[Comp97] Bear news and my opinions
David Dyte
First off, my thanks to the 71 folks who voted on A Bear's Night Out,
love it or hate it. Next, my apologies to those who played Release 1
with frotz. Newbie error, first Inform game, mea culpa, mea maxima
culpa, it won't happen again.
Now, in /incoming/if-archive at ftp.gmd.de I have dumped a file called
bear3.z5 which is Release 3. Couple of bug fixes, some typos almost
no-one noticed fixed up, some cat responses improved, the yoyo daemon
doesn't annoy you every turn, and a verb or two added for clarity.
(Thanks, CE Forman, Paul O'Brian, Steven Granade, Cody Sandifer, Neil
deMause.)
Note: when this file hits the directory with the other Inform games,
it should just be called bear.z5.
Release 4 will happen in a few months- to take care of a more serious
bug (thanks Andrew Plotkin, Neil deMause.) and some complaints about
the behaviour of the answering machine and the water, which are a bit
tricky to take care of. Working on it.
Now, to the other games:
There were 4 other games which really impressed me. In their turn:
Frenetic Five was, to my taste, far and away the best game in the contest.
Sure, it had a few bugs, but I am more than willing to wear that for the
joy of interacting with some of the funniest NPCs I've ever seen. And the
opening sequence had me rolling on the floor. Great plot, and you're right
into it (unlike my game!) and enjoying the fun. Great stuff!
At the next tier I have Sins Against Mimesis, The Edifice, and Glowgrass.
Three very different games, each novel in concept, each well carried off
and thought out. Mimesis is, granted, a throwaway, but a damned funny one
at that. The Edifice makes you think, and not just about solving the
puzzles, either. Glowgrass charmed me through and through, no more need
be said.
Then there were other games I liked too: Zombie was funny, although it kept
crashing on my machine; Babel had a cool plot, as did Grail; Savannah had
atmosphere to burn; Erden is great but too big for this contest; Sylenius
had a fine beginning and a bizarre twist; Neil Brown's game (I keep
forgetting the name) had a properly thought out character which makes a
change; and Down was like Weather turned nasty to me.
Then there were other games I found alright. I won't list em all.
Then there were games I didn't like. Coming Home, Congratulations, Cask,
Leaves, Symetry, House. But there are good ideas in there, keep working
away guys.
Thanks authors, thanks judges, thanks ct and thanks above all Whizzard!!!!
- David Dyte
Neil Brown
At 10:25:17 on Mon, 5 Jan 1998, David Dyte wrote:
>Neil Brown's game (I keep
>forgetting the name) had a properly thought out character which makes a
>change;
Eh? That's not right. You must have been playing a different game. :)
- NJB