*******************************************************************************
Magnetic Scrolls Fact Sheet
*******************************************************************************
Version: 16-10-2015
written by Stefan Meier (stefan dot msm at gmx dot de)
Please let me know if you find any mistakes or misses!
Contents:
1 About the company
2 The incomplete works of Magnetic Scrolls
2.1 The Pawn
2.2 The Guild of Thieves
2.3 Jinxter
2.4 Corruption
2.5 Fish!
2.6 Myth
2.7 Wonderland
2.8 Magnetic Scrolls Collection Vol. 1
2.9 Magnetic Scrolls Collection Vol. 2
2.10 The Legacy
2.11 Overview of known release versions
2.12 How to "detect" an Inter-Mediates release
2.13 Game manuals
3 The technical background
4 How to play the games today
4.1 The Magnetic Interpreter
4.2 Emulation
5 Resources
6 Credits
7 Change log
1 About the company
*******************************************************************************
Magnetic Scrolls was founded in 1983 by Ken Gordon and Anita Sinclair. They
started with an office in Eltham/South London and later moved to
1 Chapel Court
London SE1 1HH
England
From 1985-1989 their games were published by Rainbird, a label of British
Telecomsoft.
When Telecomsoft was bought by Microprose (UK) in early 1989, Magnetic Scrolls
did not participate in the merger and took the distribution of the classic
games in their own hands. They bought the remaining stock and distributed the
games themselves through Inter-Mediates Ltd. until the stock was sold. During that
time they found Virgin Games as the distributor for the upcoming Wonderland.
When the company got defunct in 1992, Microprose bought up all the rights, but
except for releasing the game "The Legacy" under the Magnetic Scrolls label,
they never made any use of it. The rights on the games are held by Magnetic
Scrolls Ltd. They reverted back to Anita Sinclair and Ken Gordon after some
time without the games being published.
Several years ago Ken Gordon has registered the domain
http://www.magneticscrolls.com
but still today it does not carry anything except for the Magnetic Scrolls
logo.
A special member of the Magnetic Scrolls team was Murdoch, Anita Sinclair's
bull terrier and in fact the corporate mascot.
In 1988 Infocom had actually planned to release the sequel to Douglas Adams'
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. When it became clear, that the inhouse
development might fail due to the lack of ressources, one option discussed
among the heads of Infocom was to hand over the development to Magnetic
Scrolls. Eventually Infocom agreed on an internal solution, but because of the
closure in early 1989 the game was never finished.
2 The incomplete works of Magnetic Scrolls
*******************************************************************************
From 1985 to 1991 Magnetic Scrolls released seven games. Thrilling stories,
a trailblazing parser and wonderful graphics made them a true competitor
to Infocom and most probably the best and most successful European
adventure game company. Like almost all text oriented game developers
Magnetic Scrolls did not survive the start into the multimedia age.
The following list mainly describes the original Rainbird releases of the
games. The later Inter-Mediates releases were shipped in the well-known
Rainbird boxes, but normally they had a small label on them showing Inter-
Mediates as the distributor. The included disks did not carry the Rainbird
logo anymore and were just made as a white label with the Magnetic Scrolls
logo, a copyright notice and the name of the game. Some (all?) Inter-Mediate
packages also contained a short note rendering clear, that Rainbird was no
longer the distributor and thus defective disks had to be sent back to
Inter-Mediates. Since Magnetic Scrolls had only limited supplies and game
props left, these packages sometimes contained reproduced materials (like
game manuals with a black cover instead of the well-known blue ones).
The Apple2 and Macintosh versions were only released in North America and
thus only available as imports throughout Europe.
2.1 The Pawn
*******************************************************************************
The first game released by Magnetic Scrolls was QL-Pawn, the original
version 1.0 of the later so popular The Pawn. QL-Pawn came on two
micro drives that were enclosed within a micro drive wallet that was badged
by Sinclair Research (size: 9.6 cm x 12 cm - 3.3/4" x 5.11/16"). A sleeve was
also produced for the wallet along with an instruction booklet containing a
short narrative to introduce the adventure.
