[The Text Files: 5/8/06] Slouching Towards Bedlam

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

Gonna try something, and play one piece of IF each week. This may prove to be foolish, as I may simply not have enough time when I get home from work to do it, but what the hey. Let's see where it goes.

First up is Slouching Towards Bedlam. I've played the first five minutes of practically every text game out there, but it's time to sink into it a little deeper.

I can tell already that the Triage machine is going to be brilliant. Let me include download info for the game in case anyone wants to play along.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

I really hate games where the beginning is trying to figure out what is going on, but I love pointing at stuff and getting an analysis, so it's OK.

I can't find "Cleve's file," though. Where could it be?

[Draal]

I tried to play "A mind forever voyaging" and wasn't determined enough to get past the first major dialogue sequence.

Same thing with Ultima 1 (for the Apple IIe), and a few text games with non-obvious intro puzzles.

Do programmers go out of their way to make players slog through a few nigh impossible text sequences before the game is even presented and the player is even somewhat familiar with the logic?

Jonsey: Pantomime and ND seemed to get around this by having non-interactive scenes... A good way to deal with it.

Immerse me before you hate me.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

I tried to play "A mind forever voyaging" and wasn't determined enough to get past the first major dialogue sequence.

It took me MANY times to get into AMFV. I agree with you completely. And I believe that the packaging and backstory that AMFV had is really, really good -- I was psyched to begin the game, but yeah, there was a little bit of "the point of the game is trying to find the point of the game" to it.

Do programmers go out of their way to make players slog through a few nigh impossible text sequences before the game is even presented and the player is even somewhat familiar with the logic?

It's weird because, at least for text games, you can do anything with the first fifteen minutes. There's no scene you can dream up that you can't fully implement at the beginning of a text adventure. You can write long descriptions for each piece of scenery, anticipate every action, get plenty of feedback (testers are plentiful for the beginning of a game, and then tend to have real-life committments in a lot of cases, thus giving you less testers as you go on) and all the while you don't have to worry about dealing with things that came before because there is no before.

I give Slouching a free pass because I knew getting into it what I was in for. It's probably the last "What's Going On?" game I'll play in the near future. But yeah, I hear you, Draal... the questionable first puzzle is a pain in the ass. I should confess that I put one in Fallacy of Dawn, although in the process of cleaning up the end (hopefully I will finish that up this month) I tried to make the very beginning more fluid as well.

Immerse me before you hate me.

Heh, heh.

[Draal]

Intro's are difficult because the logic isn't yet presented (context the player has to work in and understand the game).

Has anyone tried a text game that forms around the player's logic instead of its own and instead say... Add a narrative layer that guides instead of forces a certain set of actions?

Text games allow the player to mess with and invent commands and item arrangments to tackle problems (although they arn't programmed in so they can't be utilized). Has a system or game been tried that incorporates the players own commands and creativity in solving puzzles?

Thinking of the polar opposite of the infamous Myst puzzles that forces one to try and second guess the logic of the designers.