XYZZYnews
November/December 1996 Issue #12
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HOLLOW VOICE
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I was curled up reading one of those hard-boiled crime stories -- in this
case, Strega by Andrew Vachss -- when the briefest IF mention jumped out
at me:
Lily took us to her office, at the end of the corridor. It looked like
a kid's playroom except for the computer screen on the desk. I looked
at the keyboard -- there was no lock-out device. "How do you keep
someone from getting into your records?" I asked her.
She laughed, tapping some keys. "Want to play a fast game of Zork before
we get down to business?" The screen had some kind of mazes-and-monsters
game on it.
"That's all you have it for?"
"Sure," she said, looking at Immaculata as I was an idiot.
Of course, there's probably no such this as a "fast" game of Zork, but it
was great to see the unexpected reference. (Actually, this whole series by
Andrew Vachss would make a great basis for an adventure game, but that's
beside the point.) If you run across any similar mentions in popular
fiction, I'd appreciate hearing about it -- please let me know the
author's name, book title, and the publisher. I'll share any contributions
in an upcoming issue.
In other news, I think you'll find a lot of stuff worth reading in this
issue. Neil deMause interviews Amy Briggs, author of Infocom's historical
romance Plundered Hearts. Rob Daviau polled visitors to the IF newsgroups
about how they went about seeking help when stuck in the middle of a game.
And C.E. Forman has compiled his second annual year-in-review report on
the state of events in the IF community. Chris has also announced that
commitments to a new 'zine will prevent him from continuing to contribute
to XYZZYnews. His final piece -- and interview with playtester
extraordinaire Michael Kinyon -- will appear next issue. I want to thank
Chris for his prolific prose and cheerful devotion to all things
IF-related -- he has been an inspiration to us all, and his articles will
be sorely missed.
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
**Romancing the Genre: An Interview with Plundered Hearts' Amy Briggs
**The Year in Review: IF in 1996
**Cheat, Beg, Wheedle, Cajole...and other strategies for how we finish
IF games
**Bulletin Board: readers helping other readers
**Announcing the XYZZY Awards
**What's on the Disk
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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.
E-mail:
[email protected].
URL:
http://www.xyzzynews.com/.
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, DOS and
UNIX) to view the .PDF file; no special fonts or linked graphics are
needed. You can obtain Acrobat Reader from ftp.adobe.com in the
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.xyzzynews.com/xyzzy.12.html
Subscriptions: All electronic versions are available at no cost. You can
obtain either the ASCII or PDF versions by FTPing to the
ftp.gmd.de/if-archive/magazines/XYZZYnews directory. 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.
Editor:
Eileen Mullin
Contributors to this issue:
Rob Daviau
Neil deMause
C.E. Forman
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November/December Top 10 Picks for IF on the World Wide Web
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A Time of Madness
http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/~mc/atom.htm
Adam Crutchlow's text adventures page
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~evers/text_adv.html
Fredrik's Interactive Fiction Starter's Kit
http://www-und.ida.liu.se/~d91frera/ifstart.html
Home Page for PilotZIP (Z-Code Interpreter Program)
http://www.concentric.net/~rbram/zip.shtml
IF World Online
http://www.rit.edu/~fxp4258/if/
Interactive Fiction Online Archive
http://www.mlab.uiah.fi/~akivela/if/zpletx/
Jerry's Hugo Homepage
http://oak.kcsd.k12.pa.us/~jnichols/hugo/
Python Language Home Page
http://www.python.org
Python Universe Builder
http://www-acs.ucsd.edu/~jstrout/python/pub/index.htm
Tolkien text adventure games
http://www.lysator.liu.se/tolkien-games/adventures.html
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LETTERS
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Eileen,
When I was eleven or twelve I used to take long walks through the barren
suburban landscapes outside of Buffalo (back then it was still verging on
'barren rural landscapes' actually). I remember once finding a Star Trek
fanzine. It wasn't much, four or five pages of typed and copied stories,
rumors (Star Trek the Movie?) etc. I doubt much came of that little 'zine.
I think of it, flapping along pathetically in the snow, when I read 'zines
on the web. Most of them are merely digital versions of my childhood memory.
I'll read it and in a little while it'll be gone after one or two 'issues'.
Sometimes they stick around on a page for a long time, never anything new,
just those few 'issues,' like virtual detritus washed up on my screen. It's
when really good 'zines that fill a hole in our hearts and minds fail that
it really saddens me.
Fortunately XYZZYnews has not failed. That's due to your dedication and
due to the mass of fans out there that never stopped loving the damn
little brain teasers ;). I remember buying a Texas Instruments digital
watch from a second hand shop in the early '80s and telling my friend that
I was going to start collecting 'antique technology.' I thought this was
incredibly clever. Now I find that some of the best games I've ever played
are considered 'antique technology.' How did this happen? One minute
you're sitting there with your Apple II playing SUSPENDED and the next;
whole parades of new companies are making games with flash and dash but no
heart or soul. (The writer bursts into tears at this point and it takes
some moments for him to regain his composure ;)). I really can't complain
though. Obviously the computer industry is driven by money, not altogether
bad because if it wasn't I'd never have gotten the privilege of a home
computer or playing Zork. It is sad though how much is lost with
leapfrogging technology. I still think we've not used up the potential of
previous systems, but then I've got a soft spot in me 'art for 8-bit
machines ;). I am like sooooo happy that there is a quality movement to
keep IF alive. And if it weren't for Issue #1 of XYZZYnews I'd have missed
out on the fun! Thanks for hanging in there with your 'zine! The Web has
become this big ooey gooey mass of commercial sites with no business on
the web (a Zima site for godsakes?) or sites that consist of family
photographs and excruciating details of intimate family issues (why not
just post family pictures on the bulletin board at the supermarket?). Your
page is one of a few that have restored my faith in the internet ;).
