And as an aside, I was content with almost all of the entries I played.
I never have time to play every entry, but based on the ones I've have
played, this was the best competition in the last three years. Thanks
and congratulations to all the authors! And yet more thanks to the
people who DIDN'T enter because their game isn't finished yet.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sun & Moon [4]
The idea is intriguing. A mysterious company with many dead executives;
you need to search websites to get passwords to find out what is going
on.
However, the passwords are virtually impossible to get. I had to read
the online hints to get one of them, and even though I solved the maze
I still had no clue how to get the last password. Incidentally, the
most time-consuming aspects [either the maze or the crossword puzzle]
make no contributions to the plot.
Also, the story is uneven. The pacing starts out very nicely -- an
initial email leads you to the personal page of the company's web
master, which leads you to the company site, from where you can find
other home pages, each of which has tidbits of company gossip. Then
nothing at all, until you get the passwords, which abrupbtly leads to
the epilogue, most of which I had already guessed from the first few
pages.
And there are still loose ends
Nygubhtu lbh fuhg qbja gur znpuvar, jung unccraf gb Qe. Ehffry? Naq abj
gung fhpu n qrivpr unf orra qrfvtarq, nera'g gur greebevfgf tbvat gb or
noyr gb ohvyq bar gurzfryirf?
Bug report [Illusion maze]:
The title's of the web pages isn't always correct.
Check: 18y&b, 17b
Ballroom:
far to large to fit
<--- far too large to fit
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
4-Mile: [5]
I'm sure that most people will rank this game low, because the parser
sucks, it does not include quit or save, and for a game with an active
NPC, there is very little interaction or characterization. But I liked
it... Maybe I just have a soft spot for quick&easy games?
As an aside, why is that everyone has to pretend their BASIC game was
newly discovered in a dusty closet left over from 1975?
Bug report:
Blood splatters the wall.
<--- except, of course, it has already splattered on the wall.
Director's desk should be examinable/openable
likewise victim at airlock
likewise marchand
There is one turn between deactivating the bomb and winning.
If you talk to marchand, he will refuse to deactivate the
bomb...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Terrible Lizzards: [1]
First impressions count.
The first thing I noticed -- the initial room description wasn't
capitalized. When I noticed was that "x me" gave the default response,
I glanced at the header and saw "Version 0.0.1".
But I played on, ignoring the fact that I could not refer to my Bot
while Black's bot was in the room, until I reached the room:
>w
nesting area
[description]. You can go north or east.
A small herd of pachycephalosaurs is here.
I object to authors releasing buggy, unfinished games into the
competition.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
BOFH: [3]
Maybe I'm just still sour from the previous game, but I didn't get into
this one at all. Part of the problem is that I don't like role-playing
a bastard, but I think part of the problem also the limited range of
possible actions in the game compared to the vast possibilities of
writing. After all, neither "talk to" nor "unistall" nor "login" nor
"unplug" nor "shutdown" are implemented, meaning instead of promptly
annoying someone, it becomse a game of hunt around for anypossible bad
thing to do. Also add "swipe" to the list of things that should have
been implemented, as well as:
You can see the traumatized technician here.
>x technician
You can't see any such thing.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Janitor: [9]
Overall, an excellent game, with a few rough spots. I like the setup --
An adventurer has collected five glorious treasures and placed them in
a vault. You need to get the game ready for the next player by rehiding
them. Similar to zero-sum game, but much better.
The endgame seemed much harder than getting to zero points; I don't
know if that was deliberate or not. I wasn't able to open the small
drawer, and the hints were useless. I also had enormous guess-the-verb
problems at one point (see below).
Penalty for guess-the-verb. Penalty for limited inventory. Extra bonus
points for having a real web site for the fake company. Extra bonus
points for starting the game with "*** You have won ***".
Bug report:
You can also see [...] a bucket of dirty water (which is empty) here.
>x bucket
The bucket contains some dingy grey water.
<---- is it empty? half-empty? half-full?
--
One annoying feature is the limited number of inventory items. The game
tries to auto-adjust by putting things in the bucket for you, except
THE MOP DOESN'T FIT IN THE BUCKET!!! Argh!
--
When entering the keypad, I used the syntax 'type "password" on
keypad'. But the quotation marks threw off the password system. Not
that it matters.
--
In the wine cellar, I had enormous problems.
