Jolt Country

Wherein, during my quinquenni​al login here, proclaim my latest grand project involving Hugo and then disappear.

But I'm older now, and less flighty. The Vyvanse is a wonder. And hope springs eternal.

So here's an easy one:

REVIEWING ALL THE HUGO GAMES IN IFDB.

Currently, there are 57 HUGO GAMES in the IFDB:

https://ifdb.org/search?sortby=old&sear ... tem%3Ahugo

and I'll post my lil reviews in the thread here (and on IFDB).

Let's see how it goes!

HAMMURABI

1978 by David Ahl and Rick Merrill

2002 port by Robb Sherwin.

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Well, I immediately ran into an unrecoverable bug.



I'm not sure who's responsible for this, but likely Robb Sherwin.

Also, the starting values are always the same, except for the "land is trading at X" bit.

Whatever, I start over and don't enter any unexpected (non-numerical) values.

Then everybody died of the plague, the end.

I remember when this was released (in Hugo) and found it somewhat addictive back then, and different that the usual "interactive fiction". I still think it could be a good example to learn from if it were cleaned up (and commented, while we're making implicit demands on other people's time). I could see using the code as a mini-game or something in a larger work.

Fun for a few minutes, as intended; when it's working.

DAMN can I not edit my damn post?

Here's the bug:

Hooray! Keep up the good work!

TETRIS

1985 by Alexey Pajitnov
1995 Hugo port by Kent Tessman

part of the 1995 Interactive Fiction Competition

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The readme.txt included with the download says:

"Note: This is a fairly simple implementation; I didn't spend a great deal of time or code refining the interface level. As a result, something like screen-resizing during play (on systems that support dynamic screen-resizing, like Windows) may confuse the game. It's better to pick a screen size/font, then start/restart the Hugo Engine."

Perhaps Hammurabi should have included that nota bene, as well.

At any rate, I loaded this into Gargoyle [1] and was greeted by this:
Well, DAMN, another old port not working correctly. Out of curiosity, because I missed this back in 1995, I loaded the Inform version and...wow, this is pretty awesome. ASCII Tetris?

So then I wondered if Gargoyle was the issue, and downloaded previously forgotten HUGOR[2]. And lo:
What the hell, y'all, this is crazy. And music! I'm suffused with delight and glee! I can't get over how cool and unexpected this was. Now I'm envisioning something like Pole Position - in Hugo! This really kinda blew my mind.

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Notes:

[1] I suppose this means Ben Crissey, or maybe Chris Spiegel is to blame for this? Can't tell who maintains Gargoyle these days.
[2] Props to Nikos Chantziaras for Hugor!
[3] Another previously forgotten terp, Spatterlight, also runs Hugo Tetris! Thanks, Tor Anderson and current maintainers: https://github.com/angstsmurf/spatterlight
[4] Note to self: This is how projects derail. I will not track down additional terps for MacOS and attempt to play all games on each one.

EAST OF EASTWOOD

1995 by Cardinal Teulbachs

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This game will not run in all 3 terps I tried it in.

Hugor actually crashes, so filed a report here:

https://github.com/realnc/hugor/issues/9

Who is/was Cardinal Teulbachs, anyway? I've still got printed out pages of his Scavenger Hunt tutorial game squirreled away somewhere.

Gargoyle (and all Glk interpreters) will not work with Hugo games that either draw any windows beyond the status bar or attempt to put a graphic in the status bar. Later Hugo games like "Tales of the Traveling Swordsman" adapt to this limitation by only including graphics in the main window, but you're not going to find this behavior in early Hugo games. Additionally, I know that Hugo's Glk implementation didn't support the kind of timing calls that a game like Tetris would need for the longest time. They might now (as I think there were some updates to Hugo's Glk support within the last handful of years), but I'm not sure.

Also, "East of Eastwood" and "SceptreQuest" were written using Hugo's earliest DOS-only 1.0 iteration, so you would need DOSbox and to download the executable from: https://ifarchive.org/if-archive/progra ... d/he12.exe

Hugella wrote: Sun Dec 18, 2022 3:48 pm DAMN can I not edit my damn post?

