Wander

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Revision as of 05:41, 3 April 2024 by Jenni (talk | contribs) (Created page with "{{Infobox_Software | software_name = Wander | software_image = 300px| developer = Peter Langston| publisher = https://github.com/shmup/wander| systems = C, cross-platform| release = 1973-1984| added_to_museum = August 23, 2019| }} '''Wander''' is a scripting language for creating text adventure games that was first created by Peter Langston in 1973. He continued working on it unti...")
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Castle screenshot.png
Wander
Developer Peter Langston
Publisher https://github.com/shmup/wander
Platforms C, cross-platform
Released 1973-1984
Added to
Museum
August 23, 2019

Wander is a scripting language for creating text adventure games that was first created by Peter Langston in 1973. He continued working on it until 1984.

Versions

Peter Langston created the first version of Wander in HP BASIC, likely on an HP 2000. He converted to the C programming language in 1974. It was released it on a mainframe running UNIX V5 at Harvard University in 1974. In 1980, it was released on a PSL Games collection for Unix.

Release

It was thought lost until an interactive fiction enthusiast, with the handle "ant", contacted Peter Langston in 2015. The 1980 version of the Wander game creation system was discovered in an e-mail archive by Lou Katz, but it only contained a version of Colossal Cave Adventure partially converted to Wander. The entire 1980 version was discovered when Doug Merrit found the files included with the PSL Games collection. A 1984 version was also discovered and, as that version was said to be easier to compile than previous versions, it was used to make Wander able to compile on modern systems.

Games created with Wander

Title Developer Release Added to museum Notes
A3 Peter Langston, Nat Howard 1977 August 23, 2019
Castle Peter Langston 1974 August 23, 2019
Colossal Cave Adventure Peter Langston 1981 August 25, 2019 Partial conversion
Library Nat Howard 1978 August 23, 2019
Tut Peter Langston 1978 August 23, 2019