The game was text only, but it already had the powerful parser which was one
of the basics for the success of Magnetic Scrolls.
QL-Pawn also was the only Magnetic Scrolls game that was produced for
the ill fated QL.
All the ports of QL-Pawn, then called "The Pawn" had version numbers
2.0 or higher.
Released: 1985
Distributed by: Firebird / Rainbird
Story: Rob Steggles
Graphics: Geoff Quilley
Programming: ?
Packaging: There are two different packages known, which can
roughly be separated into "small banner" and "large
banner" cover. The small banner version seem to be the
early releases and are rarer than the large banner
packages.
Size: 15.2 cm x 21.4 cm - 6" x 8.5"
Goodies authoring: A Tale of Kerovnia by Georgina Sinclair
Package contents: A tale of Kerovnia (there exist at least two versions
of this novella. The second issue states "Version II"
on the front page),
The Pawn Guide (platform dependent),
The Pawn Game play,
The Pawn poster,
Addendum,
Disc,
At least the early Atari ST versions contained
a "STOP PRESS" indicating a minor bug in the
online hint system (all ciphered answers must be
terminated with CO)
Platforms: Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Amstrad PCW, Apple2, Archimedes,
Atari ST, Atari XL/XE, Commodore 128/ 64, IBM-PC,
Macintosh, Sinclair QL, Spectrum 128K, Spectrum +3
Known versions: 1.0 (QL-Pawn)
2.0 (Atari ST)
2.2 (Amiga)
2.3 (Amstrad CPC, Amstrad PCW,Archimedes, Atari XL, C64,
Macintosh, IBM PC, Spectrum 128k)
2.4 (Spectrum +3)
Unknown versions: none
Addendum: The beautiful graphics were created with "Neochrome"
on Atari ST.
2.2 The Guild of Thieves
*******************************************************************************
Released: 1987
Distributed by: Firebird / Rainbird
Story: Rob Steggles
Graphics: Geoff Quilley, Tristan Humphries
Title picture: Duncan McLean
Programming: ?
Packaging: One known package (standard blue Rainbird box)
Size: 15.2 cm x 21.4 cm - 6" x 8.5"
Goodies authoring: What Burglar by Michael Bywater
Package contents: Bank of Kerovnia account card,
Die,
Magazine "What Burglar" (you could order another issue
of What Burglar from Magnetic Scrolls),
Kerovnia Guild of Thieves Discrete Entry And Removal
Operatives contract,
Adventure Guide,
Disc(s)/Tape(s)
Platforms: Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Amstrad PCW, Apple 2, Archimedes,
Atari ST, Atari XL/XE, Commodore 64/128, IBM PC,
Macintosh, Spectrum +3
Known versions: 1.0 (Atari XL, C64, Amstrad CPC, Amstrad PCW, Apple 2)
1. 0 (Amiga, Atari ST, Macintosh)
1.1 (IBM PC)
1.3 (Archimedes, Spectrum +3 and Collection Vol. 1)
Unknown version: none
2.3 Jinxter
*******************************************************************************
Released: 1987
Distributor: Firebird / Rainbird
Story: Georgina Sinclair, Michael Bywater
Graphics: ?
Programming: ?
Package: One known package (standard blue Rainbird box)
Size: 15.2 cm x 21.4 cm - 6" x 8.5"
designed by Michael Bywater
Goodies authoring: Michael Bywater
Package contents: Magazine "The Independent Guardian",
Staff Memo,
Adventure Guide,
Beer mat "Old Moose Bolter",
Disk(s)/Tape(s)
Platforms: Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Amstrad PCW, Apple 2, Archimedes,
Atari ST, Atari XL/XE, Commodore 64/128, IBM PC,
Macintosh, Spectrum +3
Known versions: 1.01 (Amiga)
1.05 (Amiga, Apple 2, Atari ST, C64, IBM PC, Spectrum +3,
Amstrad PCW)
1.1 (IBM PC)
1.2 (Amiga)
1.22 (Atari XL, Macintosh, Amstrad CPC)
1.3 (Archimedes)
Unknown version: none
Addendum: There exist at least three variants of the "Old Moose
Bolter".
