Interactive Fiction Competition 2002 Underway 103
An anonymous reader writes "The games of the 2002 Annual Interactive Fiction Competition are now available from the IF Archive. Visit it or ifcomp.org
to download the games."
...there can be no public or private virtue unless the foundation of action is the practice of truth. - George Jacob Holyoake
Coincidence with the poll? (Score:1)
Adventure... (Score:1)
I have written a very basic IF authoring system in Python.
I created the surface level (forest/building etc) from Zork 1, then implemented the underground levels from the orginal Advent.
Its all a bit clunky, however there is one big difference to normal IF engines... its multiuser. If anyone wants the code, its free to a good home, I am no longer interested in working on it.
Re:Adventure... (Score:1)
1. create object (switch, sign, monitor etc)
2. create methods (pull, push, examine)
There is also an event system, so objects methods can be run at a certain time of day, or when people walk into and out of rooms. Its all quite simple really, I wrote it as an exercise to learn Python and socket programming, so the code probably isnt that great.
still exist? (Score:1)
Re:still exist? (Score:4, Informative)
Actually, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy came smack dab in the middle of the big text-adventure boom of the 1980s. If you want early, go check out the Zork trilogy [csd.uwo.ca] or Scott Adams's games [msadams.com]. (No, not that Scott Adams.) And if you'd like to try Hitchhiker's, it's playable on the web at Douglas Adams's site [douglasadams.com].
Re:still exist? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:still exist? (Score:2, Interesting)
Oh, well, if you're going to mention Inform, I'll have to respond with links to TADS [tads.org] and Hugo [161.184.245.22].
Play 'Name that Game' (Score:1)
Now, why the chief of cannibal's codes this into his own language, I never worked out...
and now, what's even worse, I can't remember the name of the game. But it was good!
Anyone?...
Re:Play 'Name that Game' (Score:1)
Re:still exist? (Score:1)
alas for the salad days of infocom, text adventures, and the new zork times!
You betcha. Wanna play that? (Score:3, Informative)
I've been working on getting stuff like this online.
So far, I've gotten, Matthew Russo's zplet [sourceforge.net] working with a CGI front-end.
Next on the list is jetty [drizzle.com], though this will probably take a bit (lot) more work, as its not very polished at the moment.
Anyway...I put MY favorite Inform games (those that work with the z-machine interpreter) online at this location. [freeshell.org]
I just added the competition's zcode section as well - it's
here. [freeshell.org]
Have fun!
One note: the reason that the applet asks for read/write permission is so that you can save. Its a security risk for you, perhaps, but why live your life in fear?
Re:You betcha. Wanna play that? (Score:1)
Nice...
Any chance you could be coaxed into sticking Suspended up there as well? I'm pretty sure it's an Inform game as well. That's one of the first games I can recall playing. My mom brought me into it and got me started. Actually, she got me started on a lot of games. She used to copy code out of the back of Compute's Gazette to give me games to play with and to teach herself BASIC. Oh, the good ol' days. That had to have been circa '83 or so on the ol' C64. The premise was that you were a computer/robot operater in cryonic suspended animation. You're waken up when some nasty things start happening in your complex and you have to get to robots (one representing each sense) to sort things out. I remember that Poet was one craaazy dude!
Hmmm... Got me curious again, now. letsee. (Google, Google, Google...) Well, I guess there is this [elsewhere.org] :
Ohhh! VERY COOL! And this. [elsewhere.org]
Suspended(1983), a science fiction story by Michael Berlyn.
As described on the box:
They said you would sleep for half a millennium -- not an unreasonable length of time, considering you'd be in limited cryogenic suspension. Your body would rest frozen at the planet's nerve center, an underground complex 20 miles beneath the surface. Your brain, they told you, would be wired to a network of computers; your mind would continue to operate at a minimal level, overseeing maintenance of surface-side equilibrium. And you would not awake, so they promised, until your 500 years had elapsed -- barring, of course, the most dire emergency.
Then, and only then, you would be awakened to save your planet by strategically manipulating six robots, each of whom perceives the world differently. But such a catastrophe, you have been assured, could not possibly occur.
Good morning.