Vs gur tnzr unq ercyvrq jvgu "lbh pna'g qb gung jvgu lbhe oner unaqf",
V jbhyq unir vzzrqvngryl xabja ubj gb frny gur ubyr. Nf vg jnf, V gevrq
gb qrpbzcbfr vg vagb fvzcyre gnfxf. V gevrq "cvpxhc oevpxf", "bcra
gho", "zbegne ubyr", "chg oevpxf va ubyr", "chg gho va ubyr", "chg
zbegne ba oevpxf". Gura sbe fbzr ernfba V qrpvqrq V unq zbegne zvk
engure guna zbegne, fb V gevrq gb nqq jngre gb gur gho va n ynetr
inevrgl bs jnlf. V gura erfbegrq gb gur uvag cntr, juvpu frrzrq gb
guvax vg jnf na rnfl gnfx naq ng yrnfg zrnag V qvqa'g arrq gb genvcfr
nebhaq ybbxvat sbe zber vairagbel vgrzf. Guvf pbafgenvarq zr gb gur bar
ebbz, guvaxvat bs flabalzf sbe "frny" hagvy riraghnyyl V hfrq gur
cercbfvgvba.
Moral of the story: No matter how obvious you think the hints are, the
last one should be a typeable command.
--
That reminds me, the hint page doesn't "decode" properly on the Mac, at
least not under Internet Explorer 5.1. No biggie, and I finally got to
use/disable "allow page to specify colors".
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Coffee Quest II: [5]
A generally average game. The biggest problems are (1) lack of
excitement. But that may just be the unfortunate ordering of coming
right after Janitor. And (2) lack of ability to interact with your
office mates. But I liked Maureen's reaction to the Brillo and blunt
pencil.
Speaking of which, it took me a bit to catch that a Brillo was a pen. I
spent about 10 minutes thinking it was something like a Bagel.
There were also some unexplained phenomina -- what was the rumbling
sound when you picked up the mug? Is there any way other than the
walkthrough to know what Maureen's button does?
Penalty for limited inventory.
Bug report:
>x flyer
Welcome to Coffee Quest II
Coffee Quest II is a game of devious design, low cunning and
caffeinated craving. Type ABOUT for further information.
>read it
Welcome to Coffee Quest II
Coffee Quest II is a game of devious design, low cunning and
caffeinated craving. Type ABOUT for the low-down.
* Your score has increased. *
<--- ??
--
>x office
Which office do you mean, the pencil, or the clock?
--
Maybe it's just a British/Americanism, but you don't need to lick
self-adhesive labels.
--
Just out of curiosity, was anyone able to solve the gonks puzzle
without reading the walkthrough?
--
>get mug
You lift the ancient mug and gaze in wonder at its beauty. Captivated
by its radiance you gradually become aware of a low rumbling sound that
appears to be getting louder!
You've already got your hands full.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Augustine: [6]
The prologue was too long. For example, the chase could have been
exciting if it weren't interrupted by blundering in the darkness, and
the try-and-die swordfight was more tedius than fun. The whole thing
could have been condensed to a few rooms, or perhaps even just part of
the introductory text.
Also there are far too many unimplemented objects scattered around...
In the order I tried to x them: the bushes, the project, the placard,
the sign, [in flashback: the skirt & blouse], the benches and the
guests in the mansion's garden, and the coffin.
All in all, this is a very good first game. The best suggestion I have
for improvement is to condense it; take 2-3 of the best rooms from each
area, add the extra objects above, and enjoy.
--
It was extremely odd for the game to ask whether or not I should kill
Kasil, then punish me for making the wrong choice.
>x bed
Which bed do you mean, your parent's bed, or your bed?
>x parent's bed
I don't know the word "parent's".
--
>tell conners about blood
Suddenly, the realize the significance of the flowing blood.
--
Bad reaction when you draw the sword in the clearing in the forest.
--
Can't fight Kasil in the forest.
--
I tried to jump or dive to get to Kasil underwater. It didn't work.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Help: 6
The first mini-game was too surreal for my tastes. I like things a bit
unusual, but having a floating id taunt you went too far.
Before I realized that the second game was random, I played a D&D
simulation for a bit. Based on my initial play, the descriptions were
funny, but the actual game-play was a bit awkward. The running gag
started to get a bit old, and just generally I didn't get immersed.
I spent most of my play in the Geisha simulator. This was very fun, but
also quite difficult. I am convinced that some of the random
configurations are impossible to win -- once I realized that your
aptitudes were random, I saved my initial setup, and tried many, many
different possibilities to no avail. Restarting with a different
initial setup allowed me to win with careful play.
