XYZZYnews
July/August 1996 Issue #10
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HOLLOW VOICE
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My devoted 'zine readers may remember that I've been IF-deprived -- not
to mention sleep-deprived and social life-deprived -- because of the book
I've been writing. I'm happy to report that "The Essential Photoshop Book"
(Prima Publishing, ISBN: 0-7615-0695-0) is finally on its way to print.
Woo-hoo! :)
And just in time too, because I'm glad to be able to join in on the
collaborative "let's make an IF CD" project proposed by Andrew Plotkin on
the Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.int-fiction.
The CD proposal seems a natural extension of a couple of other recent
r.a.i-f threads on whether IF game authors can make money and how to
market or publicize this game category. Currently, the plans call for
soliciting games (each author will receive an equal share of profits);
producing a small batch of several hundred CDs (is there an equivalent
term for "print run" that relates to CDs?); printing documentation;
marketing; and overseeing sales and distribution.
I'm way excited about the project and the opportunities it presents for
long-distance collaboration. Just by following the newsgroup posts, you
can see that there are already IF fans from several different countries
and -- luckily -- with different areas of expertise joining the effort.
I don't know who will be organizing sales, but at this point I'd say if
you're interested in contributing to the project or placing an order,
Andrew Plotkin (
[email protected]) should be the point person on that.
In other news, this issue addresses the impact of Activision's new
graphical adventure game set in the Zork universe, Zork Nemesis.
Interviewer Matt Newsome spoke with a couple of key members of Zork
Nemesis' development team -- and then separately with several of the old
Infocom implementors, including Marc Blank, Dave Lebling and Steve
Meretzky. Andrew Pontius describes in a "Tales from the Code Front" story
the difficulties he faced in trying to program in TADS singular objects
that are referred to in the plural (e.g., scissors). C.E. Forman
contributes a song parody that should appeal to any IF fan familiar with
the TV cartoon show "Animaniacs," and the usual "Top 10 Picks for IF on
the Web," letters, and game reviews are included as well.
Until next issue, happy gaming!
Eileen Mullin
[email protected]
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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Contents:
* Top 10 Picks for IF on the Web
* Letters
* XYZZYnews Talks to The Zork Nemesis Developers
* More Interviews with the Infocommies
* Tales from the Code Front: Scissors, Pants, Glasses, and Yahoos
* Yakko's IF World (a song parody)
* Game Reviews:
Zork Nemesis
Lost New York
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LEGALESE
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XYZZYnews is published bimonthly by Bran Muffin Communications,
160 West 24th Street, # 7C, New York, NY 10011, USA.
Email:
[email protected].
URL:
http://www.interport.net/~eileen/design/xyzzynews.html
Send all inquiries, letters, and submissions to any of the addresses
above.
Contents (c) 1996 XYZZYnews.
All rights reserved. Published in the United States of America.
Electronic versions: There are currently three versions of XYZZYnews
made available online. One is in ASCII and can be viewed with any text
reader. You can also download a .PDF file that mirrors the layout of the
print version. Use the Adobe Acrobat Reader (available for Windows, Mac,
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pub/adobe/applications/Acrobat folder, or follow the links from their
Web page at
http://www.adobe.com. Thirdly, you can also read this issue
of XYZZYnews on the World Wide Web at
http://www.interport.net/~eileen/xyzzy.10.html
Subscriptions: Both electronic versions are available at no cost. You can
obtain either one by FTPing to ftp.gmd.de. To be added to the mailing list,
please write to
[email protected] and specify text-only or .PDF version.
The print version includes a 3.5" Mac or PC disk and is $21 (U.S.) for one
year (6 issues) or $3.50 for a sample issue.
For print subscriptions outside the U.S. or Canada, please email or write
for rates.
All products, names, and services are trademarks or registered trademarks
of their respective companies.
Editorial deadline for Issue #11 is August 31, 1996.
Editor:
Eileen Mullin
Contributors to this issue:
Rob Daviau
C.E. Forman
Matt Newsome
Andrew Pontious
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July/August Top 10 Picks for IF on the World Wide Web
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A Mazing Tale
http://www.entertain.com/creeper/
CNET gamecenter: outlaw gaming guide: Zork Nemesis
http://www.cnet.com/Gamecenter/Guide/Zork/
Gamers Site: UHS (Universal Hint System) Files
http://www.nitehawk.dk/KOLSTRUP/gsuhs.html
Gav and Peloso's Interactive Story
http://www.nuc.berkeley.edu/neutronics/gav/wayfarence/welcome.html
Hot Software: text adventures to download
http://www.worldvillage.com/wv/gamezone/html/downloa2.htm
'Invisiclues' for Andrew Plotkin's game So Far (written by Lucian Smith)
http://www.bioc.rice.edu/~lpsmith/IF/sofar.html
NeoText Software Home Page (Philip Dearmore)
http://www.eskimo.com/~morbeus/neotext.html
Python Universe Builder
http://www-acs.ucsd.edu/~jstrout/python/pub/index.htm
Quest Home Page
http://www.cae.wisc.edu/~masters/quest/quest.html
The Virtual Mystery Theater
http://www.coolsite.com/intro.html
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LETTERS
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Greetings XYZZYnews!,
I have just read your newsletter for the first time, and I found it very
interesting. Keep up the good work!
I have always wanted to be either a writer or a game designer, and now with
my finding of IF, I can now be both. I have AGT Master edition, and so far
I have written three games on it, MY1STGAME, MYGAME, and MYWORLD, all of
which were more or less getting to known AGT. I am now working on my 1st
public release (no title yet) and so far AGT has done everything I could
dream up to put into my games. I believe that if you have a good idea to
start with, and take the time to do it right AGT can make wonderful games,
but I have only played 2 TADS games before and 1 .z5 game, so I might be
missing something. Could you clear me up on the difference in AGT and other
IF languages?
Steve
[email protected]
Let me steer you towards the "Which System is Better?" FAQ maintained by
Bob Newell and posted on GMD at ftp.gmd.de/if-archive/info/whichsys.zip,
which does a much better job of succinctly outlining the pros and cons of
the various text adventure systems than I could. -- EM
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Eileen,
Just wanted to say excellent work! Love XYZZYnews -- I look forward to
each issue and have been since issue #4 (I did go back and get 1-3 but
just "discovered" XYZZYnews at issue #4). Thanx for all the hard work
you put in to getting us each issue.
Dave
[email protected]
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Dear Eileen:
A weeks ago, I read first time XYZZYnews, and find it very interesting.
Maybe I must introduce myself...my name is Juan J. Munoz, and I'm the
director of the most important (besides the older) adventurers club in
Spain, the CAAD.
CAAD stands for "Club de Aventuras AD" (AD Adventures Club). Aventuras AD
were the principal programming group of adventures in Spain, and we start
as an extension of them, but now we're at our own.
We have a publication too (or a fanzine), and I'm very interested in the
process you follow for make the .PDF version, because we need a PC reader
based version of CAAD, and this seems a good way to do it.
Well, this is all by now. Is good see that the spirit of the adventure is
still alive!
See you!