I also remember being really intrigued by the box. Follow the link above. I found it really disturbing but I was still somehow quite drawn to it. Kinda like when I first discovered DOOM, I guess.
L8,
T
Re:You betcha. Wanna play that? (Score:1)
Err... Sorry, not Inform. That should've read Infocom. BTW, if anyone wants to play some of these old Infocoms, telnet to:
eldorado.elsewhere.org
User: zork
pass:
L8,
T
Re:You betcha. Wanna play that? (Score:2)
Unlike Hitchhiker's guide, the author wasn't kind enough to distribute a freeware version, so it's illegal to put it up. All of these games are on the up-and-up.
My ACTUAL personal favorite is the Enchanter trilogy, and I would REALLY like to put it up there.
A Note from the Organizer (Score:5, Informative)
Hi, I'm the competition organizer. A few words of instruction and explanation. The basic idea is that you're to download and play at least five of the forty games, and then rate them on a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 is the best. Full instructions are in the competition readme file [ifarchive.org].
Most of the games run in a virtual machine, so you'll need to download interpreters for those machines. For the TADS 2 and 3 games, grab the unified TADS 2 and 3 source tarball for Unix [ifarchive.org]. For the z-code games, try Nitfol [ifarchive.org] or Unix Frotz [ifarchive.org]. For the Glulx game, try Linux Glulxe [ifarchive.org] or Solaris Glulxe [ifarchive.org]. For the ALAN games, grab GlkALAN for Linux [ifarchive.org].
You've got until November 15th to vote. Even if you don't want to vote, feel free to play the games anyway. And if this really gets you jonesing to play more of the recently-released interactive fiction, stop by Baf's Guide to the IF Archive [wurb.com] for reviews of many of the games on the IF Archive [ifarchive.org]. Oh, and a minor plug for my IF site, Brass Lantern [brasslantern.org].
Stephen
Re:A Note from the Organizer (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:A Note from the Organizer (Score:2, Interesting)
A note or a shamless plug? (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:A Note from the Organizer (Score:1)
Just wondering: 40 games were submitted out of 95 intents. Is that about the same ratio you've seen in years past?
Re:A Note from the Organizer (Score:2, Informative)
Re:A Note from the Organizer (Score:1)
Amazing... (Score:1)
Good grief
pretty graphics and cool sound-effects???
Good grief
- people still write games that have an actualy
storyline???
Good grief
- people still write text-adventures in BASIC for
M$-DOS?!?!?!?!
<<keels of chair in shock>>
Hell, *I* haven't done anything like that in at least 10-15 years...
(Besides...I used Borland Turbo-Pascal, fun fun fun
If it wasn't for this blasted Java assignment thats due tommorrow...I'd be...eh...nevermind.
(Re:whatever) Hey, a troll - I'll bite... (Score:1, Funny)
I'm 'a big tool'? Nope, didn't know that, new to me
> No one cares about your l33t programming skills.
I don't have elite programming skills.
I'm (studying to become) a software developer.
As such I'm supposed to have 'good' programming skills. Good != l33t. l33t is for little children.
> you're just some high school kid
Read my bio. I'm well past my high-school days.
(When I went to high-school computers still used cassette-tapes as storage devices, grrreat fun)
> who eats doritos
Ehm...I don't know what dorito's are...and I'm pretty sure I've never seen them for sale in a shop around here either. (here != America, thankgod
> and sweats a lot.
I sweat code and caffeine
Re:Too bad... (Score:1, Informative)
2) That's gross.
If you don't like scat, do NOT click that link; you have been warned.
Re:Too bad... (Score:1)
Re:and..? (Score:2, Interesting)
-markm (official Comp02 vote-taker)
Different is Good, Less is more! (Score:3, Interesting)
OOTP4 (Out Of The Park Baseball) is a great example of this. Solid game. Miminal graphics. Rabid fanbase. Solid fun.
Don't fall for all of the eye-candy that is out there!
Heehee (Score:4, Funny)
Shameless plug (Score:4, Informative)
I wrote one (Score:2)
Interactive Reality (Score:5, Funny)
> Post On Slashdot as AC
You Post. You are Moded Down.
> Damn.
XYZZY (Score:3, Funny)
Palm/Visor (Score:2)
Makes sitting in the can for hours enjoyable!
