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Let's talk parsers! Personally, I'm a huge fan of some old school typing. Especially the games by Infocom and Legend Entertainment because of their complex parsers. The main advantage for me is the way a cleverly written text adventure gives you a kind of freedom that CYOA games can never give you. It's very fun to try to outsmart it, by feeding it stuff the programmer never accounted for. This can also be the main disadvantage: >TAKE LAMP "I don't know how to take a lamp." My first one was ZORK. My favourite one is Eric The Unready. Really good and complex parsers that even understood composite sentences such as: >DROP ALL BUT KEY >GO NORTH, TURN ON THE FAUCET THEN DRINK FROM IT
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Nov 18, 2016 14:49
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Myself I wish for parsers to be torn down in favor of more accessible input schemes, just so that it's kept being used as a conscious choice and not a default. There's amazing stuff you can do with parsers, but there's so much awful legacy bullshit associated with it, like the terrible compass directions.
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Nov 18, 2016 15:44
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Lichtenstein posted:Myself I wish for parsers to be torn down in favor of more accessible input schemes, just so that it's kept being used as a conscious choice and not a default. There's amazing stuff you can do with parsers, but there's so much awful legacy bullshit associated with it, like the terrible compass directions. Yeah, basically. As much as I love IF, it's basically matched 1:1 with my hatred for parser wrestling.
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Nov 18, 2016 15:49
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Milky Moor posted:Yeah, basically. "Parser wrestling" was both the best and worst part of old games. I spent three days trying to use the Grue Repellent in Zork III. (The solution was "Spray can on me".)
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Nov 18, 2016 18:34
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Milky Moor posted:I liked and finished Mecha Ace, Psy High and A Wise Use of Time and it is my belief that Choice of Robots is maybe the best release in the whole CoG stable. I was not a fan of Diabolical, Pendragon Rising or Community College Hero. Stay far away from the Heroes Rise series and Versus (they actually contracted a second one of those?) because they are the peak of the dating-sim-with-numbers cluster (among many other things).  Also, Tin Star is probably my favorite game in their whole catalog (and probably one of the more involved, given it has a ton of variability and two seperate villain routes), followed by Slammed! and Samurai of Hyuga.
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Nov 18, 2016 21:00
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First of all, you need to make a distinction between input methods and world models. Parser is an input method. You type in a command, the game interprets it. It's usually used in games that use the room/object world model, like most of the Inform/TADS games. CYOA is usually hypertext/choosing from a list of options for input and a web of choices as the model. Personally, I think old school parser is a huge millstone on the neck of IF and I agree that choice webs just make you feel like you don't have agency. Parser: sure, you might get an occasional moment of brilliance where you input something that solves the puzzle that you figured out on your own even though the game didn't explicitly list it. (Let's say the maze puzzle from Photopia.) But for every moment like that there's usually a shitton of frustration and guess the verb. And the choice webs just rub me the wrong way. poo poo like being given five questions to ask then the game moving on after I ask three or only being able to move forward the way the authors intended is so loving annoying. Personally, I am in favor of restricted parser and room-object, like the games CEJ Pacian makes. You get some verbs, you know what they all are, the world is still a simulation. Whether you still type "VERB NOUN" in or click the hyperlinks or separate buttons depends on the implementation. Drop the compass as well, either have an overworld map with all the locations or let the player just type in the location names.
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Nov 18, 2016 21:22
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Myself I'm unreasonably excited by what Texture does. Like, right now it's nothing more than a fancy spin on hypertext, but then I remember the notebook mechanics of Discworld Noir/Blackwell series, or unlocking spells in Loom and get the feeling we're about five boundary-pushing experiments from forging something great out of it.
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Nov 18, 2016 21:34
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It mostly struck me as suited for uh static pieces where you change a description a little. I dunno.
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Nov 18, 2016 21:51
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U.T. Raptor posted:Community College Hero was good CCH was waaaaay too silly. Sometimes it felt like parody ('You're a super cool superhero with roller skates and a slingshot!!') Slammed! was great, yes. I completely forgot about it!
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Nov 18, 2016 23:40
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Milky Moor posted:So, I'm writing a Choice Of game with the plan of getting it hosted by them. I'm about halfway complete. Did you ever actually say which Hosted Game was yours? I was also wondering if anyone has any recommendations or against any of the newer batch of CoG releases. I think the only ones from this year I've seen mentioned itt were the Heroes Rise sequel and Choice of Alexandria.
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Dec 13, 2016 20:13
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Sinteres posted:Did you ever actually say which Hosted Game was yours? I was also wondering if anyone has any recommendations or against any of the newer batch of CoG releases. I think the only ones from this year I've seen mentioned itt were the Heroes Rise sequel and Choice of Alexandria. Not released yet! I'm just waiting on the art from my artist and then I'll be submitting it. I'll let the thread know once it is is released!
