Ok, a non-tads curiosity
JASON HOLTZAPPLE
jt...@darwin.clas.Virginia.EDU (John Viega) writes:
>And what makes your favorite puzzle(s) your favorite?
This is a close one...the most rewarding puzzles I've ever solved are
the infamous Babel Fish in Hitchhiker's Guide and the time travel
puzzle in Spellbreaker. The Spellbreaker puzzle I think is the
toughest one I've ever cracked. Even though I solved the game years
ago, I wonder even now if I did it right!
Jason
John Viega
What about it that you liked/disliked then have
you changed your oppinion on now?
And what makes your favorite puzzle(s) your favorite?
Rust
Andrew Lewis Tepper
curiosity by John Vi...@darwin.clas.V
There were so many Infocom puzzles I loved, but probably my favorite was
in Deadline where you have to watch George thru the window from the
balcony, and then barge in on him at exactly the right time.
Another favorite was the one in Enchanter (?) where you have to draw and
erase lines on a scroll, and those changes affected the actual layout of
rooms.
Also the gnomon puzzle ("Left-Handed screw") in Trinity, and the icicle puzzle.
Curiously, although Planetfall was one of my favorite games, no puzzles
were all that great. In that game, it was the writing that shined.
Best character in any game, hands down, was Floyd. (BTW, his last Ballad
can be sung to the tune of "Puff the Magic Dragon" - try it!)
Andy
Zachery J. Bir
back when I was twelve years old. And I _liked_ 'em, I _Loved_ 'em
(Thanks, Grumpy Old Man...)! Anyways, I discovered in them great
fantastical worlds (if limited by vocabulary) where I could ditch the
"real world" and spend a few hours roaming around doing nothing in
particular. Then, when I was, say 14, I played my first game of Zork,
in my cousin's basement on a Commodore 64. I fell in love instantly.
Never before had a book or even the rough and tumble SA adventures
taken me this far into a fantasy realm so descriptive and receptive to
my actions. I have never stopped loving these games, and probably
never will. And once I can scrape together the $40 (yeah, it's piddly,
but I'm a poor college student), I'm getting the full registered
version of TADS, and throwing my creations out to the net...
I was recently talking to a friend on the subject of I-F. He wants to
program graphic-rpgs, and I was telling him my interest in I-F,
explaining that I don't really know _why_ I like them so much (even
opposed to linear fiction). And he paid me this compliment:
"Zac," he said, "you are gifted with something that many people,
myself included, lack. The ability to fully visualize abstract things
like a descriptive passage."
I nearly cried. That was the nicest, most unsolicited compliment I had
received in a long time...
Enough, keep reading, keep writing.
Z
--
+----------------------+------------------------+-----------------------------+
| Zippy Zeeber | Eat right. Exercise | zb...@silver.ucs.indiana.edu |
| Student of the World | daily. Die anyways. | Look for pub key soon... |
+----------------------+------------------------+-----------------------------+
Greg Ewing
jt...@darwin.clas.Virginia.EDU (John Viega) writes:
|> How did you get hooked on interactive fiction?
When I was 16 or so, my school acquired an Apple II.
One day, someone brought in a thick Basic listing and
proceeded to type it all in. It was an adventure game
called Quest. By the standards we're accustomed to now,
it was very, very simple - all you could do was move
around and explore, and answer yes or no to the
question "Do you want to keep fighting the pirate?".
But it was tremendous fun, and I still remember the
sense of wonder I experienced in exploring all the
nooks and crannies of its underground world.
In the same era, I briefly played with one of the
Scott Adams adventures, also on the Apple II. I don't
remember what it was called, and I never got very far
into it before I was distracted by other things.
A few years later, I played Leather Goddesses of Phobos
on a friend's IBM PC. I was thoroughly impressed, although
I only got about half way through before getting stuck.
The first unix system I used came with a version of
Zork. I got as far as the troll and kept getting killed.
Before I could get past that problem I was distracted
by Rogue, which became the main craze that year, and I
didn't get back to Zork for quite a long time.
Some time after that, I played Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
on a Macintosh, having been a confirmed Hitchhiker's fan
ever since the original two radio series (which were
much better than the subsequent book or tv versions,
imho btw, but that's another flamewar), and almost,
but not quite, completely failed to not succeed in
finishing it.
In the last couple of years I've had a resurgence of
interest in IF, spurred by the appearance of development
systems such as Alan, Tads and Inform, and the various
shareware and freeware games for them that are circulating.
So far I've played uu1, uu2, uu1/2, Curses, Ditch Day
and Deep Space Drifter, Dungeon of Dunjin, and probably
a few others... I'm a hopeless addict now...
I've also become interested in writing games of my own,
although I haven't produced anything sizeable - yet!
|> What about it that you liked/disliked then have
|> you changed your oppinion on now?
Nothing, really! What I must have liked about Quest was
the fun of exploring (since that's all there was), and
I still like exploring, whether it's the real world or
an imaginary one. LGoP had a really nicely screwballed
sense of humor behind it, and I still like that.
|> And what makes your favorite puzzle(s) your favorite?
Novelty, although obviously that only works once.
Logic - I like to be able to reason my way to a solution,
rather than just try things at random until something
happens.
Plausibility - the puzzle should make sense, both internally
and in the context of the game.
|> Rust
Greg Ewing, Computer Science Dept, +--------------------------------------+
University of Canterbury, | A citizen of NewZealandCorp, a |
Christchurch, New Zealand | wholly-owned subsidiary of Japan Inc.|
gr...@cosc.canterbury.ac.nz +--------------------------------------+
Darin Johnson
> in Deadline where you have to watch George thru the window from the
> balcony, and then barge in on him at exactly the right time.
You liked that? You had to either guess the right time, or
try over and over till you got it right. Neither way having
anything to do with standard mystery literature. Even
outside of mysteries, it's a bad IF puzzle.
"Amazing Holmes, how did you know he was the killer?"
"Elementary my dear Watson, it was just judicious use
of the ten allowed save games..."
--
Darin Johnson
djoh...@ucsd.edu
Ensign, activate the Wesley Crusher!
Kent.Dalton
>> There were so many Infocom puzzles I loved, but probably my favorite
>> was in Deadline where you have to watch George thru the window from the
>> balcony, and then barge in on him at exactly the right time.
Darin> You liked that? You had to either guess the right time, or try
Darin> over and over till you got it right. Neither way having anything
Darin> to do with standard mystery literature. Even outside of mysteries,
Darin> it's a bad IF puzzle.
Although Deadline ranks in my top 10 games of all time of any type (RPG, sim,
strat, adventure), I have to agree that as a player, I think puzzles that
require me to be in a certain place at a certain time _really_ _suck_.
Suspect had a similar "puzzle" as I remember.
--
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