During development, the game was named "Green Magic".
2.4 Corruption
*******************************************************************************
Released: 1988
Distributor: Firebird / Rainbird
Story: Rob Steggles, Hugh Steers
Music: John Molloy
Graphics: Alan Hunnisett, Richard Selby
Title picture: Duncan McLean
Programming: Hugh Steers
Packaging: At least two different packages are known: A standard
blue Rainbird box whose extents were smaller than the
blue boxes before and a larger white box which was
distributed on the US market.
Sizes:
European Box: 15.2 cm x 18.3 cm - 6" x 7.25"
U.S. Box: 17.8 cm x 23.9 cm - 7" x 9"
Goodies: Michael Bywater, Martin Atkinson, Damon Jones,
Richard Cubison
Package contents: Tape "Derek Rogers, March 25th",
Casino chip 500,
Adventure Guide,
Gameplay guide,
Hint section,
Guide to casino games,
Personal organizer pages,
Disc(s)/Tape(s)
Platforms: Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Amstrad PCW, Apple 2, Archimedes,
Atari ST, Commodore 64, Macintosh, IBM PC, Spectrum +3
Known versions: 1.09. (Atari ST)
1.11. (Amiga, Apple 2, C64, Macintosh, MS DOS,
Amstrad CPC, Spectrum +3)
1.12. (Archimedes and Collection Vol. 1)
Unknown version: Amstrad PCW
Addendum: Normally the game releases came with two different guides:
One for the technical aspects like game loading and one
gameplay guide. The Archimedes release only had one guide
covering both topics.
During development, the game was named "Upon Westminster
Bridge".
2.5 Fish!
*******************************************************************************
Released: 1988
Distributor: Firebird / Rainbird
Story: John Molloy, Pete Kemp, Phil South, Rob Steggles
Graphics: Geoff Quilley, Alan Hunnisett, Chris Kent,
Richard Selby, Tristan Humphries
Title picture: Duncan McLean
Music: John Molloy
Programming: Richard Huddy, Bob Coles
Packaging: At least two different packages are known: A blue
Rainbird box which was sized like the Corruption box,
but it was printed "landscape" and also a larger box
which was distributed on the US market (printed in
portrait format). The US package calls the game just
"Fish" (without the exclamation mark)
European Box: 17.9 cm x 15.1 cm - 7.1/16" x 5.15/16"
U.S. Box: 17.8 cm x 23.9 cm - 7" x 9"
Goodies: John Molloy
Package contents: One week travel card - Hydropolis Underground Omnibus
Company,
Fish identification chart,
"How to take care for your fish",
"The 7 Deadly Fins - Project" files including hints and
Gameplay guide,
Adventure guide (platform dependent),
Disc(s)/Tape(s)
Platforms: Amiga, Amstrad PCW, Apple 2, Archimedes, Atari ST,
Commodore 64/128, Macintosh, IBM PC, Spectrum +3
Known versions: 1.00 (Atari ST)
1.02 (IBM PC)
1.03 (Amiga, Spectrum +3)
1.07 (C-64)
1.08 (Archimedes)
1.10 (Collection Vol. 1)
Unknown version: Amstrad PCW, Apple 2, Macintosh
2.6 Myth
*******************************************************************************
This game was only available as a welcome present in the UK adventure club
Official Secrets and never released to the public. It is rather rare and
often goes for several hundred dollars on auctions. The game itself is much
shorter than the other Magnetic Scrolls' games and contains only four
graphics while the other games have about 30. Official Secrets was founded
by Tony Rainbird (also founder of the British Telecommunications' label
Rainbird).
Released: 1989
Distributor: Firebird / Rainbird
Story: Paul Findley
Graphics: Geoff Quilley, Tristan Humpries, Chris Kent
Programming: ?
Packaging: The game was shipped in a rather simple card folder,
printed in b/w.