Juan
[email protected]
P.S. Excuse my poor English...I learned it playing adventures! 8-D
Here's how I go about creating the .PDF file for each issue: I first lay
out the 'zine using the QuarkXpress page layout program, then print it
to a PostScript file. I try to keep the file size low by limiting the
number of fonts and graphics I use in the Quark file. I use Adobe's
Acrobat Distiller to convert the PostScript file to a .PDF file. -- EM
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Hi, Eileen.
I've been playing Infocom games for years. I am stuck in two different
games though. Is there an online hints site somewhere, other than the
great "Spoiler Column" in your newsletter??? Thanks for your help!
Kelly Martin
[email protected]
Let me point you towards the solutions subdirectory of the IF archives
on GMD; there you'll find a number of walkthroughs for all the Infocom
games and a bunch of other text adventures. I bet you'd also get a fast
response by posting a specific question about the game you're stuck in
to the Usenet newsgroup rec.games.int-fiction. -- EM
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To XYZZYnews:
I finally fixed the Panic!! bug! [Sneak Previews, XYZZYnews #9]. Rejoice,
rejoice, and all other rejoice-related activities! The reason for that
bug, however, is because I didn't define something that I never used.
Sounds strange? (Sounds like a holdover from Turbo Pascal, if you ask me!)
Anyway, I expect Panic!! to be finished by the second week of August, and
Panic!! 2 to be finished near the end. As you said in the preview, it's
still FunWare and it's still a US10$ registration cost for Panic!! 2.
Colin Marshall
[email protected]
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Hi Eileen,
Do know where I can get a map of the Colossal Cave in the original Stanford
version of the adventure game? Thanks,
John
[email protected]
I really don't know; can anyone else suggest where to look? -- EM
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To XYZZYnews:
I'm looking to get into downloading some files to help me be able to write
my own interactive fiction on my powermac. Do you know where I can get TADS
or Inform?
The ftp.gmd site never lets me in without authorization and I don't know
where else to go. Help! I think I can make a real contribution to IF. Thanks.
Chris Kubica
[email protected]
You can access the IF archives on GMF via anonymous FTP, which means you
don't need to enter a password. When you connect to an FTP site via AOL,
just uncheck the checkbox that asks for an authorized name and password.
-- EM
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Hi there!
My name's Megan Peard, and I've been enjoying looking through XYZZYnews
plus other interactive game stuff, and hope you can help. I'm looking for
an ancient interactive fiction game called "Mystery House" which I used
to play on an Apple IIE back in 1984. If anyone can help, please reply!!
Megan Peard
[email protected]
Phil Darnowsky offered the following solution to this question: The easiest
way is to get an Apple II emulator from ftp.asimov.net, along with a file
called mystery.dsk from the same site. Hope this helps. :) -- EM
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Hello Eileen,
I think this adventure, "Planetfall: The Search For Floyd" escaped me
somehow. Have you heard of it? Steve Meretzky wrote it and it looks like
"Infocom" released it sometime in 1995, or perhaps it never came out.
Sigh!
Thank you.
Susan
[email protected]
This game is still vaporware from Activision so far. If and when it's
finally released, you'll certainly hear about it on the r.a.i-f and
r.g.i-fnewsgroups... and in XYZZYnews! -- EM
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Reviving an Old Tradition: The AGT Contest Returns
From the stuff I've read here in XYZZYnews, AGT is not quite dead. I know
there are more AGT authors out there besides myself. I'm going to hold a
new AGT programming contest this year, and this one's gonna blow the
previous ones away! I know this is coming in light of the IF competition,
but I feel that the IF competition is biased against AGT games. Here are
the new rules:
1. Instead of a $100 prize, I feel that each game should have a $5 entry
fee. Winner takes all. This change is due to the fact that we have no
sponsor! Softworks is long gone.
2. Games must qualify before they can be judged. In too many of the previous
contests, I felt I was judging the best of the worst, so this year I'm going
to try my hardest to weed out the bad stuff. Why the bother, you ask? Well,
it's those cruddy AGT games that reflect people's opinion of AGT, and at
the moment, there are too many bad games outweighing good ones. So, my plan
is to help the authors of unqualifying games personally, as an advisor.
The qualifying deadline will be April 1st, 1997.
3. After the deadline, the games will be shipped out to my chosen judges.
(e-mail me if you're interested in being a judge.) The judges will rate
the games and the winner will be announced on July 1, 1997. The games will
then be released to the IF archive (Unless author requests otherwise), and
the next contest will begin.
4. Send your hopeful games to me, via E-mail, including AGT source code.
Or, if you prefer, send by snail mail to: AGT Contest, 146 Oakland Ave.,
Pawtucket, RI 02861.
I, in return will send you back one of two things:
A.) A letter saying that your game qualified.
B.) A letter explaining why your game didn't qualify, and the things you
might change to make the game qualify. Only upon qualification will you
be required to pay $5 to the winning pot. So, AGT authors, break out your
graph paper, notebooks, thinking caps, and AGT compilers, (Classic 1.7,
Big 1.7, or Master's 1.6. Classic 1.83 not allowed.) and get ready for the
AGT 1997 contest!
-- Kevin Soucy
[email protected]
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STRIVING FOR GOTHIC CHILL, NOT A HUMOROUS TOUCH
XYZZYnews interviews the Zork Nemesis developers
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Matt Newsome (
[email protected]) conducted the following interview
with Cecilia Barajas, producer, and Laird Malamed, technical director, of
Activision's Zork Nemesis.
XYZZYnews: Cecilia, Laird, thanks very much for agreeing to participate
in this interview. Perhaps I could start by asking each of you to explain
your role in relation to Zork Nemesis and your current projects. Were you
involved with the development of any other Infocom/Zork games?
Cecilia Barajas: I was the director/producer of Zork Nemesis. Before that,
I was an associate producer on [the Mac version of] Return to Zork.
Laird Malamed: I was the technical director of Zork Nemesis. I was in
charge of overseeing all of the programming as well as various other
technical aspects of the game. I helped on design and production. I will
be directing the next Zork game.
XYZZYnews: Did you play any of the original Infocom interactive fiction
works prior to embarking on the new project? Were you a fan during the
early days?
CB: Yes, I did. I am a big fan of the early Zorks.
LM: I first played C&W's Adventure on a mainframe at my Uncle's bank in
1978. I then played almost all of the early games from Infocom (Zork I-III,
Deadline, Enchanter, Suspended, Planetfall, etc...) as well as others (does
anyone remember Broderbund's Kabul Spy?) on my Apple II. When I started
at Activision (January 1995), I replayed the first three Zork's. I also
played Ballyhoo and Infidel on my Psion during my vacation over the summer.
XYZZYnews: Was that for research purposes or for pleasure?
CB: I played the games originally for pleasure. I replayed them later for
both pleasure and research.
LM: More for pleasure. But I was looking for research as well.
XYZZYnews: Do you have a favorite Infocom game?
CB: Zork 1.
LM: My favorite game is Zork III. Funny, I really disliked it the first
time I played it. I even wrote a letter to Infocom telling them why it
wasn't so great. I got back a reply from Marc Blank telling me my spelling
was horrible. I was 14. Playing it later in life, I really appreciate it.