Re:Palm/Visor (Score:1)
Just this fact has had me thinking about getting either a Handspring Treo or a Sharp Zaurus SL-5500 (both PDA's feature a keyboard, in case you don't know) and dump my Visor Deluxe.
But I can't justify spending $300 - $400 to play interactive fiction on the go.
Re:Palm/Visor (Score:1)
The price used to be $100 (USD that is). It's hopefully less now..
Stowaway is $25 at compusa! (Score:2)
frobnitz is great- you can write in commonly used verbs and POOF they appear. You can also tap a word and your verbs show up around it... it does a great job of minimizing typing.
Second off- that damn stowaway- its awesome! Now I feel like a chump for buying one for $40!
Blow $40- keep your deluxe, play frobnitz- its a win-win!
CLARIFICATION: (Score:2)
THEN it appears in your bar under the "..." section.
BTW: I have no association with frobnitz, I just think its damn cool.
A few more notes. (Score:4, Interesting)
Second: Note that you can play at least the zcode games on pretty much ANYTHING. Windows. Mac. Palm. You name it... I have a game in the comp, and it has *one* problem on my Handera (PalmOS) PDA. Most of them probably work fine.
Re:A few more notes. (Score:2)
Second: Note that you can play at least the zcode games on pretty much ANYTHING. Windows. Mac. Palm.
Yes, but will it run on my DoCoMo Java phone? (:
Re:A few more notes. (Score:1)
I wouldn't be surprised. ZPlet will run them as Java applets (it's the one that's used to put The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy on the web). I'm not sure how resource intensive it is, or how tied to being an applet instead of an app, but it wouldn't be too hard to modify.
It runs on the Gameboy. ISTR it runs on a toaster somewhere.
Re:A few more notes. (Score:1)
Please don't discuss the games (Score:5, Informative)
Personnally, I've played five games already, and was lucky enough that the third on my list is one of the greatest I've played. If it doesn't win the comp, then hell, this means the comp was exceptionnally good this year!
Of course there's crap in these fourty games: the four other games I've played are not quite good (not bad, either). So, if you intend to discover Interactive Fiction, I suggest you try one of the "best-of IF" site. Either the ones Stephen mentioned, or The Best of IF [igs.net].
From the top of my head, the best IF I've played recently is:
What I like in IF (Score:5, Insightful)
I discovered the genre at the same time as I discovered Linux, back in around 1996. Among the few games that shipped by default with, what was it at that time? RedHat, I guess, were a few classic Scott Adams (not the Dilbert author!) games. As soon as I tried them, I didn't completely... dislike them. I liked the idea, and I love to explore and draw maps, but they were too much of the (what I learned afterwards) "guess the verb" category, something that is rightly considered a major flaw in modern IF. So, I went on to other activities, and another Linux I installed later didn't contain them, so I forgot about IF (I didn't even know the term).
Then, somehow, I remembered them in 1998, and decided to give them a second shot. Looking on the web (was I still using Altavista? wow), I found not only them, but also other, seemingly better ones. So I downloaded Theatre (a good fantastic/horror game) and finished it straight. Man that was good! And from then on, I was hooked.
There's something in (good) IF you don't find in modern, 3D-graphics games: substance, content, plot, atmosphere, characters, adult themes (not that kind of adult - though such games exist, too).
Theatre and Anchorhead are two excellent horror games. The latter is simply the best game in the Lovecraftian genre - seriously, I mean it.
Worlds Apart is an excellent SF game. By SF, I mean Science-Fiction (with capitals), as in "the author created a whole new and fascinating universe for this game", and the prime motivation of the game is actually discovering it... and yourself.
Spider and Web, an excellent spy story, is told in way that is one of the most innovative I've seen. Used in a movie, a la "Usual Suspects", it would be excellent, but this is even more magnified in a gaming setting.
Most of the games by Adam Cadre are excellent too, from Photopia, which is an almost puzzleless game that left me astonished once I finished, to the excellent Varicella (read the intro of the game on his site, you'll understand I hope), I-0 (hot, hot) and Shrapnel (what a crazy storytelling - not for newcomers), it seems this guys only produces goodness.
