Help! I want to like IF but.....
Shabber
non-fiction books and play a variety of computer games but even Zork I
boggles me and I get stumped. I want to get into all this especially since i
can play on my Plam Pilot now with Frotz but I am getting bogged down., Will
it get easier? Should I cheat? Are there some easy ones to ease me into this
stuff.
J Walrus
Shabber <nos...@none.net> wrote in message
news:IPPm4.2660$Ks4....@bgtnsc06-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
Well, the Zork series are very puzzle-based and don't have much story.
If you're looking for games with more plot and less puzzles, have a look
at the recent 'just not the same <moan moan moan>' thread on
rec.games.int-fiction for a pretty impressive list of good games.
(Not wishing to imply that puzzle-based games aren't good also, but
they're naturally harder.)
JW
Quentin.D.Thompson
"J Walrus" <abilt...@bigfoot.NOHORMELPRODUCTS.com> wrote:
>
> Shabber <nos...@none.net> wrote in message
> news:IPPm4.2660$Ks4....@bgtnsc06-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
> > I am finding it VERY hard to struggle through a story. i read alot of
> > non-fiction books and play a variety of computer games but even Zork I
> > boggles me and I get stumped. I want to get into all this especially
> since i
> > can play on my Plam Pilot now with Frotz but I am getting bogged
> down., Will
> > it get easier? Should I cheat? Are there some easy ones to ease me
> into this
> > stuff.
>
> Well, the Zork series are very puzzle-based and don't have much story.
> If you're looking for games with more plot and less puzzles, have a look
> at the recent 'just not the same <moan moan moan>' thread on
> rec.games.int-fiction for a pretty impressive list of good games.
>
To make a long story short, there are more than a few games (good ones, I
mean) that emphasize story almost entirely: the three I found more memorable
were Photopia, Exhibition and Common Ground. For a game that's predominantly
story-based, but also contains a number of not-too-hard puzzles, you might
want to try Worlds Apart - but it's pretty long. The perfect blend of simple
story, effective puzzles and humour is to be found (in this author's opinion)
in Bonnie Montgomery's excellent Firebird, which I strongly recommend. Good
puzzle games which have a strong storyline as well (but are mainly based on
puzzle-solving) include Anchorhead, and - though its story is thinner -
Theatre. Finally, you may want to try games that contain challenging puzzles,
but which are impossible to put in an "unwinnable state" (i.e., you won't
forget to pick up a gun in room 1 only to find you need it to shoot someone
300 moves later). The main proponent of that philosophy is Mike J. Roberts
(try The Plant or Perdition's Flames) and Ivan Cockrum's also written a fine
game (Sunset over Savannah) based on the same principle. Finally, you might
want to take a look at David Glasser's list of good games for beginners:
check out www.davidglasser.net for the exact list. Happy playing!
- Quentin D. Thompson
--
"You know where you're at with../Floor collapses, floating.....
Bouncing back, and one day..../You'll know where you are.."
-- Radiohead, "Let Down"
(Official "Halothane" theme tune)
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Eric Mayer
<stup...@my-deja.com> wrote:
>In article <s9nuda...@corp.supernews.com>,
> "J Walrus" <abilt...@bigfoot.NOHORMELPRODUCTS.com> wrote:
>>
>> Shabber <nos...@none.net> wrote in message
>> news:IPPm4.2660$Ks4....@bgtnsc06-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
>> > I am finding it VERY hard to struggle through a story. i read alot of
>> > non-fiction books and play a variety of computer games but even Zork I
>> > boggles me and I get stumped. I want to get into all this especially
>> since i
>
>To make a long story short, there are more than a few games (good ones, I
>mean) that emphasize story almost entirely: the three I found more memorable
>were Photopia, Exhibition and Common Ground.
You forgot to mention one the most enjoyable games I've run across in
my short encounter with IF, at least for pure "playability" HALOTHANE
by one Quentin D Thompson.
I would highly recommend this for others who, like me are puzzle
challenged. Unlike the three games mentioned above, which are also
excellent, HALOTHANE actually has lot of traditional puzzles, but ,
brilliantly, you don't have to solve them all to keep going and
Quentin politely pushes you along through the story anyway once you
mess up, although your puzzle solving success is reflected in your
score.
This has the great advantage of allowing the player the fun of trying
to solve puzzles and the satisfaction of solving whatever puzzles he
or she can but still allows for unfrustrated enjoyment of the story.
