Too much fiction. Not enough interactive?

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The REAL Real Man
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Too much fiction. Not enough interactive?

Post by The REAL Real Man »

A while back -- probably like twenty years -- I got back into IF a little. I think it was about the time Jonsey wrote Chicks Dig Jerks. (BTW, I still haven't played Necrotic Drift very much, which shows you what a fekking useless "friend" I am.) Anyway, I checked out some IF competition or another (I think the one that CDJ lost big-time) and played some of the winners.

What struck me was that there didn't seem to be much puzzle-solving. It was more like a novel where you followed along. That turned me off a bit.

This besides the fact that the puzzles in Infocom games generally make me feel stupid and inferior. Reading Jim Maher's Infocom history (which I am doing right now -- I mean, not right now, obviously; if i was smart enough to be able to type and read, Infocom would pose no troubles for me) and it never occurred to me, until now, that maybe some of the puzzles were just too hard, and maybe I'm not hte only person who resorted to Invisiclues.

But the problem is that I am still letting IF do this to me. While reading the chapter about Infocom's Hitchhiker, I just had to try the babel fish dispensing machine puzzle, supposedly one of the toughest. I was on the right track. I got the first two things pretty easily (hand the thing on the thing, put the thing on the thing -- I'm trying not to post any spoiler). I knew I had to put something in front of the thing to block the one cleaning robot; I'm sure I would have figured it out, but I still used Invisiclues to tell me what thing that was. I would have figured it out, I'm sure. But I took the easy way out and let myself feel stupid.

And then I came to the final bit of the puzzle. I was close. I knew what I needed (what I picked up earlier in the game) -- I knew it was garbage and the other cleaning robot would get it. I knew I had to put it on something. I couldn't figure out quite what, but I was on the right track. I just hadn't figured out what to put it on. And... I couldn't help myself. I peeked.

And then I saw what it was. Obvious? I'm not sure. I might have gotten it. I would have run out of things and eventually tried it. If that was the case, it would mean I am smart enough to solve the tough puzzles. (Which I ought to fekking be; these games were made by 25-year-olds for 12-year-olds, and you can add those two together and I'm still older.)

But... was I, am I? I don't know because I looked at the fekking Invisiclues.

So.... back to my original point. I say I want IF games that are not just walk-through novels... but do I? Is that what I really want? Because those types of IF games never make me feel like an idiot.

Discuss.

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Ice Cream Jonsey
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Re: Too much fiction. Not enough interactive?

Post by Ice Cream Jonsey »

I think most IF players who experienced it at the time would point to the game Photopia (1998) as a well-received game that was very story driven, one that while not inventing the "story over puzzles" way of thinking, made the phenomenon inevitable.

I would recommend these three games to you if you would like to get revenge on puzzles.





https://strandgames.com/games/theguild

The biggest hurdle for me is time - I get to the end of many evenings and have 20 minutes to play a game. If I get stuck on a puzzle for 19 of them, I don't feel like I accomplished anything.
the dark and gritty...Ice Cream Jonsey!

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Ice Cream Jonsey
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Re: Too much fiction. Not enough interactive?

Post by Ice Cream Jonsey »

(Do you have a Steam account, TRRM? If you get one I'll send you keys to the two games I have on Steam as well.)
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Jizaboz
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Re: Too much fiction. Not enough interactive?

Post by Jizaboz »

I still need to try Thaumistry. I tried Anchorhead a couple of times and each ended up with me being completely stuck.
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The REAL Real Man
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Re: Too much fiction. Not enough interactive?

Post by The REAL Real Man »

Somewhere I have a Steam account, let me figure it out.

Tonight on an airplane I delved into Wishbringer -- from what I read it might hit the sweet spot for me. I"m not much into fantasy as a genre, but so far I like it. Except I forgot to map the foggy hill/maze like the game told me to, so that wasn't smart.

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Jizaboz
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Re: Too much fiction. Not enough interactive?

Post by Jizaboz »

You feeling the LOVE, BROTHER?!

THAT IF/TEXT ADVENTURE/THIS WHERE WE CAME FROM LOVE BROTHERRRRRRR
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The REAL Real Man
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Re: Too much fiction. Not enough interactive?

Post by The REAL Real Man »

Way back in the day, I bought Zork I for my Apple //c... (Well, someone probably bought it for me. InvisiClues as a follow-up gift.)

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Ice Cream Jonsey
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Re: Too much fiction. Not enough interactive?

Post by Ice Cream Jonsey »

The REAL Real Man wrote: Tue Jan 24, 2023 5:35 pm Way back in the day, I bought Zork I for my Apple //c... (Well, someone probably bought it for me. InvisiClues as a follow-up gift.)
You might like this, then:

https://archive.org/details/PitchDark
Pitch Dark is a frontend for exploring and playing Infocom text adventures on an 8-bit Apple II. Some notable features:

UI for browsing all games and setting global options (pictured)
Multiple versions of each game
In-game protections removed (manual lookups, code wheels, &c.)
Interactive hints based on the original Invisiclues
Double hi-res box art (super hi-res on IIgs!)
On Beyond Z-Machine! interpreter runs games directly from ProDOS (no swapping floppies!)
I will now run it on this //e I got and take a photograph and paste it.
the dark and gritty...Ice Cream Jonsey!

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Ice Cream Jonsey
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Re: Too much fiction. Not enough interactive?

Post by Ice Cream Jonsey »

Ok, small delay on that photograph.
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The REAL Real Man
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Re: Too much fiction. Not enough interactive?

Post by The REAL Real Man »

I dunno, you lost me at UI. I have to say, half the fun is typing "frotz jonsey.z3" into the terminal.

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Jizaboz
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Re: Too much fiction. Not enough interactive?

Post by Jizaboz »

lol yes Frotz is frotz.
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Ice Cream Jonsey
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Re: Too much fiction. Not enough interactive?

Post by Ice Cream Jonsey »

I need a green text Apple monitor for Pitch Dark. :/
the dark and gritty...Ice Cream Jonsey!

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