[ANNOUNCE] The King of Shreds and Patches
Jimmy Maher
Dear friend. My sojourn in parts foreign is at an ende. I am at lodgings
in Southwark not far from the bridge at Stoney Street, come dine with me
two days hence to ring in the newe year. I have not enjoyed amiable
English companie for some long time and it would be refreshing to hear
my mother tongue used in its proper manner again.
Your friend,
John Croft.
When you receive this note from your old acquantence John Croft, you
expect nothing but an evening of good food and drink and Croft's
lecherous tales. Instead, you quickly find yourself plunged into a
conspiracy of black magic that involves not only Croft but some of the
most powerful and important men in London -- and possibly even someone
else, someone much closer to your own heart.
The King of Shreds and Patches is a novel-length work of interactive
fiction. In it you will explore an historically accurate recreation of
Elizabethan London, circa 1603, interact with some fascinating
characters both historical and fictional, and (if you are clever and
lucky) thwart an occult conspiracy that threatens to bring down the
entire city -- or worse.
Over two years in development, King features:
* Roughly 12 to 15 hours of play time
* A convoluted, compelling mystery to piece together
* Realistic interactions with more than a dozen potential friends
or suspects -- or both
* Realistic action sequences
* A huge variety of puzzles to solve in a variety of ways
* An integrated context-sensitive hint system designed to give you
only the information you need
* An auto-map to make finding your way around London a snap
* An RPG-style "quest tracking" system to keep you always oriented
to your current goals and your place in the story
* An integrated tutorial to get those new to interactive fiction
into the swing of things quickly and easily
...and much, much more, all in the service of a rich story presented
through a sophisticated drama management system.
For more information and to download, go to http://maher.filfre.net/King.
--
Jimmy Maher
Editor, SPAG Magazine -- http://www.sparkynet.com/spag
Thank you for helping to keep text adventures alive!
Aaronius
>
> --
> Jimmy Maher
> Editor, SPAG Magazine --http://www.sparkynet.com/spag
> Thank you for helping to keep text adventures alive!
Big congrats, Jimmy, on getting this out the door! I'm glad it's
finally seeing the light of day... no matter how much it may want to
twist and squirm its way back to the shadows...
As one of the beta testers, I can avouch and affirm that this game is
the real deal. This is a big, sprawling horror epic, with lots of
genuine scares and a unique historical setting to get lost in. Jimmy
has slathered on the detail in implementation, and all the hard work
really shines through. If you like Lovecraft or Shakespeare (and oh,
how deliciously they go together!) then give this game a shot.
--Aaron
George Oliver
> On Jul 15, 7:55 pm, Jimmy Maher <mahe...@SPAMfilfre.net> wrote:
> For more information and to download, go tohttp://maher.filfre.net/King.
sounds excellent! Getting it now.
S. John Ross
Hmmm. If you're having trouble contacting Justin Tynes directly, maybe
ask John Tynes ... he's also got a Call of Cthulhu history, and is a
reasonably nice fellow, and should be easy to find, either directly or
through one of his cohorts (like Greg Stolze) ... My knee-jerk
assumption is that they're related (happens a lot in RPG writing) but
I don't know it for a fact. Worth checking in on.
Jimmy Maher
>
> For more information and to download, go to http://maher.filfre.net/King.
>
It appears there is a problem with the GLK implementation in Zoom which
is causing the game to halt when the map should appear. I'll try to get
it sorted out as quickly as possible, but in the meantime Mac users
should use Spatterlight instead if they wish to play right away.
My apologies for the inconvenience!
James Jolley
> Jimmy Maher wrote:
>
>>
>> For more information and to download, go to http://maher.filfre.net/King.
>>
>
> It appears there is a problem with the GLK implementation in Zoom which
> is causing the game to halt when the map should appear. I'll try to get
> it sorted out as quickly as possible, but in the meantime Mac users
> should use Spatterlight instead if they wish to play right away.
>
> My apologies for the inconvenience!
At least it's a known issue. Spatterlight has accessibility issues so
i'll hold off until further notice. What I did see was well implemented.
Jimmy Maher
> Jimmy Maher wrote:
>
>>
>> For more information and to download, go to http://maher.filfre.net/King.
>>
>
> It appears there is a problem with the GLK implementation in Zoom which
> is causing the game to halt when the map should appear. I'll try to get
> it sorted out as quickly as possible, but in the meantime Mac users
> should use Spatterlight instead if they wish to play right away.
Okay, folks, this issue has been fixed. Release 9 (now up on the
website) works correctly in Zoom. Thanks for your patience.
JJ Sonick
>
> --
> Jimmy Maher
> Editor, SPAG Magazine --http://www.sparkynet.com/spag
> Thank you for helping to keep text adventures alive!
Great that this is out now! I really enjoyed the intro, looking
forward to playing the full thing.
Josh
Jay
it should be at least as potentially successful as any classic horror
author. But can IF honestly give you chills?
I ask because I'm toying with a horror story and I've been thinking of
making it tongue in cheek...but I'm uncertain if I want to even try
for actual scares.
The only way I could think to really creep someone out would be to
delay a message somehow so that it seems things are happening without
their input. Maybe I've not played any *good* horror IF.
Adam Thornton
Jay <jayz...@gmail.com> wrote:
>I'm curious -- how well does actual horror work in IF? I mean I guess
>it should be at least as potentially successful as any classic horror
>author. But can IF honestly give you chills?
