* The current version of the game is 1.4
* Click any topic in the contents to jump to that part of the FAQ
* Click any heading in the body of the FAQ to jump back up to that place in the contents
* Click any of the links marked TOP to jump to the top of the page
CONTENTS–––
GETTING STARTED
What do I need to play Leadlight?
ONLINE PLAY
Fully supported browsers for online play
Semi-supported browsers
THE ACTIVEGS EMULATOR
System requirements, features & installation
Mac installation procedure for Safari, Opera and Camino browsers
PC installation procedure for Safari and Opera browsers
Mac and PC installation procedure for Firefox
Mac and PC installation procedure for Chrome
THE APPLEIIGO EMULATOR
System requirements & features
OFFLINE PLAY
1. I'm using a PC
2. I'm using an Intel-based Mac
3. I'm using a PowerPC or older Mac (IE pre-Intel processor models)
4. I'm using Linux
Emulators of older Apple II models for PC and Mac
For PC users
For Mac users
Running Leadlight on a real Apple II
Running Leadlight on handheld devices
PLAYING LEADLIGHT
How do I start the game online?
What is a text adventure game? How do I play Leadlight?
A brief overview of play
I've played interactive fiction before. What features do I need to know about which are specific to Leadlight?
TROUBLESHOOTING
What is that clicking sound I sometimes hear when using the AppleIIGo emulator?
Why is the emulator ignoring what I type?
The emulator display doesn't seem to fit in the frame provided by my chosen skin, or part of it is missing I’m playing online and the game crashed when I tried to save
I’m playing online and my saved games have disappeared
I'm having trouble installing or starting the ActiveGS emulator
General ActiveGS troubleshooting
I'm having trouble starting the AppleIIGo emulator
I'm stuck in the game and I don't know what to do next
How can I tell which version / release of Leadlight I am playing?
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Why was Leadlight programmed for the Apple II?
What's the difference between text adventures, adventure games and interactive fiction? Which of these is Leadlight?
Why does the AppleIIGo emulator use green text on a black background?
Why does the ActiveGS emulator use white text on a blue background?
Dear Sir, could you talk a little about the process of creating Leadlight?
How do I send comments, questions or bug reports to the author?
_________________________________________________________________________________
---GETTING STARTED
WHAT DO I NEED TO PLAY LEADLIGHT? (TOP)
Leadlight is programmed in Applesoft BASIC and 6502 assembly language for the 8-bit Apple II computer. To play it on a modern Mac or PC involves running it in an Apple II emulator. You can do that right here on this website (ONLINE play) or you can do it by downloading an emulation pack or a set of files which will run a copy of the game independently on your computer (OFFLINE play). The game itself is identical whether played online or offline, so how you choose to play is mostly a matter of preference.
* Playing online involves downloading the ActiveGS plug-in for your web browser (a one-time procedure) then visiting this site whenever you want to play. The plug-in also retains your saved games between visits. Note that this plug-in will not work on pre-Intel processor Macs, or in Internet Explorer, or in Linux.
A second browser-based emulator called AppleIIGo is also provided, and will run the game on almost any computer with no advance download required, but it cannot save your game.
* Playing offline involves downloading a copy of the game image and a few necessary files to your Mac or PC.
If you have an Intel-based Mac, or a PC, or a Linux system running Wine, you can download an ActiveGS emulator pack for your system which includes all necessary files and is preconfigured to play Leadlight.
If you have a PowerPC or older Mac, or you find that the ActiveGS emulator doesn’t work for your system, or isn’t to your taste (maybe you already have an Apple II emulator you like) you will be able to download files needed to run one of the more compatible alternative emulation setups – AppleWin for PC users, Sweet16 for Mac users.
All offline options support game-saving.
Just click ONLINE or OFFLINE to jump to the relevant instructions and downloads.
* It's also possible to play on some handheld devices, and of course, on a real Apple II.
Leadlight
running on my 1990 Apple IIGS - click photo for full size
image
ONLINE PLAY
(TOP)
When you play online, your web browser summons up a virtual
Apple II for you through the miracle of software emulation,
then runs the game.