I also like Lurking Horror a lot as it takes place in a very MIT setting.
XYZZYnews: It's interesting to hear the name "Lurking Horror" come up
because I, for one, feel that Nemesis has more in common with that work
than Zork -- especially in terms of that "gothic chill" when you're
playing it! There's also, of course, the Department of Alchemy in Lurking
Horror and alchemy is essentially the core theme in Nemesis. Despite the
success of this horror approach, one element of Zork that I felt was
missing in Nemesis was humor! You can't get very far through the original
Zork without grinning at something -- whether it's the adventurer on the
other side of the mirror, or being eaten by a grue, there's a fairly
liberal injection of humorous comments throughout. Was this a deliberate
move -- to make the game more immersive, for example?
CB: Yes. I must say initially I thought about moving in more humor, but
felt concerned that this would break the spell of being in a serious
environment and undermine any immersivity.
One of the great things about text is that it allows you to play with
tone. A lot of the humor in the early Zorks was in the computer responses
to your mistakes. In this way, the creators were able to preserve a mood
of an environment but interject humor. They were also able to control the
type of humor so that it would generally stay on the side of hip and
ironic, instead of hokey and stupid. Since I was working in the world of
graphics, I didn't have this tool. Ultimately, however, I wanted the game
to immerse the player in a surreal, credible alternate universe and
believed too much humor would detract from that experience.
LM: Well, there's lots of humor in Nemesis as well. The books have some
of it. Others are in the live action pieces or the diaromas. The game does
lack the pun based humor of Return to Zork, and may not be as overtly
humorous as Zork I-III, but that was the nature of the story.
XYZZYnews: I noticed that, unlike the last Zork title, "Return to Zork",
the originators of Zork were not credited or acknowledged in the
documentation for this game. To what extent do you feel the new game owes
a debt of gratitude to the original Infocom staff?
CB&LM: The fact that they were not credited was in no way meant to cast
any disrespect on their influence and importance in the Zork series, if
not the computer games business. To us, the Zork universe not only created
a powerful world, its birth was a seminal moment in the history of all
computer games. At the risk of sounding hokey, we not only believe Zork
Nemesis owes these creators a debt of gratitude, but so do all computer
(especially adventure) games.
XYZZYnews: So were the original Infocom staff consulted or asked to join
development at any stage?
CB&LM: Not really.
XYZZYnews: Do you feel the new graphical medium lacks any elements which
were present in the original text-only medium?
CB: I believe the most powerful medium is "the word." Graphical games are
woefully lacking the power of the text adventure. Think about the power
of words. In a text adventure, I can say things like, "You suddenly feel
a shiver run through your spine. The stench of death is overpowering." Can
I even come close to expressing this through graphics or sound? No way.
The reality is that those of us working with graphics and sound, can only
struggle to use these tools in a way that comes close to the power of words.
LM: Yeah, we can't be as subtle. Everything is more or less in the open
for discovery immediately. This makes the wrong answer feedback harder to
do. Also, the wrong answers typically require more art and sound, which is
expensive. There is also the narrator's voice (or world's voice) that is
missing from the way first-person games work which was part of the text
tradition. However, the ability to present fully visual elements, like
narrative scenes, cool animations and the such are tools that we gain.
XYZZYnews: So what do you personally feel was the project's greatest
success?
CB: I think the game's biggest success was in creating an immersive,
compelling world with a strong, non-linear story.
LM: The story is very real and complex. I think the game tells an
interesting and intriguing tale that keeps people playing. I also am proud
of the Z-vision engine, and its new navigation style. I think the freedom
of movement offers a lot and allows us to show more of the environment
while giving players freedom to explore as they wish.
XYZZYnews: What is your long-term vision of computer games in the
adventure/interactive fiction genre?
CB&LM: If you are including graphical adventures in this question, our
belief is that this genre will continue to be strong. We both like
first-person, immersive adventure games so we hope these will continue to
evolve as well.
XYZZYnews: Is any Zork related merchandise available?
CB&LM: Yes, we have a strategy guide currently available. There is also
a new Infocom Masterpieces collection coming onto the market and we might
do other products such as a CD or a calendar.
XYZZYnews: Interesting! What type of material might appear on the CD and
calendar?
LM: Well, nothing is for certain, but the CD would contain the ambient
music and maybe some of the live action cues. Both the CD and Calendar
would have images from the game as well.
XYZZYnews: Was the game a commercial success?
CB&LM: Yes.
XYZZYnews: Is there going to be a follow up? If so, has any kind of time
scale been suggested for the next game?
CB&LM: There will be a follow up game although the schedule has not been
solidified yet.
XYZZYnews: So, we can expect to see other games using the Z-Vision engine?
CB&LM: Yes you can -- but we dare not say more.
XYZZYnews: Fair enough! In terms of design, how did you go about devising
the theme and puzzles? Was it a one man show, or did a whole team of
designers contribute?
CB: Initially, I came up with a core feel and tone to the game. I then
worked with a writer and designer to start evolving the story. As we
expanded the story, we then started to create the "puzzle landscapes" and
weave them into the story so that they would spring out of the narrative.
This went on for a few months and we came up with an alpha design. That
design went under massive revisions. I revised where I thought puzzles
were weak -- working with people on my internal team. Revisions were a
fairly informal process. I'd sit in my office with Laird or with Will
Westwater and we'd discuss a puzzle its strength, weakness and then start
hashing out possibilities. We devoted an extreme amount of attention to
the puzzles, making sure they were fair and integrated. Before we went
into production, we paper tested the design, and from this we made another
set of revisions. Play balancing is something we did until the very end.
LM: Cecilia and Mark Long did the initial major design. Additional design
was done by other members of the team.
XYZZYnews: As a computer science major, I'd be interested, as I'm sure
others would, to hear what kind of systems you used to develop Nemesis --
did you use a standard language like C and develop the Z-Vision engine,
or was it built up from assembler?
CB: Z-Vision was built using C++ for the core engine with bits of assembly
thrown in for optimization. A scripting tool was created using Visual Basic
for the puzzle and node based game logic.
LM: Z-Vision is written in C++ with some C code as well. The core engine
is a small application that was compiled in Visual C++. The game itself
is programmed with a language we created (DouglaScript), that is generated
by a graphical Visual Basic world builder. All of the scripts are in text
and are easily editable, although they are stored in a special way so we
easily change syntax or add parameters. This allows for flexibility and
a low memory footprint at runtime.
XYZZYnews: To what do you attribute the continued interest in text-based
interactive fiction? Are you surprised that a small group continue to reject
the latest offerings in favor of these?
CB: I think people are interested in text-based interactive fiction
because it is a totally compelling interactive experience. I think one of
the things that happened with the advent of "wow" graphics and sound, was
that people quickly grabbed the eye candy, leaving some of the satisfying
and meaty (but not so immediately glamourous) text adventures behind. More
and more mass consumers came into the market at this time -- these people
had never even heard of text adventures and were therefore less inclined
to play them. One of the things I sincerely hope is that Zork Nemesis will
encourage people to go back and play the early Zorks and help revitalize a
genre that I believe will always be powerful.