Perhaps I should have waited to get sleep before writing this ;), oh well,
deadlines, deadlines...Keep up the Great job ma'am!
Joe Nowakowski
[email protected]
------------------------------------------------------
To begin:
I can honestly say that your newsletter has brought back some of the best
gaming memories I've ever had. Brand me a geek if you so feel, but Infocom
has undoubtedly made a difference in my approach to computer games. Yes,
I consider myself old-school; I can't afford, run, or get into many of the
industry's recent games.
I have yet to see the PDF format, but I fully enjoy the text-only version
-- after all, I like text-based games, no? I enjoy the reviews and
interviews, when I recognize the interviewee.
Mischa Krilov
[email protected]
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Eileen,
Have only just discovered XYZZYnews in the Web. Being an interactive fiction
fan since at least 1983, I can truthfully say it's like a breath of fresh
air. It's great to know my favorite computer gaming genre is still alive
despite the graphics revolution...
Here are some bugs that have occurred in versions of Infocom games that
I have played, but are not on your latest bug list. I'll have to check the
details later in order to find out the version numbers (if possible; my
Deadline, Starcross and Planetfall reports are based on Commodore 64 versions
I haven't played since my C64 went to that great computer room in the sky).
Beyond Zork: The hourglass and arch, combined with the chest, can cause
the game to lock up on you if used together, and if you haven't opened the
chest previously. Here's what happened to me: I used the hourglass to
travel to the Plaza's past, and opened the chest. I went through the scene
at the Fields of Transinfinite Splendor, but when the unicorns sent me
back, I was not sent back to the right place. Rather, I was sent back to
some strange room, where the only room description was "There's (my
character name) he¶re." The game then locked up at that point.
Deadline: First off, in my old C64 version, I could PUT [object] IN
[character], for example PUT PENCIL IN MS. DUNBAR. When I looked, I would
get the message "Ms. Dunbar is holding: a pencil." Rather odd considering
she will refuse the pencil if you give it to her in the normal fashion. I
haven't found the bug in the LTOI version yet...
Is Mr. Robner's ghost haunting the estate? A bug (or series of bugs) in
my C64 version would seem to indicate so. I would SAY TO MR. ROBNER 'WHERE
IS GEORGE,' and I would get a response like "I haven't seen him yet." or
"I last saw him a few minutes ago. I don't know where he went, though."
(Incidentally, Mr. Robner's ghost reports seeing the other characters at
the same time you last saw them. I typed WHERE IS GEORGE to the game, as
opposed to a character, and got the response "You last saw him a few minutes
ago"). When I typed ASK MR. ROBNER ABOUT GEORGE, however, I got the response
"Mr. Robner isn't here!"
I could also type SAY TO MR. ROBNER 'FOLLOW ME' and get the response "I
would rather not." Though if I said MR. ROBNER, FOLLOW ME, I would get the
response that he wasn't there.
Finally, here's something that's definitely a bug.
>KILL MR. ROBNER
With a lethal blow of your hand, Mr. Robner falls dead.
Since Mr. Robner is already dead before the game begins, this is
particularly weird. So far, I haven't noted the Mr. Robner bug(s) in the
LTOI version... Also, I noted that even if Sergeant Duffy is away at the
lab awaiting analysis results, he will still show up if you try to arrest
someone or something. In Witness, you won't be able to arrest anyone until
Duffy returns from the lab.
Hollywood Hijinx: I haven't tested to see if this works in the LTOI 2
version, but in my C64 version, you could JUMP from the Cannon
Emplacement, and end up in the ocean inlet, thus providing an alternative
to the gap in the stairs puzzle. You won't get the ten points, however.
Starcross: Again, from my old C64. You could climb into the viewport of
the Starcross or the alien ship, but wouldn't be able to climb out. You'd
get the response "Super-brief descriptions," as if you had typed the
SUPERBRIEF command. There'd be no way out other than restarting or
restoring...
Planetfall: This is probably present on more than just my C64, but here
goes. I tried turning Floyd off in any room with a door. I did the following:
>POINT AT DOOR
"You go first," says Floyd.
Since Floyd is turned off, he should not respond to my actions at this point.
Similarly, when I pointed at any other object in the room while he was turned
off, he would give a confused look. Also, Floyd, like the adventurer in
Enchanter, will hand you things if you ask for them, even if your load's
too heavy to normally accommodate them. This made solving the rift puzzle
a tad quicker...
Plundered Hearts: These bugs are present in both my LTOI version and my
old C64 version. You can take the hat out of the Library by throwing it
through the window. It isn't particularly useful elsewhere, though. Lafond
is present everywhere you go, in a manner of speaking. If you refer to him
as "bewigged man" and not as Lafond, you'll get all of Lafond's responses.
