Glk/Comprehend

Comprehend
Engine developer	dreammaster, ryiron
Companies that used it	Penguin Software
Games that use it	See Games
Date added to ScummVM	2020-06-03
First release containing it	2.5.0

About

Comprehend is an implementation of the Comprehend/Graphics Magician engines by Polarware used to implement several Penguin Software games:

Games

• Transylvania
• The Crimson Crown
• Oo-Topos
• Talisman: Challenging the Sands of Time

Status

It is currently a work in progress. Please note the following:

• This reimplementation is not aiming for a 100% match to the original. It utilizes the Glk framework to provide for cleaner text display, and provides game screens rendered instantly rather than the slow rendering the originals were forced to do
• As a consequence of the fast rendering, minor graphical animations, like the birds flying in the Transylvania endgame screen, are not shown
• As of this time, only Transylvania, Crimson Crown, and OO-Topos have been announced for testing. Talisman will require further work in the future to be supported
• There was a re-release of Transylvania using the version 2 of the Comprehend engine that OO-Topos and Talisman use. This version is not officially supported yet, and many game screens will not render correctly.

Also as a final note, several more games were later released using an entirely new version of the engine "Comprehend Plus". These games are not being targeted at this time.

Resources

• The Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York, USA has a collection of complete source code for Comprehend games, but it can only be accessed on-site.

External links

• Games legitimately available at the IF-Archive
• Mobygames Comprehend Games list
• History of the Comprehend engine