LM: I am not terribly surprised. I still like playing the old games
because they are so well written. Also, I like to read a lot, so they
present two of my interests simultaneously -- gaming and reading. Further,
because of TADs and Inform, etc., many people can create games for many
platforms without lots of outlay of cash or resources.
XYZZYnews: Laird, you mentioned earlier that you're familiar not only
with Psions (which lots of XYZZYnews readers use to play the games when
commuting), but also with Inform and TADS. Have either of you ever written
a text adventure with one of these toolkits or even your own systems?
LM: I have written some basic stuff with Inform, but only to experiment.
I hope to get more into it over the summer. I have written small adventures
back in the Apple II days.
XYZZYnews: Cecilia, you mentioned that you feel games using graphics and
sound have a harder job creating a convincing game world than their purely
textual counterparts. Were elements of Nemesis, such as the books lying
around and the library, included to try to harness some of this power?
CB: Yes and no. I believe text adventures are a totally different genre
-- the buzz of playing a text adventure is very different than the buzz
of reading a book. So having a lot of books in the Nemesis world I wasn't
trying to create the text adventure buzz, but I was trying to harness the
power of the written word as a narrative device.
I could ramble on and on about the method of creating narrative in
a graphical adventure game, but one of my approaches is to "seed" the
world with packets of narrative where the player can discover potent bits
of story. One of the ways I did this seeding in Nemesis was through video
hallucinations, another was through the text passages. Text is great
because you get a lot of narrative bang for your buck.
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More Interviews With The Infocommies
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The following interviews Matt Newsome conducted with Marc Blank, Dave
Lebling and Steve Meretzky of Infocom fame, were compiled from a number of
email exchanges during the spring of 1996. Marc and Dave were the credited
authors of the original Zork game, while Steve furthered the saga with
Zork Zero. Matt started by asking them how they felt about other people
furthering the Zork story...
Marc Blank: I'm pleased that there is still interest in the Zork universe,
and somewhat surprised whenever I hear people express continued delight
with the old text-only games.
Dave Lebling: I don't particularly feel they're "maintaining" the saga,
other than to keep the Zork name before a public that has mostly forgotten
text adventures. What Activision is doing is exploiting a well-known
trademark that they own. They're certainly entitled to do this, but I get
somewhat the same feeling as I do when I hear someone is making a sequel
to Casablanca.
On the other hand, if they asked me to do it (or Marc, or Brian, or
Steve) that might be another matter. Then they'd at least get a legitimate
perversion of the original.
This is not to run down the creative efforts of the people who have
worked on their new games -- I'm not one of those who think things like
the Star Trek "franchise" books are evil. You can do good work even within
those limitations.
Steve Meretzky: Well, even though I had a hand in developing the Zork
universe, I certainly came in years after its birth, so far be it from me
to say that no one besides the original creators should work within that
universe. If that were so, I never would've have gotten a chance to write
Sorcerer and Zork Zero. I would say that people continuing the saga is a
good thing as long as they spend the time to become thoroughly familiar
with the earlier games and remain true to their spirit.
XYZZYnews: Have you played Return to Zork or Zork Nemesis? If so, do you
feel they accomplish the kind goals you were striving for in Infocom's
games? Assuming you have played the graphical Zorks, do you feel they are
progressing in the direction you would like, or are they losing the plot
(sorry, bad pun!)?
Blank: I played RTZ for a short while, and felt it was a great victory
for style over substance. And, although the interface was highly touted
at the time, I thought it was particularly clumsy. I might try Zork Nemesis
if somebody would send me a copy, but I certainly don't have enough interest
to purchase the game.
My sense, from talking to Zork Nemesis' producer, is that there was
every intention to follow the direction taken in the original zork games,
though I am more than a little skeptical. However, since I haven't played
the game, it wouldn't be fair to comment further.
Lebling: I've played Return to Zork, which I thought was a flawed but
ambitious attempt at a graphic adventure. It didn't really have much to do
with Zork, of course. The puzzles were pretty lame, the acting was awful,
there was no story. However, on the plus side they were trying to do
something big and interesting. Like many first attempts, it wasn't that
awesome. I haven't played Zork: Nemesis yet, but I plan to. I've heard
reasonably good things about it, so I'm actually more-or-less looking
forward to it.
I think they are attempting to be good graphical adventure games.
This is not the same thing as being a good Zork game. There's no inherent
reason why one can't write a good graphical Zork, but the "goals," if any,
of the Zork series had more to do with creating an immersive environment
that projected the illusion of complete responsiveness and flexibility.
The idea was "interactive fiction," not "interactive movies." An "interactive
movie" _can_ be "interactive fiction," but most interactive movies aren't
even terrifically interactive.
As the graphical component of the games has taken over, the
interactivity and responsiveness have dropped. We tried to make our games
understand anything (taking the word "anything" with several large grains
of salt, of course) that the user could type in.
A major issue in adventure games is always communication between
the game and the player. We tried to solve the "guess the word" problem
by widening the communication channel. Graphic games "solve" it by narrowing
the channel. This is too bad.
Meretzky: I played Return to Zork to the end. I have only played Zork
Nemesis for an hour or so, not getting beyond the temple. In addition,
I've read a few reviews and walkthroughs. I thought that Return to Zork
was particularly weak in matching the visual feel of the Zork Universe; it
was too modern, not fantasy-ish enough, and not very "quirky". There were
a few good puzzles, but most were pretty mediocre. The acting was pretty
awful, and the story was pretty uncompelling, and was confusingly told. On
the other hand, the interface was excellent, and the music was among the
best I've heard in an adventure game.
Based on the little I saw, Zork Nemesis: was visually somewhat
closer to my mental image of the Zork universe. The panoramic view of
locations is far superior to RTZ's sudden 90 degree or 180 degree turns.
On the other hand, the interface is far shallower than RTZ; they lobotomized
many of the best features of the RTZ interface. Also, they appear to have
completely thrown out character interaction! Design decisions appear to be
completely driven by Myst-imitation syndrome, rather than keeping what
worked well in RTZ and improving on it. Also, while RTZ has some of the
humor of the original Zorks, ZN seems to have none. Based on what I've
seen, ZN is much further from the spirit of Zork than RTZ.
By the way, my company (Boffo Games) is currently creating a large
graphic adventure, to be published this Xmas by Rocket Science. Called The
Space Bar, it is comparable in size and budget to ZN. As part of this effort,
we are creating an adventure game engine called BAGEL (Boffo Adventure Game
Engine and Libraries). When you see BAGEL (in the form of The Space Bar)
you will see that it is much closer to RTZ than to ZN or Myst (although
it does feature a panoramic view of locations, just like ZN). To me, BAGEL
is where Activision should have gone from RTZ, but didn't. I am obviously
speaking about adventure games in general here, rather than the Zork universe
specifically.
XYZZYnews: Given that the interactive fiction Infocom produced enjoys
such a devoted following, do you feel, as has been expressed by some
critics of the new games, that graphics will never quite achieve what
text adventures bring, i.e. in terms of atmosphere, immersion, etc.?