If you say EXAMINE BEWIGGED MAN, you'll get a description of Lafond. If
you say BEWIGGED MAN, TELL ME ABOUT THE RING, you'll get Lafond's response
"An impressive crest, is it not? I've thought of making it my own."
Finally, attacking the "bewigged man" anywhere except the Ballroom or the
Balcony will get you Lafond's "Consider this a warning, my love" reaction
the first time, and get you killed the second. If you attack the "bewigged
man" at the Balcony, you'll be told "You can't reach Lafond." If you attack
the "bewigged man" at the Ballroom, you'll get Lafond's humorous reply...
I've tried quoting descriptions of other characters such as Captain
Jamison, but as far as I know, Lafond's the only one who has a 'double'
(who, in this case, answers to the name 'bewigged man' -- which, by the
way, is suggested to the player in the ballroom dance scene with Jamison).
A very odd bug, indeed. (To get it to work, you have to say "bewigged
man," not "Lafond" or "man").
In any case, pass these along to Graeme Cree and other bug-searchers, and
see if they can find any of the above-mentioned bugs.
Chris Lang
[email protected]
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ROMANCING THE GENRE
An interview with Plundered Hearts author Amy Briggs
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by Neil deMause (
[email protected])
XYZZYnews: So how did you, a mild-mannered English major, wind up getting
hired to implement for Infocom? And what have you been doing since leaving?
Amy Briggs (AB): It's a little deceptive to claim I'm a "mild-mannered
English major" because I had been a physics major for a while in college,
and had taken a few computer science classes in addition to theater and
English. By the time I graduated from college, I had played several
Infocom games, plus several Scott Adams' games -- they really were the
best combination at the time of cutting-edge technology (we may snort now,
but for the home computer user they were) and good stories. Admittedly,
my programming skills were less than several of the other Implementors who
were there when I was, but I knew my way around the computer.
After college I did the standard what-to-do-now? drifting, and finally
decided to mooch off a sister who was living in Massachusetts, figuring I
could drift as successfully in Boston as in the Midwest. As I packed to
move, a friend pointed out that Infocom was located in Cambridge, and I
joked, "Well, I'll get a job with them, writing games." The week after I
arrived in Massachusetts, Infocom advertised for Testers -- the people who
tested the games in the early stages to make sure that the programs and
the puzzles worked. I wrote Infocom a cover letter that I blush about
today, telling them basically what I've just written above, including the
coy phrase, "I have a ridiculous sense of the sublime." Amazingly enough,
the letter worked (although they asked me what that phrase meant during
the interview, and I stumbled out something incomprehensible), and three
weeks after I arrived in Massachusetts without a plan for my life, I
started work at Infocom.
I threw myself into the company, as most of the employees did. I worked
(if you can call playing a game "work") 10-12 hours a day, and on weekends
I taught myself ZIL, the programming language, and mocked up a little game,
which, when they went to hire another Implementor a year later, got me the
job. I have to mention that Steve Meretzky was instrumental in pushing me
and showing me how to do everything from compiling ZIL to insisting that
I be taken seriously.
When I left Infocom, I had planned to write the Great American Novel.
I was asked, "why can't you write the Great American Interactive Novel?"
to which I responded that characters are the stuff of great novels, and
that realistic character was a great weakness in interactive fiction. That
novel didn't get written, but now I find myself looking at character
again. For the past few years I've been in graduate school, chasing a PhD
in cognitive psychology. I study how people understand stories; my
dissertation looks at how people understand characters in novels.
XYZZYnews: Do you ever have people recognize your name and, say, approach
you to ask for tips on what to do with the laudanum?
AB: I occasionally get fan mail, even in my ivory tower. I haven't been
asked for hints in years, which is good, because I doubt I could play the
game successfully myself anymore.
XYZZYnews: I get the sense that a lot of the humor and creativity of the
Infocom games was a product of the atmosphere and camaraderie of the Imps.
Do you think that can ever be re-created, or has the business of computer
games changed too much?
AB: Definitely, the atmosphere of Infocom charged the games. Creativity,
breaking bounds, and all-around "do it if it makes someone laugh" were
encouraged. We were all young, creative, humorous, enthusiastic people, we
loved what we were doing and we enjoyed our own games more than anything
-- and that shows in the games themselves, I believe. I include not just
the Imps in my "we," but the testers, the programmers who designed the
interpreters, and even, yes, even the Marketers, who served as jovial (and
sometimes not so jovial) antagonists to the Imps' rule-breaking.
Certainly the business of computer games has changed dramatically.
A typical Infocom game was a bunch of words on a simple screen, and the
creative efforts were put into the story, the puzzles and the descriptions,
not into gorgeous pictures, sounds, interesting ways to move around in the
environment. The constraints of running on the Commodore 64 in a fashion
helped the games be richer, I believe, than if we had been writing then
for the Pentium Pro. The minute the creative process requires a committee,
something is lost -- and with rare exception, few individuals can construct
a modern game largely by themselves. Maybe that's one reason why Myst is
so good -- it was largely written by brothers, right? As far as you can
get from a committee, without one person doing everything.
