ANNOUNCE: HP Lovecraft Commonplace Book Comp and Exhibit
PTN
it's time for you to take one up for yourself and realize it.
This comp will run until mid-June: about eight weeks.
And what will happen to the results? Well, there's the exhibit at the
Swiss Museum of Science Fiction and Utopias, for starters. The exhibit
will launch in October, to be followed by a few other venues as well.
Writers and artists from around the world are contributing work based
on Lovecraft's Commonplace Book -- including artists such as HR Giger,
and writers such as Michael Moorcock, contributing new and original
work to the exhibit. And also including -- Interactive Fiction. And
why not? The curator is interested, and so am I, but I figured there's
no reason that I should do this alone.
And what else? Well, I'm looking into some of the Lovecraft festivals
coming up this year, and the possibility of setting up a playable
exhibit there.
Anything else? How about a professionally produced CD-ROM of all the
entries? Well, that's a difficult one, as production costs money and
I'll need to earn it back somehow, but I want to do this if at all
possible.
But wait -- there's more! Why not broaden our horizons a bit? So in
addition to English works, there will also be a French section,
curated by JB, author of the celebrated Ekphrasis. and an Italian
section, though not fully realized yet. And Adrift gets its own
section, as well, so that there can be a separate Adrift "best in
show" that I've asked David Whyld to curate.
And well, why stop there. I also hope to invite the AGS community to
contribute as well.
I've put together a webpage about the event:
http://www.illuminatedlantern.com/if/lovecraft.html
Filled with all the rules, plans, and so on as they exist now. As I
make more arrangements, the page will be updated. Ideas about front-
end gallery type delivery systems for the games are also very welcome.
The competition part of this competition is very small. I would like
the games to be played after they are finished and a general voting
done to determine "Best in Show" in each category, but no additional
ranking. I strongly favor participation over judging.
So, if you want to participate, follow the instructions on the webpage
for your development platform. (In other words, send me, or one of the
other curators, an email). I hope this competition will generate
interest and enthusiasm among independent game developers. For my
part, I thought this opportunity was too fun not to share. I hope you
agree.
Best regards,
-- Peter Nepstad
http://www.illuminatedlantern.com/if
Jim Aikin
> it's time for you to take one up for yourself and realize it.
And where might one score a copy of this tome? It doesn't seem to be on
Amazon, and a quick Google didn't find it uploaded anywhere. Can you make
complete Xerox copies for potential entrants?
> This comp will run until mid-June: about eight weeks.
Eek! Maybe, if I'm inspired, I'll have something ready for next year, if
it's an annual event.
--JA
David Fisher
news:eveq91$lqv$1...@aioe.org...
Maybe it could be a *really short* short story ...
Creepy House
You are in a silent and foreboding house in the middle of nowhere. There is
a door to the north, and a trapdoor in the middle of the floor. There is a
small pile of objects in the corner.
>north
A horrific creature leaps out of the darkness and devours you, leaving only
your boots.
*** You have died horribly ***
Would you like to RESTART, RESTORE a saved game, UNDO your last move or
QUIT?
>undo
Creepy House
You are in a silent and foreboding house in the middle of nowhere. There is
a door to the north, and a trapdoor in the middle of the floor. There is a
small pile of objects in the corner.
>open trapdoor
A gruesome beast leaps out from the darkness and devours you, leaving only
the buttons from your coat.
*** You have died horribly again ***
Would you like to RESTART, RESTORE a saved game, UNDO your last move or
QUIT?
>undo
Creepy House
You are in a silent and foreboding house in the middle of nowhere. There is
a door to the north, and a trapdoor in the middle of the floor. There is a
small pile of objects in the corner.
>z
An unseen creature descends from the ceiling and devours you, leaving only
your moustache.
*** You have died horribly yet again ***
*** You're really not getting the hang of this, are you? ***
Would you like to RESTART, RESTORE a saved game, UNDO your last move or
QUIT?
>undo
Creepy House
You are in a silent and foreboding house in the middle of nowhere. There is
a door to the north, and a trapdoor in the middle of the floor. There is a
small pile of objects in the corner.
>x pile
It seems be a pile of boots, coat buttons and moustaches.
David Fisher
Josh Lawrence
> > HP Lovecraft put all his story ideas into his "Commonplace Book." Now
> > it's time for you to take one up for yourself and realize it.
>
> And where might one score a copy of this tome? It doesn't seem to be on
> Amazon, and a quick Google didn't find it uploaded anywhere. Can you make
> complete Xerox copies for potential entrants?
>
After seeing this announcement, I also thrashed about looking for an
online copy. Fortunately, I finally found one:
http://www.lapetiteclaudine.com/archives/011196.html
Josh
Adam Thornton
Josh Lawrence <jj.la...@gmail.com> wrote:
>http://www.lapetiteclaudine.com/archives/011196.html
Dibs on "106 A thing that sat on a sleeper's chest. Gone in morning,
but something left behind." I think I shall call it the Squamous Rugose
Unspeakable Turd Of Doom!
Or maybe "108 Educated mulatto seeks to displace personality of white
man and occupy his body." This one reminds me horribly of
http://www.hackcanada.com/canadian/zines/spacemoose/malcolm.gif
Adam
PTN
> After seeing this announcement, I also thrashed about looking for an
> online copy. Fortunately, I finally found one:http://www.lapetiteclaudine.com/archives/011196.html
Sorry about that. Yes, it looks like that is a copy of the book. I
also have it in .rtf format, which I won't post publicly to avoid any
potential copyright complaints (the comp is for works based on the
book, not for publishing the book itself!). However, I will send a
copy to anyone to emails me an intent to enter. Each entry needs to be
based on an entry in the book, and we're using the numbers to keep
track.