Blank: I wouldn't go so far as to say that graphics will NEVER achieve
that which is possible with text (or audio, for that matter), but I have
no trouble saying that the recent efforts have not been notably successful.
Lebling: "Do you feel that film will never quite achieve what books bring,
et...." Graphic adventures are a different medium from text adventures.
They have their own strengths and weaknesses. Sometimes film is better than
a book: think of 2001 as an example. Sometimes the book is better than the
film: think of Demi Moore's version of The Scarlet Letter. Text adventures
are a medium of the mind, graphic adventures are a medium of the eyes.
Meretzky: It is hard to imagine that budgets of graphic adventures will
ever be large enough to show everything that we were able to describe in
a 100K text adventure, and therefore graphic adventure will indeed never
match the depth of text adventures. On the other hand, I never dreamed that
we'd see $10 million computer games, or 4GB computer games, so who knows
what might happen in another 5 or 10 years?
XYZZYnews: Do you have any suggestions as to how these games could be
improved?
Blank: I wouldn't presume to tell Activision how to run their business.
Lebling: Graphic games could be improved by recognizing that they aren't
just Hollywood movies on a CD (or seven CDs, as the case may be). Too many
use non-interactive sequences to excess, have limited interactivity
throughout (heaven forfend that the user should have to *gasp* type!),
have unimaginative puzzles, and so on, ad nauseum. Even Myst, which was in
most respects pretty awesome, had really limited puzzles -- they were all
"push the button" puzzles.
Meretzky: Again, watch for The Space Bar. While it certainly doesn't have
the depth of gameplay that Infocom text adventures have, I think it will
come closer than any graphic adventure ever has.
XYZZYnews: What would you say to someone who was about to embark on writing
an IF game for the first time (graphical or textual in basis)?
Blank: I enjoyed the process of writing IF, particularly in considering
the varied directions that our stories and/or puzzles could take. For
someone of similar inclination, I would think it would be a rewarding and
challenging proposition. However, I wouldn't try to convince anyone that
writing if is a smart career move (anymore than I would say that writing
novels is, for that matter).
Lebling: "Are you sure? Have you had your head examined?"
Meretzky: Advice: become familiar with the great games of the genre, and
don't bother writing one unless you are prepared to push the genre
significantly forward in some area, either technically or creatively.
XYZZYnews: Finally, if you had all the time and money to indulge whatever
whim you fancied, would you go back to writing text adventures, employ the
new technology to create multi-media games like Zork Nemesis, or do something
else entirely?! (If it's not too personal, what would that other something
be?)
Blank: I, with my partners (who include Mike Berlyn--author of Suspended,
Infidel, etc. for infocom), are working on console games for the Sony
Playstation and Sega Saturn. In all honesty, I have more fire in the belly
for this sort of thing than I do for IF at this time. This is not to say
that I haven't mused about doing another IF game, but I'm really not sure
that the time is right.
Lebling: I suppose that in that unlikely eventuality, I'd do a graphic
adventure as exciting and immersive as the best of the Infocom games, with
great puzzles, full interactivity, great writing, and awesome graphics and
sound. Or at least I'd try. I don't think I'd write another text adventure:
"Been there, done that, wore out the T-shirt." Why do the same thing over
and over again? Infinite loops are for computers.
Meretzky: If I had all the time and money to indulge whatever whim I
fancied, I'd be lying on the beach in Tahiti reading through my backlog of
about five million books while scantily dressed native women brought me a
never-ending supply of rum punch. But seriously, I don't think I'd write
text adventures, because I don't think there's much of a market for them
anymore, and even aside from financial considerations I want lots and lots
of people to play my games. I would just try to create a graphic adventure
which allowed the player to do as many different things as the Infocom
text games allowed.
-----------------------
Just as an aside from this interview with Dave, Marc and Steve, I thought
it would be nice to end off with some brief comments from Stu Galley and
Liz Cyr-Jones. Stu wrote Witness, Seastalker and Moonmist for Infocom while
Liz was primarily the manager of the testing group. Here's what they had
to say about the strength of Infocom and the work environment in contrast
with the graphical adventure houses of the 90s:
Stu Galley: As for graphics in interactive story-telling, I'll say
what I said to Bruce Davis when he took over Activision and wanted to
launch a media empire: that it's not practical for a developer to
implement all the various graphics needed to present a really flexible
story in a convincing way. With words alone, a good writer can plant
images and ideas in the player's mind using only a fraction of the bytes
that pictures would need. And that's not counting the different personal
ways that different players will envision the story.
Liz Cyr-Jones: I think Infocom's success was due in large part to the
personalities of everyone involved. It was very magical; we'd have very
serious discussions of what grues actually looked like, and whether they
really would eat an adventurer, and stuff like that. The work environment
was very nonserious. What I mean is, though we took games seriously, it
was possible to get a bunch of people together and play Boggle on the
mainframe.
Infocom nostalgia? I remember Marc interviewing some guy (can't
for the life of me remember who it was) in his trademark aloha shirt and
jeans, but he reclined on a chaise lounge, wore his sunglasses and sipped
a frothy drink replete with umbrella and straw. In our heyday, we had a
lot of perks - among them, free soda, bagels on Mondays...we also had a
ping pong table in this huge room. This was '85...we used to play ping
pong at times during the day.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Tales From the Code Front:
Scissors, Pants, Glasses, and Yahoos
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
by Andrew Pontious (
[email protected])
When I started programming my first TADS game, back in the seventeenth
century... well, not that long ago, but it did feel like a long and
torturous process. I was a newbie, yet I was determined to include several
features that turned out to be in the advanced category. This article
deals with one small change I made in game grammar, so that an otherwise
unchanged version of TADS 2.2 recognizes "plural-singulars" -- game
constructs that are just one object, but are referred to in the plural.
This could be for something like scissors, which are one thing in the real
world, or for groups of things you want to combine for game convenience,
like "twenty yahoos threatening you from the trees."
First off, I'll make one of those plural-singular objects. I'm going to
annotate this pretty heavily for the non-TADS user:
scissors: item // "item" is the TADS class for something you can pick up
sdesc = "scissors" // "short" description of object
adesc = "scissors" // descrip. used when game wants to say "a ___"
// In this case, we take out the "a" entirely
noun = 'scissors' // vocabulary player can use to refer to object
location = startroom // where the object is first located
;
This'll get us started. I also code a box in startroom (the specific class
is called "container") so you could put things in it.
> look
You are in the starting room of your test game.
You see a box and scissors here.
A valid command at this point, grammatically but not logically, would be:
> take scissors out of box.
The game responds, sensibly, with:
The scissors isn't in the box.