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Dec 13, 2016 23:33
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John F Bennett posted:Let's talk parsers! parsers own and are the best, parsers 4 lyfe
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Dec 13, 2016 23:36
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The first program I ever wrote was a simple two word parser for a really short adventure game in QBASIC back in Jr. High, so I do have a deep seated love for them, but I think one of my favorite technical implementation is for the terribly clunky/no good games made for it RAGS. In RAGS games you basically have list windows for things in your current "room" and your inventory, a portrait space, plus a room title and a compass and everything but the compass can be right clicked on for a contextual menu of how that object can be interacted with. Plus its way more clean and presents many other options than a CYOA style game. It's incredibly flexible and it bypasses a lot of problems you get with both traditional parsers, hypertext, and graphic adventure game menus. In general though, RAGS's overall look and ui is pretty bad, but I feel like the core lists+context menus implementation could be a look into the future of a well made IF system. In other news that's more physical CYOA related, I got a friend who is really into roguelikes hooked on Fabled Lands. I did a couple of rounds in the java version someone made, but it makes me want to see if I can dig out the couple of books I do own and maybe order some of the ones I don't have. I don't think I've come across a better implementation of IF as a physical book and even playing it electronically it's still pretty great. And if anyone is interested in CYOA boardgames, if you haven't checked out Tales of the Arabian Nights, it comes with a huge book of paragraphs you read to each other to find out exactly what happens to you as you travel the world. Players start with tokens representing skills that can be useful and serve as sort of character creation, there are various statuses you can attain, like being a vizer or cursed, and navigating the CYOA paragraphs include a parser-like chart so you can decide if you want to beat or court or rob or hire the old begger or do things like drink a terrible storm. It's a fun time even just for the aspect of telling stories to one another.
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Dec 17, 2016 20:20
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corn in the bible posted:parsers own and are the best, parsers 4 lyfe This but unironically
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Dec 22, 2016 00:12
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Playing a text adventure with an intelligent parser is a lot like making love to a beautiful woman.
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Dec 22, 2016 08:15
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I can't help feeling like this upcoming game from Choice of Games is approaching self-parody: Choice of the Family Cat: In progress. As a newfound cat for a British family, you must bend them and the rest of the neighborhood to your will.
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Dec 25, 2016 23:56
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Emily Short did a short piece a bit like that, Glass. It was just supposed to demo a possible approach to conversation handling in Inform 7. You're a parrot in a drawing room, and can do nothing but speak single words to awkwardly shift the topic of human conversation.
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Dec 26, 2016 00:48
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Sinteres posted:I can't help feeling like this upcoming game from Choice of Games is approaching self-parody: I don't know. If that was by the Choice of Robots guy, I'd buy it day one.
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Dec 26, 2016 12:49
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Twerkteam Pizza posted:This but unironically who said it was ironic
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Dec 26, 2016 12:52
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Sinteres posted:I can't help feeling like this upcoming game from Choice of Games is approaching self-parody: I kinda like it.
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Dec 26, 2016 13:13
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Milky Moor posted:I don't know. If that was by the Choice of Robots guy, I'd buy it day one. Megazver posted:I kinda like it. I felt a little bad about putting it the way I did, because while I do think it's kind of a laughably silly idea and description, I have to admit I'm intrigued to see how it turns out.
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Dec 27, 2016 04:09
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corn in the bible posted:who said it was ironic Oh man, I'm sorry
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Dec 31, 2016 19:09
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Since I graduated I've started working on a text adventure of my own. I'm typing it up on an alphasmart lol
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Jan 5, 2017 19:28
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Crossposting here from the Adventure Games thread: Bob Bates of Infocom/Legend Entertainment has a kickstarter for his new Interactive Fiction game, Thaumistry: In Charm's Way https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1575848200/thaumistry-in-charms-way-a-new-comedy-text-adventu I alpha-tested it and thought it was pretty good but needed some more text; I assume this has been rectified since.
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Jan 24, 2017 09:21
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Consider me interested. Eric The Unready was one of my favourites.
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Jan 24, 2017 09:29
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I am glad he's not taking on a project he can't afford to fail, but $25k for a TADS game, $15 being the get-the-game tier? To put this in a perspective, let's say this is a one-man, novel-sized, text-based project. Most authors get, like, a $5k advance for a novel, $10k if they're lucky. Most of them usually write it part-time, while holding a day job. Most novels on Kickstarter, we're talking already published authors with a following asking, ask for $1k, $3k, $5k, rarely $10k. The most funded work of IF, Hadean Lands by Andrew Plotkin, asked for $8k and got $31k and that was back during the early Kickstarter boom and Plotkin is, like, one of the biggest names in the hobby, has been active for two decades and spent most of them releasing games and, more importantly, creating tools that everyone else uses for free. Most other purely text-based projects got much, much less. I don't think this will fund. EDIT: Also, I try to help out Kickstarter projects by posting them on /r/games. If they get more downvotes than upvotes, like this one currently is, it's not a great sign. Megazver fucked around with this message at 12:56 on Jan 24, 2017 |
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Jan 24, 2017 11:04
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I didn't notice it before, but 25,000 for a text adventure is indeed a bit much. Especially that it's not even being made in a custom made engine, it's just TADS. And if it reaches 60,000 it will come out for iPhone. I don't understand why an iOS port would cost 35,000. I'll happily do it myself for 5K! 