But to answer your question, I don't think that the particular
atmosphere of Infocom can ever be re-created, because it was rather a
fluke in the first place. This is not to say that an equally creative,
charged, exciting -- but different -- group couldn't happen again, since
lightning strikes in different places.
XYZZYnews: So what made you decide to do a romance-novel game? You
certainly seem to have a flair for the genre -- did you read much romance
before writing Plundered Hearts?
AB: I wanted to write a game that women like myself would enjoy, and I
enjoyed romances. Actually, even more than romance, I enjoy historical
fiction, and that's a genre that's still largely untapped in the game
industry, unless you count Castles, or the medieval side of Dungeons and
Dragons games. I'm not sure why that genre has been ignored -- I think we
decided at Infocom that a historical romance would be a little more
focussed at a particular audience than historical fiction. Also, I very
definitely wanted a female protagonist, and I wanted to play with the
humor of being a romantic heroine -- typically passive and docile, with at
most "spunk" -- in a situation where she has to take the reins.
XYZZYnews: Any particular reason you decided to have multiple endings?
AB: Well, in an ideal world there would have been whole multiple story
lines, where you determine your fate throughout the course of the game.
As it was, I spent one-third the time that the game was in testing editing
it down to fit the Commodore 64, so I had to make do with different endings.
XYZZYnews: In addition to the setting, obviously, Plundered Hearts is
different from a lot of other Infocom games in the story-ness of it -- as
you yourself said at one point, it's more about people than things.
(Certainly it's the only Infocom game that borrows a puzzle from "The
Princess Bride.") There's recently been a move among current authors to
make IF more like stories, less like puzzles -- how much do you think IF
can, or should, emulate written fiction in this regard?
AB: To start, a wee correction: I didn't borrow that puzzle from the
Princess Bride, but from a book called The Sherwood Ring, by Elizabeth
Marie Pope. It was one of my favorites as a child.
I mentioned above that I felt constrained by the lack of ability to
do character in IF, especially so in a romance. How can you "fall in love"
with a handsome stud who is literally programmed to respond to only a few
pat phrases? I don't think that IF should entirely veer away from games
into stories. As a consumer, I don't like reading on a computer screen,
I'd rather curl up with a book. But for a game, something that engages my
attention in a different way than being buried in someone else's decisions
and experiences, I am willing and interested in sitting at the computer.
XYZZYnews: You're one of the few well-known women in IF, something that's
become notable again in recent years. For example, of 27 games entered
in this year's Short Interactive Fiction Competition, every one was written
by a man. Do you have any ideas why IF has tended to be written mostly by
men? And was it odd to be one of the few women at Infocom?
AB: I think computers in general are still a male-dominated phenomenon.
Not to say that there aren't women interested in programming or designing
with computers, and that there aren't more now than there were 10 years
ago. I could rattle off a bunch of pseudo-sociological and pseudo-
psychological theories about why, but I don't have any actual data.
I didn't think it was odd to be one of the few women at Infocom, I
was just me. But maybe you should ask the men if it was weird for them to
have a woman in their midst.
XYZZYnews: Do you still keep up with IF, or computer games in general?
If so, are there any games you particularly liked recently (text or graphic)?
What direction do you think Infocom would've taken (or would you want it
to have taken) had it continued?
AB: I have played Myst, and loved it. 7th Guest is next on my list, when
I have the time. Other than that, I'm woefully out of date with computer
games (as the titles that I've played show -- isn't 7th Guest several years
old now?). I've heard there's a large underground of shareware all-text
adventures, but I've never tapped into them.
The second half of your question is more difficult for me to answer.
I'm a bit too pragmatic about the fact that Infocom did close down (or was
closed down, depending upon one's view). Like any other games company, if
miraculously Infocom didn't depend upon selling games, one would hope that
they would continue to write original, creative, fun and engaging games,
that sometimes would hit and sometimes would not, but which would always
be new and different. Given the increased capabilities for graphics and
sounds, the ideal 1997 Infocom game would have integrated puzzles and
experiences using those graphics and sounds. They would continue to push
the envelope of experience and enjoyment.
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IF in 1996: The Year in Review
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
by C.E. Forman (
[email protected])
You liked it so much last year that it's back again!
The first thing you'll notice is that this year's column is significantly
longer than 1995's. This is due to both a more meticulous recording of
details on my part, and a substantial increase in the number of details to
meticulously record.
By the way, happy anniversary to everyone! Our favorite hobby turned 20
years old last year!
I can't help but comment on how much the IF community has grown in just a
couple of years. When I first discovered r.*.i-f, TADS was the hands-down
preferred language, Inform 5.2 had just been released, Curses was the
hottest game on the archive, Busted was the only other major Inform
release out there, and I seem to recall an inordinate number of posts
about "phone calls from the future" (what was that thread about anyway?).
Was all this really only two years ago?
At any rate, I now give you... 1996, the year in IF.
--------------
January
--------------
The Broken String, a punk-rock TADS adventure, becomes the first IF release
of the new year.
This year's IF competition is announced. The final deadline is set for
September 31. Vote counters and beta-testers are selected, with the first
beta session in May.
--------------
February
--------------
Four new TADS adventures (Frustration, Golden Fleece, The Holy Grail, and
The Mission) are uploaded to GMD by Jim MacBrayne.