Like I said, I enjoyed the Geisha simulator, but I'm not entirely
convinced it is interactive fiction. It's more of a scheduling problem
/ calendar simulation, with bits of social grace thrown in. At least at
first, it was intriguing having to decide whether to hint for something
or outright ask. But by the time I was through, I had more or less
decided to save&try and write down what worked.
How to rank this game? The first part I thought was so-so. Level50 I
played for 5 minutes and thought was OK. Geisha I enjoyed quite a bit,
but it took far longer than 2 hours to finish. The western I never
looked at.
So I averaged to OK, and added a bonus point.
Bug report:
>t
Warning: @move_object called moving into object 0 (PC = 1451a)
(will ignore further occurrences)
--
Bizzre error of the year award:
At the initial prompt, chose "Restore". Then cancel from the file
dialog. You cancel out to a dark room and can't do anything. This is on
a Mac 9.2.2 system running MaxZip.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Granite Book: [7]
This is one weird little game. Full of questions -- I have black teeth,
claws, and used to have wings [but aparently not a tail]. What am I?
What are the relationships among me, the author of the book, the girl,
and the 1/2 goat?
What happened to the kingdom? What is the relationship between the old
kingdom and the top of the lake?
General confusion abounds. But that was one of the weak points of the
game -- so many questions, so few answers. Partly I'm a typical
American who wants all the plot threads neatly tied up in a bow, but
also a big part of the draw is curiousity. When my involvement in the
game doesn't end with the questions answered or rendered moot, it goes
from being interesting to being a forgettable diversion.
On a more mundane side, the first puzzle was too dificult for me. I
don't think it was actually that difficult, but I was still getting
used to the style of the game. Based on the cryptic clue from "x me"
and similar, I was convinced that the solution had something to do with
my special nature. Could I fly? Could I breathe fire? Could I talk to
the whispering stones? Thus, although I did try standing on the rocks,
I needed hints.
Another one I needed hints with; after being told that the girl "either
did not understand our commands, or she would not obey them" I stopped
trying.
Extra bonus points for the response to "score", and for a startling
lack of bugs.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Moonlit Tower: [5]
Another game whose PC knows much more about what just happened than I
do. As near as I can tell [and I'm sure parts are grossly wrong], the
prestory is
Gjb lbhat oebguref terj hc va gurve Sngure'f pbheg. Jura gurl ghearq
14, gurl rnpu frg bss ba n pnzcnvta, naq rnpu zrg naq orpnzr ragenyyrq
jvgu gur fnzr jbzna. Sbe ernfbaf gung nera'g ragveryl pyrne, fur jnf
fragraprq gb qrngu. Gur gjb oebguref sbhtug bire ure, naq va gur
cebprff gur CP'f snpr jnf onqyl qnzntrq.
Incidentally, I spent about 90% of my playing time with the impression
that the PC was female.
Anyway, I liked the legends; I just wish there were more of them and
they were consistent rather than ecclectic. Note to everyone working on
a first game: I much prefer what Yoon has done [creating a small but
complete game] to the thing most first authors do [having a
half-completed, bug-infested, sprawling mess]. Moral: Start small and
don't release until it's finished. Thanks, Yoon.
What else -- it's a bit ironic that one of the easier games would also
have such a fully-developed hint system.
I was able to complete the game without building a kite, and I could
only find one of the reputed several endings.
I suggest adding "lamp" as synonym for lantern, and allowing "point
compass to ..."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ft. Angea: [4]
A very drepressing game -- as one of the characters points out, there
would have been far fewer dead if you had just surrendered to the
dragon.
It was confusing to have the prologe use an ask/tell conversation
system, then the game itself use a menu-based system. Also confusing
was being unable to answer "yes" to the high priestess, but less than a
minute later being required to respond to the apprentice.
Also, this game had a few annoyances: I wished to investigate the
strange noises comming from the east, but I had "too many chores" to do
so [What chores?]. It was annoying having to repeatedly type "talk to"
and then pick a menu item. Conversations should be continous. And more
than once, I would go in some direction, only to be prompted whether or
not I wished to enter whaterver was that way.
Typo list:
Trying not to breather in, she turns and heads out of the pen.
<--- breathe
--
>x oak table
[lots of things on the table, including...]
You also notice a small clump of your mystic moon salt lying on the
table.
>get all from oak table
There are none at all available!
--
[talking to charcol guy]
I appreciate your argument, but I'm afraid there's know way ...
<-- no way
--
>dig in reed with antler
You can't see any such thing.
