HAUNT is a haunted house adventure game programmed by John Laird in 1979 using the rule-based language OPS4. Haunt was inspired by playing Colossal Cave Adventure.
The TWENEX executable is TOPS20:<GAMES>HAUNT.EXE which most TWENEX users should be able to run by entering just HAUNT.
The following is a reproduction of Haunt's in-game introduction.
@haunt This is HAUNT. Version 4.6 See NEWS for news. Have you played before?[yes] *no
Welcome novice. You are playing on one of the world's largest production systems. The purpose of this game is to find treasure in a haunted house and then escape from the house.
The program will give descriptions of locations and accept commands to perform actions. Give it directives on what to do with simple 1-5 word commands Its knowledge of English is limited but imaginative. The directions are north, south, east, west, up and down. Directions can be one letter (n,s,e,w,u,d). Forward, back, left and right also work. To string commands together use 'then'. (eg. west then s) It will describe things to you, and a phrase enclosed in ' ' is something it hears.
Special commands:
INVEN | tells you what you hold. |
SCORE | gives your current score. |
STOP | ends the adventure. |
LOOK | describes your current position. |
NEWS | describes new features. |
You get 15 points for finding a treasure and 5 points for getting it to the lawn outside the house. You get an extra bonus of 20 points for getting your body off the estate. The maximum number of points is 440 Good luck, you'll need it. Ask for help if you want.
Copyright (C) 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982 John Laird
On with the adventure!!!
Along time ago, a young couple was picnicing near the woods on the outskirts of town. They were celebrating the birth of their first child. Unfortunately, a crazed moose inhabited that area and attacked them. The child and husband were unharmed, but the wife was gored to death by the moose.
After the funeral, the man bought the land where the incident occurred and constructed a large mansion: CHEZ MOOSE. He filled it with the treasures of his family and claimed that his wife's soul was still in the area. He vowed to remain in the mansion until he had returned her soul to human flesh. He tried to bridge the gap between life and death to reclaim her. Some say he was insane with grief, but others claimed that the madness was in his blood, and his wife's death brought it to the surface. After he entered the house, he never returned, and was declared dead seven years later. Several people have entered the mansion looking for him but none of them have ever returned. There were rumors that he and his wife now haunt the house.
That would be the end of the story except that the house still stands and is filled with priceless treasures. The house and all its contents are willed to his only descendant. Oh yes, I forgot to tell you, the day the mother was killed, the child was stolen by Gypsies. The Will claims that only the descendant will know how to avoid going crazy and committing suicide while spending a night in the mansion. An obscure hereditary disease, Orkhisnoires sakioannes, is supposed to play some part in this.
So if your heritage is in doubt, you may be the descendant that can claim the treasure in the mansion. Many people, claiming to be descendants have died trying…
or at least never returned.
The terms of the Will say you get to keep any treasure you get to the lawn, but of course you must also get off the premises alive. Because the house is haunted it must be destroyed, and nobody would be crazy enough to try and recover the rest of the treasure. If you do get out, the government has agreed to buy the land and destroy the house.
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