Lantern started as a utility program I wrote to create me create a text-adventure for the TRS-80 Color Computer as a way of learning 6809 assembly language. As it improved, it appeared that it might be useful in the Computer Information Systems / Game Design class I teach at the Technology Center of DuPage in Addison, IL. Though there are other tools for making text-games, such as Inform 7, TADS, Quest, none had an easy learning curve and could export games to a classic 8-bit computer. Though we have a Color Computer 2, a Commodore 64, and an IBM PC in my classroom, the platform that has worked best is the Apple 2. Once the students have finished their games, I build them and use ADT Pro to write them to floppy disk so we can play them on vintage hardware! The students then have to make the baggie packages for their disks and play-test each other's games. 

Note: I would like to extend my profuse grattitude to Kansas Fest garage and its tradition of the garage give-away. The Apple 2 computer, monitor, and disk drives I was able to get are now back in a high school helping students unlock their creativity. Thank you, Thank you, thank you.