The Soft Rock Software ‘Collection’ – available on USB flash drive or CD – has been refreshed for a second edition, which will be available at the new RISC OS North event on Saturday, 29th March in Warrington.
The Collection gathers together all of the software currently available to download for free from Soft Rock’s website, and adds more to it. The first edition included a number of budget games written by Vince Hudd from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s, website maintenance tool WebChange and its little brother Seek’n’Link, and a few other things besides.
The second edition adds a few more items to it, including the in-development ‘demo’/’test’ version of a Drop Rock sequel. Two versions can be found in the collection:
- A playable version, featuring new graphics, and a small number of new levels, which makes use of the code from the 1994 version.
- An early demo of the new code. This is just a simple ‘rolling’ demo, which displays the levels one after another – but shows off the even newer graphics.
However, the two ‘headline’ additions to the Collection are:
- The full 2021 commercial release of Escape from Exeria. In its original form this was the first game published by Soft Rock Software – a 40 level game in which you explore each maze, opening up new routes, all the while avoiding the guards. With brand new graphics and running at 1920×1080 pixels, making it ideal for modern machines, the 2021 version expands on the original game by doubling the number of levels, and adding a new twist from level 41.
Escape from Exeria is also available separately on CD if you don’t want to buy the collection. The first edition of the collection includes a work-in-progress version of the 2021 release. - A new version of Trellis – the Adventure Interpreter (now known as TrellisAI). Although still a work in progress (and should therefore be considered beta) a new ‘builder’ component has been written for Trellis. The interpreter program itself is a slightly tweaked version, based on the one used to create the adventure game Quicksand.
TrellisAI is not currently available separately.
Edition 2 of the Soft Rock Software Collection will be available at the show on USB flash drive or CD for £15.00 including VAT. A limited number of edition 1 CDs will also be available for £5.00, and Escape from Exeria can be purchased separately on CD, also priced at £5.00.
