Category Archives: interactive fiction

Comments on Changelog 2014-01-20

The main theme in the last couple of changelogs has been “entering” and “exiting”.

In Vespers, there are several objects that act as traditional interactive fiction-style “supporters” and “containers” — that is, objects that allow you to mount them (supporters) or enter them (containers). These would be objects like chairs, benches, and beds. The latter is particularly important for Vespers, but either way if we’re going to include objects like these in the 3D world, there should be a process in place for sitting and lying down, even if it’s not crucial for the completion of the game. Without that, the world would just seem too non-interactive and uninviting.

In text, the process of mounting or entering objects is fairly straightforward, and is [More...] Read the rest

Also posted in 3D/if, game design, Vespers | Leave a comment

A Verb Analysis, Redux

A long, long time ago—it looks like over five years ago, actually, which makes me wince—I posted a blog article here about an analysis of verb use in some well-known IF games. These were based not on actual player transcripts, but rather on the published walkthroughs of these games. The walkthroughs weren’t necessarily the quickest solutions to the games—they included commands that were technically unnecessary for solving the game, but which provided a more complete experience of the game for players who followed them. Still, they were by no means game transcripts, so they didn’t truly reflect the typical use of verbs that one might expect from players. The idea was to get a sense of the breadth and depth of verb usage in these [More...] Read the rest

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JET LAMP SLC: A few thoughts about the event…

…in no particular order:

1. Loved it. The event went off without a hitch. Brewvies was a great place to have it, especially with the beer and food to go along with the big screen. I was a little worried at first, since it was a pretty large theater with 160 seats, not intuitively conducive to an informal screening and discussion. But seeing the film up on the large screen was very cool, and the post-movie discussion actually worked quite well.

2. This:

Impressive lineup

was exceptionally cool to see. Not sure why, but this probably made the night. That, and seeing Jason’s reaction to it.

3. Who knew? Taking photographs of a cinema marquee, no big deal. Taking photos of the lingerie and sex [More...] Read the rest

Also posted in adventure games, text in games | 1 Response

JET LAMP tour stopping in Salt Lake City

Well, after taking the summer off from the blog, we’re now officially back in business. And what better way to start back in than with an excellent announcement about Jason Scott’s documentary film on the history of text adventure games, GET LAMP.

The Official GET LAMP SLC flier

Jason is making the rounds during the months of September and October to promote the movie, thanks to a special “all-you-can-jet” ticket through JetBlue airlines. Since JetBlue flies into Salt Lake City, I invited him to stop in for a screening, and he accepted.

The screening will take place at Brewvies Cinema Pub, a cool place in downtown SLC that serves beer and food with movies, so it should make for a great place to [More...] Read the rest

Also posted in adventure games, indie games, text in games | Leave a comment

End of March Vespers Update (or, How To Drop A Girl)

March comes, March goes. Lion, lamb, all the usual stuff.

March is always a busy month, what with GDC and sundry work-related conferences and travels. And this year, of course, there was PAX East. Man, how I wanted to be there for that. It was, by still rare accounts, an amazing show of force by the IF community, and from what I can tell a great time was had by all. It sounds like there was a groundswell of new or renewed interest in IF, which can only be a Good Thing. And, of course, GET LAMP. I can’t help but feel like I missed a significant event in IF and the opportunity to meet some great folks, but at the same time I [More...] Read the rest

Also posted in 3D/if, Vespers | 5 Responses