culture. They have been kept hidden for years and it IS definitely hard to get hold of them by any means.

If you are Andrés Samudio or any other living identity, have a copy of the DAAD and want to contribute your treasures with the PAW culture and the worldwide PAW community, you are invited to do so. The same applies if you want to be credited for sharing your copy of the SWAN system. Any versions, any systems. Both packages, when provided, will be made available at the PAW Zero page of this site.

Thank you in advance for your generosity.

Spacerogues #1: Design

Spacerogues #1: Design

My pulpish, forthcoming space opera Spacerogues #1 – Flowers for the singer features Agent Arem Eaglestorm plus four sidekick interactive characters plus several supportting characters (with a limited interactivity, though). Character design and location graphics are fully underway now. For your records, this pixelized babe isn’t but Stella, the jazz singer of the title that is forced to remain captive in the dark & smoky red-district club known as The Black Nest. More 24×24 sprite-art panels to follow soon.

DOWNLOAD! Selected Works of Josep Coletes

The Selected works of Josep Coletes-zip contains The winds of the Walhalla Gold Edition, all the published games (8 so far) of the Dr Van Halen series, the Lucybel trilogy and the legacy Idiliar trilogy, all of which are PAWed games (ZX Spectrum format) . The works contained in this zipped file span some 20 years (1988 through 2009). Hmm.

¿Who says the PAW is outdated?

ENROL! PAW Pride Index call for registration

The Reservoir also aims at compiling an up-to-date & public census of PAW users and programmers so that initiatives like team-ups, projects and others tasks can be easily assigned and implemented. C’mon, register with the Index by sending an e-mail including:

• your full name
• nickname (if any)
• date of birth
• working language
• e-mail address
• proprietary IF/text-adventures related web sites, blogs, etc
• preferred platform: ZX, Amstrad, Windows PC, etc
• any published games, PAWed or not
• specialty: story/script writing, concept art, game design, programming, beta-testing, etc
• interest in type of project: parser design, new games, remakes (e.g. The PAWed Hobbit Deluxe), translations, alt genre PAWed games (e.g. strategy), games for portable devices (under emulation, e.g. ZX), etc
• comments whatsoever

Only full name/nickname and e-mail info will be listed in page 6: People. Enrol the PAW Community TODAY and enjoy working in projects with others for the sheer & mere sake of being creative and HAVE FUN!

WANTED! Version history

There currently exist several versions of the PAW available in the ZX Spectrum format:

• A04-c
• A09-c
• A16-c
• A16-d
• A17-c
• A18-?
• B01-c
• B02-c
• B03-+3

… plus storage-device based versions (microdrive, +3 disk, etc). As per my limited wits and documentation, I can infer that A- versions correspond to the first generation implementation. The A04-c is the most screen-dumped english version reported in articles and internet sites. Versions kept on growing serially (maintenance and bug-ridding, most probably) up to A16-c which is, I guess, the mature release that include turn-of-the-century technical advances reported in the manual supplement for A16+versions. New maintenance releases until A-18 and, ¡tzak!, the PAW is localized into spanish and a new branch of the system emerges. The first spanish release corresponds to A18 but, from then onwards, versions are serialized upon B-. Most probably, while the spaniards ketp on upgrading the PAW Tim Gilberts had it replaced by the SWAN in England which, in turn, became the semen for the all-exclusive, in-house DAAD misterious thing, again in spanish… 

Is there any chance that an eventual somebody may have any idea on which features featured each and every of the versions of the system, so that this humble heart may compile a trustworthy version history of the software.

I wonder… were there any undocumented features hidden somewhere within the PAW?

What the Reservoir in fact is…

… a worldwide depot & referral site for the PAW culture and a springboard to imagine, share, create and dream worlds, adventures, stories and endless fun.

Welcome to the PAW culture! Welcome to the Reservoir.

¿Where on earth is Andrés Samudio?

Andrés once had a vision. He tried and made his hardest to create a market for text adventuring in spanish. He was passionate about text adventures. He was passionate about stories and writing games. He was passionate about computers and entertainment. He opened the homegrown adventure writing scene to the avid spanish creators of the time. He made it possible that I got hold of my very own copy of the PAW (which I still have and treasure). He pushed hard to transform his hobby into a professional endeavour that languished. He invested in a comercial project that failed. And he vanished after that.

¿Do you know where Andrés Samudio is hiding? We want to hear from him.

What the Reservoir is not…

…a place to raise disputes on which system, Inform or PAW, is better and which technology is technologically more advanced and perfect and has a wider community support or add-ons released and so on ‘n’ on ‘n’ on.. As simple as this: if you are an informite that don’t like the PAW and don’t like, neither, that others may like it, simply beware of the dog and keep away from this site. Neither you nor your brains are forced to visit here.

This informite rejection rule does not apply to José Luis Díaz, honoured by this site for his contribution (Pawsez) to the PAW culture. Other amnestied informites will be announced in due course. José Luis Cebrián and Javier San José emerge as serious candidates to the knowledge of this site…

Welcome to The PAW Reservoir

If you are visiting The PAW Reservoir for the first time, please turn to the About page to learn more about the PAW software, the PAW language and this site.

The PAW Reservoir is a site by ARTEMATOPEYA.

Site in beta phase. Comments, contributions, bug reports and suggestions are welcome at paw@artematopeya.es.