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May 4, 2022 19:45
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MuffiTuffiWuffi posted:And Then You Come to a House Not Unlike the Previous One is a game about playing a game with a friend, and it's really, really good. If you like parser games, this one is quality, and you'd be missing out if you didn't try it. I liked this one a lot. But I think it really undercut itself by having a good ending possible.
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May 5, 2022 04:23
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I never really played many text adventures back in the day, as I was born in '85 and largely skipped straight to point n' clicks. What are generally considered to be the best of the Infocom bunch?
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May 7, 2022 11:21
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Lamont posted:I never really played many text adventures back in the day, as I was born in '85 and largely skipped straight to point n' clicks. What are generally considered to be the best of the Infocom bunch? There's a whole bunch of great stuff! Too many to really say "here's the best ever". Everyone has their favourites. But each one will have some rough edges for the modern gamer. Remember to find and read the feelies before you play. Trinity is probably the most influential and the greatest artistic success. I love A Mind Forever Voyaging and it's never managed to lose its political relevance in the decades since it was written. Cried at the end when I first played it. People really like The Lurking Horror and stand by it as an effective horror game. The Enchanter Series is generally considered the best of the Zork-style pure puzzle games but they are pretty hard. The Douglas Adams games Hitchiker's Guide and Bureaucracy have massive problems as games but probably hit the best of the humour games. Wishbringer is a really well executed and charming introductory Zork-style game. Border Zone is a collection of interesting gameplay ideas that might not cohere as a great game but well worth spending some time with. There's no other game like Suspended for good reason but it's worth playing just for that reason Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It is the ultimate guess what the designer is thinking game and almost unplayable without a guide because of that but I still love it and find it incredibly charming. Planetfall is a sentimental fave for many and is a very early example of the survival genre. fez_machine fucked around with this message at 12:51 on May 7, 2022 |
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May 7, 2022 11:47
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Just want to mention Moonmist as a good kids' / beginners level Infocom which I was proud of completing while banging my head for years on the ridiculous Hitchhikers puzzles. It's a murder mystery that changes the culprit every restart, and has all the neat interactivity (tell seven people to play the piano at once!) and no mapping required.
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May 7, 2022 12:20
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fez_machine posted:I love A Mind Forever Voyaging and it's never managed to lose its political relevance in the decades since it was written. Cried at the end when I first played it. I missed the 'never' in your post at first and was about to write an angry reply!
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May 7, 2022 12:46
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I recently used The Quill on a ZX Spectrum emulator to write a couple of what I'd consider IF games - ie, you're playing a character rather than 'you' and they have narratives that play out to a conclusion - and while I'm happy with how they turned out and they were fun to write, the limitations of a pure VERB NOUN parser and having to cram everything into just 28K of free memory are annoying. Are there any Quill-like systems that run on modern machines/browsers, and which won't effectively require me to learn a new programming language, but which still have the old 'go here, do this' approach to gameplay (in Quill terms, stuff like AT 32 PRESENT 16 MESSAGE 147 CREATE 9 DESTROY 16 DONE) that as an old fart my mindset defaults to?
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May 7, 2022 14:22
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https://intfiction.org/t/any-new-ish-tools-for-authoring-quill-games/51216 Although, at the risk of sounding like a tool snob, I'd probably suggest investigating what the current crop of IF tools has to offer.
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May 7, 2022 18:14
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Lamont posted:I never really played many text adventures back in the day, as I was born in '85 and largely skipped straight to point n' clicks. What are generally considered to be the best of the Infocom bunch? Beyond Zork is probably my favorite Infocom game, and Planetfall is probably the one that impressed me the most-- though it's opening sequence can be way more frustrating than I think an IF game should be.
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May 8, 2022 01:54
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They're Legend, not Infocom, but the Gateway games (first one is called Frederik Pohl's Gateway, and the sequel is Gateway 2: Homeworld) are fun and relatively light science fiction romps in the Heechee universe. From what I remember of the Gateway books, the games have a fairly different tone, and the puzzles aren't extremely obtuse. Though gently caress that silly 'assemble a thing from like 10 objects, in sequence' puzzle from the first game. They also have fun soundtracks, and you can even turn on a tiny screen that shows a picture of where you are! You can also interact with the picture box sort of like a point'n'click, but the parser is much, much more useful. The first game is officially freeware, but the second game isn't hard to find either.
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May 8, 2022 06:41
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Legend's interactive fiction and adventure games are all worth checking out even the pervy Spellcasting games. Eric the Unready is a classic through and through.