There are two emulator options you can choose between:
ActiveGS and AppleIIGo. ActiveGS is the best choice as it
allows game-saving, but not every system & browser
combination can run it.
FULLY SUPPORTED
BROWSERS FOR ONLINE PLAY: Firefox, Safari, Chrome and Camino
SEMI-SUPPORTED
BROWSERS: Opera cannot run the AppleIIGo
emulator. Internet Explorer is incapable of rendering this website
correctly and also places security hassles in your path
before allowing you to run the ActiveGS emulator.
Here are the two emulator options described:
1. The ActiveGS
Emulator (TOP)
( SUMMARY: The best
option. Keeps your saved games between sessions. Use it
if you can! )
SYSTEM
REQUIREMENTS: A
PC running Windows 2K or later or a Macintosh with Intel
processor(s). Unfortunately the ActiveGS plugin will not
run on PowerPC or older Macs. The ActiveGS plugin is not
supported by this site for Internet Explorer and does
not work natively in Linux.
FEATURES:
ActiveGS emulates an
8/16-bit Apple IIGS computer. It runs quickly, supports extra game
features (the screen border changes colour to indicate
certain conditions) and most importantly, allows you to
save games between sessions. The game data is cached on
your hard drive and automatically reloaded when you next
visit the Leadlight website. When using ActiveGS online
you’ll also see two buttons along the bottom of your
game window marked LCD
and CRT.
Click either button to
immediately switch your virtual monitor to that display
mode.
INSTALLATION:
To use ActiveGS you must
first download and install the small (897kb or 1.1MB
download) ActiveGS plugin for your web browser. This
will take you just a minute and give you the best game
experience. The plugin is
guaranteed spy/mal/any-bad-ware
free.
Mac
installation procedure for Safari, Opera and Camino
browsers
1. Click here to download the file
ActiveGS.plugin.zip
to your desktop or
downloads folder.
2. Unzip the archive and place the resulting file,
ActiveGS.plugin,
in your Library/Internet Plug-Ins
folder.
3. Quit your web browser, reopen it and then click
the PLAY using
ActiveGS link
on this website to boot up Leadlight.
PC
installation procedure for Safari and Opera
browsers
1. Click here to download the file
npActiveGS.zip
to your desktop or
downloads folder.
2. Unzip the archive and place the resulting file,
npActiveGS.dll,
in your browser plugins
directory.
3. Quit your web browser, reopen it and then click
the PLAY using
ActiveGS link
on this website to boot up Leadlight.
Mac
and PC installation procedure for
Firefox
1. Click here to visit the ActiveGS Test
Page. It should
prompt you to install the plug-in. If you see the
following message –
– click 'Allow', then click 'Install Now'. The plug-in is
entirely safe.
2. If the test page did not prompt you to install the
plug-in, you can do it manually by following the
instructions on the ActiveGS Support
Page. Look
under Installation:
Plugin: Firefox.
3. Once you’ve installed the plug-in either way, quit and
restart Firefox, then click the PLAY using
ActiveGS link
on this website to boot up Leadlight.
Mac
and PC installation procedure for
Chrome
1. Open up Chrome if you’re not already browsing with it.
That may sound obvious, but the Chrome download link won’t
work properly if you’re not browsing in Chrome.
2. Click this link to download and install
the extension.
3. When/ if you see a message like this –
- click ‘Install’. The plug-in is safe. All it does is
emulate a 1980s computer.
4. Now click the PLAY using
ActiveGS link
on this website to boot up Leadlight.
2. The AppleIIGo
Emulator (TOP)
( SUMMARY: Can't save
games, but requires no download and runs on almost any
computer/OS )
SYSTEM
REQUIREMENTS: Almost any hardware and browser
combination. Opera is the only browser not supported by
this website for AppleIIGo.
FEATURES:
AppleIIGo emulates
an Apple IIe computer. The primary advantage of the
Java-based AppleIIGo emulator is that it will work for
almost any computer and web browser combination. You
also get a flickering LED to indicate activity on the
virtual disk drive as you play, and you can select the
Apple's clock speed, from VINTAGE
(see how the game runs on
classic Apple hardware) through DEFAULT
(twice real speed -
comfortable) to CRANKED
(as fast as the AppleIIGS,
but you'll have to turn down your system sound volume to
shut up the resulting sound glitching!)