--
Eric Mayer
Web Site: <http://home.epix.net/~maywrite>
"The map is not the territory." -- Alfred Korzybski
Shabber
just needed some prodding in the right direction.
Shabber
Quentin.D.Thompson <stup...@my-deja.com> wrote in message
news:87iu1t$42f$1...@nnrp1.deja.com...
> In article <s9nuda...@corp.supernews.com>,
> "J Walrus" <abilt...@bigfoot.NOHORMELPRODUCTS.com> wrote:
> >
> > Shabber <nos...@none.net> wrote in message
> > news:IPPm4.2660$Ks4....@bgtnsc06-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
> > > I am finding it VERY hard to struggle through a story. i read alot of
> > > non-fiction books and play a variety of computer games but even Zork I
> > > boggles me and I get stumped. I want to get into all this especially
> > since i
> > > can play on my Plam Pilot now with Frotz but I am getting bogged
> > down., Will
> > > it get easier? Should I cheat? Are there some easy ones to ease me
> > into this
> > > stuff.
> >
> > Well, the Zork series are very puzzle-based and don't have much story.
> > If you're looking for games with more plot and less puzzles, have a look
> > at the recent 'just not the same <moan moan moan>' thread on
> > rec.games.int-fiction for a pretty impressive list of good games.
> >
>
> To make a long story short, there are more than a few games (good ones, I
> mean) that emphasize story almost entirely: the three I found more
memorable
Quentin.D.Thompson
emay...@epix.net (Eric Mayer) wrote:
> On Sun, 06 Feb 2000 04:41:33 GMT, Quentin.D.Thompson
> <stup...@my-deja.com> wrote:
>
> > "J Walrus" <abilt...@bigfoot.NOHORMELPRODUCTS.com> wrote:
> >>
> >> Shabber <nos...@none.net> wrote in message
> >> news:IPPm4.2660$Ks4....@bgtnsc06-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
> >> > I am finding it VERY hard to struggle through a story. i read alot of
> >> > non-fiction books and play a variety of computer games but even Zork I
> >> > boggles me and I get stumped. I want to get into all this especially
> >> since i
> >
> >mean) that emphasize story almost entirely: the three I found more memorable
> >were Photopia, Exhibition and Common Ground.
>
> my short encounter with IF, at least for pure "playability" HALOTHANE
> by one Quentin D Thompson.
>
> I would highly recommend this for others who, like me are puzzle
> challenged. Unlike the three games mentioned above, which are also
> excellent, HALOTHANE actually has lot of traditional puzzles, but ,
> brilliantly, you don't have to solve them all to keep going and
> Quentin politely pushes you along through the story anyway once you
> mess up, although your puzzle solving success is reflected in your
> score.
>
> This has the great advantage of allowing the player the fun of trying
> to solve puzzles and the satisfaction of solving whatever puzzles he
> or she can but still allows for unfrustrated enjoyment of the story.
Thanks! In fact, not surprisingly, the reason I designed it that way was
because I'm probably one of the most puzzle-challenged IFers out there: if
there was a way to monitor individual downloads of walkthroughs, etc.. from
ftp.gmd.de, I'd probably have topped it two years running. I'm reminded of
that Aussie cricketing legend, Allan Border, who said: "I'm the kind of
bowler I like to bat against": I think much the same mentality went to making
Halothane the way it was.
kristi autry
Shabber <nos...@none.net> wrote in article
<IPPm4.2660$Ks4....@bgtnsc06-news.ops.worldnet.att.net>...
> I am finding it VERY hard to struggle through a story. i read alot of
> non-fiction books and play a variety of computer games but even Zork I
> boggles me and I get stumped. I want to get into all this especially
since i
> can play on my Plam Pilot now with Frotz but I am getting bogged down.,
Will
> it get easier? Should I cheat? Are there some easy ones to ease me into
this
> stuff.
>
>
>
Zork is antiquated and in my opinion monstrously unfair. That's not to say
you shouldn't play the game though. It and other Infocom games are commonly
referred to by contemporary IF authors. You could consider Infocom games (
and other text adventures from the 80's) to be the "classic literature" of
our genre.
You might wish to start with more recent titles such as, "The one that got
away", "Johns fire witch"' , "Photopia",and "Ditch day drifter". Their all
easy and available at the GMD.
Once you have finished those, read an IF ezine. I suggest SPAG or xyzzy
news. Both contain reviews of many games and it shouldn't take long to
figure out which ones are for you.