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| 6 JUL 2003 at 12:51pm |
JustMeIntergalactic Janitor
Posts : 2
Joined: 6 JUL 2003
Status : Online | The last commercial IF that I bought was the spectrum version of The Hobbit by Melbourne House. That simple game caused me to develop a love for both adventure games and literature (The book came with the game and I've been an avid reader ever since).
Perhaps more than any other genre (or sub-genre in this case) of games, IF is the most worthy. Why? Because it is the most interactive, the most imaginative, the most literate and the most thought-provoking.
I understand why many of today's generation of gamers (who have been raised on a steady diet of 3d, all-action, bloodfests) have no interest in IF. It requires much thought, imagination, patience, and, yes, even hard work to get the most out of the genre, but the rewards are there for those who seek them.
I applaud the many IF authors who are carrying on the fine traditions of Infocom, Magnetic Scrolls, Melbourne House (Ok, maybe not Melbourne House - Their Lord of The Rings Adventures were poor), and others by writing new IF.
I especially applaud Malinche Entertainment who are "living the dream" as it where; creating and sucessfully selling commercial IF in a time when conventional wisdom says that it shouldn't be possible.
Most people say that IF is dead, but I still detect a heartbeat. And long may it live!
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| 7 JUL 2003 at 5:03pm |
JEIntergalactic Janitor
Posts : 58
Joined: 20 JUN 2003
Status : Online | Interactive fiction is alive and well and available for free! Look at www.wurb.com/if for starters.
The games are free AND much better than Pentari (which I played and thought extremely amateurish, at best, especially in comparison to the best of the free games).
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| 8 JUL 2003 at 8:11am |
Boluc PapuccuogluIntergalactic Janitor
Posts : 3
Joined: 8 JUL 2003
Status : Online | >Most people say that IF is dead, but I still detect a >heartbeat. And long may it live!
Actually it is much more alive than it was in the eighties or early nineties. Each year around 30-50 entries are submitted to competitions, and about 10 to 20 games are released out of competitions. It's just that interactive fiction (or text adventures) have evolved into an art form from their origins as commercial ventures, when there were about 3 or 4 major companies producing text adventures. About the marketing direction of Malinche and Pentari and the promotion of Paul Allen Panks's games tho, I am wondering why people think that having many many rooms and items and NPC's in a game is any indication of quality. If anything, having 600+ rooms in an adventure just takes away from the impact of each room, making sure it has very little distinction from the other rooms. Infocom and Magnetic Scrolls never tried to inflate their room numbers to make "big" adventures, their adventures were epic because of their content, not because of their size. Level 9 tried "over 300,000 rooms" mathematically generated) in their Silicon Dreams Trilogy, but abandoned the attempt pretty quickly. If anything, room counts in their games shrank with each passing year, yet descriptions got more robust and quality increased (and each year in 1980's meant more memory and processing power available at home computers).
So why are people thinking it's a feature to push for when trying to market games nowadays?
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| 8 JUL 2003 at 8:30am |
JustMeIntergalactic Janitor
Posts : 2
Joined: 6 JUL 2003
Status : Online | Regarding the number of rooms:
It's neither good nor bad to have a large (or small) number of rooms. You just need to have the right number of rooms for your game.
I haven't played Pentari (yet) but perhaps the gameplay/story warrants so many rooms?
As far as marketing goes, surely if you were trying to sell a game you would list *anything* that might increase the chances of someone purchasing it? That seems to make sense to me, so if I was selling a game that had an above average number of locations then I would make a point of mentioning it!
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| 23 JUL 2003 at 12:23am |
HowardSSpace Cadet
Posts : 103
Joined: 10 DEC 2002
Status : Online | Originally Posted By JustMe (6 JUL 2003 12:50pm)
I especially applaud Malinche Entertainment who are "living the dream" as it where; creating and sucessfully selling commercial IF in a time when conventional wisdom says that it shouldn't be possible.
Thank you very much for saying so! Malinche is proud to be a part of the Commercial IF rennaissance. There's nothing like the structure and resources a motivated company can bring to the table.
It is kind of a dream and it's a real kick too. Who'd ever thought any new Implementors would be walking the earth?
With our ability to publish full packages complete with feelies, a projected marketing campaign, toll-free customer service in addition to conducting exhaustive research during the development of our titles we're proud to be able to further IF and keep it strong.
Cheers!