Also, I agree with David -- enter something short! It just needs to
capture some essence of a line in the Commonplace Book. Perhaps just a
room. Or a mood. Or a pile of moustaches. It can be like an IF art
show entry. In fact, it can actually be your IF art show entry, if it
meets the rules of both comps.
David Fisher
news:1176155684.5...@p77g2000hsh.googlegroups.com...
> HP Lovecraft put all his story ideas into his "Commonplace Book." Now
> it's time for you to take one up for yourself and realize it.
> I've put together a webpage about the event:
>
> http://www.illuminatedlantern.com/if/lovecraft.html
Just for clarification ...
Is the idea to imitate the style of H. P. Lovecraft, or just to write
something inspired by one of the quotes? I assume the latter, but I thought
I'd ask just in case.
David Fisher
PTN
> Just for clarification ...
>
> Is the idea to imitate the style of H. P. Lovecraft, or just to write
> something inspired by one of the quotes? I assume the latter, but I thought
> I'd ask just in case.
The latter is correct, just realize one of the quotes in whatever way
you choose...humor, drama, romance, etc., in homage to Lovecraft's
style if you wish, or in your own inimitable.
Eric Forgeot
contributing for the French version.
I hope there is nothing wrong if we use several ideas and mix them together
to make a longer story, for ex:
11 Odd nocturnal ritual. Beasts dance and march to musick.
+
39 Sounds-possibly musical-heard in the night from other worlds or realms of
being.
We intended also to make a single file with several sub-stories in it, each
sub-story being inspired by one or two ideas taken from the commonplace
book. It that ok ?
We made a new special place for the game and such projects :
http://informfr.tuxfamily.org/
The work in progress repository can be found from there.
We made also an announcement of it on our website :
http://ifiction.free.fr/index.php?id=lieuxcommuns
Both of them link back to your project page.
Conrad
Thanks, Josh, for tracking that down.
Y'know, guys, I'm trained as a hypnotist, and have a little
experience
in communication through metaphor, dream interpretation, and so on...
And I'll tell ya...
That Howard fellow had something serious going on in his mind that he
just was *not* willing to face.
I mean:
> 51 Enchanted garden where moon casts shadow of object or ghost invisible to the human eye.
>
> 57 Sailing or rowing on lake in moonlight-sailing into invisibility.
>
> 60 Fisherman casts his net into the sea by moonlight-what he finds.
>
> 63 Sinister names-Nasht-Kaman-Thah. [x]
>
> 64 Identity-reconstruction of personality-man makes duplicate of himself. [x]
The only ones that don't strongly signal he's blocking something are
the ones
that are incomprehensible (like 63); but even those are consistent
with it (naming
parts of the self that one can't own up to).
Poor guy.
Conrad.
JB
Nasht & Kaman Thah actually exist in HPL Mythos, those are the
immortal priests in the Cavern of the Flame, the entrance of the Dream
Lands. (Source : Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath).
JB
Richard Bos
> On Apr 9, 10:18 pm, "Josh Lawrence" <jj.lawre...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > After seeing this announcement, I also thrashed about looking for an
> > online copy. Fortunately, I finally found one:http://www.lapetiteclaudine.com/archives/011196.html
>
> Thanks, Josh, for tracking that down.
>
> Y'know, guys, I'm trained as a hypnotist, and have a little experience
> in communication through metaphor, dream interpretation, and so on...
>
> And I'll tell ya...
>
> That Howard fellow had something serious going on in his mind that he
> just was *not* willing to face.
If it took you all of that pseudo-psychological experience to draw that
conclusion, I must be a natural expert in the para-natural, because that
Lovecraft was more than a little twisted inside was quite clear to me
from the first story of his that I read.
Richard
PTN
Development.
I'm happy to announce a Spanish Language section has now opened up,
bringing the project up to three languages total (No takers for the
Italian section...yet!)
Per Rikard's suggestion, the AGS branch of the comp has been expanded
to included LASSIE, WINTERMUTE, and etc, information on which I posted
at what forums I could find.
I have updated the website with this information:
http://www.illuminatedlantern.com/if/lovecraft.html.
If you have not yet submitted an intent to enter, drop me a note at
lovecraft[at]illuminatedlantern.com.
If you have submitted an intent to enter, don't forget to drop me
another note to let me know which entry your game will be based on.
I'm posting the numbers on the site as I get them. There is no limit
to the amount of people who can develop games based on the same entry
in the book, this is just for informational purposes only.
There are nine weeks from now until the deadline. Here at week one,
we're at the conception phase, perhaps not yet coded anything, still
mulling over the book, the entry chosen, and how it will develop into
a completed work. I'll continue to post weekly updates to the project
to this thread, though from here on to rec.arts.int-fiction only until
the games are released/announced.
Best,
Conrad
>
> If it took you all of that pseudo-psychological experience to draw that
> conclusion, I must be a natural expert in the para-natural, because that
> Lovecraft was more than a little twisted inside was quite clear to me
> from the first story of his that I read.
For my part, I have not said that Lovecraft was "twisted," but that he
had thoughts and desires which he was unwilling to acknowledge.
The fact that Lovecraft expressed the resulting inner conflict with
metaphors about the dead, the inhuman, and the very old, does not mean
he was especially warped: it means he was especially determined not
to face them.
The thoughts and desires he denied I'd say were pretty standard.
Conrad.
ps - When someone has a part of themselves they won't acknowledge, as
a hypnotist I'm on the side of the unacknowledged thoughts and
desires. There are people who find that threatening: but I say,
"Those parts you won't acknowledge want something important for you,
they are you, and you're only able to fear them because you won't
Look at them.