Size: 14.4 cm x 14.4 cm - 5.5/8" x 5.5/8"
Platforms: Amiga, Amstrad PCW, Atari ST, Commodore 64/128,
IBM PC, Spectrum+3
Package contents: Installation and Adventure guide,
Disc/Tape
Known versions: 1.0. (Amiga, Atari ST, C64, IBM PC)
Unknown version: Amstrad PCW, Spectrum+3
2.7 Wonderland
*******************************************************************************
This game introduced the "Magnetic Windows" system, featuring an graphical
user interface and a slightly enhanced interpreter.
Released: 1990
Distributor: Virgin Mastertronic
Story: David Bishop
Graphics: Alan Hunnisett, Chris Kent, Geoff Quilley,
and Anna Williams
Music: Michael Powell
Programming: Bob Coles, Paul Findley, Ken Gordon, Richard Huddy,
Steve Lacey, Doug Rabson, Anita Sinclair, Hugh Steers,
and Mark Taylor
Packaging: They published at least two different packages, again
one for the European and one for the US market. Both
packages were similiar in design, however the color
scheme and the fonts were different. The US box came
in two flavours of identical size: A slipcase box and
and a two-piece-box
European Box: 18.3 cm x 23 cm - 7.25" x 9"
U.S. Box: 17.8 cm x 23 cm - 7" x 9"
Platforms: Amiga, Archimedes, Atari ST, IBM PC
Package contents: 66-page user guide,
Wonderland poster,
Map,
Quick reference guide,
Voucher for single-sided disk set (Atari ST),
Discs
Known versions: 1.21 (IBM PC)
1.27 (Amiga, Archimedes, Atari ST)
Addendum: Wonderland was later also released on CD-Rom for IBM PC.
The game version is identical to the disk version.
2.8 Magnetic Scrolls Collection Vol. 1
*******************************************************************************
This release contains renewed and partly enhanced versions of "The Guild of
Thieves", "Corruption" and "Fish!" running in the new Magnetic Windows
system.
Released: 1991
Distributor: Virgin Mastertronic
Story, Graphics,
and Programming: refer to Fish!, Corruption, The Guild of Thieves
(2.2),(2.4),(2.5)
Packaging: Two known boxes of the same size as the Wonderland box,
one for the European market, one for the U.S. market.
The colouring ist very similar, however the box extents
are slightly different.
European Box: 18 cm x 23 cm - 7.1/16" x 9"
U.S. Box: 20.4 cm x 23 cm - 8" x 9"
Platforms: Amiga, Archimedes, Atari ST, IBM PC
Package contents: "Getting started",
92-page manual,
Quick reference guide,
Poster map (The Guild of Thieves),
Fish identification chart (Fish!),
Page from personal organizer and tape "Derek Rogers,
March 25th" (Corruption),
Discs
Addendum: The Collection was later also released on CD-Rom for IBM PC.
The game version is identical to the disk version.
2.9 Magnetic Scrolls Collection Vol. 2
*******************************************************************************
A second "Collection" with the other three classics (The Pawn, Jinxter, Myth)
running under the new Magnetic Windows system was in the making. The imple-
mentation was mainly done by Paul Findley while the management was done by
Ken Gordon. Since the development of The Legacy had already started and Ken
worked at Microprose in Tetbury while Paul was working in London, the
management was not all that easy. So the second collection never got completely
finished although it was well underway.
2.10 The Legacy
*******************************************************************************
This horror RPG game was the last game of Magnetic Scrolls released by
Microprose in 1993. Several ex-Magnetic Scrolls employees worked on it with
Ken Gordon being the lead programmer. The box contained a manual, a Player's
Guide and seven 3.5"-disks. It was released in slightly different boxes
for the European and the the US market. The game interface was based upon
the Magnetic Windows system.
Released: 1993
Distributed by: Microprose
Packaging: Two known boxes of the same size, one for the European
market, one for the U.S. market. The colouring is
slightly different and the fonts differ
Package contents: Manual,
Hard disc installation guide,
Discs
Platforms: IBM PC
Known versions: 1.154 (IBM PC)
Addendum: An Amiga version was in the making, but never released.
