I was thinking about making a new flash version of the old TI-99/4a version of the ancient UNIX version of the decrepit dice version of the game, but I have found some other people (for real, check it out) who have already done the deed admirably in Java. So I'm working on a new project now.
Hunt the Wumpus originally hit the internet as a text adventure game on UNIX. Allegedly, it was the first computer game ever written for a microprocessor. The original version involved a static network of linked rooms done up like the faces of a dodecahedron, but variants quickly began making the room-network quite random.
There is usually a Wumpus, one or more pits, and one or more bats. You can stumble upon rooms containing bats with no warning, and they will carry you off to a randomly selected room.. quite possibly into the jaws of a wumpus or right over a pit.
You would have one room of notice before entering a pit, either because in the text adventures the narrator would announce that "you can feel a draft", or in graphical versions because you can see slime covering the walls of the room.. in either case, it is wise to heed the warning, and you cannot fall into a pit without passing through at least one room warning you about it.
The Wumpus, on the other hand, gives you two rooms of warning. Either you can smell it in advance, or see the blood stains along the walls of rooms.. either way you cannot walk into the wumpus' lap without passing through at least 2 defiled rooms first. It is nessessary to decide where to aim your arrow (effectively disclosing the Wumpus' whereabouts) without actually visiting the fatal room in question, and in most versions of the game you only have one shot with which to do it.
Posted by jesse at August 6, 2004 07:16 AMJust a couple of nitpicky things:
I wouldn't say that "Hunt the Wumpus" "hit the internet". As you mention, it was one of the first games written for a microprocessor. Its presence on the internet, decades later, is happenstance. They're not connected phenomena.
Also, "Hunt the Wumpus" isn't really a text adventure, either. A text adventure is something like "Zork" or "Adventure": a game with a plot, a game with treasure gathering, and rooms to explore, etc. "Hunt the Wumpus" doesn't have anything near the sophistication.
Nitpicking over. :)
Posted by: J.D. at August 6, 2004 08:42 AMOh come on now.. The only thing it lacks is anything more than a serial plot. D&D often doesn't involve any treasures, it's pretty bleak like htw. You have rooms to explore, there are dangers, it is adventurous, and you type in text commands.
You want your kids telling you that Final Fantasy I isn't an RPG because it doesn't have digital voice-overs? :P