The main disadvantage is that AppleIIGo currently can't
save your games – you'll find all SAVE and RESTORE commands
disabled in Leadlight when playing using this emulator.
This is less than ideal, but you can use AppleIIGo to play
a quick game, play a long game in one sitting, show the
game to another person without downloading anything, etc.
Leadlight is not so difficult that it is impossible to
complete in one sitting after practice runs, or to quickly
replay through to a previously reached position, probably
improving your score en route.
* If you like Leadlight
but can't save games during online play because you can't
run the ActiveGS emulator on your computer, don't fret: You
can play the game offline with all the game-saving you like
by downloading a Leadlight emulator pack. See
Offline Play (You can even play
the game on mobile devices like Google's Android this
way. See Playing Leadlight on Handheld
Devices)
OFFLINE PLAY
(TOP)
Do you already happen to have an Apple IIGS emulator?.. If
so, all you need to do to play Leadlight is to
download the 3.5 inch floppy disk
image and boot
it up.
If you already have a regular Apple II emulator like
Virtual II or AppleWin, you can play using that, however you should note that you
only get the screen border colour change features when
playing on an Apple IIGS.
For everyone else – I have sought to make it as easy as
possible to set up and run your own copy of Leadlight in an
emulator. In most cases, all you need to do is download the
preconfigured emulation pack for your system, unzip it and
double-click the ActiveGS application to boot the game.
Click the link below describing your computer system to
jump to the relevant download and instructions:
1. I'm using a PC
2. I'm using an Intel-based
Mac
3. I'm using a PowerPC or older Mac (IE
pre-Intel processor models)
4. I'm using Linux
1. I'm using a
PC (TOP)
If you have a PC you can download a fully preconfigured
ActiveGS+Leadlight emulation pack for your system.
Click here to download the ActiveGS
emulation pack for PC
Once you've downloaded the pack for your system, unzip it
to your desktop, open the 'ActiveGS_PC' directory and
double-click the ActiveGS application file contained
within. The virtual Apple IIGS will start up and
automatically boot Leadlight.
N.B.
I strongly recommend placing
the ‘ActiveGS_PC’ directory on your desktop because this
guarantees you will have read and write access to the game
files. If the ActiveGS application is run from a location
for which you do not have user 'write' privileges,
Leadlight will crash as soon as you try to save a game.
N.B. THE SECOND
– If it turns out
that the ActiveGS plugin doesn’t work on your system for
any reason, you will definitely be able to
run the game on the regular Apple IIe
emulator WinApple. Some players may find they prefer
WinApple’s monochrome screen colours anyway over the
Apple IIGS’s white text on blue.
2. I'm using an
Intel-based Mac (TOP)
If you have an Intel-based Mac you can download a fully
preconfigured ActiveGS+Leadlight emulation pack for your
system. ActiveGS
will not run on PowerPC or older
Macs.
Click here to download the ActiveGS
emulation pack for Intel-based
Macs
Once you've downloaded the pack for your system, unzip it
to a convenient location on your hard drive, open the
'ActiveGS_Mac' directory and double-click the ActiveGS
application file contained within. The virtual Apple IIGS
will start up and automatically boot Leadlight.
3.
I'm using a PowerPC or older Mac (IE pre-Intel processor
models) (TOP)
If you have a Macintosh which is a PowerPC or older model
(but not OS 9 old) I recommend using the Sweet16 Apple IIGS
emulator. You will need to follow the 7 steps below to
download and arrange the necessary files:
1. Download the Sweet16 Apple IIGS emulator
from the Sheppyware website
2. Click here to download the Apple IIGS ROM
file
3. Click here to download the Leadlight 3.5
inch floppy disk image
4. Unzip all three archives. Place both the ROM.03 file and
the LEADLIGHT.2MG disk image in the Sweet16 folder.
5. Double-click on the Sweet16 application. The first time
you run it you will need to browse to the location of the
ROM.03 file.