Here's the bug:

SCR-20221218-mog.png

I'll fix that.

Also, let me know if you'd like a Steam key for Cryptozookeeper. The game is also available just for download on the Internet Archive.

If you get to Tripkey, I wrote it. I can offer hints if desired, but I lost the source, so if there is a bug I can't fix it. This reminds me, I keep putting off working on a new game, The Librarian.

Damn, Overbrook didn't make the list.

There's also this: http://jizaboz.com/projects/if/dprk/

But I never got around to developing it past the demo. Hell, they even got a new leader since I worked on this roughly 10 years ago.

Thank you, Roody! That was quite a trip down wasted-time lane, but we got there in the end. Unlike Eastwood.

Okay.

EAST OF EASTWOOD, TAKE 87.

There was time, long ago, when even the likes of Christminster were but putty in my hot little IF hands. But that was then, this is now.

This demo game, released some 25+ years ago, has shown me how far I have fallen from the IF path.

First, it took me 17 takes to realize I could go EAST from the damn stagecoach. And then find the stinkin' badge (what, no spoiler hiding here? What kinda joint is this?), only to rack up multiple more takes because, I admit it here and now, I am a clearly now an IF maroon.

Of course there are no hints online, not even in the poor old newsgroups, where, as part of the aforementioned traipse waste-time lane, I looked up old memories like Westfront PC/Paul Panks (RIP), Jacek Pudlo and associates, and Howard Sherman (I actually bought one of his games one time out of curiosity). I looked up all the Hugo posts and thought of compiling all their wisdom in some other grand project. I reread parts of the DM4, one my favorite 'computer' books of all time.

Where was I? Somewhere, nowhere near Eastwood.

I looked for the source code. I tried decompiling it. Cardinal Teulbachs has thwarted me at every turn! I cannot justify any more time spent on this accursed thing.

I know I'm missing something really stupid, and obvious, and I'm here to take the jeers. I deserve it.

pinback wrote: Mon Dec 19, 2022 7:04 am Damn, Overbrook didn't make the list.

I actually played this in the last week (I'm an inveterate lurker here) - it's part of what inspired my trip through the IFDB Hugo games! Unlike East of Eastwood, I was eventually able to 'beat' it, and enjoyed the smirking authorial voice.

Why isn't it in the IFDB, sir?

Jizaboz wrote: Mon Dec 19, 2022 11:28 am There's also this: http://jizaboz.com/projects/if/dprk/

Thanks! I'm totally open to adding non-IFDB games.

Tdarcos wrote: Mon Dec 19, 2022 6:31 am I can offer hints if desired, but I lost the source, so if there is a bug I can't fix it.

This made me LOL for no explicable reason. Thank you, Tdarcos! (or Paul, if I may be so bold)

Hugella wrote: Tue Dec 20, 2022 2:02 pm

pinback wrote: Mon Dec 19, 2022 7:04 am Damn, Overbrook didn't make the list.

I actually played this in the last week (I'm an inveterate lurker here) - it's part of what inspired my trip through the IFDB Hugo games! Unlike East of Eastwood, I was eventually able to 'beat' it, and enjoyed the smirking authorial voice.

Why isn't it in the IFDB, sir?

I have people for this. I'll talk to my people.

Hugella wrote: Tue Dec 20, 2022 2:02 pm This made me LOL for no explicable reason. Thank you, Tdarcos! (or Paul, if I may be so bold)

Yes, you may, Hugeie.

57 games. We'll, 58. The best programming language I've ever used and 58 games with it. Man.

I do not get the hobby's reluctance. Hugo is the most beautiful language.

Hugella wrote: Why isn't it in the IFDB, sir?

I dunno! I guess I just never added it because it's just a demo.

As far as "East of Eastwood" goes, every time I play it, enough time has passed that I have forgotten how to beat it, but I think the answer involves the fact that the badge is so shiny.

Jizaboz wrote: Tue Dec 20, 2022 9:02 pm

Hugella wrote: Why isn't it in the IFDB, sir?

I dunno! I guess I just never added it because it's just a demo.

I believe he meant Overbrook, SIR.