In the U.S. the game was also available as a special
collector's edition from Radioshack. There is a small
speaker inside the box that makes a creaking noise
when the box is opened.
2.11 Overview of known release versions
*******************************************************************************
+-------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
| Platform | Pawn | GoT | Jinx | Corr | Fish | Myth | Wond | Coll |
+=============|======|======|======|======|======|======|======|======+
| Amiga | 2.2 | 1. 0 | 1.01 | 1.11.| 1.03 | 1.0 | 1.27 | * |
| | | | 1.05 | | | | | |
| | | | 1.2 | | | | | |
+-------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
| Amstrad CPC | 2.3 | 1.0 | 1.22 | 1.11.| ---- | ---- | ---- | ---- |
+-------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
| Amstrad PCW | 2.3 | 1.0 | 1.05 | ?? | ?? | ?? | ---- | ---- |
+-------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
| Apple 2 | 2.3 | 1.0 | 1.05 | 1.11.| ?? | ---- | ---- | ---- |
+-------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
| Archimedes | 2.3 | 1.3 | 1.3 | 1.12.| 1.08 | ---- | 1.27 | * |
+-------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
| Atari ST | 2.0 | 1. 0 | 1.05 | 1.09.| 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.27 | * |
+-------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
| Atari XL | 2.3 | 1.0 | 1.22 | ---- | ---- | ---- | ---- | ---- |
+-------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
| C-64 | 2.3 | 1.0 | 1.05 | 1.11.| 1.07 | 1.0 | ---- | ---- |
+-------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
| IBM PC | 2.3 | 1.1 | 1.05 | 1.11.| 1.02 | 1.0 | 1.21 | * |
| | | | 1.1 | | | | | |
+-------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
| Macintosh | 2.3 | 1. 0 | 1.22 | 1.11.| ?? | ---- | ---- | ---- |
+-------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
| Sinclair QL | 1.0 | ---- | ---- | ---- | ---- | ---- | ---- | ---- |
+-------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
| Spectrum ZX | 2.3 | ---- | ---- | ---- | ---- | ---- | ---- | ---- |
+-------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
| Spectrum +3 | 2.4 | 1.3 | 1.05 | 1.11.| 1.03 | ?? | ---- | ---- |
+-------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
* The Magnetic Scrolls Collection contains the following versions of the
three classic games:
Guild of Thieves: 1.3
Corruption: 1.12.
Fish!: 1.10
2.12 How to "detect" an Inter-Mediates release
*******************************************************************************
The Inter-Mediates boxes that Magnetic Scrolls sold after the Telecomsoft
buyout differ in several aspects from the original Rainbird releases. Since
the Inter-Mediates boxes do not necessarily show all these characteristics,
they can not be more than indicators:
* The box has a sticker on the backside reading
Magnetic Scrolls
c/o Inter-Mediates Ltd
2 South Block
The Maltings
Sawbridgeworth
Herts. CM21 9PG
* The game disk has a white label carrying the Magnetic Scrolls logo, the
name of the game, the target platform and a copyright notice which is
(normally?) dated to 1989, also for the earlier released games.
* The game boxes are often relabeled. The orginal sticker with the target
platform is pasted over with a new white sticker.
* A note explaining the change in distribution and a demand not to return
defective disks to Rainbird, but Inter-Mediates instead.
* The game manuals are sometimes reproductions. These reprinted manuals have
a black coloured cover instead of the original blue.
* Game feelies, especially the hard-to-reproduce ones, might be missing, e.g.
the die of The Guild of Thieves or the beer mat of Jinxter.
2.12 Game manuals
*******************************************************************************
Magnetic Scrolls/Rainbird shipped the games with a manual called "Adventure
Guide" that contained the platform-specific instructions to run and play the
games. These guides were independed from the actual game and shipped unchanged
or only slightly changed with all the classic games. The one exception is The
Pawn which partially seems to have had its own batch of manuals. In contrast
to the later manuals these were not called "Adventure Guide" but just
"The Pawn ... guide".