Acorn User magazine announces that Graham Nelson will be writing a monthly
column on adventure games and Inform.
--------------
March
--------------
To celebrate Graham Nelson's new column, Acorn User magazine announces an
Inform competition. The deadline is set for the end of summer, and Graham
is appointed as judge.
SpiritWrak, Dan Yu's Enchanter-esque adventure set in the Zork Universe,
becomes the first new Inform title of 1996.
Neil deMause's time-travel/history adventure Lost New York is released.
Bob Newell uploads the IF Authorship System FAQ.
Activision unveils Zork Nemesis for both DOS and Windows 95 platforms. The
Macintosh version is due out later this year, as is a port of Return to
Zork for the Sega Saturn. Planetfall 2, announced early last year, still
floats in software limbo.
--------------
April
--------------
Gumshoe, an Inform detective story by Mike Oliphant, reaches the IF archive.
Version 2.1 of Kent Tessman's Hugo compiler is released.
Gerry Kevin "Whizzard" Wilson announces that voting for the IF competition
will begin October 15 and end October 31.
On the third anniversary of the Inform language (April 30th), Graham Nelson
unveils the source code and manuals for Inform 6. Executable versions for
various platforms follow shortly afterwards.
--------------
May
--------------
IFers discover rumors of "Zork: The Movie" on a film studio's Web site
detailing planned projects. The film, if made, has an expected release
date of 1998.
--------------
June
--------------
Andrew C. Plotkin releases the Bergman-esque Inform game So Far.
Version 2.0 of the Frotz Z-Machine interpreter (which supports sound and
graphics) is uploaded to GMD.
Activision announces its new IF compilation, Infocom Masterpieces. This
new package includes all the games in Lost Treasures of Infocom (LTOI) 1
and 2 except Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Shogun; Activision no
longer holds the rights to publish these adaptations of Douglas Adams' and
James Clavell's work. This collection includes the elusive Leather
Goddesses of Phobos, which was left out of the LTOI collections. Most
noteworthy is the inclusion of the top three 1995 competition games in
both the TADS and Inform categories, plus a manual penned by Gerry Kevin
Wilson.
--------------
July
--------------
David Kinder joins Volker Blasius as co-maintainer of the IF archive at GMD.
High-Energy Software -- the distributor of TADS -- is closed down. Mike
Roberts announces that TADS will be released as freeware, with the manual.
Hugo version 2.2 is completed and released.
--------------
August
--------------
Super AGT, an expanded version of David Malmberg's and Mark Welch's adventure
language, is announced as a work-in-progress.
One year after the release of MST3K1, the MST3K1 Silver Screen Edition is
uploaded to GMD.
Andrew Plotkin spearheads production of an IF CD-ROM containing all the
major IF releases, shareware and freeware.
--------------
September
--------------
An interpreter to play Level 9 ("The Other Infocom") text adventure games
is uploaded to the archive, and receives very favorable attention.
Inform 6.04 and 6.05 are completed.
Graham Nelson announces the winners in Acorn User's I-F competition. The
top three entries were BSE, by Chris Smith (1st place); The Wedding, by
Neil Brown (2nd place); and Leopold the Minstrel, by Jamie Murphy (3rd
place). Runners-up included Transporter, by Andrew Laker; Wearing the
Claw, by Paul O'Brian; and Black'n'White Rag, by Jonathan Nowell.
Activision announces that the long-delayed Planetfall 2: The Search for
Floyd will in fact be completed. Steve Meretzky, author of Planetfall and
Stationfall, is off the project, and the plot and design have undergone
complete revisions.
Due to problems with the beta-testers' FTP site, the IF competition deadline
is pushed back from September 31st to October 10th.
--------------
October
--------------
The I-F competition deadline is again moved back, this time to October 15th.
Time: All Things Come to an End, a time-travel Inform game by Andrew
Phillips, is unveiled.
AGiliTy, the first interpreter allowing AGT games to run under non-DOS
platforms, is released.
The original TADS C source code is uploaded to the IF archive at GMD, along
with the full manual.
The 1996 IF competition entries are uploaded. Voting begins on October 20th,
with the deadline for votes set for November 30th, and winners and prizes
to be announced the first week of December.
The Wedding, the second-place winner in Graham Nelson's Inform contest,
arrives at the GMD archive. The first-place winner, BSE, follows not far
behind.
--------------
November
--------------
TADS creator Michael Roberts releases Perdition's Flames, originally a
commercial game, as freeware.
MaxTADS becomes the first independent TADS run-time interpreter.
Computer Gaming World names Zork as the all-time best adventure game, and
13th on its all-time best games list.
Return to Karn, an Inform-based sequel to a Dr. Who episode, by Patrick
Wigfull, appears on the IF archive.
Night at the Computer Center, an Inform game by Bonnie Mierzejewska, is
released.
Gareth Rees uploads the source code for Christminster, along with Release
4 of the game.
--------------
December
--------------
Votes are tallied, and Kevin Wilson posts the results of the 1996 IF
Competition. The top three places are claimed by The Meteor, the Stone and
a Long Glass of Sherbet, by Graham Nelson; Tapestry, by Dan Ravipinto; and
Delusions, by C.E. Forman (that's me, that's me!). Filling fourth through
sixth place are Small World, by Andrew Pontious; Kissing the Buddha's
Feet, by Leon Lin; and Fear by Chuan-Tze Teo.
