Posted by Terry
Sat, 26 Apr 2008 19:08:00 GMT
For the last two months or so, Interactive Fiction veteran Emily Short has been running a cover art drive. The basic idea is that attaching something visual, like a cover, to various works of Interactive Fiction would make it easier for sites (like ours, I guess) to promote the brilliant and very overlooked interactive fiction scene to a wider audience. It’s gone pretty well – including alternates, there are currently 98 submitted covers in the photostream (some examples are included in the side image), but there are still quite a few games outstanding.
I know there are officially only a few days left, but after seeing all the artistic talent on display in tonight’s iScribble session I figured that there are probably quite a few people reading this that could help out with a final push! To take part, all you have to do is create a cover like the ones on the side for any interactive fiction game and send it to Emily. A good place to start would be this post on her blog which lists a few games which have requested cover art but haven’t gotten any yet. Even if you’re not familiar with those games (or any interactive fiction), I’m sure someone on the forums would be more than happy to give you a synopsis or describe a scene. Full details about the project (including detailed clarifications) are collected here. As of right now, here are the games still looking for cover art:
- A Dino’s Night Out, by Aris Katsaris
- Breath Pirates, by Mike Snyder (to replace existing art)
- Goldilocks is a FOX!, by J.J. Guest (to replace existing art)
- House of Dream of Moon, by IF Whispers
- Learning to Cross, by Mark J. Musante
- Legerdemain, by Nathan Jerpe
- Luminous Horizon, by Paul O’Brian
- Revenger, by Robb Sherwin (to replace existing art)
- Tales of the Traveling Swordsman, by Mike Snyder (to replace existing art)
- Waystation, by Stephen Granade
- Wearing the Claw, by Paul O’Brian
There are officially only three days left, so if you’re interested, get cracking! |  |
Posted in Interactive Fiction, Community | Tags EmilyShort | 9 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Thu, 13 Mar 2008 06:52:00 GMT
The desert sand squirms beneath your feet, alive with mutant nanomachines. Sheriff Clayton has Elias. He’s hanging him at noon.
It looks like you’re going to have to shoot some people.
So begins Gun Mute, a new interactive fiction game from Pacian, the developer of Snowblind Aces, a Text the Halls favorite.
And yeah, you’re definitely going to do a lot of shooting in this game, which may seem out of place for a text adventure. Non-linear exploration and item collection/usage are kind of the hallmarks of your “typical” IF, but in Gun Mute there are only two directions – forward and backward – and the only item you’ll ever need is your trusty six-shooter (ain’t that the truth!).
That Pacian can craft some tricky puzzles around such a limited set of actions is a testament to his abilities as a game designer. But it’s the narrative, set in a far-out futuristic Western, that keeps you hooked until the final, climactic showdown. Games like this really show off why interactive fiction is such a unique and exciting genre. Superb work!
EDIT: And if you’re stuck anywhere, you can type ‘HINT’ for hints.
Posted in Macintosh, Interactive Fiction, Highly Recommended, Linux, Windows, Freeware | Tags Pacian | 24 comments
Posted by Terry
Sat, 16 Feb 2008 17:38:00 GMT
Just a quick heads up: the nominations for 2007’s XYZZY awards are underway. If there are any pieces of Interactive Fiction from last year that you’d like to see get some recognition, you’ve got until Sunday the 23rd of February to vote. This year there are ten categories: Best Game, Best Writing, Best Story, Best Setting, Best Puzzles, Best NPCs, Best Individual Puzzle, Best Individual NPC, Best Individual PC and Best Use of Medium.
The voting form (as well as a full list of eligible games) is available on XYZZY news here.
Posted in Interactive Fiction, Community, Competitions | 2 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Tue, 15 Jan 2008 15:16:00 GMT
Legerdemain is an interesting Roguelike hybrid that eschews the typical fantasy setting and randomly-generated dungeons of the Roguelike genre in favor of a surreal storyline which you have to uncover piece by piece. The developer also states that the game is influenced, part, by Interactive Fiction.
The game opens by asking you questions to “shape your philosophy as a Manipulator.” Manipulation is the “magic” of Phenomedom, an ancient art that few understand and many are fearful of. Once your character is created, you awake in a Doobah prison cell, an amnesiac. Although your ultimate goal is to “uncover a vast conspiracy full of morbid secrets and ancient puzzles,” your immediate one is to escape the prison. Grabbing the prime brush laying next you (a tool used for manipulation), you set out on your quest.
The repetitiveness of the first dungeon put me off a bit, but once you emerge into the overworld, things definitely pick up. Examining points of interest (represented by ”?”), collecting “paragraphs” (large chunks of storyline), and talking to the various inhabitants of the world of Phenomedom is quite engaging – you can hail, chat, gossip, offer, or ask people about keywords that get brought up during conversation. Even though combat initially seems shallow compared to other Roguelikes, there’s no lacking in things to see or learn once you escape the Doobah prison.
All in all, Legerdemain is a bold experiment that runs the risk of alienating fans of RLs, RPGs, or IF because it’s not quite any of them. Still, the world of Phenomedom is a captivating one, and there’s obviously a lot under the hood that’s there to be discovered.
Note: The game is programmed in Java and requires a Java Virtual Machine (at least 1.4) to run. A link for this download is on the developer’s website.
