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Incentive has done the decent thing and transferred into their adventure writing system onto the Acorn Electron. This makes it possible to create 'stand alone' adventures for testing your friends' abilities or for commercial gain.

The two main features of the creator (which is text only) are the intelligent command interpreter and the extensive text compression, allowing larger games. Even bigger, multipart adventures are possible with the Electron version (not available on BBC) which has a CHAIN command to load and run a follow-up adventure.

The command interpreter was praised in our BBC review back in September's issue (where more detailed information can be gleaned). It can handle complex sentences and multiple command lines. You are not restricted to the old fashioned two word input. IT detection is also included, e.g. TAKE THE BOX AND OPEN IT CAREFULLY. The interpreter will recognise any word, not just the first few characters. You can also include synonyms e.g. GET and TAKE for the same action.

The text compression system allows for detailed descriptions. The adventure itself is built up in a friendly adventure editor. Descriptions, room exits and entrances, logic puzzles and individual characteristics come together to form a professionally written adventure.

Authors are invited to submit their adventures to Incentive for possible inclusion in their Medallion range of adventures. There is however no restriction on authors, who are totally free to market their own software without payment or royalties. The Adventure Creator is supplied with two example files, including Quickstart for beginners. The Adventure Creator also works on the BBC. Price £14.95 on tape.

Jonathan EvansJane Evans