Join the Text Adventure Game Renaissance! Visit http://www.malinche.net
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| 23 JUL 2003 at 12:29am |
HowardSSpace Cadet
Posts : 103
Joined: 10 DEC 2002
Status : Online | Originally Posted By JustMe (8 JUL 2003 8:30am)
Regarding the number of rooms:
It's neither good nor bad to have a large (or small) number of rooms. You just need to have the right number of rooms for your game.
I haven't played Pentari (yet) but perhaps the gameplay/story warrants so many rooms?
As far as marketing goes, surely if you were trying to sell a game you would list *anything* that might increase the chances of someone purchasing it? That seems to make sense to me, so if I was selling a game that had an above average number of locations then I would make a point of mentioning it!
You're right on all counts! Bravo!
All of the rooms in First Light are richly described and integral to the entire landscape. Some rooms just add atmosphere and flavor to the overall experience while a good many more are fully functional and in many cases instrumental to the story. You said it best; the total game experience indeed does warrant a high room count. Greystone also -- the campus of Greystone (campus really is the best word) is MAMMOTH. We're talking multiple large, old buildings and a maze-like tunnel system. It can't be done in anything less than 200 rooms and that'd be kind of cramped!
And yeah, there's the marketing angle. It all fits nicely into the campaign. We're delivering true value for the dollar and we want to be sure consumers understand that.
Back in the 1980s the Zork series, Enchanter series, even Sherlock Holmes commanded a retail price higher than what Malinche charges for First Light and yet those games were a fraction the size of PFL.
Since Commercial IF is newly re-introduced to the world it's important people realize they're paying less money than ever for more game than ever. Computers have come a long way in the past 15-20 years and Malinche takes full advantage of that.
Join the Text Adventure Game Renaissance! Visit http://www.malinche.net
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| 24 AUG 2003 at 11:24am |
rwapIntergalactic Janitor
Posts : 6
Joined: 24 AUG 2003
Status : Online | If you want to re-live the hazy days of adventures from the 1980s, I have just re-released Lost Kingdom of Zkul from Talent computer systems (it was available on the Atari and Sinclair QL computers at least). This version is playable on Windows.
I am also in the process of converting a whole host of other adventures to the Windows platform.
Have a look at:Lost Kingdom of Zkul.
Rich Mellor &&RWAP Adventures&&26 Oak Road, Shelfield, Walsall, West Midlands&&WS4 1RQ&&TEL: 02476 490616&&Visit our website at:&&URL:http://www.rwapadventures.com&&&&Stuck with ordinary dial up internet connection ?? &&Read our review of internet accelerators and broadband at:&&URL:http://wwww.rwapservices.co.uk
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| 19 SEP 2003 at 5:29pm |
Bonnylad22Space Cadet
Posts : 141
Joined: 19 SEP 2003
Status : Online | The last one i bought was in the early 90s. I bought the infocom treasures for my amiga. They were rather classy.
Sarah is a numpty ^_^
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| 17 OCT 2003 at 3:38am |
HowardSSpace Cadet
Posts : 103
Joined: 10 DEC 2002
Status : Online | Your post made me smile... Thanks!
I find it a great honor to provide new IF to so many appreciative fans.
Howard Sherman
http://www.malinche.net
Join the Text Adventure Game Renaissance! Visit http://www.malinche.net
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| 17 JAN 2004 at 11:21am |
CannibalIntergalactic Janitor
Posts : 5
Joined: 17 JAN 2004
Status : Online | The last text adventure I purchased was The Worm In Paradise from Level 9 Computing.
Cannibal
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| 17 MAR 2006 at 11:58pm |
azoundriaIntergalactic Janitor
Posts : 12
Joined: 24 JAN 2006
Status : Online | I think text-only games have their strong-points and weak-points as do any game. Unfortunately they seem to be slowly loosing popularity but they will never die out completely.
Now text-based games are still going well. Technically, Neopets is a text-based game. I started my own recently(http://www.xpaz.net) and it now has over 325 members. I myself prefer 2D games over 3D and text games are almost as good, and much easier to manage.
The main diffrence to me is old text games, the ones with the prompt and the plain unformated text(for the most part) do not tell me my options. I am forced to try everything until I find somethign that works. Sometimes I like pretending the prompt is a chat with another person from an insane asylum or I type things like 'eat dirt' or 'bite finger' to see how it reacts.
Do random things ever happen in them? Is there a visual puzzle to solve? A picture of something ever? Something I can click on to see my items?
Naturally any game requiring a download I am hesitant of. Is it worth the virus risk? Can I trust the site?
Webmaster for Exploring Azoundria.&&http://www.azoundria.com/exploring
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