Interactive Fiction

[Ropie]

I dabbled in this a few years ago but have not had the time to try it since. Quite a bit of it seemed to be based in the realms of science fiction, and it is format that suits the genre well I think.

I remember one called Photopia, based in a sort of SF setting, that was very well written, atmospheric and more of a novella than a 'game' as such.

I would be interested to know if anyone here has ever tried to get through one.

(If anyone is not sure what interactive fiction is, you can find out here: http://www.microheaven.com/IFGuide/)

 

[phil_geo]

hmm

You mean like Choose Your Own Adventure books?

http://www.gamebooks.org/cyoalist.htm

I loved the Dungeons and Dragons ones when I was 9. I never saw any more complex or better written ones though. I don't think adults would enjoy the ones I used to read, they are children's books, and they relied heavily on the gimmick, i.e. they were not exactly quality writing.

 

[Great Zamfir]

No, IF's are the text based adventure/puzzle games from the 80's, like Zork or Hitchhiker's Guide, where you have to type "N' to go north and "pull left lever" to do things. They have sort of evolved, and there are now a lot of amateur writers who write games that are more like novellas, with lot of atmosphere and story and sometimes little puzzles. Feels like an alternative way of writing a story, sometimes with strong non-linear aspects, often with dream-like themes.

Trouble is, many of these stories are not good as either a story or a puzzle game, so you really have to find the right ones. Adam Cadre, who wrote Photopia is really good, this is his website:
Adam Cadre

 

[Ropie]

You mean like Choose Your Own Adventure books?

I suppose these could be considered to be the basis of IF, but I am talking about the computerised version

Adam Cadre - that's who I was thinking of. Andrew Plotkin has also written some good ones: Shade (not quite sci-fi, but it's not far off) and Spider and Web (very disorientating, Kafkaesque futuristic yarn).

And, yes, there are a lot of poor ones but Baf's Guide to IF will point you in the direction of all the best ones.

 

[Great Zamfir]

BTW, the BBc has published an online version of the guide game on their website, including pictures. This is really a puzzle game, but the puzzles and the story are perfectly combined ( and very illogical, as they should be)
Hitchhiker's guide game

 

[phil_geo]

ahhh

Gotcha. I loved Zork and I had an "I got the Bablefish" t-shirt from the Infocom Hitchhikers game. I got through all of Zork I, but someone had to give me a tip on how to get that damn egg open.