Anchorhead worked for me. The well, the church, the locket, and both
the good and bad endings for the endgame were all very effective.
Adam
S. John Ross
> I'm curious -- how well does actual horror work in IF? I mean I guess
> it should be at least as potentially successful as any classic horror
> author. But can IF honestly give you chills?
I think horror is one of the story modes (along with satire and
erotica) where IF has _special_ advantages over other forms of
fiction. The whole medium practically comes with a free, built-in
sense of isolation, for example (which many works have to work to
overcome, but which a horror work can trade on directly).
> I ask because I'm toying with a horror story and I've been thinking of
> making it tongue in cheek...but I'm uncertain if I want to even try
> for actual scares.
I suspect a gradually-developing sense of dread punctuated by moments
holy-crap-that's-just-wrong is probably closest to IF's "sweet spot"
for horror, but I'm guessing from a position of ignorance. Again. ;)
> Maybe I've not played any *good* horror IF.
Me either, in fairness ... I just keep assuming that such a thing is
not only possible, but in some ways preloaded with advantages.
Peter Pears
> > I'm curious -- how well does actual horror work in IF? I mean I guess
> > it should be at least as potentially successful as any classic horror
> > author. But can IF honestly give you chills?
>
> I think horror is one of the story modes (along with satire and
> erotica) where IF has _special_ advantages over other forms of
> fiction. The whole medium practically comes with a free, built-in
> sense of isolation, for example (which many works have to work to
> overcome, but which a horror work can trade on directly).
>
> > I ask because I'm toying with a horror story and I've been thinking of
> > making it tongue in cheek...but I'm uncertain if I want to even try
> > for actual scares.
>
> I suspect a gradually-developing sense of dread punctuated by moments
> holy-crap-that's-just-wrong is probably closest to IF's "sweet spot"
> for horror, but I'm guessing from a position of ignorance. Again. ;)
>
> > Maybe I've not played any *good* horror IF.
Actual horror is harder - there's Anchorhead, The Lurking Horror, Ian
Finley's All Alone... but you're not asking about horror, really. :)
You're asking whether IF can get to you, unnerve you enough. You can
see that in not-really-horror titles - Babel comes to mind, and A Mind
Forever Voyaging, while not horror in itself, can make you actually
dispair at the progression of Rockvil through the decades, thus
answering your actual question: can IF really get to you. If IF can
get to you, it can make horror - simple as that.
The thing is, waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too many horror IF titles out there are
bad or uninteresting - or even worse, competent but totally lacking in
atmosphere. Horror without atmosphere dies completely, fails utterly.
What we need, in fact, is good horror games. Thankfully, Maher is
stepping up to the task. :)
Unsub
> see that in not-really-horror titles - Babel comes to mind, and A Mind
> Forever Voyaging, while not horror in itself, can make you actually
> dispair at the progression of Rockvil through the decades, thus
> answering your actual question: can IF really get to you. If IF can
> get to you, it can make horror - simple as that.
Well, I got scared the first time I played Babel. For the second and
third times, however, I can't say the same.
> The thing is, waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too many horror IF titles out there are
> bad or uninteresting - or even worse, competent but totally lacking in
> atmosphere. Horror without atmosphere dies completely, fails utterly.
> What we need, in fact, is good horror games. Thankfully, Maher is
> stepping up to the task. :)
I think 90% of horror is just atmosphere. You see, Babel has a quite
dark ambiance. So, when I first saw myself inside it (IF got to me!),
I felt it was frightening, though the second and third times I already
knew about it and didn't. The unexpected always threatens us.
Peter Pears
Funny thing, I felt the exact same thing on replays of Babel.
Anchorhead, however, was as good the third time as the first. Fancy
that.
Jimmy Maher
>
> For more information and to download, go to http://maher.filfre.net/King.
>
Just a quick note to the effect that another release (Release 10) of the
game is now available at the link above. This fixes a few bugs in the
Tutorial mode and also corrects some problems with the hint system;
specifically, the hints involving the rowboat were incorrect.
No need at all to restart if you are already playing, but you may want
to grab this version if you haven't seriously started yet. For those of
you playing the earlier version: if you need hints for the rowboat, just
drop me a line.
Ben Cressey
> the good and bad endings for the endgame were all very effective.
Anchorhead's well spoiled the mood for me somewhat, but only because
it played out like an especially frantic "guess the verb" session,
culminating in multiple restores and mounting frustration.
The uncertainty of parser-based interactions can easily give rise a
species of panic, if the player feels trapped, with only a limited
time to react correctly to perilous circumstances. But actually
killing the player off may be counterproductive here, as it reminds
them of their options to restore / undo in a very undramatic fashion.
Would the well have been any less terrifying if the game assisted the
player at the last possible instant instead of letting her die?
King has a similar scene near the end that felt equally distressing
but more elegantly executed. There were a quite a number of scenes
that echoed Anchorhead, but which obviously benefited from reactions
to the earlier work by offering more clues and accepting more
responses.
Which is not to say the strengths are entirely one-sided. The horror
in Anchorhead poisoned the player's most important relationship.
King's terrors were more standard fare, perhaps stemming from its
roots as an RPG supplement targeting a less mature audience. The
ending felt more like it was offering a sequel than the sense of
futility I think was intended.
That said, a sequel would be totally awesome. Thanks for all your
hard work, Jimmy.
Bob
played the IntroComp Version. I really hope I'll be able to download
it soon (right now, the download refuses to start). Thanks for
releasing this!
Bob