Same goes for other people like Emily Short and Andrew Plotkin, but I haven't played their games yet, so I can't comment.
Babel (the second game I played) is an excellent thriller-like game, in which you are trapped in a somewhat devastated Antartic scientific station, and try to understand what went wrong... and who you are.
I could and should go on and on... I like playing games, but foremostly, I love to read - science-fiction, like a lot of the geeks around, though I don't mind some more classical books. IF marries the gaming and the litterature together, and has offered me emotions that I never thought I would experience in front of a PC; I'm more used to them in front of a theatre screen or with some dead-tree in my hand.
How many times have you been in bed, thinking again and again to the game you just finished (tetris-mares don't count!), pondering life, the universe and everything?
Damn, I can't believe I've just written all this incoherent stuff - I wish I was a good writer, and able to sum this up in a few brilliant sentences. Well, here's a shitty conclusion: IF can be great, go try some good one! (you have to see it for yourself, and so on)
Re:What I like in IF (Score:3, Informative)
Re:What I like in IF (Score:1, Informative)
Re:What I like in IF (Score:2)
A year or two ago, I downloaded a few of the "best" ones to give them a try and see what IF is all about today. And no kidding, the first three games I played all contained scenes involving non-consensual sex with minors.
I don't know what this says (if anything) about the IF authoring community, but I haven't played any IF since.
Re:What I like in IF (Score:2)
Seriously, could you please name them, and the site you downloaded them from?
Re:What I like in IF (Score:1)
Re:What I like in IF (Score:1)
I don't think I know the two other ones; perhaps the last one is I0 by Adam Cadre? I've only played it for a few minutes, and it is indeed rather explicit, if you want it to be.
All-in-all, yes, two games I know and which involve sex and minors. However, not in the way you suggested: I thought, as most of the people who read your comment probably, that you were talking about games in which the player-character is actively engaged in sex with minors, which is by far not the case in these games.
Even though "sex with minors" can be a very dirty and cheap trick to attract an audience, I don't think these two games are wrong to use it the way they do. We are reaching the domain of personal, ethical, religious beliefs, so I won't delve further into this.
Re:What I like in IF (Score:1)
That rings a bell... Could be.
Is that what I suggested, or is that what you inferred? (This is a rhetorical question.) All I said was that these games contained scenes depicting non-consensual sex with minors... I can't see anything misleading or inaccurate in that statement.
I never said they were "wrong." Any one of these games, by itself, probably wouldn't have raised an eyebrow (although the one about slavery was quite unnecessarily graphic). It is the fact that I encountered three of them in a row (out of three), chosen essentially at random. It is also worth noting that none of the three had any other kind of "adult" content -- i.e., nothing actually between consenting adults -- only non-consensual (bad enough) with minors/children (much worse).
Granted, my sample of three may not be statistically significant (although there aren't *that* many IF games out there, and even fewer which have won awards). Certainly, I don't take it to mean that every single IF game has this kind of content in it; but I'd be willing to bet that these aren't the only three. And as a guy who's just looking for another Planetfall or Zork to play, I don't want to get 2/3 through an otherwise innocuous adventure game only to run into this kind of thing again.
Re:What I like in IF (Score:1)
Worlds Apart is a big game, but as far as I remember, it doesn't contain sex either -- at one point you control a young player-character, though.
Babel doesn't involve any minor, but contains violence -- nothing gratuitous, mind you, and most of it happened in the past.
Glowgrass is short, rather easy game, well suited for beginners. It involves a teenage girl (again!) as a non-player character but no sex anywere.
Savoir Faire is promising, given the review [wurb.com] in the Baf's Guide to IF, and sex with minors just doesn't seem to fit in there, especially given that the author is a woman. Good old puzzles and locks, this might be the next game I play, when I have the time.
Wow.... (Score:2)
The Infocom boxes are still on the shelf at the rents with all of the other old school software from the 80's we just can't bring ourselves to throw out - although the glowing Wishbringer stone has long since been lost.
Of course, then my dad brought home a 1200 baud modem from work and I discoverred Opus 1.03b and Tradewars, and from then on it was just a matter of explaining why my parents couldn't receive phone calls anymore.....