(Source: Slash, via Rogue Temple)
Posted in RPG, Interactive Fiction, Roguelikes, Windows, Freeware | Tags NathanJerpe | 10 comments
Posted by Terry
Fri, 04 Jan 2008 09:54:00 GMT
And it’s all over! The winner is Pacian, with the excellent Snowblind Aces – which also finished first with a unanimous Miss Congeniality vote! Congratulations also to Akhel, who managed a very close second place with The Snowman in both the main vote and the MC vote. Finishing third is TIGSaga in the main event (keep an eye out for TIGStory!), and My Magic Tire Hoax in the MC vote (probably the most imaginative entry to the contest).
You can find the rest of the results in this thread.
Despite the low voter turnout, I think it’s safe to call this contest a success! The overall standard was amazing, especially for a contest where many were writing their first piece of interactive fiction. Everything, all the way down to tenth place is worth playing, and if you haven’t played them yet, you really should.
We definitely need to have another one of these text adventure contests!
Edit: IF blogger Jason Dyer has reviews up of the top three, Snowblind Aces, The Snowman, and TIGSaga. Definitely worth checking out. I’ll try to keep an eye out for more reviews if they crop up.
Posted in Interactive Fiction, Community, Competitions | Tags Akhel, Pacian | 33 comments
Posted by Terry
Wed, 26 Dec 2007 18:17:00 GMT
Text the Halls is finished! A huge congratulations to everyone who took part, and to everyone who tried to take part!
We’ve had a total of ten entries, titled:
- Breathe
- Capture Santa!
- The Christmas Party
- Midwinter Rites
- My Magic Tire Hoax
- Panorama
- Snowblind Aces
- The Snowman
- TIGSaga
- X-Maton 2010
You can find more information (and download links) on the forums, as well as information on where you can find interpretors to play the games. Voting will run for a week, starting now [Edit: Due to a mess up on my part, we have to restart voting. If you’ve already voted, please take a moment to vote in the new thread (linked above).]. A lot of the entries are quite short, so that should be plenty of time to play them all and make your mind up!
Oh, and authors – we’re also holding a Miss Congeniality contest, IFComp style. Send me a PM on the forums with your votes if you want to take part!
Posted in Nerd Love, Interactive Fiction, Competitions | 5 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Mon, 10 Dec 2007 15:56:00 GMT
Sorry, guys. It’s time to learn how to read!
Posted in Features, Interactive Fiction, Competitions | 22 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Sat, 17 Nov 2007 07:41:00 GMT
A brother and sister are driving together late at night and run over the corpse of an old man who is carrying 10,000 dollars. So begins Move or Die, a visual novel where you play a hitchhiker riding with the duo who must advise them on what to do.
Unfortunately, Move or Die suffers from the same problem many games in this genre do: there are too few “right” choices, and the “right” choices are not obvious. Discovering a winning solution requires too much trial-and-error versus using your noggin. I have to say, though, I found the basic idea behind this one to be interesting.
The creators have more episodes planned, but considering this first one was released in 2005, I wouldn’t hold my breath!
(Thanks, bigbossSNK!)
Posted in Interactive Fiction, Browser Games | 14 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Fri, 02 Nov 2007 10:21:00 GMT
You awaken in a large complex, slightly disoriented. Glowing dots hover mouth level near you in every direction. Off in the distance you hear the faint howling of what you can only imagine must be some sort of ghost or several ghosts.
Someone’s done and turned Pac-Man into a text adventure game.
(Source: The Random Gnome’s Lair!)
Posted in Demakes, Unique / Bizarre, Interactive Fiction, Browser Games | 12 comments
Posted by Terry
Fri, 19 Oct 2007 08:00:00 GMT
Veteran game reviewer Kieron Gillen (who’s previously written for PC Gamer, EDGE and Eurogamer, among others) has reposted an old EDGE article to his collaborative games blog, Rock Paper Shotgun. The article is entitled “Word Play”, and it’s about the use of text in videogames.
The first half of the article is compelling enough, I suppose, but it’s the second part that’s really interesting to me. Kieron moves on to discuss “one corner of the modern games scene [where text] is dominant… the Interactive Fiction or IF Community. Or, as they were known in the eighties, text adventures.”
This section includes interviews with IF notables Emily Short and Adam Cadre (the authors of Galatea and Photopia, respectively), and talks about their influences, their approach to game design, and their view of how things are going to pan out for IF in the future.
I remember reading it in EDGE a few years ago, and at the time, I’d only played Photopia and some older well known text adventures like Zork and Colossal Cave. This article is what finally got me to explore Interactive Fiction in more depth, and I’m quite glad I did! There seemed to be something missing from this republished version though, so I dusted off my collection of old copies of EDGE and had a look for the original article (it’s November 2004, E142). Huzzah! The original had a little separate boxed off section titled “A short IF reading list”, which listed a number of introductory titles that I recommend checking out as soon as you possibly can, if you haven’t already.
I don’t know why this wasn’t included in this version of the article, but it’s well worth reading, so I’ve copied it from the original and reproduced it here. Hit the extended to read it!
Read more...
Posted in Interactive Fiction, Community, Developers, Freeware, Interviews | Tags AdamCadre, EmilyShort | 9 comments
