"Backup" Released
Gregory Weir
"Backup." It is a game about killing.
"The Prosperity Commission transportation facilities are designed for
the utmost safety and reliability. They are equipped with weapon
dampening fields, highly-trained security forces, and four redundant
computer cores. You are the third backup computer core for a facility
under construction. You should never have to wake up. Something is
wrong."
You can download Backup from my webspace at http://ludusnovus.net/downloads/Backup.zblorb
. It should end up in the proper location of the ifarchive shortly.
This game is heavily inspired by "Gun Mute." It is a (potentially)
violent piece of interactive fiction with multiple endings set in a
science fiction world of robots, plasma swords, and intergalactic
finance. I've attempted to create something that rarely occurs in
interactive fiction: a game that requires tactical thought as a
challenge rather than puzzle-solving. In-game instructions and hints
are available by typing HELP in-game. "Backup" is written in Inform
7.
Thank you for taking a look at my game.
Gregory Weir
Peter Pears
> I've just released a new piece of interactive fiction called
> "Backup." It is a game about killing.
>
> "The Prosperity Commission transportation facilities are designed for
> the utmost safety and reliability. They are equipped with weapon
> dampening fields, highly-trained security forces, and four redundant
> computer cores. You are the third backup computer core for a facility
> under construction. You should never have to wake up. Something is
> wrong."
>
> . It should end up in the proper location of the ifarchive shortly.
>
> This game is heavily inspired by "Gun Mute." It is a (potentially)
> violent piece of interactive fiction with multiple endings set in a
> science fiction world of robots, plasma swords, and intergalactic
> finance. I've attempted to create something that rarely occurs in
> interactive fiction: a game that requires tactical thought as a
> challenge rather than puzzle-solving. In-game instructions and hints
> are available by typing HELP in-game. "Backup" is written in Inform
> 7.
>
> Thank you for taking a look at my game.
>
> Gregory Weir
You know, my only regret is that it was too short. It was an enjoyable
playing experience (although the combat ended up as type-undo-type
again because I'm just not that tactical a person), it offered a
genuine dillema and an underlying moral issue. In a sense, it felt a
bit like a cross between AMFV and Blue Lacuna - the Sci-Fi concept and
PC identoty of one, the morality dillemas of the other - without the
time either of those had to develop. The key to a "dillema situation"
that really works is to give the player some time to familiarize him/
herself with it all. You worked around not having that time by instead
making the dilemma something that everyone can immediately relate to -
that was a smart move.
I would have liked to explore a bigger facility, and to know more
about the NPCs, and about that great corporation. As it was, it was a
good diversion, and it was nice to be given the chance to act
according to my own moral gauge. You weren't too subtle about the
possible paths the player could take in order to achieve a certain
goal, but again, in a game this short, that was fine, and enhanced the
feeling that the important thing wasn't *getting there*, wasn't
*solving the puzzle* - the thing was to choose which way to go.
I'd like to see you pick this up and play with it some more. Explore
it a bit. Also, you could implement a few more first-level nouns. On
the whole, good show.