Hello,

"HLA Adventure" (as I call it) has been updated to version 2.40. 
Here are the websites where you may obtain the game (w/ source):

http://members.tripod.com/~panks/hlaadv.html

and

http://www.geocities.com/dunric/westfront.html

Written in Randall Hyde's HLA (High Level Assembly) language, this
adventure game utilizes my previous "Westfront PC: The Trials of Guilder"
gaming engine for room descriptions, inventory items,
battle sequences, and items/monsters.

My ultimate intention was for others to eventually contribute to 
this project. That being said, as of May 14, 2003 I am releasing
"HLA Adventure" (as I call it) into the Public Domain. The source
code is included for others who wish to add to the game as time
goes on.

As the game is expanded, quests will be added, additional rooms
designed and implemented, as well as further items, armor and equipment
as seen fit by the person(s) contributing to the project. The current
distribution (version 2.40) includes over 223 rooms, 23 items, 9 quests
and 30 monsters.

Future versions (planned) will include:

1. Additional Quests - either similar or dissimilar to those in "Westfront PC"
                       and other games.
2. More monsters - probably around 40 or so (added soon)
3. More equipment - this depends on if the need is there
4. More rooms - certainly this will be addressed

Currently, "HLA Adventure" works on Windows 95,98,Me,NT/2000, XP and Linux/
Red Hat/SuSe/Fedora Core. Using the console libraries introduced by Mark de
Wever at:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aoaprogramming/

Linux users will thus be able to compile "HLA Adventure" on their system
(after compiling the source files with Randy Hyde's HLA program). It should be
noted that a compiled version for Linux is already included with this archive.
The hlaadv.hla source code compiles with the Gas assembler under Linux, and
FASM/MASM/NASM under Windows (check Randy Hyde's HLA website for more
details). Information on Randy Hyde's HLA can be found at:

http://webster.cs.ucr.edu/

Enjoy, and send bug fixes, contributions, and comments to: dunric@yahoo.com

Mark de Wever, Frank Kotler and others have also contributed ideas, code, code 
modifications, and additional core program content to "HLA Adventure".

Files included are:

HLAADV.EXE - This is the main program, for Windows. Click on it to play.
WEST06.ELF - This is the main program, for Linux. Run in "xterm" console to play.
HLAADV.HLA - This is the HLA source code for HLA Adventure. Use version 1.49 or above.
HLAADV.TXT - This is the file you are now reading.

------------------------
Installing under Linux
------------------------

Under Linux, install hlaadvlx.tar.gz using the "tar" and "gzip" utilities. They should
be readily available under most distros of Linux. If not, find them here:

Tar:

http://www.gnu.org/software/tar/tar.html

Gzip:

http://www.gnu.org/software/gzip/gzip.html

Running HLA Adventure under xterm:

The examples given below use "$" to designate the xterm command
prompt. It may differ on your machine. On mine, it is usually
a "#" prompt. This is common with the Bash shell used
frequently under Linux. For the purposes of this example,
I will denote an xterm "command prompt" with the "$" character.

First, make sure you are in the /usr/ directory. Next, create
a directory named "hlaadv" below:

$ mkdir hlaadv

Now that the directory has been created, change to it below:

$ cd /usr/hlaadv

The very next thing you should do is copy "hlaadvlx.tar.gz" from
where you downloaded it from to the newly created directory. For
example, I saved my copy of HLA Adventure to my floppy drive:

$ cp /mnt/floppy/hlaadvlx.tar.gz /usr/hlaadv

Next, extract hlaadvlx.tar.gz using gzip first, followed by tar:

$ gzip -d hlaadvlx.tar.gz
$ tar -xvf hlaadvlx.tar

This should extract West06, the main file, along with
the source code (West06.hla), and other assembly-realted files 
(West06.asm, etc.)

To run, type:

$ West06

A console window with HLA Adventure should immediately open. Follow
the prompts on screen to begin playing. You are also presented with
a "Plot Introduction" screen, whereby the goals of the game are outlined.
Finally, the screen just before play begins asks you if you wish to 
resume a saved game. Enter "y" for yes, or "n" for no, followed by
pressing the "Enter" key.

If you need help during gameplay, type:

help

at the game prompt.

------------------------
Installing under Windows
------------------------

To install HLA Adventure under Windows, use either Winzip
or another extracting utility (such as ZipCentral) to open
the archive. Then extract the files to the directory "hlaadv".
If the directory does not exist, make sure to create it or
have Winzip or ZipCentral do it for you. 

Next, browse to the "My Computer" icon on your Windows
desktop and double click it. Browse to the directory in
which you installed HLA Adventure and double click that, too.
It should open up, displaying several files, including
"Hlaadv". This should be an icon of an application
window (unless your setting are different, in which case
it may be some other similar type of icon). If you are unsure,
right-click the file, and select Properties. It should say 
"Application" under the "Type of File" heading.

Double click on "Hlaadv" to play the adventure. It should open
in a console window. Following the onscreen prompts as needed.
Type "help" at the game prompt for commands used during gameplay.

If you have any questions, please e-mail me at: dunric@yahoo.com

Thanks! =)

Sincerely,

Paul Panks
dunric@yahoo.com
ICQ# 12234336
12/03/2004