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Jan 24, 2017 12:38
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On a more positive note, a fellow goon is also Kickstarting a text adventure Southern Monsters, and the reception seems to be somewhat more enthusiastic. The fact that he's asking for $8k for something that also has art and music probably helps.
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Jan 24, 2017 12:58
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John F Bennett posted:I didn't notice it before, but 25,000 for a text adventure is indeed a bit much. Especially that it's not even being made in a custom made engine, it's just TADS. Not entirely true, Nikos Chantziaras has modified the interpreter (the alpha version supported automatic transcript upload, for example).
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Jan 24, 2017 13:01
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Megazver posted:On a more positive note, a fellow goon is also Kickstarting a text adventure Southern Monsters, and the reception seems to be somewhat more enthusiastic. Sure, but it's still a choice game and not a parser game like Thaumistry is. gschmidl posted:Not entirely true, Nikos Chantziaras has modified the interpreter (the alpha version supported automatic transcript upload, for example). Well, that's something, I guess. But it still totally looks like a TADS game with a TADS gui.
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Jan 24, 2017 13:17
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John F Bennett posted:Sure, but it's still a choice game and not a parser game like Thaumistry is. IFComp and Xyzzy Awards consider both IF, so I can't be arsed either. Complexity and manhours-wise, parser versus all those multimedia assets make it a wash, IMO.
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Jan 24, 2017 13:33
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Thaumistry is already at $14,710 after only a few days, at this rate it will go over its goal.
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Jan 25, 2017 20:52
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Yeah, once it got past 30% on that first day I knew it would. I doubt we're getting the cheevos, though. Just not possible to implement those on less than $15k.
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Jan 25, 2017 21:07
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Megazver posted:The most funded work of IF, Hadean Lands by Andrew Plotkin, asked for $8k and got $31k and that was back during the early Kickstarter boom and Plotkin is, like, one of the biggest names in the hobby, has been active for two decades and spent most of them releasing games and, more importantly, creating tools that everyone else uses for free. Most other purely text-based projects got much, much less. You're significantly understating this. He did that in 2010, 16 months before even Double Fine Adventure kickstarted the Kickstarter craze.
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Jan 25, 2017 23:15
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Fuschia tude posted:You're significantly understating this. He did that in 2010, 16 months before even Double Fine Adventure kickstarted the Kickstarter craze. Ah, true. Thanks for correcting me.
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Jan 26, 2017 10:07
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I remember that - it was back when Kickstarter only accepted US backers, so I backed by e-mailing Plotkin manually! That said it also massively overran so it's not necessarily a great example.
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Jan 26, 2017 16:13
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Maybe a bit early but is anyone thinking of entering this years Interactive Fiction Comp? Maybe not that early since they accept entries starting from July. I will be entering with something for the first time ever. Not necessarily a good or fun thing because I've never attempted making a text adventure before, but a thing nonetheless.
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Feb 1, 2017 09:05
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Go for it. The IFComp sees some amazing stuff and some absolute garbage so if you can place somewhere in the middle you'll be doing fine. I was going to enter last year but my project spiralled out of my grasp and there was no way I was going to be able to get it done in time. I've got something smaller in scope in mind (and 50% completed) for the Spring Thing though.
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Feb 1, 2017 10:21
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Hey, thread. I said I'd mention when my hosted game was released. It was about a week ago, and I didn't see that this thread had dropped back in my bookmarks. Find it on their website here but it's available on iTunes and Android, of course, if you'd prefer those platforms. It's a hundred thousand words about 'realistic' superheroes and has received several user reviews about the "social justice" in it ruining video games. Beyond that, the reception seems pretty positive! It's the first big thing I've written beyond some little essays on this forum and stuff from my Masters, so, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. It's definitely more of a book with a set protagonist as opposed to something with a lot of game-y freedom like Heroes Rise. There's a minor hotfix patch fixing up two small issues coming very soon. One is a cosmetic issue in Chapter 3 and the other is an option that fails to trigger in Chapter 5 (it also fixes some spelling and grammar etc.) Other that that, by all accounts, everything works as it should. Milkfred E. Moore fucked around with this message at 08:31 on Apr 25, 2017 |
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Apr 25, 2017 08:29
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Milky Moor posted:Hey, thread. Congrats, man! quote:It's a hundred thousand words about 'realistic' superheroes and has received several user reviews about the "social justice" in it ruining video games. I mean.... Haven't they played other Choice Of titles?
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Apr 25, 2017 09:32
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