6. Mount the LEADLIGHT.2MG disk image in Sweet16 (either
via the File ->
Mount Disk Image menu command, or by dragging and dropping
the image onto the Sweet16 icon in the dock)
7. Boot the Apple IIGS (Setup -> Restart
or just press
Apple-Control-Delete)
In future you can boot the game by the drag-and-drop
method, or perhaps by just double-clicking on the
LEADLIGHT.2MG disk image.
4. I'm using
Linux (TOP)
Here are three play options for Linux users. I can’t
confirm which of them is the easiest to set up in general –
it will depend on each user’s circumstances.
* The Apple IIGS emulator KEGS can be compiled for Linux. You will
then need to download the Apple IIGS ROM
file and
the Leadlight 3.5 inch floppy disk
image. Linux
users have confirmed that the game runs perfectly this
way, but that KEGS can be quite difficult to set up,
especially if you're not familiar with the Apple II. I
have no access to a Linux system so I cannot guarantee
any specific help if you contact me.
* Another option is to use the only reasonably up to date
Linux-native Apple IIe emulator, LinApple. If you are able to compile this
application for your system, you should then be able to
run the game on it broadly as per the instructions for running
Leadlight on WinApple (of which LinApple is a port)
*
Wine allows the use of Windows applications
within Linux. If you can install Wine on your system, or
already have it installed, you should then be able to
avail yourself of any of the Windows-based methods for
playing Leadlight offline offered by this website. I
expect that using WinApple would prove to be the most compatible
option for use with Wine.
EMULATORS OF OLDER
APPLE II MODELS FOR PC AND MAC (TOP)
Leadlight also runs on regular Apple II emulators
like AppleWin (PC) or Virtual II (Mac) though the game's screen border colour
features are IIGS-only. Here are summary instructions
for running Leadlight on Apple IIe emulators:
For PC
users: AppleWin
is a free download, an excellent Apple IIe emulator and
comes with its own copyright-free simulation of the
Apple IIe ROM.
Once you have downloaded AppleWin from its
homepage you
should then click here to download the 2 x 5.25 inch
floppy disk version of Leadlight.
Next, start AppleWin, and place the Leadlight Boot disk
image in disk drive one (click the ‘1’ button at screen
right) and the Leadlight Game disk in drive two (click the
‘2’ button). You
must leave both disks in the drives at all times while
playing or the game will crash. With the disks in place, boot your
virtual Apple IIe (click the button with the apple symbol
on it at screen right). Remember that you can speed up the
game processing and load times by increasing the emulator
speed in its configuration screen.
For Mac
users: The
problem for Mac users is that there is currently no
emulator of older Apple II models which is both free and
up-to-date.
Virtual II is an exceptional emulator, but it is
shareware. If you do not buy a license, you face a
watermarked display and game pauses.
OSXII is an emulator which is out of date,
crashes on my Mac, and requires that you dig up the very
obscure Apple Disk II firmware ROM file...
Therefore, unless you wish to buy a license for Virtual II
– which is certainly worth doing if you plan on pursuing
Apple II emulation beyond the playing of Leadlight – my
advice is simply to download the free Apple IIGS emulator
Sweet16 and use that: Click here to jump back to the instructions
for playing Leadlight with
Sweet16.
RUNNING LEADLIGHT ON A
REAL APPLE II (TOP)
The version of the game you should
download to transfer to real floppy disks will be
determined by the number and type of your disk drives
rather than by your model of Apple II, as the program
content is the same for both versions. Extra features
manifest when the program is run on a IIGS.
(Actually
getting the image(s) off the Internet and onto real Apple
II disks is a 'how-to' topic beyond the scope of this FAQ.
I use ADTPro software (versions exist for many
OSes) to send images from my Mac to my IIGS over a
cable.)
If you have a 3.5 inch floppy drive, it is ideal to play
the game from the single 3.5 inch disk version (click to
download)
If you don't have a 3.5 inch drive, you will need two 5.25
inch drives, and both must be connected to the
computer. Click here to download Leadlight on two
140kB 5.25 inch floppy disk images.
Place the Boot disk in
drive one and the Game disk in drive two, and leave both
disks in the drives at all times.
If you have a IIGS, setting its speed to
Fast
will give a pleasing result.
Any other clock speed acceleration hardware you have for
your Apple will be a bonus.