Ah ha! Here is the beginning of the problem. I look around to see where
this message comes from. It's in ADV.T, a file normally incorporated into
every game (similar but not the same as Inform's verblib and grammar and
parser) to prefabricate the TADS playing environment, setting up object
prototypes like "room," "openable," and "container." At the very top of
the hierarchy is the ur-object that virtually every other object is the
descendent of, called "thing." All the standard game verbs are coded here,
and are inherited by any objects which don't supersede that code in their
own definitions. For instance, the code involving the verb "take" for the
direct object looks like this:
verDoTakeOut( actor, io ) =
{
if ( io <> nil and not self.isIn( io ))
{
caps(); self.thedesc; " isn't in "; io.thedesc; ". ";
}
self.verDoTake(actor); /* ensure object can be taken at all */
}
The "actor" parameter refers to which actor is executing the action (usually
"Me," the player) and "io" is the indirect object, in this case what you're
taking the direct object out of. "Self" here is the scissors. Notice the
code says if there is an indirect object ("io <> nil"), and if "self" (the
scissors) isn't in it ("isIn" is a special routine which checks this), then
it gives you the message we already encountered.
What I need to do is find some way of getting this routine to recognize
that an object is plural, and giving the right response for it. My first
attempt at a solution involved creating a new property in our scissors
object, called "plural," by adding this line somewhere in the scissors
definition:
plural = true
Then I use the "modify" command, which enables me to overwrite individual
routines or properties in an object after the object has been defined
already, in this case in ADV.T -- though you can't modify individual lines
of a routine or property, you have to repeat all of it. Like so:
modify thing
verDoTakeOut( actor, io ) =
{
if ( io <> nil and not self.isIn( io ))
{
caps(); self.thedesc;
// NEW CODE!
if ( self.plural ) " aren't"; else " isn't";
// REST OF OLD CODE
" in "; io.thedesc; ". ";
}
self.verDoTake(actor); /* ensure object can be taken at all */
}
;
So I try to compile this and get the message "error TADS-335: invalid
vocabulary property value." What does that mean? "Plural = true" is
perfectly valid! After some searching, I found out that ADV.T already
defines a property called "plural," but as a string. My later code tried
to redefine the variable, which is fine, but also tried to redefine its
type after it had been defined, from string to boolean true/false. A
no-no.
So instead I change "plural" to the less elegant "pluralflag" (though I
could've been malicious and used "Plural," since TADS is case-sensitive)
and recompile. Now it runs as follows:
> take scissors from box.
The scissors aren't in the box.
Now, though, I've learned my lesson. I realize I need to look through ADV.T
for further examples of "is" or "isn't" or "goes" or whatever. I'll give
you a few more examples, though the full list is much longer.
From thing:
verDoPutOn: "The {direct object} is/are already on the {indirect object}!"
verDoTellAbout: "It doesn't look like the {direct object} is/are interested."
And from actor, another prototype-object, which has routines suitable for
your NPCs:
verDoWalkon: "{Direct object} object/s to that."
So now I've found all of the spots where messages need to be changed, and
modified all the objects and routines from ADV.T in my own code to do so.
And even better for you, I save my changes as a separate file that other
people could incorporate in their games in order to utilize its benefits,
right "out of the box," as it were, by just incorporating "pluralflag =
true" (or its new name -- see below) in the right objects. Remember,
though, not to modify those same routines again in your code after you've
included my utility, or you'll replace my changes to ADV.T! A better way
if you need to change those same routines would be not to call the utility
file from your game separately (technically: #include), but rather to
paste my code into your game in its entirety, and fiddle with it there.
You'll find it soon in the IF archive under the name plurals.t under
Programming/TADS/Examples, or on the enclosed XYZZYnews disk if you've
subscribed that way, along with a small test game called pluralstest.t,
providing many samples of these objects.
So we're done, right? I thought so, too, until I tried:
>put scissors
What do you want to put it in?
Now, this is an error message generated by the parser in response to the
lack of an indirect object (grammatically a preposition phrase, but let's
not nitpick) when the only existing template or pattern for the verb requires
one. You can't just put something, you have to put it in something or on
something. The trouble is that pesky "it." With the greater control that
version 2.2 gives you over parser error messages, maybe I could modify that
as well.
First step: "The New Book of the Parser" in the TADS Version 2.2 Upgrade
Manual. Page 90:
"If the verb requires a direct or indirect object, but the command doesn't
specify one and the parser can't supply a suitable default...the parser
checks to see if your game program defines a function called parseAskobjActor
[before going on to its own solution]." Okay, cool, I'll provide one, but
then I find that, even if it's the indirect object you're looking for, the
routine doesn't give as a parameter the direct object -- only the actor,
the verb, and the preposition, if there is one. Therefore, you have no way
of passing to your new parseAskobjActor routine the identity of that direct
object and whether it is plural or singular before you ask him or her the
question posed above. So, we can't alter that question to be plural-sensitive
the way we want it to be. Dead end.
I look at the other, more general method that TADS provides to change
error messages, the function parseError. It lets you replace any standard
error message it generates with a new one, for instance, message number 6,
"I expected a noun after 'of'." Again, here we're very limited; we just
get the number of the message the parser would've given as the parameter
(there's a whole table of them), and can either replace the message in
every case the parser would've used it, or let it stand.
The message numbers 140-149 deal with the pieces of the message we could've
fiddled with in its entirety with parseAskobjActor, like 140: "What do you
want to" or 143: "?". Why you'd want to replace, say, the question mark,
I'm not sure, but you can. The parser assembles these pieces around what
the player has typed in, for instance "What do you want to " + put + "it"
+ in + "?".
Number 141 is that pesky "it," but hold on, there's also message number
147, "them." When is that used? Page 91: "If a pronoun for the direct
object is required, the parser checks each object in the direct object
list. If the player explicitly specified multiple direct objects (by using
"all" or a list of noun phrases), the parser displays message 144
("them")." The text goes on to explain how it uses the properties isHim
and isHer of the objects the player specified ("put Aunt Helena," for
instance), to possibly substitute the pronouns "him" or "her" as well.
So the only way the parser will use "them" in that cobbled-together message
is if you've specified two or more objects ("put the apple and the orange");
another dead end. Since the parser does all the processing without asking
for our advice (how rude!), we can't affect it.
My way around this, admittedly an inelegant one, is to replace message 141
with "that." Hey, it makes sense. The way David Baggett's rewrite of ADV.T,
called WorldClass, solves the problem is by excluding the pronoun entirely;
his parseAskobjActor asks things like "With what?" or "In what?", which
is, I must admit, a rather clever if "snappy" response.
A better solution would be to have the parser check my property, which for
consistency's sake I now rechristen "isThem," before deciding what pronoun
to use. It would be even more ideal if in the next TADS version (if there
is a next TADS version) the parser would allow you to replace the whole
pronoun-sorting business with your own routine, with the right parameters
this time. Flexibility is king. This is where Inform really shines, since
all such internal workings of the parser are available for tinkering by
the player. (That's why they've already got a full plural-singular utility.)
And that's all the changes needed to implement plural-singulars! There may
be others I didn't notice, but in my extensive testing of my own game, I
haven't found any (famous last words...). My game has other wholesale
changes in ADV.T to make things work more smoothly and logically and to
add new features, and I want to make utilities out of those things as well
once my game's out. You'll be able to use this, and them, if you don't
want to make the wholesale switch to WorldClass. There's also the
possibility that TADS itself will include similar improvements in the next
version. Michael Roberts, are you listening?