>dig reeds with antler
[works]
--
Mt. Terra! It' gone!
<--- It's
--
Balaz marvels at the beach and its surrounding areas. He mumbles, "It
is more than just coincidence that this beach area made it through
unscathed..."
>ask balaz about beach
"As you've already seen, the beach remained relatively unscathed
throughout this whole ordeal, through reasons we've already discussed."
<--- What reasons??
_
> Moonlit Tower: [5]
>
> Incidentally, I spent about 90% of my playing time with the impression
> that the PC was female.
You're not the only person to mention that. I really must look at what
I did. I was aiming for Orientalism, not feminism. Whoops. *wry grin*
> What else -- it's a bit ironic that one of the easier games would also
> have such a fully-developed hint system.
*squirm* I discovered menus.h (discussed in the DM4), and then it was
*such* a relief to be doing something simple instead of debugging the
bloody, er, maple leaf, that everything just gushed out. I'll try to
make my menus less, er, ebullient in the future.
> I was able to complete the game without building a kite, and I could
> only find one of the reputed several endings.
>
JOOC, which was the ending you found? I'm trying to see if there are
any trends.
> I suggest adding "lamp" as synonym for lantern, and allowing "point
> compass to ..."
Slated for post-comp release, along with bunches of other small things.
Thanks for the feedback. :-)
YHL, novice IFer
Actually, while I only played Moonlit Tower for a short while (I ran a quick
10-minute session with each game before sitting on them again for the full 1
hour 50 minutes left, since I feel this allowed me for fairer judging of
comparative measure. Unfortunately, most games I never had time for the
second round), the hint menus were, IMO, great- they *are* part of the game,
after all, and the fact that they showed obvious investment reflected on the
amount of care put into the game.
Eytan
> *squirm* I discovered menus.h (discussed in the DM4), and then it was
> *such* a relief to be doing something simple instead of debugging the
> bloody, er, maple leaf, that everything just gushed out. I'll try to
> make my menus less, er, ebullient in the future.
Actually, I think hint menus are a great feature. And it was ironic
that the games which sorely needed them lacked them.
> JOOC, which was the ending you found? I'm trying to see if there are
> any trends.
***SPOILERS***
I played through the game twice; in each case, I tried to go south,
could not, put on the mask, went up and grabbed the kite. After my
first play, I read through all the hints and realized that I was
supposed to build a kite, so I did. But the end-game sequence was the
same.
Is that enough information to uniquely identify the ending? If not,
I'll replay and splotch in the game's text.
Billy Harris
> Is that enough information to uniquely identify the ending? If not,
> I'll replay and splotch in the game's text.
It is. Thank you. I think people are consistently finding that ending
more than the other one (which depends on what you do near the endgame,
not on the things leading up to it, though the compass does create
certain small variations), which means I didn't cue the other ending
nearly well enough. *pondering* Or perhaps I should've coded in more
branching, but I ran out of time. :-]
The good thing about IF is I can always write another and try to do it
better next time. :-)
YHL, novice IFer
Better than a fourth place finish? You are ambitious :-)
> <yl...@cornell.edu> wrote:
> > The good thing about IF is I can always write another and try to do it
> > better next time. :-)
>
> Better than a fourth place finish? You are ambitious :-)
*cringe* Bad phrasing on my part. Better *game,* not better finish. I
have no idea what my timetable on the current IF-in-development is (too
early to tell, but it'll be a "larger" game). :-p I don't think I can
hope for much better than a 4th-place finish either. When I entered I
was generically hoping for top-third and helpful feedback, so I reached
my goals...
*traipsing off to download glulxe*
YHL, novice IFer
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
4-Mile: [5]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Terrible Lizzards: [1]
First impressions count.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
BOFH: [3]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Janitor: [9]
Coffee Quest II: [5]
Penalty for limited inventory.
<--- ??
--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Augustine: [6]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Help: 6
Bug report:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Granite Book: [7]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Moonlit Tower: [5]
Incidentally, I spent about 90% of my playing time with the impression
that the PC was female.
Anyway, I liked the legends; I just wish there were more of them and
they were consistent rather than ecclectic. Note to everyone working on
a first game: I much prefer what Yoon has done [creating a small but
complete game] to the thing most first authors do [having a
half-completed, bug-infested, sprawling mess]. Moral: Start small and
don't release until it's finished. Thanks, Yoon.
What else -- it's a bit ironic that one of the easier games would also
have such a fully-developed hint system.