Sierra Online's newsletter praises TADS as a design system, suggesting that
writing a text adventure is a good step toward a job as a professional game
designer.
Inform 6.1 and the 6/3 library are published, making Inform multilingual.
According to r.a.i-f posts, work has begun on translations to Italian,
Russian and German.
XYZZYnews announces the first annual XYZZY awards. Voting is in effect until
February 1, 1997.
--------------
General Trends
--------------
Interest in IF has grown substantially over the past 12 months. There was
a far more active competition this year, with 26 entries compared with 12
in 1995. As Magnus Olsson put it, "I have a feeling that it's changed
character a bit, being no longer an underground movement but rather
something on the fringe of the mainstream. I also have a -- rather vague
-- feeling that we've reached some sort of break-even; that we don't need
to be so concerned about the survival of the genre at the moment."
Almost no one would argue this, and it does lend some degree of validity
to Graham Nelson's criticism of the acronym "SPAG." During the second
quarter of the year, there was even some discussion about the possibility
of having too much IF, after a large number releases -- Broken String, the
four Jim MacBrayne games, Lost New York, SpiritWrak and Gumshoe -- all
within a four-month period. 1996 saw the release of 46 I-F games, far
surpassing 1995's 21 entries. Increased traffic on r.*.i-f has also
furthered the growth of open commentary and criticism, and in fact a
number of full-length reviews were posted to r.g.i-f earlier in the year.
Baf's Guide, the web's largest collection of I-F reviews, has seen updates
on a more-or-less regular basis.
On the language front, Kent Tessman's Hugo compiler is starting to get the
recognition it deserves. More than once the benefits of this easy-to-use
language have cropped up in the perpetual "TADS versus Inform" debate. The
SoftWorks AGT compiler also made quite a comeback this year, with a couple
of AGT competition entries and numerous whispered works-in-progress, not
to mention the AGiliTy tools that finally allow AGT games to break free of
the confines of a PC-exclusive environment. Use of David Baggett's
WorldClass library for TADS is also up from last year.
Though 1996 was a slower year for Z-machine developments than 1995, it
wouldn't do to ignore Frotz as the generally-accepted new standard for
Z-machine interpreters, nor should we overlook MaxTADS as a significant
bridge to new platforms. Where Infocom excavations hit a dry spell, Level
9 has sprung forward with two major releases of the first L9 interpreter.
Variety of discussions peaked out this year, with long-running, dominant
threads including:
**Puzzle-less interactive fiction
The topic was brought up throughout the year, but Joe Mason's In the End
was the primary target of post-competition commentary on this issue. It
didn't place high, and whether it was actually "puzzle-less" was also
debated (as many players had to guess at the author's intentions), leaving
the question of the feasibility of full-length puzzle-less I-F unanswered.
**The nature of IF
Threads concerning the identity of an IF game also dominated the groups,
with topics ranging from which type of IF is the most "real"; to whether
IF, by definition, is a game; to what IF has the potential to be. The
contrast of the player as himself/herself versus the player as a generic
character filled bandwidth in droves.
**"Preachiness," or messages in games
Two competition entries, Tapestry and, to a lesser extent Delusions, brought
this thread out full-throttle during the year's fourth quarter.
**Linearity
With its multifaceted story, complex situations and pure entertainment value,
Andrew Phillips' Time: All Things Come to an End breathed new life into
an I-F style thought long-dead: the single-path, linear-plot adventure.
**IF collectibles
It's hard to call something less than 20 years old an antique, but IF's
20th anniversary seemed to spark a renewed interest in collecting the
original Infocom game packages. Perhaps rec.collecting.int-fiction is just
around the corner?
--------------
On the Horizon
--------------
Now comes the fun part: what the future holds. Rather than attempt to
speculate further on where IF in general is going, I thought I'd provide a
sneak peek at some titles that may or may not be just around the corner.
Keep your eyes open for (at least some) of the following in 1997:
Akorny
Avalon
Bast
Djinn!
Logomancer
Losing Your Grip
Moondials
Sangsarawardha
Scimitar
Shelton
Sphere
Stuck Mid-Game
Wanderer
Once again, thanks to all the IFers who provided details and offered
suggestions for this article!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
CHEAT, BEG, WHEEDLE, CAJOLE
..and other strategies for how we finish IF games
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
by Rob Daviau (
[email protected])
--------------
Help, please!
--------------
The IF audience, as a whole, is ashamed, critical, and frustrated. Not by
the lack of commercial success of IF or by the fall of Infocom; but rather
by the games themselves -- specifically, by our frequent need for
assistance in getting through them. A quick look at the IF newsgroups
shows that a great many people are stuck in different games and are using
help of some sort. But how many people need help to get through a game?
And how many hints does the average person take? And, if we need all this
help getting through a game, does that mean that the average interactive
fiction game is too hard? And if we all use hints, why does everyone feel
so guilty about the whole thing?
To find out what the IF community thinks about getting help for the games,
what kind of help is appreciated, and when do clues get in the way, I
recently posted a poll on the newsgroups and received about 50 responses.
I also e-mailed several IF authors to see how they feel. I've compiled the
results and offer some analysis.