As you can see, I love talking shop, so if anybody has any comments, feel
free to e-mail me at the address at the beginning of this article.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Yakko's IF World
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Anyone familiar with the cartoon show "Animaniacs" should appreciate this
irreverent little number by C.E. Forman, which follows in the footsteps
of "Yakko's World."
(Music: Traditional [The Mexican Hat Dance] | Lyrics: C.E. Forman)
Announcer:
And now, the world of Interactive Fiction, brought to you by Yakko Warner!
Yakko [sings]:
Adventure, AdventureLand, Pirate Adventure, and Dungeon, Zork Trilogy too,
Beyond Zork, Bureaucracy, Hollywood Hijinx, and Hitchhiker's Guide, Ballyhoo.
There's Sherlock, Suspended, Zork Zero, Enchanter, and Planetfall,
Moonmist as well,
Border Zone, Sorcerer, Seastalker, Deadline, then Wishbringer and Infidel.
There's Starcross and Cutthroats, A Mind 'ever Voyaging, Stationfall, and
Plundered Hearts,
Spellbreaker, Nord and Bert, Trinity, Suspect, and Zork (which is split
in three parts)!
Leather Goddesses, Arthur, The Infocom Samplers, both LTOI's, Quarterstaff,
Shogun, The Witness, Unkuulian Underworld Zero, One, Two, and One-Half.
Lost, Lurking Horror, Frustration, Rylvania, CosmoServe, and Golden Fleece,
Theatre, Journey, MacWesleyan, Busted, and Christminster (by Gareth Rees)!
The Sound of One Hand Clapping, Shelby's Addendum, then Balances,
Abbey Montglane,
Detective, its MiSTing, The Gorreven Papers, then Waystation and Inhumane!
Library, Time Killer, Jigsaw, John's Fire Witch, Tesseract, then Paper Chase,
Odieus, Curses, The Dungeons of Dunjin, Great Archeological Race,
Save Princeton, T-Zero, The Legend Lives, Humbug, Electrabot, Jinxter,
The Pawn,
TimeQuest, Corruption, The Guild of Thieves, Wonderland, Crypt, and
The Golden Baton.
Klaustrophobia, Mindshadow, Fish, Magic Toyshop, then Veritas, World, and
Pork 1,
The SpellCasting Trilogy, Tass Times in Tonetown, then Circus, and Mask of
the Sun!
Gnome Ranger, Lancelot, ScapeGhost, Toonesia, then Avalon (not yet released),
Zebulon, Windhall, Dark Continent, Knight Orc, and Multi-Dimensional Thief.
Undertow, Tube Trouble, Change in the Weather, Museum Forever, Undo,
The Awe-Chasm, a.k.a. Chasm of Awe, which is a.k.a. Snatch and Crunch II!
There's TimeSquared: Centroplis, Lethe Flow Phoenix, The Caverns of Chaos, GC,
Space Aliens Laughed at My Cardigan, Disch's Amnesia, and +=3!
Enhanced, Mind Electric, The Jewels of Darkness, and Lin's The One
That Got Away,
South American Trek, Mop and Murder, Red Moon, Lords of Time (Level 9),
Shades of Gray.
Broken String, Castaway, cRiMe, and Jerusalem, Zanfar, then Spur,
Demon's Tomb,
Lost New York, Mini-Zork, Eric the Viking, Oo-Topos, and Vial of Doom!
Jacaranda Jim, World Under Glass, and The Jewelled Arena, Gymnasium, Storms,
Hugo, TADS, Archetype, AdvSys, QuestMaker, AGT, ALan, Inform!
Silicon Dreams, Time and Majik, Marooned Again, Lottery, No Beer, Darknight,
Eric the Unready, Dinkum, then Dudley, The Four Symbols, Son of Stagefright.
Hampton, and Mindwheel, Wraith Blaster, Snowball, Plague Planet, and
Legend's Gateway,
Sir Ramic Hobbs, SceptreQuest, East of Eastwood, and the Drifters (Deep Space
and Ditch Day)!
Heather's Easter Egg Hunt, Stowaway, LogoMancer, Cliff Diver, A Fable, and
GAGS,
Stuck Mid-Game, Wombat, The Miser, Eliza...
...Guards of Infinity, another game Trinity,
Starship Columbus, Apprentice, Humongous Cave,
Sleuth, Disenchanted, then SpiritWrak, Sanity
Clause, and Melita, Crusade, Feasibility,
Sangsarawardha, Death Arrow, So Far, then
XYZZYnews and SPAG!!!
-----------------------------
(With apologies to the authors whose titles I butchered to get this thing
to pass for rhyming, and also to the authors whose creations I just
couldn't fit in...or, perhaps more appropriately, to the authors whose
games I DID fit in.)
Sources I consulted while writing this:
Volker Blasius' Master Index to the GMD Archive, Paul David Doherty's
"Infocom Fact Sheet", Carl Muckenhoupt's "Baf's Guide to the I-F Archive",
Gerry Kevin Wilson's "The (Other) TADS Game List", Brendon Wyber's list of
Inform Games; and article, "That Other Great Adventure Company" (published
in issue #3 of SPAG), Various game reviews from back issues of SPAG and
XYZZYnews, The rec.*.int-fiction FAQs, Recent rec.*.int-fiction posts, and
my own (admittedly shoddy) memory.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
GAME REVIEWS
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-----------------------------
Zork Nemesis
Publisher: Activision (
http://www.activision.com/)
Platform:DOS/Windows-95 CD-ROM, soon to be released for the Mac
System requirements: 486/DX2-66Mhz, 8MB RAM, 2xCD-ROM, SVGA 640x480, Mouse,
16bit sound card
-----------------------------
Personally, I think Cecilia Barajas is brave. Imagine: you've been asked
to design, direct and produce the next game in what is one of the most
successful computer game series ever: Zork. Where do you even begin?
Well, if the final result is anything to judge by, you start with the design,
then concentrate on the design for a while and, finally, you work on the
design... Zork Nemesis is absolutely packed full of puzzles -- and for once,
they're non-linear and central to the game.
For Zork aficionados, the story starts in the Temple of the Ancients in
the Forbidden Lands, south of the Frigid River in the Eastlands. Four
respected citizens of the GUE have vanished and when a spy fails to return
from the temple, where they are believed to be held, you are sent to find
out what is going on. So begins a totally captivating journey through the
temple and, later, into four other game areas: a school of music, a
monastery, a fort and a chilling asylum, all five areas are interconnected
by an alchemical theme. Actually, "chilling" summarizes the general feel
of the game throughout -- the recommended "15" rating is well-deserved.
Nemesis has a similar kind of atmosphere to that found in Dave Lebling's
Lurking Horror, except in Nemesis there's no humour to lighten it up...
The game's interface is revolutionary -- literally! In addition to moving
between rooms, the new Z-Vision engine allows the player to rotate a full
360 degrees (as is possible in games like Doom) and interact with any of
the game's objects along the way. Just like its textual predecessors,
Nemesis basically centers around using the right object in the right place
in the right manner, or manipulating some mechanical contraption to make
progress. On the whole, the point-and-click interface is ideal for these
tasks, and I found it a great improvement on the RTZ model, which I felt
was an innovative but cumbersome design.
