Completing the Trail

[aggienaut]

1271 AD - You walk along the musky file of camels, who shift and groan even in rest. You find a comfortable place to sit and look out across the rugged valley. Your imagination wanders, and you think back to a story someone told you in Samarkand, which you left a few hours ago. 146 years ago, the Liao Empire far to the east collapsed, and the remnant fled as refugees in wagons and caravans westward through the deserts and mountains of the Silk road. You imagine the journey, similar to your own but a whole people as settlers. Arriving around where you are now, the journey ended climatically, in a battle! The Seljuks came out to meet them, and were defeated. Right around this landscape you're now traveling through, as you survey the landscape imaginging how armies might have manouvered on it. But you're jerked out of the reverie by your uncle calling out that the hour of rest is over, the caravan must keep moving.

1994 – You file into the computer lab with your fellow primary school students. It’s a room in the middle of the building, without external windows. Banks of heavy monolithic Apple computers sit on desks. You and your friends hurry to get some computers side-by-side.
   There’s a few disks to choose from, but who wants to play “Number Munchers” or “Lemonade Stand” – “Odell Lake” isn’t bad but there’s only one game everyone really wants to play – “Oregon Trail.”
   You insert the square floppy disk into the slot and it loudly clicks into place, followed by some loud whirring. The familiar game introduction screen appears in glowing green monochrome. Soon you are naming your wagon party after your friends, and you’re off down the trail, 146 years ago. Your wagon trundles along in its simple animation. Oh no “Gary has died of dysentery!”
   All too soon the discordant grating buzzer sounds throughout the school - the hour of computer lab is up, and you haven’t finished the game! Unfortunately there’s no way to save, reluctantly, you shut down the game, left with just the feeling of a journey incomplete. Back to the main classroom for math time.

( Full LJ Idol Entry on Hivejournal )

(THIS right here is not the full entry, please see the above unless it does not work, if it does not work please please report to me as fully as possible what the error is)

PS: the game is 3D now :D



Also you're all characters in the LJI setting now so please let me know if you don't want to be, amd if you have any pertinent interests (in one of the trade products or a period appropriate activity like pottery or glassblowing or etc) let me know and I'll add it to your character

Comments

[murielle]

Is this for real? Seriously?

I'd die a thousand deaths, but it would be fun!

This is so cool!
😊😊😊

[aggienaut]

Absolutely! Play at https://krisfricke.github.io/Silk-Road/?start=LJI

Any Silk-Road-appropriate customizations of the Murielle character you would like/suggest? (:

[murielle]

It may take a day or two because I've got a lot of reading to do. 😊 But I'd love to try. Characteristic for Murielle? Must never be given more than four cups of coffee or chaos will ensue. It has. It does. I LOVE coffee. 😄

[purplepetrichor]

This was pretty neat!

[aggienaut]

Thanks! :D

[kandigurl]

I have a handheld version of Oregon Trail that’s shaped like an old computer, the power button is a “floppy disc” you have to push into the drive. It’s the only way I’ve been able to beat it!

Very cool that you included a game for this entry! I watched a cool documentary on YouTube about the making of Oregon Trail, it’s a good time. It’s also how I found out that some of the original code was published in an old programming magazine, which I now desire to own! I love how creative the og programmers had to be to make things work with limited functionality.