I was able to complete the game without building a kite, and I could
only find one of the reputed several endings.
I suggest adding "lamp" as synonym for lantern, and allowing "point
compass to ..."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ft. Angea: [4]
Typo list:
--
>x oak table
<--- What reasons??
_
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+ The FidoNet News Gate (New Orleans LA USA) +
+ The views of this user are strictly his or her own. +
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Billy Harris <wha...@mail.airmail.net> wrote:
> Moonlit Tower: [5]
>
> Incidentally, I spent about 90% of my playing time with the impression
> that the PC was female.
You're not the only person to mention that. I really must look at what
I did. I was aiming for Orientalism, not feminism. Whoops. *wry grin*
> What else -- it's a bit ironic that one of the easier games would also
> have such a fully-developed hint system.
*squirm* I discovered menus.h (discussed in the DM4), and then it was
*such* a relief to be doing something simple instead of debugging the
bloody, er, maple leaf, that everything just gushed out. I'll try to
make my menus less, er, ebullient in the future.
> I was able to complete the game without building a kite, and I could
> only find one of the reputed several endings.
>
JOOC, which was the ending you found? I'm trying to see if there are
any trends.
> I suggest adding "lamp" as synonym for lantern, and allowing "point
> compass to ..."
Slated for post-comp release, along with bunches of other small things.
Thanks for the feedback. :-)
YHL, novice IFer
"Yoon Ha Lee" <yl...@cornell.edu> wrote in message
news:1flshdv.vtsau1dligysN%yl...@cornell.edu...
> Billy Harris <wha...@mail.airmail.net> wrote:
>
> > Moonlit Tower: [5]
> >
> > Incidentally, I spent about 90% of my playing time with the impression
> > that the PC was female.
>
> You're not the only person to mention that. I really must look at what
> I did. I was aiming for Orientalism, not feminism. Whoops. *wry grin*
>
> > What else -- it's a bit ironic that one of the easier games would also
> > have such a fully-developed hint system.
>
> *squirm* I discovered menus.h (discussed in the DM4), and then it was
> *such* a relief to be doing something simple instead of debugging the
> bloody, er, maple leaf, that everything just gushed out. I'll try to
> make my menus less, er, ebullient in the future.
>
Actually, while I only played Moonlit Tower for a short while (I ran a quick
10-minute session with each game before sitting on them again for the full 1
hour 50 minutes left, since I feel this allowed me for fairer judging of
comparative measure. Unfortunately, most games I never had time for the
second round), the hint menus were, IMO, great- they *are* part of the game,
after all, and the fact that they showed obvious investment reflected on the
amount of care put into the game.
Eytan
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Billy Harris <wha...@mail.airmail.net> wrote:
YHL, novice IFer
In article <1flshdv.vtsau1dligysN%yl...@cornell.edu>, Yoon Ha Lee
<yl...@cornell.edu> wrote:
> *squirm* I discovered menus.h (discussed in the DM4), and then it was
> *such* a relief to be doing something simple instead of debugging the
> bloody, er, maple leaf, that everything just gushed out. I'll try to
> make my menus less, er, ebullient in the future.
Actually, I think hint menus are a great feature. And it was ironic
that the games which sorely needed them lacked them.
> JOOC, which was the ending you found? I'm trying to see if there are
> any trends.
***SPOILERS***
I played through the game twice; in each case, I tried to go south,
could not, put on the mask, went up and grabbed the kite. After my
first play, I read through all the hints and realized that I was
supposed to build a kite, so I did. But the end-game sequence was the
same.
Is that enough information to uniquely identify the ending? If not,
I'll replay and splotch in the game's text.
Billy Harris
Billy Harris <wha...@mail.airmail.net> wrote:
> Is that enough information to uniquely identify the ending? If not,
> I'll replay and splotch in the game's text.
It is. Thank you. I think people are consistently finding that ending
more than the other one (which depends on what you do near the endgame,
not on the things leading up to it, though the compass does create
certain small variations), which means I didn't cue the other ending
nearly well enough. *pondering* Or perhaps I should've coded in more
branching, but I ran out of time. :-]
The good thing about IF is I can always write another and try to do it
better next time. :-)
YHL, novice IFer
In article <1flu79f.1o3lmklfl356qN%yl...@cornell.edu>, Yoon Ha Lee
<yl...@cornell.edu> wrote:
>
> The good thing about IF is I can always write another and try to do it
> better next time. :-)
Better than a fourth place finish? You are ambitious :-)