Pieces of Eight

I rediscovered a little treasure today that I thought I'd lost.

In 1985 I was given the job of establishing a team of developers to make software for education. We were given quite a free rein with our initial projects and I chose to design an adventure game. I'd been a fan of cliffhanger serials since I was a kid and particularly loved pirates. I'd also been playing adventure games for some years so decided to combine my passions.

I remember sitting down with a sketch book, a set of Rotring pens and some coloured pencils. I drew a very small map of what I considered to be a classic island on which to have an adventure. As I drew the map I created the broad narrative for the story. That little map was the beginning of the project. It was photocopied and enlarged, used to create a 'room map' to assist in refining the game logic, featured as a map in the software guide, appeared as an interactive map on screen, and was a turned into a wall poster.

Pieces of Eight went on to be one of the most successful software games ever developed for schools in Australia and was released for Apple II, BBC Micro, Commodore 64, IBM PC and later Macintosh computers. It won awards and was shown around the world. It really made my name and led me to a career in software development and multimedia. So that original map is a special little thing.

I cut it out of the sketch book and pinned it up on my noticeboard for a few years, and when I moved on it came with me and sort of hung about my offices. A few years ago now, when I left my last job to start my own business it disappeared and until last night I thought I'd left it behind.

I'm writing a paper on creativity and went looking for a particular volume of poetry in my bookshelves. I'm not even sure what made me choose that book - a sixth sense I guess, because tucked away between the pages was my little map. I have no idea why I put it there - because it must have been me. I haven't touched that book in years.

It was a feeling of absolute delight to find it, not that it's particularly impressive, certainly not valuable and hardly going to change my life now - but I know it did then. That little thing represents a tipping point in my professional life and just having it again will allow me to more completely retell the story to others.

Comments

[Paul]

That's right Ryan. Your dad was a very good friend and colleague. He received beta copies of the game before it was released. You boys probably played with those.

[Ryan]

For all those nostalgia fans, it seems Pieces of Eight is available on a virtual Apple emulator here!

Thanks to my brother (Daniel) in earlier comments for bringing this to my attention

As he said, our dad worked for Apple in the eighties and we had a IIGS at home and played this game alot at home, and later at primary school as well (some years later probably)

http://www.virtualapple.org/piecesofeightdisk.html

[Matt]

Hi Paul,

Our entire primary school used to play this game during the 1980s.

Whenever the teacher announced we were going to the computer lab (all Apple IIe machines) – the whole class would excitedly yell in unison "Pieces of Eight!" I can actually recall what that sounded like.

I would dearly love to play this game again. Do you know where I can get a copy?

Thanks,

Matt

[Paul H]

That's amazing Michael. That's about 14 years after it was released. We did do a Mac version in the very late eighties but I didn't think it was distributed widely. I saw your comments on the LinkedIn group as well. I found a working Apple II version which I have sent on to fellow group member Peter 'Wonko' Whitehouse. Peter has got it up and running.

Still no luck tracking down a PC version though. We'll keep trying.

[Michael]

I remember playing this game when I was in primary school, when it was running on an iMac (Mac OS 9). It was actually back in 1999. I'd really love to find a copy of this for the IBM PC!

[Fodi Dervidis]

Hi
I also played POEin primary school. I was 12 at the time and Im 30 now. I played it on the classroom's apple IIe.

a friend and I spent many a lunch hour playing it. We eventually did finish it, though we did get access to the teaching material about half way through the game. Having the map made life eas. Until then we were trying to hand draw a map as we explored.

A couple of parts still come to mind:
1 the grotto. As someone noted earlier it was the first time I'd heard the word. I remember having to "go down" to the grotto.
2. Near the end of the game you came upon a waterfall. You had to walk across a ledge. I died a few times until I walked across is slowly :)

It's kind of surreal stumbling across this site. Your game really helped me get into computing. I think what you did with supplying complimentary teaching material was revolutinary!

Oh I was at Corinda primary school

[Daniel]

Were you involved in another adventure game involving a downed plane in the jungle? I recall it had a similar interface but with graphics also!

I loved Pieces of Eight, my father worked for the Byte Centre in Milton, Brisbane and I believe my brother and I may have played these games before they made it to schools.

I recall learning about the word "grotto" from this game! What a blast from the past.

[Edward]

Any copies avaliable? I have been trying to download one for a long time now. This game is awesome! I am a big fan

[Rock]

I used to play this game in primary school too. I came across this blog while searching for the original game for my kids now so they could learn and enjoy too. Has anyone got an idea on where to get? Perhaps the author?

[aaron]

omg could this possibly be a game i (played in primary school 1994-2000)
you had to like find a treasure, collect items in your inventory and there was a map element. memory of it is soo hazy, but i remember there was an area with leeches and if u didnt have salt or something theyd kill you...
is there any place i could get this? thx

[tara]

I loved this game sooo much. We had a lab of commodore 64s. great to hear about it again. and if anyone knows where to get a copy I'd love to reminisce too.

[Paul]

That's great to know. You must have been one of the very first players. What school were you at? I actually began designing Pieces of Eight II, but it never saw the light of day. I did rediscover the map though a few months ago. Might post it here for fun.

[ersatz]

I remember playing this game at school back in 3rd grade (1985) on an Apple II. Thanks for the memories!

[Ryan Petie]

Hello Paul.

I used to play Pieces of Eight religiously in primary school. I was Googling for long time trying to find any reference to it.

Do you still have a copy of the game? And could you possibly email it to me? I'd love to reminisce.

Thanks, mate.

Ryan.

[moon]

no wonder i like this story of LOST-FOUND NONexsisting map!

thanks for sharing