RUNNING LEADLIGHT ON
HANDHELD DEVICES (TOP)
Apple II emulators exist for handheld
devices and phones, too. You will need to find your own
Apple IIe ROM file then download the 5.25 inch two disk version
of Leadlight.
Candy Apple is an Apple II emulator for Google's
Android.
At Zophar's Domain check the menu on the right side of
the page to find Apple II emulators for Palm OS and
PocketPC.
(In the
future, it should be possible to run ActiveGS and play
Leadlight on the iPhone – stay
tuned.)
---PLAYING
LEADLIGHT
HOW DO I START THE GAME
ONLINE? (TOP)
Once you have decided upon your emulator option (see
Online Play) click the corresponding link from
the navigation menu at the top right hand corner of any
page of the Leadlight website.
IE
- PLAY using
ActiveGS or PLAY using
AppleIIGo
On the next screen you will be asked to choose a skin for
the game window. Click the one you like for today (you can
change skins every time you play if you want) and a new
window will open. This window is the GAME
WINDOW, and will
launch the virtual Apple II computer, which will then fire
up the game. The loading of the Apple II and the game may
take up to 15 seconds, and depending on which web browser
you're using, nothing may seem to happen during this time,
so please be patient.
When you see the introductory screen (the one checking if
you're mature enough to play Leadlight), you know the
game's up and running. Now, mouseclick once anywhere on the
Apple II display area to make sure the emulator has your
browser's focus.
From this point on, you control the game entirely by typing
at the keyboard. If the game ever isn't responding to your
keypresses, you may need to remind your browser to focus on
the game by clicking somewhere on the Apple II's display
again with the mouse.
Remember that when you close a GAME
WINDOW, or surf away
from it, that's as good as turning off the virtual Apple II
computer at the powerpoint, so be sure to save your game
first (if you're using the ActiveGS emulator) if you want
to continue at another time before you exit the game in
this way.
(Remember, when using
the AppleIIGo emulator, you can't save your game.)
WHAT IS A TEXT
ADVENTURE GAME? HOW DO I PLAY LEADLIGHT?
(TOP)
Leadlight
is a text adventure (or
Interactive Fiction), a type of computer game which had
huge commercial popularity during the 1980s. Some classics
of the genre, like Zork (1980) were so challenging that back
in the days before FAQs and the Internet, they could
take players months (or years!) to solve.
Leadlight
is not up at the
Zork
end of the scale. It's
intended to be welcoming to modern gamers who might never
have seen a text adventure before. Leadlight has a simple
two word parser and takes stylistic cues from console
survival horror games like Silent Hill and Resident Evil. It also has RPG elements, combat and
weapons. The game won't take you months to clear, and its
score system is designed to encourage repeat plays.
Coming up is a brief overview of how the game works, but
for complete instructions and advice, you should download
and check out the PDF Leadlight Player
Guide. If
you're a text adventuring newbie, you may need to read
the Player Guide carefully at first and keep it handy to
understand the game's command interface.
Just remember not to
be discouraged if you find it a little strange to start
off with –
you'll get the hang of it in no time. And once you do,
you're equipped to start playing almost any other
Interactive Fiction that's out there. On the other hand,
if you're a veteran adventurer, the Player Guide will
explain how Leadlight differs from other adventures
you've played.
A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF
PLAY (TOP)
During each move, the game tells you where you are (that is
you, Belinda, your character in this story) what you can
see there and what's happening. Like this:
Then it asks: WHAT NOW?
– At the prompt, you tell it
what you want to do next by typing a one or two word
command phrase, then pressing ENTER / RETURN. The first
word is always a verb (a doing word), the second, if used,
a noun (a person, place or thing) – the thing you want to
perform the action on/to. The game ignores any words you
type beyond the first two, and if it doesn't recognise the
verb you used, you'll be reminded with a list of the verbs
you can use.
Some typical command phrases look like this:
GET VEST
(to pick up a vest you
can see)
SMASH
WINDOW (to try to
smash a window)
WIELD
DAGGER (to wield a
dagger you picked up)
ATTACK
VICKY (to attack
Vicky with the weapon you're wielding)
Enter a 'Z' at the prompt to see a list of commands you can
use.