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May 8, 2022 10:16
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I've always liked Stationfall more than Planetfall, it's never really unfair but it's extremely difficult though.
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May 8, 2022 15:11
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Hey, this thread's alive! A surprise there.Milkfred E. Moore posted:I liked this one a lot. But I think it really undercut itself by having a good ending possible. That's fair, though if you're making anything with any chance at all of rating well in a comp, a downer ending would be basically suicide. There's a comp formula and anything other than a happy ending ain't in it. Lamont posted:I never really played many text adventures back in the day, as I was born in '85 and largely skipped straight to point n' clicks. What are generally considered to be the best of the Infocom bunch? fez_machine posted:Everyone has their favourites. But each one will have some rough edges for the modern gamer. Remember to find and read the feelies before you play. [...] This is good advice. A lot of the games shoved stuff into the feelies and if you don't have them they can be really obtuse/difficult. Another thing you should definitely do is acquire a walkthrough - older games don't have many modern affordances and are occasionally just buggy. For example, Deadline, while being very interesting and engaging as a game, also has some pretty weird bugs and inconsistencies (like, I'm pretty sure one of the NPCs warps around at some point?) I'll throw in a recommendation for A Mind Forever Voyaging, because it's one of the least puzzle-y and I am puzzle-averse, but I think Planetfall is probably the most well-remembered? I can see why but I tried playing it more recently and it was, uh. Rough. It was very old-fashioned; if you're looking for that maybe it'd work out for you though!
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May 8, 2022 17:48
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Rappaport posted:They're Legend, not Infocom, but the Gateway games (first one is called Frederik Pohl's Gateway, and the sequel is Gateway 2: Homeworld) are fun and relatively light science fiction romps in the Heechee universe. From what I remember of the Gateway books, the games have a fairly different tone, and the puzzles aren't extremely obtuse. Though gently caress that silly 'assemble a thing from like 10 objects, in sequence' puzzle from the first game. I loved these games, but this is the first time I have encountered anyone else who had played them, I think.
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May 8, 2022 18:15
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GlyphGryph posted:I loved these games, but this is the first time I have encountered anyone else who had played them, I think. The freeware Gateway 1 I got on some demo CD from a computer magazine, I guess they were just cramming them as full as possible, and  'd the sequel once I found out about it. On floppies, from the local school internet. Ah, 90's.
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May 8, 2022 18:26
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I played Planetfall not too long ago, and besides some rough spots, I loved it! Definitely worth playing. Also, I wished I found this before I started but someone updated the game from the released source awhile back to get rid of the bullshit: https://github.com/Kweepa/planetfall-gold If anyone is new to old school text adventures I highly suggest having some pencil and paper around when playing. Not only for taking notes but for mapping as well. Navigation can be a pain without it. fez_machine posted:Legend's interactive fiction and adventure games are all worth checking out even the pervy Spellcasting games. While I skipped the Spellcasting games, all of Legends other games are gold. Both Gateway and Eric the Unready are good beginner text games. Joe Chill fucked around with this message at 19:00 on May 9, 2022 |
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May 9, 2022 01:36
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fez_machine posted:
Note that unless you find a fixed version, H2G2 is impossible to complete. The problem lies in the very final puzzle of the game: you have to bring a specific tool to Marvin so he can open the airlock and let you on to the surface of Magrathea. There are five or six possible tools and it's randomised in each game which one you need so you can't just take the right one. The airlock door is also narrow, so you can only carry one item into the location. Trouble is, the programmer forgot that the Babel Fish counts as an item, so you can't carry anything else into the airlock with it. And you can't drop it, because it's too useful. In order to complete the game, you have to find a version that has been tweaked to let you carry two items into the airlock. Lurking Horror, however, is an amazing piece of narrative work. Like many Infocom games it's completely unforgiving and you'll need to save often, and there's an absolute brick wall problem in the late midgame that requires major thinking outside the box, but I've never found a game with better mood.
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May 9, 2022 16:14
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As far as underplayed Infocom games, Plundered Hearts is not only good, but is really forward-looking - it's very episodic and based on "action scenes" like, say, stopping a bomb fuse, or trying to figure out how to swap a poisoned dish for your captor's dish, and plays a lot like you'd expect a more modern point-and-click would play. It's also really fun, nobody bought it because it was listed as a "romance" which is technically true, but it's a romance in the same way as an Errol Flynn movie would be.
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May 9, 2022 16:16
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Plundered Hearts is fantastic, strong agree.
