The webification of the C-64 adventure game, "The Farmer's Daughter", is well under way. At the onset, I tried to use JavaScript/AJAX, sessions, cookies, and PHP. After rewriting more than just a few times, I found I didn't need the AJAX or the cookies. Then I thought I would need to pass query strings in the URL in order to advance the game and uses sessions to prevent people from cheating by manipulating the query strings in the address bar. By rearranging the location of the session code, I was able to eliminate the query strings completely and now the back button is defeated as well. I'm using the JavaScript to focus on the input box and to display the error boxes when you enter an illegal command. The page doesn't refresh unless you advance in the game.

For those of you who don't know, the original adventure game for the C-64 was a pure text game. Now they call it "interactive fiction" and sometimes include pictures. I don't think the pictures are necessary since your own imagination can paint pretty good ones. Adventure games were pretty popular in the eighties but sort of lost their popularity in the nineties. Everyone seems to want bigger and better and seem to have forgotten the fun in the simplicity of interactive fiction.

This game is nasty and raunchy. I'm trying to tone it down a little without taking anything away from it. I'm actually adding a few details to the game as well as a little bit of humor. The walk-throughs for this game (that can be found at various niche Commodore-related websites) will still work, but what fun is it to win the game by skipping all the details?

I believe I'll have the game completed in a few short days, even with Christmas and New Year holiday events taking up a lot of my time.