Hit RETURN at the prompt to re-enter your last command.
After each move, you'll be told the results of your actions, where you are now, what's happening now, etc., then you can enter your next command. As you explore, it will probably help if you make a map of the school grounds.
To clear the game you must survive and escape from the situation you find yourself in. You will need to collect weapons, defeat enemies, replenish your HARDINESS (health) with healing items, avoids traps and solve puzzles to remove obstacles from your way. As you make your way through the game doing all of these things, your score will increase, which is a good thing. You can be killed by (a) traps, which you can back out of at cost to your score, or by (b) losing all health in combat, which you can't recover from. You can also SAVE or RESTORE your game position at any time in one of four slots if you're using the ActiveGS emulator online, or playing offline with an emulator of your choice.
For complete instructions, including details on all the game's features, important commands and tips and tricks, you should download and peruse the PDF Leadlight Player Guide.
I'VE PLAYED INTERACTIVE FICTION BEFORE. WHAT FEATURES DO I NEED TO KNOW ABOUT WHICH ARE SPECIFIC TO LEADLIGHT? (TOP)
In summary, Leadlight uses a two words only parser (VERB – NOUN), your character has stats and hit points, and there are specific commands to be used for combat and for hiding from some threats. To switch between the game's two display modes (Verbose and Brief) you should enter the command DISPLAY. You should download the PDF Leadlight Player Guide and take a look at Appendix B, 'FOR PLAYERS WITH PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE OF INTERACTIVE FICTION'. The guide contains information and advice on all features of the game for IF pros and newbies alike.
---TROUBLESHOOTING
WHAT IS THAT CLICKING SOUND I SOMETIMES HEAR WHEN USING THE APPLEIIGO EMULATOR? (TOP)
At this time there is a known bug in AppleIIGo which causes clicks to be heard occasionally through your computer's system sound channel if the emulator is running at any speed faster than 1MHz. I expect this will be fixed in a future version of the emulator (which I am not responsible for), but for now, the only way to stop the clicking if it does bother you is to turn down or mute your system sound. Clicking will be evident at 2MHz (default speed) and obnoxious at 8MHz (cranked speed)
The clicking is 'attached' to the browser window in which you open the emulator, and will stop when that window is closed. If you are using tabbed browsing, clicking may persist in a window even if the tab containing the emulator is closed. If this occurs, simply close the window.
WHY IS THE EMULATOR IGNORING WHAT I TYPE? (TOP)
You might have mouse-clicked on some other part of your web browser window, desktop or another application. To return the focus to the emulator so that your keypresses get sent there again, just click once on the Apple II's display area.
THE EMULATOR DISPLAY DOESN'T SEEM TO FIT IN THE FRAME PROVIDED BY MY CHOSEN SKIN, OR PART OF IT IS MISSING (TOP)
Many web browsers have a Zoom or Scaling option. If the zoom is set to a level greater or smaller than 100%, the Apple II display may not fit properly into your browser window. Set your zoom level to 100% to fix the problem.
I’M PLAYING ONLINE AND THE GAME CRASHED WHEN I TRIED TO SAVE (TOP)
The game directory needs to be in a location on your hard drive for which you have user ‘write’ permissions or you will not able to save the game. Drag the ‘ActiveGS’ directory to your desktop, then launch the ActiveGS application again. This should fix the problem.
I’M PLAYING ONLINE AND MY SAVED GAMES HAVE DISAPPEARED (TOP)
Online saved games are stored on each player’s own computer, so if you visit the website from a different computer, you will not be able to access the first computer’s saved games during that particular session.
Also note that whenever a new version of the game is released, online games saved under previous versions are rendered incompatible and will disappear.
I'M HAVING TROUBLE INSTALLING OR STARTING THE ACTIVEGS EMULATOR (TOP)
The only browser not supported for ActiveGS on this site is Internet Explorer. If you're using IE, you should download a different web browser in order to successfully install ActiveGS and play Leadlight online. For PC users I recommend downloading Firefox or Chrome.
General ActiveGS Troubleshooting (TOP)
Do not run more than one instance of ActiveGS at a time. It can cause weird and buggy behaviour.