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May 9, 2022 17:19
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Good article about it: https://if50.substack.com/p/1987-plundered-hearts?s=r
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May 9, 2022 22:10
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I never played Plundered Hearts - never even saw a copy, although I knew of it - but that article did remind me of Deadline, which I haven't thought of in 30 years probably. I think I still have the C64 disc somewhere.
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May 10, 2022 12:53
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Thomas M. Disch's Amnesia has been fully "restored". https://amnesia-restored.com/
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May 10, 2022 13:16
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Does anyone have a couple good games for someone who is young, under 10, to play? I have a 7-year old who has been getting into text-driven games lately (he just finished Untold Stories and loved the first level especially since its the only one he could actually play on his own, and he's joined me playing that kobold game I mentioned earlier) and he's looking for more. He's not terribly good with the commands and solving the actual puzzles, so something easier but still engaging or something where he can just click responses is definitely the priority for him right now, hopefully with some content that is more age appropriate than a horror game about what Untold Stories ended up being about.  Most of my favorites are either probably not appropriate for him yet (I think Horse Master is probably a bit much) or so old I don't even know where to find a copy anymore, or are based on something he doesn't have the background to care about. I need something a bit more available and self contained.
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May 10, 2022 13:17
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gschmidl posted:Thomas M. Disch's Amnesia has been fully "restored". If I wanted to do a text adventure as a book barn "book of the month", would this be a good pick or would there be other text adventures people would recommend instead? What I'd be looking for is adventures with a "novel-esque" feel, good stories, enjoyable, some artistic depth and merit, and free to play / download.
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May 10, 2022 13:47
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:What I'd be looking for is adventures with a "novel-esque" feel, good stories, enjoyable, some artistic depth and merit, and free to play / download. From what I saw, Amnesia seems to tick all of those boxes.
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May 10, 2022 14:21
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GlyphGryph posted:Does anyone have a couple good games for someone who is young, under 10, to play? I have a 7-year old who has been getting into text-driven games lately (he just finished Untold Stories and loved the first level especially since its the only one he could actually play on his own, and he's joined me playing that kobold game I mentioned earlier) and he's looking for more. He's not terribly good with the commands and solving the actual puzzles, so something easier but still engaging or something where he can just click responses is definitely the priority for him right now, hopefully with some content that is more age appropriate than a horror game about what Untold Stories ended up being about. Try looking through these: https://ifdb.org/viewlist?id=d7outtee2wiwxyet
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May 10, 2022 17:21
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Megazver posted:Try looking through these: Cross reference with these lists as well https://ifdb.org/poll?id=hkykbgxi80etxx0 https://ifdb.org/search?searchfor=tag:kid-friendly https://ifdb.org/search?searchfor=genre%3AChildren%27s&searchgo=Search+Games I think Lost Pig is great If you want to push outside specifically kid-friendly to more family-friendly, most Infocom and Magnetic Scrolls games are broadly suitable for children. Some additional recommendations https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=3myqnrs64nbtwdaz https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=lb2hf5pqx68wbqhh https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=g79qfkq3m3dtffq4 https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=scrpg07v9i8046u9 https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=c9ll6cr8zr1txtfe Also check out Parsley by Jared Sorensen for an in person face to face version of text adventures http://www.memento-mori.com/books/parsely-book
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May 10, 2022 22:00
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fez_machine posted:Some additional recommendations Along that line, https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=9p8kh3im2j9h2881
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May 10, 2022 22:33
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Fuschia tude posted:Along that line, I'm not sure how appropriate Bronze would be for a 7 year old, there's some heavy atmosphere, metaphors and allusions mixed in there. Great for a teenager or adult who's new to IF but it's not 100% kid friendly.
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May 10, 2022 23:13
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:If I wanted to do a text adventure as a book barn "book of the month", would this be a good pick or would there be other text adventures people would recommend instead? While Amnesia is a good game, it is also very much an old-school text adventure, with difficult puzzles and survival mechanics that makes simply staying alive on the streets of Manhattan a challenge. You may or may not want something more modern and puzzle-light. For artsy, novel-esque works, I have heard very good things about Blue Lacuna and Worlds Apart.
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May 11, 2022 10:08
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These would be my recommendations for text adventures for a book of the month thing Trinity - The most literary of all Infocom games. https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=j18kjz80hxjtyayw Counterfeit Monkey - Widely considered one of the best IF games ever and written by a mainstay of the IF scene. A very accessible central puzzle concept and has a light tone while still dealing with issues of colonialism and linguistic prescriptivism https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=aearuuxv83plclpl Endless, Nameless - Part Stanley Parable, part commentary on the history of interactive fiction itself, part ode to internet communication and old school hints. https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=7vtm1rq16hh3xch
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May 11, 2022 11:54
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I remember working through Arthur: The Quest for Excalibur with a friend on his Amiga when we were ten. The graphics were a big plus and solving puzzles by turning into different animals was fun.
