Anyone here into Interactive Fiction? If you arent familiar with the term it’s basically the modern version of what used to be called Text Adventures. Like Zork and all the old Infocom games. They have no graphics, just text, and you decide what to do by typing in commands.
I’m currently trying to improve my skills in these games so I can stop spoiling them for myself by needing to use hints and walkthrus.
But yeah if you’re a fan of books and also games I’d recommend checking some out. The modern ones (still being made to this day) really push the boundaries between art and gaming, especially titles like Shade, Photopia, Worlds Apart and Slouching Towards Bedlam.
EDIT: Just had a thought: a game of this kind that featured lucid dreaming would work really well! Havent seen one that’s tried it to date. I know it’s a bit ambitious but does anyone here actually have any experience in making IF games? It’s something I’d really like to try.
Love those games. That’s a good idea about that Lucid Dreaming one. (sorry, I have no clue how to make them) We could base it on that story from the “Choosing” topic in the Playground. Wouldn’t that be neat?
hehehe… this reminds me. Now don’t comment on the age. But my dad had bought a Commodore something. And there was a game similar to that. You had to type the commands.
Interactive Fiction games can be a lot of fun if they’re made correctly, and if the author has a talent for story-telling. Every few years I seem to rediscover them at a whim and become totally obsessed for a short while, before inevitably drifting back to more modern games. Just a few weeks ago, a friend of mine sent one to me at work which supposedly took place entirely within a dream, so naturally I was keen to play around with it and see how far they go towards introducing the topic of lucid dreaming. For the life of me, I can’t remember what it was called…
I also used to love creating them back when I was learning how to program. Even more so than playing them, I’d have to say. They’re a good way to learn text-based programming, and they’re a lot of fun to put together–especially if you like writing stories. Parsing text commands is probably the trickest part (particularly if you’re aiming to make it as user-friendly as the first three Zork games, or Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy), but other than that, it’s all fairly straight-forward.
I’ll see if I can locate a copy of this dream adventure, though it might have to wait until I go back to work on Monday, as it’s on my work PC.
Good to see some fans here! Heh yeah Athe, who’d have though eh!
Did that one you played feature lucid dreaming, or just regular dreaming? It’d just open up so many options for things to do. The barriers that limit your progress wouldnt be things like steep drops or gates, they’d be more like “as you move north the scenery around you begins to break up, so you decide to stay where you are” and so on. Much fun could be had with mirrors, shapeshifting, object summoning, plus the slightly non-sensical nature of interaction with other characters in IF games might actually make sense if they were dream characters!
Also does anybody have a link to a site that allows you to download the old Infocom games? I can’t for the life of me find one, they seem insistant on holding the copywrite. Suppose I should send off for the boxed set really… hopefully they’d include all the awesome packaging they used to include with them.
So, which particular games do you guys like? Do you prefer puzzle-heavy games or the more atmospheric exploration type? Are you such a hardcore fan that, because of his IF works, you bought and read Adam Cadre’s novel?
all my fav sierra adventures
lol spend some time playing spacequest - now i remember what i hated about those games - you would be dead before you know it and if you didn’t remember to save you have to start all over again
Oh, I used to play those a lot. Haven’t played any in a while now, though. They were really fun for a while, but I got sick of them eventually because I kept getting lost or stuck or confused… I was never any good at those things!
I’ve never played an interactive fiction game before, come to think of it i havn’t played a game for a long time. Where do you get hold of them, on the net or in shops ?
Gives you information on how to get started playing, all the software and game recommendations. You can download the games free from the net, there’s some really good stuff out there (and a whole lot of crap of course, but then the same is true of any genre).
That’s a good idea about that Lucid Dreaming one. (sorry, I have no clue how to make them) We could base it on that story from the “Choosing” topic in the Playground. Wouldn’t that be neat? 
all my fav sierra adventures 