--------------
The average IF player
--------------
First, the obvious: an interactive fiction game relies on puzzles to make
the Interactive part of the game come alive. And the nature of puzzles is
to be challenged, and occasionally stuck. That's the point, isn't it? So
it's only logical that we would need a nudge now and then.
In fact, 96 percent of players say they resort to help at some point during
a game, with the average IF player needing three hints to solve the average
length game. Some 38 percent use an average of three or fewer hints, 37
percent need three to five, 8 percent need more than five, and 15 percent
couldn't answer with a number, but gave varying versions of "it depends."
Does this mean the games are too hard? Well, 96 percent of players answer
with a resounding no, the games are not too hard. On the contrary, most
respondents were quick to beat themselves up, taking the blame and feeling
inadequate for failing to solve puzzles: only 25 percent gave a straight
"no," while 10 percent said they were "too lazy", 15 percent said they were
"too stupid", and 17 percent said they were "too impatient." Putting some
blame on the authors were the 8 percent who said "guess the verb" caused
looking at a cheat, 6 percent admitted that their minds just were out of
sync with the author, and 6 percent contended that while the games were
not unfairly difficult, some puzzles were.
So what causes this high "cheat" rate among players? One factor may be that
most IF players (95 percent) play interactive fiction games alone. Those
of you who have played a game with a friend will know that two minds are
much better than one. Maybe someone in the community can figure out a way
to play networked IF games, since over 35 percent of the respondents made
a point of saying (without being asked) that they wished they could play
with a friend.
--------------
Good help vs. bad help
--------------
It was difficult to pin down the type of help most people prefer. In-game
hints seem to have the slight advantage (41 percent), even though some
feel they are too tempting. As one person put it, "[in-game hints] are
like putting a bowl of cocaine next to a junkie and telling him to only
take a little when he really needs it." One method praised by several
people was the hint-giving demon in "Curses". There were a lot of people
who liked making the hints a part of the game itself rather than part of
the program that's running it.
Newsgroup postings were the next most popular (25 percent), although there
were almost an equal number of people who liked having to wait for a response
as those who hated it.
The Universal Help System and Invisiclues both had respectable showings,
but walkthroughs and e-mailing the author received little praise.
It was easier to determine the least favored help method: walkthroughs.
62 percent hated walkthroughs, most of them vehemently. The type of
walkthroughs that were hated most were those that were a list of commands
with no annotation or explanation. Those that had comments fared slightly
better. The next two least-favorite methods were in-game hints (18
percent) and newsgroup postings (15 percent). Complaints for these were
that they were "too accessible" or "take too long to hear back."
--------------
Let's hear from the authors
--------------
But how do the authors feel about all of this? After all, hints and help
can give away puzzles that they spent months perfecting. Surprisingly enough
(or maybe not at this point), most IF authors are very pro-hints. They spent
months -- if not years -- working on their games and don't want people to
give up halfway because of one particularly tough puzzle. Actually, all
the authors contacted for this article said they used hints when playing
games and one, Gareth Rees, the author of Christminster, has written a few
walkthroughs himself, most notably for Jigsaw.
"Not all players can solve all puzzles, perhaps because the puzzle
requires some piece of cultural knowledge, or is too hard, or just strikes
the player the wrong way," Rees said. "Without hints and walkthroughs many
games wouldn't be appreciated to the extent they should be." C.E. Forman,
co-author of Path To Fortune, added, "What's obvious to the author may be
thoroughly incomprehensible to a player. There's a very fine line between
challenging and frustrating. The best games toe that line with the
greatest of care. Though they may be hard, they're fair."
Authors see hints as a bridge between their minds and the audiences. Some
players can make it all the way over, some need a push in different places.
And the same feeling of being "stupid" seems to exist on the authors' side
as well. Andrew Plotkin, who wrote So Far, said "Not everybody can solve
everything, either because [they're] stupid or I'm stupid (i.e., designed
a puzzle badly. :-)"
Neil deMause, who wrote Lost New York, agrees. "[Lately] I've seen a slew
of puzzles that are way too hard, requiring not just a flash of insight
but practically the ability to mind-read the author's intentions," he
said. "I'm deeply concerned that we're falling out of the habit of
providing in-game clues. The prevailing attitude seems to be 'I'll think
up a really tough puzzle, and if they get stuck they can just use the
hints.'"
--------------
Why we need to get over it
--------------
So where does that leave us? Well, getting help for IF games is a fact of
life and we all need to stop feeling guilty about it. After all, it's the
rare occasion where author and player click at the right level for an
entire game. Walkthroughs, although almost universally reviled, do help
people get through the games when they have no other recourse. And most of
the rec.games.int-fiction newsgroup stays alive because of hint asking and
giving. What we (authors, players, walkthrough authors, all of us) need to
do is focus on making hints work the best they can for everyone. That will
be the focus of the second part of this article, which will appear in the
next issue. If you have any suggestions to toss in, please e-mail me at
[email protected].
--------------
This is part one of a two-part article.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
BULLETIN BOARD
Readers helping other readers
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Here are some queries I've received recently from readers looking for
hard-to-find games, or who are in need of specific help. After months of
staring at them guiltily in my e-mailbox, I had to finally admit that I'll
never be able to catch up on answering them. If you can help answer any of
these requests, please don't be shy about chiming in with an answer!