Somewhere noted on these manuals is a small id number. These numbers correspond
to the follwing manuals (list is incomplete):
The Pawn technical guides:
--------------------------
No ID Atari ST
E1012 Amiga
E1013 Macintosh
E1014 Commodore 64
E1015 Amstrad CPC
E1016 Atari XL/XE
E1017 Amstrad PCW
Adventure guides:
-----------------
K612 Spectrum 128k
K630 Atari ST
K6309 Atari ST (German version)
K630 Amiga
K6319 Amiga (German version)
K632 Macintosh
K633 Commodore 64
K633F Commodore 64 (French version)
K633G Commodore 64 (German version)
K634 Amstrad 6128
K634G Amstrad 6128 (German version)
K635 Atari 800XL/Atari 130XE
K635G Atari 800XL/Atari 130XE (German version)
K636 Amstrad PCW
K637 IBM PC
K639 Apple 2
K640 Spectrum 128k/+3
K10720 Archimedes (Corruption "Key guide")
K10311 Amiga
K11120 Archimedes
3 The Technical Background
*******************************************************************************
* Major parts of the games were implemented with a tool called FRED. Mainly
Fred was a data entry tool which was used to store the descriptions of
objects, rooms and NPCs and describe the properties of each object (e.g.
weight, movable, burnable, container,...). Each object had a 14 byte
descriptor block. For The Pawn Fred 23 was used, the later games were
done with Fred 23junior, which were both developed by Hugh Steers. In
several games magazines (e.g. the german Happy Computer) FRED was
incorrectly denoted as a "language".
* Eventually this game code was compiled into an intermediate code called
ELTHAM (Extra Low Tech Highly Ambiguous Methodology or alternativly
Extra Low Tech Highly Ambiguous Metacode).
* The ELTHAM code implemented a subset of the 68000 machine code. It was
executed "natively" on ST, Amiga, QL, Macintosh and emulated on the
other systems. The virtual machine used up to 64k. On 8 bit machines
they used virtual memory mechanisms. On the C64 non-active pages were
held on the floppy disc. Only "read-only" pages were swapped.
* In contrast to the Infocom games the stack is part of the 64k.
* Except for The Pawn, the game text is stored externally. It is encoded
with Huffmann algorithm.
* The pictures of the 16bit ports are RLE encoded.
* Except for The Pawn the game dictionary is stored externally. With The
Pawn it is stored plainly within the 64k segment.
* Due to the emulation the game itself is not aware of the environment it
is using. The communication between emulation and real system is done
through LINE_A commands.
* The I/O model is quite simple. It just supports streams for input and
output and routines for drawing the images. The output is much more
limited than for example the Infocom output. However the simple I/O
model has huge adventages when porting the games to new operating
systems.
* With Wonderland and the Collection the communication between emulation
and real system was heavily enhanced. The 64K limit disappeared. This
was used to add new features to the games, e.g. the FIND (object)
command in Fish!
* The disc protection for the Atari ST (which could only be copied with
ACopy 1.2p) was realized through a BBC Micro. The ST and the BBC used
different floppy controllers. The copy protection relied on some special
features of the BBC controller to write sector numbers > 0xF0. Those
sectors could be read with the ST floppy controller, but normally it was
impossible to write the format, because these sector numbers were
treated as "magic". Though a BBC Micro should not have any problems with
making copies of the discs.
4 How to play the games today
*******************************************************************************
The games are long out of print and not available through "standard"
channels anymore.
One alternative are the numerous online auctions like ebay or yahoo.
Magnetic Scrolls' games come up there occasionally. However, sometimes
the prices that are payed there are beyond rational, so you might prefer
to check "Classic game specialists" first. There is a well-known
seller (see 5.[3]) with reasonable pricing.
4.1 The Magnetic Interpreter
*******************************************************************************
In 1997 Niclas Karlsson has published the first release of his Magnetic
interpreter. This original release supported all the "classic" games
including support for the wonderful graphics from the Atari ST. Later
this version was extended with support for the title screens and the
title music. In December 2000 the second major release Magnetic 2.0 was
made available to the public (written by Niclas Karlsson, David Kinder,
Stefan Meier, and Paul David Doherty), now with support for the Magnetic
Windows games including the animated graphics. In March 2003 Magnetic 2.2
was released which came with support for the online hints of the Magnetic
Windows games. The latest version of Magnetic is 2.3, which was released
in September 2008. It adds support for the ingame music scores of Wonderland
that were originally included with the Amiga, Atari ST, and PC versions.