The very latest techniques have been applied as well, pushing my 486DX2-66
and quad-speed CD-ROM drive to the limit through the use of carefully
integrated video clips directed by Joe Napolitano (X-Files and Murder
One). Excellent use is made of the atmospheric, Enigma-like music, which
sets off the 16-bit graphics to good effect. Similarly, the incidental
sound effects and music enhance the action in the game and both benefit
from the new "Q-Sound" system which gives superbly crisp output. Of
course, all this extra technology takes its toll on storage space with the
end result that the game comes on three CD-ROMs and requires at least 30MB
of hard-disk space, preferably 100MB!
So how well does the game play? Well, thankfully, the news is good. For
once, the multimedia aspects have been used carefully and intelligently.
The designers have concentrated throughout on developing a convincing world
and an exciting story to play out -- after all, anything else is just a
gimmick. In fact, unlike the majority of "interactive movies", I'm hard
pressed to think of any gratuitous use of video, though, as ever, the acting
could still be improved. In fact, character interaction is completely missing
from the game, but surprisingly that is not greatly to its detriment --
the player gains a sense of isolation which, I feel, enhances the gameplay.
All things considered, if (like me) you've waiting for a game with the
quality of design found in that very first chapter of Zork, you'll want to
order Zork: Nemesis immediately -- it's what we've been waiting for. Save
for the hassle when changing from one CD to another (and even that's
relatively infrequent), it's sheer gaming heaven for even the most diehard
Infocom fan.
In fact, if you do start playing, you can expect to be hooked for around
forty hours of solid playtime. Because, after all, if it's two in the
morning, this must be Zork!
--Matt Newsome
-----------------------------
Lost New York
release 1.02f
Parser: TADS
Author: Neil deMause (
[email protected])
Availability: ftp.gmd.de/if-archive/games/
Requires: TADS run-time interpreter; platform-specific standalone
versions are also available at GMD
Response to the XYZZY command: "Sadly, recent city budget cuts have led
to the elimination of the Department of Magic."
-----------------------------
You're in New York to visit friends and have a few hours to kill. So you
head off to the Statue of Liberty. Where a fog rolls in and strands you
there. With a muttering old man, a surly concessions worker, and a cranky
park ranger. And all you have are a few subway tokens and a credit card.
Welcome to the Big Apple.
The opening to Lost New York (by Neil deMause, author of MacWesleyan/PC
University) plants you right smack at New York's most notable tourist
attraction then takes you on a whirlwind tour of the city. Not through
distance. But through time. Along the way you travel through the late 19th
century, early 20th century, the 17th century, the 1950s, and even into
the 21st century. All within America's biggest city.
For those of you who thought that New York geography had remained relatively
untouched through its history will be pleasantly surprised. This is the
type of game that manages to teach you a lot about a subject while making
it a very pleasant trip indeed. Some of the effect may be lost to those
who have never been to New York, but not all that much.
deMause has obviously done his homework (as the impressive bibliography
attests). The descriptions, feel, and atmosphere of the different time
periods is vivid and varied. It is one of the rare IF games with real
geography. A nice feature to the game is the scoring system, which ranks
you according to past New York mayors, complete with a mini-biography of
that mayor's accomplishments (such as they were).
Another part I found particularly interesting was the fun that deMause had
with the parser itself. I am so used to Infocom's gently playful parser
or Mssrs. Nelson and Rees' British wit that it was a refreshing change to
be served a fistful of New York sarcasm and attitude. The parser is from
New York and lets you know it. Example: I tried to pick up a sewer grate,
to which the game replied "So now all of a sudden you're Superman? It's
far too heavy for you to lift by yourself." (Even better: try typing dirty
words, assaulting someone, or just hitting return.)
Part of the problem with Lost NY may be that it has too much focus on
ambiance. When I first traveled back in time, I assumed that I was trying
to find my way back to meet my friends. Then I thought I was supposed to
alter time for the better (kind of an anti-Jigsaw). Either way, it's not
very clear what your purpose is in the New York time zones other than to
solve puzzles and move forward. Even when you're solving puzzles, it's
hard to tell what you're accomplishing in the big picture. Eventually, it
becomes obvious how to get back to the present, then you just have to
spend time getting it done.
The puzzles are logical and fairly straightforward. They are consistently
challenging with few stumpers. I had a few problems with the parser but no
more or less than with other games. There are a few places (especially
near the beginning of the game) where you can get the game into an
unwinnable situation by missing something or fiddling with something too
soon. As usual, save often. There are few NPCs in the game and those that
exist are relatively limited in their interaction with the player.
Lost New York is freeware. However, there is a registered version
available that includes an online hint feature and a very well-written,
nicely-laid out booklet detailing more of New York's history. The book
adds a lot to the game and the help section gives successively clearer
hints until it just flat out tells you what to do. Version 1.1 was
recently uploaded to ftp.gmd.de. This version changes a few puzzles and
fixes a number of minor bugs from v1.02.
Finally, a special request from Neil: "Please stop calling it 'Lost In New
York.'"
--Rob Daviau
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
WHAT'S ON THE DISK
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The companion disk for XYZZYnews #10 contains the following game files.
It's a good deal for people who have slower modems -- at 2400 bps, it'd
take a heck of a long time to download the contents of the companion disk.
It's also a good deal for people with limited or no access to FTP sites or
online services as a source for new games. If you're reading an electronic
version of this issue, you can obtain this games disk with a print copy of
XYZZYnews #10 by enclosing $3.50 for postage and handling with the coupon
on the bottom of this page. If you play and enjoy these games, please pay
the shareware fees as applicable.
SO FAR -- "Perhaps you would enjoy a play," suggests author Andrew Plotkin
by way of introduction to his new Inform game, "So Far: An Interactive
Catharsis." From the initial setting in a crowded theater, where you're
searching for your lost love, Aessa, you'll go on to visit a series of
richly descriptive but nearly incomprehensible worlds. You'll face a
series of challenging puzzles in order to make further progress in this
game.
URBAN CLEANUP -- Life is pretty bleak in this sci-fi TADS game by Philip
Dearmore. As gameplay begins, you've awakened from pleasant dreams only
to realize "another day of oppression and slavery without love or happiness
has again begun." Can you figure out how to finish putting together your
Neuroacter and escape to a game world? And after accomplishing that, what
will you find there?
PLURALSTEST -- This is a sample game and code for implementing the
plural-singulars utility that author Andrew Pontious describes in his
Tales from the Code Front article in this issue, "Scissors, Pants,
Glasses, and Yahoos." You'll find this material more compelling from a
developer's perspective than from a straight gameplaying experience, but
it's intriguing enough to warrant a look even if you haven't given much
thought before into how parser responses are put together.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
XYZZYnews Magazine/Disk Order Form
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Checks and money orders preferred. Please send coupon with
payment to: Eileen Mullin, XYZZYnews, 160 W. 24th Street, Ste. 7C,
New York, NY 10011.
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