-- EM
------------------------------------------------------
Okay, here's the problem: several months ago I made the mistake of lending
all my old Infocom games to Kim, my girlfriend. Since then, she has become,
well, a little obsessed with them at times. Which is just fine with me,
except I'm tired of her calling and waking me up every other day at 9 a.m.
"Vern," She'll say imploringly, "how do I save the microscopic space fleet?"
Or, "Vern, how do I get the key from around the unicorn's neck?" etc., etc.
Anyway, to make a long story short; could help her (me) out and answer a
few questions regarding the game Lurking Horror?
1: How does one get past the urchins?
2: How do you get the mummified hand out of the observation dome and what
do do with it?
I'd greatly appreciate any help you may be able to offer.
Vernon Hedrick
[email protected]
------------------------------------------------------
Years ago Infocom published a poster as well as a package insert. The image
is a silhouette of a man and a computer. The text reads "A human never stands
so tall as when stooping to help a small computer." I am looking for a copy
of this poster ( I have the package insert). Do you have any idea where
I could get one? If so, please advise via e-mail.
Yoletta Lieberthal
[email protected]
------------------------------------------------------
I am also a fan of old Infocom text adventures. I know Infocom has a new
CD out with all the titles on it. But, would you happen to know of a source
where I might be able to buy the old individual copies of Infocom games
with the original boxes and the special "goodies" that make the adventure
seem more real?
Wayne Chen
[email protected]
------------------------------------------------------
I'm stuck! I have Beyond Zork and have gotten to the ruins and back again
but am unable to get any further. I understand that I have to get a "phase
razor" in order to cut the outline in the chest to get to the ethereal plains
but I can't find it. Where do I get it from? How do I enter the plains and
get on with the game?
Chris Simeon
[email protected]
------------------------------------------------------
I sure hope you can help me because I can't find anyone else that can.
According to the author of RTZ, you need a list of certain items to throw
at the bridge so it will sink and rise for you to cross. I have all of the
items and threw every one of them at that D---- bridge and it won't come
up for me. I am really frustrated! I don't know what else to try. I've
read every walkthrough I can find on the web and all they say is throw
everything at the bridge. I've even called INFOCOM but obviously only
robots work there because there is no way to make contact with a human by
telephone. The hint line was of no help -- it said I would need a minimum
of seven objects. Seven! I've thrown 28 or 29 and still no bridge.
George Ann
[email protected]
------------------------------------------------------
I have been playing Colossal Cave Adventure version 1.00 and every time
I get stuck in the maze! How do you get out of the maze? The maze that I
get stuck in is the one with the vending machine that you can get fresh
batteries from, in case there are more then one maze.
Also, my mom and dad talk about how much they liked to play Dracula, a Scott
Adams game they used to have for their old Commodore computer. Do you know
if that is available anywhere for a PC?
Emily Johnson
[email protected]
------------------------------------------------------
I had problems printing out the PDF version of XYZZYnews #11: the Acrobat
Reader complained about missing fonts and refused to print. I have printed
#1-10 under the same setup and have never had any problems. Did you change
anything? Maybe you didn't embed some of the fonts which you have embedded
in the old issues? Or am I the only one having this problem?
Thanks in advance,
Dave
[email protected]
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
WHAT'S ON THE DISK
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The companion disk for XYZZYnews #12 contains the following game files.
ItÕs a good deal for people who have slower modems -- at 2400 bps, itÕd
take a heck of a long time to download the contents of the companion disk.
ItÕs also a good deal for people with limited or no access to FTP sites
or online services as a source for new games. If youÕre reading an electronic
version of this issue, you can obtain this games disk with a print copy
of XYZZYnews #12 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.
FEAR -- As the game begins, you awaken from a terrifying nightmare, relieved
that you were only having a bad dream but still realizing that something
is not right. Why are you in such constant fear? In this Inform game by
Chuan-Tze Teo, every move you make is hampered by near-paralyzing fears,
from claustrophobia to arachnophobia. Try not to panic as you make your
way in and out of a number of puzzling locations, including a series of
dream worlds.
RALPH -- In the history of IF, there have been games where you are an
intelligent computer, a two-headed alien, a holographic fish. In Ralph,
you are a dog: the eponymous Ralph, whose life unfolds through a series of
quintessentially canine Ralphisms (ÒNose wet: check. Fur clean: check.
Tail up: check. Sexy.Ó) as you endeavor to do whatever it is that dogs
endeavor. There isnÕt a whole lot in the way of puzzles in this short
Inform game by Miron Schmidt, but who cares? As Ralph, you can bark, chase
cats, relieve yourself on small children. All in all, great goofy fun.
LISTS AND LISTS -- Can you learn to program in Lisp (well, Scheme,
actually) from a text adventure game? This Inform game by Andrew Plotkin
gives you examples to learn from, and supplies an eight-foot genie who
will pose problems for you to solve. And you thought IF was just fun and
games!
OF FORMS UNKNOWN -- Summer on a college campus is rarely exciting, and
this year is no exception. In this Inform game by Chris Markwyn, youÕre a
restless college student waiting for classes to start up again. Could
those odd dreams youÕve been having mean anything? Maybe something will
come along to entertain you...
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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,
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