Magnetic has been ported to a variety of platforms. You can find the Magnetic
ports at the Magnetic Scrolls Memorial (5.[1]), the development project page
at Sourceforge (5.[5]) and the IF Archive (5.[6]). The interpreter requires
the game data and the image data in a proprietary format. Magnetic comes with
several tools helping you in extracting the data from your original discs.
Alternatively, you can download pre built files from the Memorial pages
(Please keep in mind that downloading any of the game files is technically
speaking illegal if you do not own the appropriate originals of the games).
The following table provides you with a short overview of the features supported
by the various ports. All versions support the classic games. If a field is
marked "-" the feature is not supported. If support is introduced in a
specific version, that version number is indicated. Generally, it is
recommended to use the latest available version for your desired platform.
If a particular option is set in braces, it might be functional according
to the documentation of the port, but it is unconfirmed.
+-----------+----------+------------+-------+------------+------------+-------+
| Platform | MW Games | Title Pics | Music | Wonder Msc.| Animations | Hints |
+===========|==========|============|=======|============+============|=======+
| Acorn | 2.2 | 2.2 | - | - | 2.2 | 2.2 |
+-----------+----------+------------+-------+------------+------------+-------+
| Amiga | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | - | 2.2 | 2.2 |
+-----------+----------+------------+-------+------------+------------+-------+
| BeOS | - | - | - | - | - | - |
+-----------+----------+------------+-------+------------+------------+-------+
| DOS | 2.0 | 1.0r2+ | 2.0 | - | - | 2.2 |
+-----------+----------+------------+-------+------------+------------+-------+
| DOS/32 | 2.0 | 2.0 | - | - | - | 2.2 |
+-----------+----------+------------+-------+------------+------------+-------+
| Epoc | 2.0 | 2.0 | - | - | - | - |
+-----------+----------+------------+-------+------------+------------+-------+
| GEM | 0.8 | (0.8) | - | - | (0.8) | (0.8) |
+-----------+----------+------------+-------+------------+------------+-------+
| HTML+JS(#)| 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
+-----------+----------+------------+-------+------------+------------+-------+
| Java | 2.0 | 1.10+ | 1.2+ | 2.3 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
+-----------+----------+------------+-------+------------+------------+-------+
| Linux/glk | 2.1+ | 2.1+ | - | - | - | 2.1+ |
+-----------+----------+------------+-------+------------+------------+-------+
| Linux/GTK | 2.1+ | 2.1+ | 2.1+ | - | 2.1+ | 2.1+ |
+-----------+----------+------------+-------+------------+------------+-------+
| MacOS X | 2.2 | 2.2 | 2.2 | 2.3 | 2.2 | 2.2 |
+-----------+----------+------------+-------+------------+------------+-------+
| PalmOS (*)| 2.2 | 2.2 | - | - | 2.2 | 2.2 |
+-----------+----------+------------+-------+------------+------------+-------+
| Windows32 | 2.0r5+ | 1.0r3+ | 1.0r4+| 2.3r14 | 2.0r5+ | 2.1r6+|
+-----------+----------+------------+-------+------------+------------+-------+
| XWindows | - | - | - | - | - | - |
+-----------+----------+------------+-------+------------+------------+-------+
(*) Magnetic interpreter is part of Kronos package.
(#) Interpreter features are partially implemented using web standards and thus
are not using the normal interpreter data files, e.g. for graphics.
4.2 Emulation
*******************************************************************************
If you have an option to transfer your original floppy disc to a newer
machine like a PC, you can probably run the game under one of the
many emulators. The games are more or less supported on many of them.
