The Commonplace Book Project

By: Derek Yu

On: September 20th, 2007

Lovecraft’s “Commonplace Book” was a notebook in which he jotted down his various ideas, many of them disjointed and cryptic; most of these musings never became real stories. The Commonplace Book Project is a collection of text adventures (interactive fiction games) which are based on these notes. Great idea!

I’ve only tried out one so far: Ecdysis. It’s based on the note “insects or other entities from space attack and penetrate a man’s head.” Good one, right? Well, without spoiling anything, this game is a great mindfuck and does a more-than-competent job of capturing what’s great about Lovecraft’s stories: the feeling of overwhelming dread. It comes as a playable executable and is good for newcomers to IF.

I always thought it was funny that Bethesda made (correction: produced) an FPS out of H.P. Lovecraft. What’s next? Vin Diesel as Cthulhu, riding a motorcycle out of R’lyeh as it explodes behind him? Directed by Michael Bay? Okay, that actually does sound appealing in its own way.

(Source: The Random Gnome’s Lair)

Masq

By: Derek Yu

On: July 5th, 2007

Masq is a visual novel game that puts you at the head of a fashion design company that needs money to advertise its new line of clothing. A line of clothing that apparently combines the chic of being a clown with the elegance of practically being nude!

I have very little experience with visual novels, but I have plenty of experience with Choose Your Own Adventure books (I once famously tried to do a book report on one in the third grade). Masq is very much like a baudy, hardboiled CYOA book, and as such, it suffers from the same problems. Namely, that the consequences of your actions feel very arbitrary and also, in order to see all the possible outcomes you have to go through the same scenes and choices over and over again.

The game actually is quite fun, though, and it’s easy to get caught up in the story and characters. It’s also very fast-paced, often moving forward if you take too long to respond – this definitely alleviates some of the repetitiveness. It’s just not the kind of emotional thrillride that it is touted as on its webpage.

Update: According to the author, the game must be played online, which is a fallout from when it would track your “lives” and charge for more. Now, however, the game is completely free to play.

Gamasutra Interview: Emily Short

By: Derek Yu

On: April 11th, 2007

Speaking of Interactive Fiction, Gamasutra has an interview with Emily Short, who wrote Floatpoint, a two-time winner at last year’s XYZZY Awards, and Savoire-Faire, which has won four awards, including Best Game of 2002.

The interview itself is excellent, mostly due to the thoroughness with which Emily answers questions about her design process. Not surprisingly, she’s quite adept at explaining how she sets out to create good pacing, rewarding challenges, and interesting narratives. Even though she works with IF, her methodology could easily be applied to other types of games with great success, I think.

I personally haven’t had much experience with IF other than a brief stint with Colossal Cave Adventure as a kid, followed shortly thereafter by some prepubescent amusement with the hilariously-titled and really poorly-made Madame Fifi’s Whorehouse. But after reading this interview I think I’m going to give Savoire-Faire a spin.

XYZZY Awards 2006

By: Derek Yu

On: April 11th, 2007

[Originally written by Shih Tzu for Independent Gaming; reposted with his permission. -Derek]

This actually happened a month ago, but the winners of the 2006 XYZZY Awards for interactive fiction have been announced! Top honors went to Eric Eve’s science fiction story The Elysium Enigma, while Andrew Plotkin’s Edward Gorey homage Delightful Wallpaper and Emily Short’s Floatpoint were among winners in several other categories.

The Elysium Enigma casts you as an Imperial officer charged with contacting a mysteriously technophobic settlement on a remote planet. I’ve only had a chance to play the first five minutes of it, but the premise seems intriguing so far.

For elegant multi-platform interpreters that should be able to run most or all of the nominated titles, I recommend Gargoyle for Windows or Spatterlight for Macintosh systems.

(XYZZY Awards 2006 summarized at Baf’s Guide and ifwiki.org)

Which Way Adventure

By: Derek Yu

On: February 19th, 2007

You are a TIGSource reader. You are reading a terribly-written, poorly-researched rather innovative TIGSource entry by Derek about about Which Way Adventure, a flash-based “Choose Your Own Adventure” game. Do you:

(Thanks, Echo!)

In Memoriam: Star C. Foster

By: Derek Yu

On: December 16th, 2006

Shih Tzu writes:

“Star Foster, co-author of Slouching Towards Bedlam, ”http://www.phillyist.com/archives/2006/12/10/sad_news.php">passed away
unexpectedly on Dec. 10 at the age of 33.

Slouching Towards Bedlam took 1st place in the 2003 Interactive
Fiction competition and also went on to win several XYZZY Awards,
including Best Game of 2003. Although Slouching was her only
experience writing IF, she was active as an apparently prolific
blogger and writer.

If you haven’t played the (excellent) game, try it now in her memory!"

IFComp ’06 & More!

By: Brandon McCartin (BMcC)

On: October 5th, 2006

This just in from our man who likes Japan, Shih Tzu:

The 12th annual Interactive Fiction Competition started October 1st and runs until November 15th. The IFComp is a community-driven competition of homebrew text adventures in the style of the old Infocom games (think Zork).

Everyone is encouraged to download the games and rate as many as possible.

Also! Defcon has been reviewed by The Onion A.V. Club, “proving
once again that they are totally deliciously indie.”

Thanks, Shih Tzu!

Façade for Mac

By: Derek Yu

On: August 21st, 2006

Façade, the AI-driven interactive fiction game that puts you in the middle of a uncomfortable dinner party, is now available for Mac. Provided you have a 2.0GHz G4 or G5 (or better), you MacHeads can try out the game that the New York Times apparently called “the future of video games.” Which I think was a bit premature, considering that this is the future of video games right here.

But really though, the game’s AI and text parser are pretty impressive, so you should check it out.

(Source: Insert Credit)