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May 11, 2022 13:19
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I have been playing on and off this good introduction to the genre called Bronze. I have liked the atmosphere, descriptions and dialogue, and (above all else) the QA features like fast travel, object list, room list, and a basic hint system. If you have never checked it out, it's got my recommendation. And if you did, I would appreciate some help 'cause I seem to be stuck for the past days at what I imagine is the very last puzzle. I'm on 53 out of 55 rooms explored and have no idea where the other two are and I'm looking for a glass bell if it exists or for a way to create one, which is required to get rid of a certain item, and have no idea what I'm missing. And the hint system isn't helping this time. So, be a surrogate for the hint system and give me a clue in case you have finished this and still remember some of it.
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Jun 5, 2022 18:48
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Saoshyant posted:I have been playing on and off this good introduction to the genre called Bronze. I have liked the atmosphere, descriptions and dialogue, and (above all else) the QA features like fast travel, object list, room list, and a basic hint system. I haven't played Bronze, but I have read the source code. The glass bell is in the bellroom, but you can't pick it out from the clutter until you know what to look for. To find out what to look for look up the glass bell or the librarian in the book of contracts after visiting the bellroom at least once. If you haven't visited that room at all, it's located north of the Private Parlour and entering it requires you to have the small key.
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Jun 7, 2022 22:21
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It's been mentioned a few times in this thread but IF author Aaron A Reed did a fantastic series of articles on notable text based games from 1971 - 2020 (you can check them out for free at https://if50.substack.com and I highly recommend them) He's now launched a Kickstarter for the promised physical book edition 50 Years of Text Games, featuring expanded articles from the original series and some extras depending on whether you want to spring for the collectors editions or not. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/aaronareed/50-years-of-text-games
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Jun 8, 2022 02:41
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ToxicFrog posted:To find out what to look for look up the glass bell or the librarian in the book of contracts Oh, drat it, that's the one thing I never bothered to try and that book had never before been used to look up objects, only people, so that was kind of a bad puzzle. And nevermind it being the final puzzle either, as I apparently have to fill an ink pot now! Thanks, though. Much appreciated you putting me back in the right track.
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Jun 8, 2022 02:46
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Mode 7 posted:It's been mentioned a few times in this thread but IF author Aaron A Reed did a fantastic series of articles on notable text based games from 1971 - 2020 (you can check them out for free at https://if50.substack.com and I highly recommend them) Backed this. I adored the articles and want the book in my living room.
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Jun 8, 2022 03:29
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Interesting choices for that blog, most notably the PBM game Monster Island. I played a bit of PBM back in the day and actually ran a game of En Garde! for a while, and never really thought of them as interactive fiction. The writer does miss out some important things, though. The reason the Babel Fish puzzle in Hitchiker's is considered so punishing is because there's a move limit on it, and that limit is too short to complete the puzzle by trial and error even with the provided clues. So it's actually impossible to complete without saving and reloading if you don't already know what to do. Nor is that the only puzzle in the game that is impossible to complete without foreknowledge - he mentioned feeding the cheese sandwich to the dog, but he didn't mention the final puzzle of getting the tool into the airlock, despite quoting the setup text. One thing I hope the expanded article on The Hobbit mentions is that it is possible to climb into the chest in Bag End and close it. Doing this is a Game Over: you can't open the chest yourself because it's dark and you can't see it, and for some reason neither Gandalf nor Thorin will open it if you ask them.
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Jun 8, 2022 11:23
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Saoshyant posted:Oh, drat it, that's the one thing I never bothered to try and that book had never before been used to look up objects, only people, so that was kind of a bad puzzle. And nevermind it being the final puzzle either, as I apparently have to fill an ink pot now! The book of contracts is searchable both by spirit and by bell, so if you know of a spirit you can find out what bell it's bound to and if you know of a bell you can find out which spirit it summons. In either case you need to do this to get a description of the bell that lets you locate it in the Bellroom.
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Jun 8, 2022 13:48
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https://twitter.com/emshort/status/1566463599740166147 Emily Short's classic work, "Bee", has been resurrected after nearly ten of unavailability. It was originally made for an online platform called VaryTale, which died shortly after its publication.
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Sep 16, 2022 19:42
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