Christ, I'm 24 and most of my memories of when I was 10 involve ASCII text. And I'm confessing on slashdot - excuse me while I go get laid.
-1 minute and 37 seconds later-
Ah, I feel much better now.
Screening door. . . (Score:2)
Ahh yesss. One of the more brilliant and annoying problems in the history of IF games. Every geek I know who remembers that game groans when reminded of the evil screening door problem!
Solution: Give the, 'No Tea' to the robot. It'll convulse in such a spasm of metaphysical wonder that it'll open the screening door wide.
Frustration taught me that one. "Well, fer crying out loud! Just try giving the damned robot every item in the inventory starting at the top. .
Question is, do you still have a 5.25" disk drive available to load Hitchhiker's back into your system so you can pick up where you left off?
-Fantastic Lad
Oh thats easy, I cheated! (Score:2)
And I wasn't coy with the hints; none of that "oh I'll just "uncover" the first one and see if I can figure it out..." nope- I just uncovered every damn "invisi-text" I could. You know, that hint book was a pretty good read all by itself!
Re:Wow.... (Score:1)
Complete fucking waste of time department... (Score:2)
What happened to that? Did it ever happen, or did people come to their senses and realise that expecting people to play text adventure games which involved typing precise phrases on a fucking numeric keypad was an idiotic idea?
Personally, I've got nothing against text adventures, and even wrote some which are still floating around the internet to my eternal shame. But then again I don't take daguerrotypes or ride a penny farthing to the charabanc station. They're in the past...
Re:Complete fucking waste of time department... (Score:1)
I take it you don't read books either, now that we have TV?
Re:Complete fucking waste of time department... (Score:1)
IF Archive (Score:2, Interesting)
However, if you're into uncommon and under-rated games in general - check out Home of the Underdogs [the-underdogs.org] if you haven't already. Not only does it review and describe many excellent games, but it has tons of full downloads of old games too.
One particular IF game that really caught my eye was Ad Verbum [the-underdogs.org]. It's premise is mostly to do with words. For example, there's a room who's entire description starts with the letter N. You quickly realise that only words starting with N work in the room (note, the exit to the room is south):
Neat Nursery
Nice, nondescript nursery, noticeably neat. Normally, nurslings nestle noisily. Now, none. No needful, naive newborns.
Nearby:
>take nappy
No! No! Negative, novice. Nasty notation.
>asdfg
No! No! Nefarious nomenclature. Narrate nicely, now.
>south
No! No! Negative, novice. Nasty notation.
>exit
No! No! Nefarious nomenclature. Narrate nicely, now.
>north
Northward? No, necessarily not. Not north. No noticeable notch, no navigable nook.
There's all sorts of other language-based puzzles in the game, and it's an excellent test of your vocabulary. Despite being a little short, i highly recommend it.
(Note, it's not part of this competition).
Re:IF Archive (Score:1)
Ad Verbum is available here [ifarchive.org].
Re:IF Archive (Score:2, Interesting)
"Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of it"
The wordplay puzzles in "Nord and Bert" offer more variety and depth than "Ad Verbum". There are puzzles involving spoonerisms, puns, and every other type of word play. I can't recommend it highly enough.
Also, for scholarly research and lots of great Interactive fiction links, check out Prof. Dennis Jerz's Interactive Fiction [uwec.edu] pages.
N Oh, wait. You can go North now. My bad (Score:2)
You can also play old text games like Pirate Adventure online (in Javascript) here [ridiculopathy.com].
Could this be a new business plan? (Score:1)
Comment posted.
> wait
Time passes.
> wait
Profit!
> score
You have a score of 50 out of 50, earning you the rank of Excellent.
Last Post! (Score:1)
and understand how a refrigerator works, just as no gentleman wears a brown
suit in the city. Colleges may be to blame. English majors are encouraged,
I know, to hate chemistry and physics, and to be proud because they are not
dull and creepy and humorless and war-oriented like the engineers across the
quad. And our most impressive critics have commonly been such English majors,
and they are squeamish about technology to this very day. So it is natural
for them to despise science fiction.
-- Kurt Vonnegut Jr., "Science Fiction"
- this post brought to you by the Automated Last Post Generator...