Some ports of the Magnetic Scrolls games used advanced programming
techniques on the various platforms, e.g. the title screens on the Atari ST
were displayed in a non-standard graphics mode (requiring an emulator which
supports these modes like Pacifist) or the extensive use of the floppy
disc processor on the C64 (requiring an advanced floppy emulation, e.g. in
Frodo).
Enumerating the various emulators is beyond the scope of this document,
but a good emulation starting point is at 5.[4]. Besides there are some
guides available for running Magnetic Scrolls games on selected emulator
at 5.[1].
5 Resources
*******************************************************************************
There are some Magnetic Scrolls related web sites:
The Magnetic Scrolls Memorial [1]
*
http://msmemorial.if-legends.org/
Magnetic Scrolls Chronicles [2]
*
http://www.mschronicles.com
Buying classic adventure games
Ye Olde Infocomme Shoppe, maintained by C.E. Foreman [3]
*
http://yois.if-legends.org/
Emulation
Zophar [4]
*
http://www.zophar.net
Magnetic Development
Magnetic Project Page [5]
*
http://sourceforge.net/projects/magnetic/
(this site is outdated, refer to [1] or [6] for Magnetic sources)
Interactive Fiction Archive [6]
*
http://www.ifarchive.org
6 Credits
*******************************************************************************
Many people from all over the place provided me with information about
Magnetic Scrolls. A big *Thank you* to all of them. Some special thanks
for exhaustive help and sharing their memories go to (in random order):
Paul David Doherty, Stefan Jokisch, Niclas Karlson, Rob Steggles,
John Molloy, David Kinder, Michael Bywater, Anita Sinclair, Roddy Pratt,
Richard Hewison, Peter Verdi, Matthias Bücher, Ken Gordon
7 Change log
*******************************************************************************
2015-10-16 Added Amiga Jinxter 1.2 to versions table
Fixed some formatting errors
2015-10-08 Added several adventure guides and technical guides
Removed wrong entry about Kerovnia map
2015-08-15 PCW game version of Pawn, GoT, Jinxter
Added Magnetic Scripts
Minor additions and corrections
2014-01-20 Game manual id for Atari XL (engl.)
Added Jinxter 1.2 Amiga version
2013-10-22 Minor updates to Magnetic section
Game manual IDs
2010-11-13 Minor addtitions to The Legacy and Corruption
2010-04-15 Minor corrections (Thanks Maddes!)
2010-03-27 Minor corrections
2009-05-07 Expanded Legacy chapter
Note about legal rights
2009-02-02 Fixed founding year and Collection v2 info
The Legacy part rewritten
2008-11-01 Fixed a lot of spelling and formatting errors
(Thanks to Matthias Bücher!)
2008-10-26 Added two-piece-box of Wonderland
2008-10-13 Added Spectrum+3 version of Myth
Minor corrections
2008-09-08 Updated Magnetic part to release 2.3
Minor corrections
2008-07-19 Added Amstrad PCW releases
Minor corrections
2008-07-11 Details about Inter-Mediates boxes
2008-04-28 Inter-Mediates Kerovnia map
Minor corrections
2008-04-22 Version of Wonderland for Archimedes added
2008-04-21 Fixed YOIS link
"Restaurant" story
MS Chronicles Website
Removed MS Gallery link
CDRom-Versions
Fixed paragraph numbering
Release overview
Renamed MS-DOS to IBM PC
Jinxter 1.01 version
Collection US box
Box sizes
2008-04-05 Renamed "Legacy" to "The Legacy"
Added note on variants of "Old Moose Bolter"
Fish note
2008-04-03 Inter-Mediates notes
Release note for Apple2 and Mac versions
Renamed Schneider CPC to Amstrad CPC
Update JMagnetic notes
Archimedes Corruption note
Minor corrections
2007-07-15 Minor corrections
2007-06-16 Updated Magnetic section
Specific game versions added
Minor corrections
New contact address
2003-12-30 Updated Magnetic section, links
2003-08-22 Added some notes about FRED (provided by Rob Steggles)
Removed link to Software and More (only selling on ebay now)
2003-03-27 Magnetic 2.2 update, fixed some typos
2002-07-11 First release