Try the following in order if you're having any other troubles installing or starting ActiveGS:
(a) If your OS or browser asks you if you wish to trust the ActiveGS plug-in or allow it to be downloaded, choose "Yes / Allow/ Always"
(b) If your OS or browser ask you if you wish to allow the Leadlight website to continue to load content, choose "Yes / Allow/ Always"
(c) Check the security preferences both in your browser and in your OS. You may need to un-tick some of the most aggressive options to allow ActiveGS to function properly.
(d) After changing settings or granting permissions, if you find things still aren't working, try refreshing your browser window, or actually quitting and restarting your browser before returning to the Leadlight website.
If you still can't get the plug-in running after taking all these steps, I recommend you switch to another web browser as per earlier advice or play offline.
I'M HAVING TROUBLE STARTING THE APPLEIIGO EMULATOR (TOP)
Little can go wrong with the AppleIIGo emulator. You just need to have Java installed for the web browser you're using, and Java tends to be a default part of all web browser installations these days. The only browser incompatible with AppleIIGo is Opera.
Some browsers display a big picture of a coffee cup while Java is loading. Sometimes Java doesn't load quickly enough and the startup procedure hangs, leaving you staring at the coffee cup or a blank area where the Java app should be. If this ever happens to you, just reload/refresh the webpage and it will probably work the second time. The startup load can take up to 15 seconds, and nothing may seem to happen during this time, depending on your browser, so please be patient.
If you try to start up Leadlight using AppleIIGo and a message appears saying "You should see an Apple II here"... you probably need to update your browser with Java.
I'M STUCK IN THE GAME AND I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO NEXT (TOP)
Visit the Get the Hint Sheet page.
HOW CAN I TELL WHICH VERSION / RELEASE OF LEADLIGHT I AM PLAYING? (TOP)
As of version 1.4, the game version number is displayed on the front menu screen before the copyright notice.
In older versions of the game, the version number of the game does not appear on the front menu screen. To see it, you must choose option three, 'Read the credits’, at the main menu. On the third page of credits you will see the version number of the software beneath the copyright notice.
---BACKGROUND INFORMATION
WHY WAS LEADLIGHT PROGRAMMED FOR THE APPLE II? (TOP)
The Apple II is my favourite computer. I grew up with it through the 1980s and 90s, played games on it and programmed it endlessly. I wrote a lot of adventure games for the system in my teens, and a few Eamon games, but by the time I felt my programming skills were starting to really take off, the Apple II had passed out of its popular and commercial heyday.
I had always wanted to write one more Apple II Eamon game with a horror theme, but in adulthood I couldn't find the motivation for the task, given the non-existent audience I expected for the game. This was in the pre-popular Internet phase of the 1990s, before widespread online communities developed, before everyone had e-mail and before there were really practical possibilities to get such a game to lots of people who might like it.
The justification I felt I needed to tackle my old "Apple II horror dream project" came in a curious form and at a curious time, more than a decade later.
I was now producing electronic music as Aeriae, and I had completed a brand new Apple II project to accompany the release of my first album Hold R1. The project was a videoclip for the track AMay animated with Fantavision, a prescient piece of 8-bit software written in 1985 by Scott Anderson.
When it came to preparing my second album Victris, I decided again that I wanted to create something new with the Apple II to potentially accompany the album release. Since the day I’d originally had my horror game idea way back in the 1990s, the entire Survival Horror revolution had occurred in console videogaming. I became excited at the idea of trying to bring the characteristics of these new games to the Apple II, and so I began work on Leadlight in 2009.
The game grew into something much bigger than originally envisioned over its 17 month development period, to the point where it could no longer be considered the accompaniment to anything. It became its own entity.
I like that Leadlight is hardware specific. The 8-bit computers that started the personal computer revolution of the 1980s – the Apple II, the Commodore 64, the Spectrum, etc. – each had their own style, taste and soul. When you play Leadlight, you get to experience the real Apple II flavour.
By producing new material with classic old hardware, I hope to remind myself and everyone else that the possibilities of any good creative tool are governed only by one's willingness to explore those possibilities, not by the age of the tool. And that 8-bit computers like the Apple II are often more fun than what we have today.
WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TEXT ADVENTURES, ADVENTURE GAMES AND INTERACTIVE FICTION? WHICH OF THESE IS LEADLIGHT? (TOP)
Short answer: Minimal difference, and Leadlight is all of these things.
Longer answer: The term Interactive Fiction was coined by Infocom in the 1980s, and described their very complex style of text adventure characterised by their equally advanced command parser that understood whole typed sentences. That style (or at least its parser) continues to be the one used by the majority of modern authors of Interactive Fiction. Other companies producing adventure games with simpler two word parsers back in the 1980s, some with graphics (Sierra On-Line's Mystery House, Cranston Manor, The Wizard and the Princess, etc.), some without (Scott Adams's Adventureland, Voodoo Castle, The Count, etc.), just called their titles 'Adventure Games'. I was better at the older games than I was at Infocom's, but Leadlight shares features with and was inspired by both the older and newer schools. The Eamon engine upon which Leadlight is based began life in 1980, which places it in the same vintage as the earliest home computer adventure games. That engine continued to be updated through the 1990's, and its final Apple II ProDOS incarnation was the programming starting point for Leadlight.
In conclusion, Leadlight is Interactive Fiction, a text adventure game and a standalone Eamon game.
WHY DOES THE APPLEIIGO EMULATOR USE GREEN TEXT ON A BLACK BACKGROUND? (TOP)
The 8-bit Apple II computers can display hi-res graphics in four colours plus black and white. When they try to display purely white text, the characters suffer from colour artifacts induced by quirks of the hardware, which makes them harder to read.
For this reason, Apple II users who wanted easy-to-read text back in the day would usually use either a monochrome monitor or a colour monitor which could be switched to monochrome as required. The most common colour choices for a monochrome display were green or orange. I personally prefer the green, so I have configured the AppleIIGo emulator to simulate the classic green monochrome look.
WHY DOES THE ACTIVEGS EMULATOR USE WHITE TEXT ON A BLUE BACKGROUND? (TOP)
ActiveGS emulates an Apple IIGS, the last and most advanced computer in the Apple II line. The IIGS did away with the colour glitched text display of the previous Apple II's and replaced it with an offering of customisable text, background and border colours, selectable from a palette of 16. The default colour setup was white text on a medium blue background, not unlike the Commodore 64's, and that is what you see when you play Leadlight using ActiveGS.
DEAR SIR, COULD YOU TALK A LITTLE ABOUT THE PROCESS OF CREATING LEADLIGHT? (TOP)
The real challenge of this project was the programming of the game itself. An Apple IIe computer has 128 kB of RAM. Of those 128 kB, fewer than 64 are available to BASIC code like the Eamon engine, and once BASIC and the Apple II's ProDOS operating system have been loaded into memory, the entire game has a workspace available to it of just 35 kB. There is a haiku-like art to making everything function aesthetically and technically in this tiny amount of space. Faced with the RAM constraints, some Apple II programmers have in the past begun to program an Eamon adventure, only to have to abandon it midway after realising they had run out of memory.
I knew that to make Leadlight acceptable to modern gamers, I definitely needed to make it more user-friendly than the Eamons of old. I finally hit upon the primary method for fitting more features into less space – to abuse random disk access. The beauty of this system is that for people who play the game online, the disk access is mostly invisible (drive light icons flash to indicate activity, but players don't have to wait for or hear much of this activity). On a real Apple II, Leadlight will access the disk drive with great frequency. For systems with 5.25 inch disk drives, the game requires two such drives, and that both Leadlight floppies be in the drives at all times. On an unaccelerated Apple IIe, the game will run as slowly as an old, disk intensive Infocom adventure. On real hardware, the game is best suited to be played from a single 3.5 inch floppy on an Apple IIGS, where it sports the IIGS-only 'changing screen colours' feature, and where it can also benefit from the IIGS's Fast speed option.
HOW DO I SEND COMMENTS, QUESTIONS OR BUG REPORTS TO THE AUTHOR? (TOP)
Click the 'Contact' link at the bottom of any page on the Leadlight website to send me an email. I invite and welcome feedback, bug reports, software compatibility reports, etc... pretty much everything except requests for help with Internet Explorer or other unsupported web browsers!
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