phoenix/hints/maps/Phoenix_maps_notes.txt

  Phoenix adventure game maps by Richard Bos - explanation

These maps are scans of my own, hand-drawn maps for all Phoenix and Topologika
games I've solved. As such they are not particularly pretty - they certainly
aren't as good-looking as Marco Cavagna's maps for Acheton - but they are at
least a complete set, as far as the surviving Phoenix games are concerned.
I have yet to play the BBC B versions, so there are no maps for Quondam or
Castle of Riddles; Giantkiller comes with its own maps; and Xerb, alas, is
still missing.
The collection therefore consists of:

Acheton 1 - Above Ground and Wizards Garden.jpg
Acheton 2 - Underground Central.jpg
Acheton 3 - Colossal Cave.jpg
Acheton 4 - Sea and Mine maze.jpg
Acheton 5 - Desert and Ice Passages.jpg
Acheton 6 - maze tables.jpg
Acheton 7 - Phoenix original mazes.jpg
Avon 1.jpg
Avon 2 - Birnham Wood.jpg
BrandX - Philosophers Quest.jpg
Crobe 1.jpg
Crobe 2 - mazes.jpg
Doom, Countdown to, 1.jpg
Doom, Countdown to, 2.jpg
Doom, Last Days, 1.jpg
Doom, Last Days, 2 - Inside City.jpg
Doom, Return to, 1.jpg
Doom, Return to, 2.jpg
Fyleet 1.jpg
Fyleet 2 - West-end bits.jpg
Hamil 1.jpg
Hamil 2 - Hamiltonian mazes.jpg
Hezarin 1 - Starting Area.jpg
Hezarin 2 - Fountain Cavern.jpg
Hezarin 3 - Near Inn, Temple and Endgame.jpg
Hezarin 4 - Beyond the Quarry.jpg
Murdac 1.jpg
Murdac 2 - Impossible maze.jpg
Nidus 1.jpg
Nidus 2 - Energy Strands Maze.jpg
Parc 1.jpg
Parc 2 - Across River and maze tables.jpg
Sangraal 1.jpg
Sangraal 2.jpg
Spycatcher.jpg
Xenophobia.jpg

I am well aware that my style of map-drawing is, shall we say, unconventional.
But this is what my handiwork evolved into since I started drawing adventure
maps for my Sinclair ZX Spectrum in my teens, and this is what I'm used to, so
I'm not changing it now.

Each room contains its name at the top; static objects and scenery to be
interacted with in the middle; and portable objects at the bottom. The starting
location is, in most cases, indicated by an X; I see now that I've forgotten
those for the Doom games and for BrandX/Philosopher's Quest. Ah well, too late
to change that now.
In some cases I've also indicated which rooms are dark or light, either using
*'s or boxed D/L's, depending on what was practical for which game, but in some
games darkness is either all-pervasive or absent, and sometimes I just couldn't
be bothered, so this isn't shown everywhere. 
Arrows up and down inside the box indicate passages in those directions; other
passages are shown by (for historical reasons) double lines. Wiggly-looking
lines mean a passage which may change direction (e.g., in a randomised maze).
Any passage which has a straight line through it is locked, usually
temporarily. If this line is curved (mainly in Sangraal), this means it's a
one-time-only entrance. Lines with arrow-heads are, more conventionally,
one-way passages. Other unusual connections indicate other unusual kinds of
passages.
Yes, that is my actual handwriting, or rather, hand-printing. Yes, I drew these
maps in different, themed colours. Yes, they were drawn on graph paper (and you
can still see the lines, faintly, on the blue maps - the graph lines were blue,
too). Yes, I used Greek letters in some of the maze tables, to avoid confusion
with numbers used elsewhere. Yes, in Acheton, I even resorted to runes. Yes, I
_am_ an incorrigible geek, what made you ask?

In any case, here they are for your instruction and delectation. These maps may
be freely copied as long as they are kept together, this document is kept with
them, none of these files is changed, my name is not removed, and no money or
other compensation is asked for them.

                                                         Richard Bos, July 2014