The Wizard and the Princess cover art
Pure Optimizationtext adventure

The Wizard and the Princess

An early text adventure testing fixed-puzzle solving via a two-word parser.

Here's the argument for where this game sits - disagree freely.
Match your experience?
EXECUTION1 /10READS0 /10VARIANCE1 /10OPTIMIZATION8 /10

the cheat-test profile

The four axes - the argument

Each axis is rated on its own - how far one cheat would trivialize the game here. They don't trade off; low on all four means the game is an experience, not a contest.

  1. Execution

    cheat: Aimbot - perfect inputs

    1/10

    Typing commands demands no physical skill

  2. Reads

    cheat: Out-predict an adaptive opponent

    0/10

    Solo text adventure, no opponent

  3. Variance

    cheat: See what's hidden / map the RNG

    1/10

    Solutions are fixed once discovered

  4. Optimization

    cheat: A perfect solver / coach

    8/10

    Solving fixed puzzles and parser commands is the whole game

How to read this

Each axis is named by the cheat that would break the game along it. Execution is the hands. Reads is out-thinking an adaptive opponent. Variance is hidden information & RNG. Optimization is the solvable systems layer. A game's region is the top one or two axes.

These four aren't one rating split four ways - they're independent 0-10 questions. A 9 on one axis takes nothing from the others, and a game low on all four isn't missing data: it's telling you there's no skill here to cheat.

The basis is how the majority actually plays this game - not a niche mode or a personal run. For a game with very different modes (a story campaign versus ranked multiplayer), that's the version most people mean.

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Game details

Released
1980
Developer
On-Line Systems
Platforms
Atari8bit, PC-9800 Series, PC-8800 Series, C64, DOS, Apple][, FM-7
Modes
Single player
IGDB users
57/100
AdventureFantasy