Fine writing in IF
Andrew C. Plotkin
Gareth Re...@cl.cam.ac.uk (4362)
> Proposition: adventure games don't encourage beautiful prose. Reasons:
> My
> own feeling is that it's sufficiently difficult to produce clear, sharp,
> crisp, accurate, terse, lively prose for all the functional text in an
> advanture game that it's not worth trying to write beautiful descriptive
> passage that the player is likely either to skip and hurry on towards
> the next puzzle, or else scour for clues and then discard when none are
> found.
Clear, terse, crisp, lively prose *is* beautiful.
Detailed description has its place: in "action" scenes. When you do
something climactic, and the plot is advancing, you want a good chunk of
text. (Just like in books, really. Beautiful prose is nice describing
the scenery, but *necessary* describing the death scene.)
You can't have a very long chunk of good text, because that bogs down
the reader, but there's room for more than the average room description
should get.
--Z
"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the borogoves..."
Stephen R. Granade
In a previous article, gd...@cl.cam.ac.uk (Gareth Rees) says:
>What do the readers of rec.arts.int-fiction think about this issue? My
>own feeling is that it's sufficiently difficult to produce clear, sharp,
>crisp, accurate, terse, lively prose for all the functional text in an
>advanture game that it's not worth trying to write beautiful descriptive
>passage that the player is likely either to skip and hurry on towards
>the next puzzle, or else scour for clues and then discard when none are
>found.
My own approach has been to try to make even the lively prose be
descriptive, whilst balancing my "artistic sensibilities" against
a player's frustration level, i.e. will a player become disgusted
with my game b/c the descriptions are too bloated?
If we want interactive fiction to be an art form, we must find the
art within the form. It may not be worth it to add beautiful descriptive
passages to the game, but it gives me a sense of satisfaction and
completeness. If I can achieve this feeling without frustrating the
player, then to me it is worth the effort.
Stephen
--
Stephen Granade | armchair rocket scientist graffiti existentialist
sgra...@obu.arknet.edu | deconstruction primitive performance photo-realist
-----=============----- | be-bop or a one-drop or a hip-hop lite-pop-metallist
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Mathematical Institute, (0865) 2-73525
> Andrew Plotkin:
>> Clear, terse, crisp, lively prose *is* beautiful.
>
>
> random thought: what about an adventure game where all the room
> descriptions are phrased as rhymed couplets?
>
> there's a novel, _The Golden Gate_, by Vikram Seth, which is written
> entirely in strict sonnet form, and it works surprisingly well.
> --
Gareth Rees and I have both had this idea... its day will come.
Graham
STEPHEN M. REESE
I'm thrilled to find this group, and I'm glad to be here. This is my first
post, natch.
I think one can balance eloquent prose with functional descriptions by
applying the general-to-specific rule. Infocom used this method to great
effect. Simply place all of the purely aesthetic description at the top of the
paragraph, and then narrow down to the objects (for possible interaction) and
available exits at the very end of the paragraph. Like this:
Edge Of Cliff
You are standing on the edge of a high rocky crag whose cascading sheets of
opaque stone descend some hundreds of feet to a raging river below. Beyond
the fulmigating waters, a dark forest scoops up and over a small range of
pert hillsides and mossy gullies. A sparse smattering of dry scrub clings to
the pockmarked rock at your feet. Silver particles coat the brittle plant
life, glinting and scintillating in the warm afternoon sun. A small copse of
trees lies to the west, and the path continues back to the south. Ahead of you
to the north, the sheer cliff face drops off into open air. Wedged amongst the
debris on the ground is a broken mirror, crusted with flaky dirt.
>
It's a progression from general to specific. I can also describe it in an
hierarchy, or descending order, as such:
TOP OF PARAGRAPH
5. Setting 1 - As Far As The Player Can See (cliff, river, forest, hills)
4. Setting 2 - Immediate Surroundings (cliff edge)
3. Aesthetic Objects Within The Setting (scrub and silver dust)
2. Available Directions (west to Copse, south to Cliff Path)
1. Objects Available For Interaction (broken mirror)
BOTTOM OF PARAGRAPH
I've always read interactive fiction descriptions in this way. I instinctively
realise that the first lines of a paragraph establish the setting and any
aesthetic concerns, and that the information at the bottom of the paragraph
will determine how I can interact with the location and its objects.
Opinions?
Stephen
Matthew Russotto
Feh-- If this ever comes out, put me down for a copy of the English
translation of the German translation :-)
METAMATIC
(manipulable) objects at the end of the rest of the room description.
There doesn't need to be a strict dividing line; it's just a way of
providing a useful cue as to which objects are more likely to be active.
Of course, this can lead to difficulty making the prose flow naturally. It
also makes it difficult to include puzzles of the "Oh, didn't you happen
to examine the back of the chair which was briefly mentioned? There's a
vital hidden object taped to it" variety. Then again, I generally hate
those puzzles anyway. Having to go around trying all possible examine
commands on all possible objects is one of the more tedious features of
badly-written IF. Randomly hidden objects are a rather poor substitute for
genuine puzzles.
mathew