Jason Dyer has a blog called All the Adventures (opens in new tab) (via RPS (opens in new tab)), where he intends to play and write about every text adventure ever created from the beginning! This is, of course, the CRPG Addict. This is, of course, a brilliantly doomed undertaking, just like CRPG Addict's impossible quest to complete all CRPGs chronologically, but that's why it's so great. Right now Dyer is playing and blogging about Ferret (opens in new tab), an obscure sci-fi adventure from 1982.

The original Ferret was made for the Data General Nova, a 16-bit minicomputer, and only the DOS version, released as a free download by the original author in 2009, was available for PC. Ferret's anonymous creator, who worked for Data General's UK division, explained that their game was "developed in phases, so the game's architecture allowed them to add phases in stages (opens in new tab). They then continued development and the update ended with a "final feature release (opens in new tab) that included the end game" uploaded on August 15, 2022.

This means that it took 40 years from the first version of Ferret to the version with endgame, which may technically be a record for the "longest time a game has been in development." Beyond Good and Evil 2", good luck updating it.

As Dyer points out, Ferret has 3,449 objects and 1,785 rooms (though not all of them are reachable by the player). For comparison, the original "Zork" has 60 objects and 110 rooms, while "A Mind Forever Voyaging" has 30 objects and 178 rooms. (a collaboration of 84 designers), but it's a big game. And it will take time for any player to finish it. It is an old-fashioned puzzle game of trial and error, and usually you realize your mistake by dying.

If you still want to try Ferret for yourself, be aware that Windows doesn't like official downloads and will flag it as a Trojan horse. Fortunately, Dyer has prepared a minimal download (open in new tab) that Windows will not conitnue. After downloading these files, you will want to run ferret.bat because ferret.exe will launch a version that will instantly close the window when you die. ferret.bat will stay in the parser and by typing "ferret" and restarting You can start over; remember that the "save [filename]" and "restore [filename]" commands are your friends.