Starting points for writing IF

In the case of static fiction, a premise or story idea may involve a setting, or one or more characters, or a plot event. With interactive fiction, Emily Short suggests that a game idea tends to require additional starting points:

It’s not that meaningful for a game to be “about” something unless you can also say how it’s about that thing.

She lists elements of the typical adventure game: movement in compass directions, taking/dropping items, opening/closing/locking/unlocking, conversing with NPCs via ASK ABOUT/TELL ABOUT, etc. Then she brainstorms about other game mechanics (new types of verb or noun in the game world, or new activities) that might be implemented in a new game, implying that there's room for innovation in these areas.

I think that, for an IF writer, these game aspects can either be daunting ("I must design not only the setting, characters and plot but also everything the player can do") or encouraging ("Even if the story is merely serviceable, I can still create an innovative and immersive game").

Reviews of three One-Room Comp games

These reviews contain what could be considered spoilers. I think they are at most mild spoilers, myself.

Normally I avoid "puzzlefest"-type games, but with only one room to work with, they kind of come with the territory. In any case, the puzzles I found were interesting and/or easy. I only played three of the English-language games.

Suveh Nux (Congrats to the comp champion!)
"Escape the room" puzzlefest with interesting puzzles. I liked the invented language a great deal, once it was revealed. The IF community in general likes invented languages when they are well done; look up the game Edifice for an example from ten years ago. The language in Suveh Nux is less involved, and the setting far less affecting, than in Edifice. Nonetheless, there are some similar "a-ha" moments when the player figures things out.

I am scaling the points upwards for this game, as this was my favorite of the three that I played. It's not perfect, though -- I either misunderstood or misapplied the rules about numbers, for example -- so I'm still taking off a point. Score 9.

Puzzlebox
"Escape the room" puzzlefest with mostly easy puzzles. Disappointing. The introduction hints at a backstory, and there are some atmospheric events during the game along the lines of, "You hear a woman speaking outside the door." I never saw the backstory get fleshed out, however, and when I typed "LISTEN" or "LISTEN TO WOMAN," the game did not recognize those commands. The main schtick of the puzzles is to make the player look closely at an oil painting until finding clues in the second- and third-level descriptions. That device, which can be a great way of directing the player's attention in general, falls flat here because (a) it gets overused for (b) repetitive, mostly one-dimensional puzzles; moreover, (c) the painting is described in mostly bland prose that (d) adds minimal or zero contribution to the plot. Final complaint: I was able to solve the very last puzzle without looking at hints, but only because I had taken computer science courses in the past. Score 3.

Urban Conflict
One-room conversation maze, set in a war-torn Third World country. The player character is a wounded American soldier who finds himself trapped underground with an embittered and heavily armed host-country soldier. The goal is to talk the NPC into helping the PC, as opposed to unhelpfully killing them. The conversation initially centers on the vexing question of, "Why is this war happening?", then later veers into the NPC's life story. The author has taken on a big challenge and evidently has the best intentions, but the conversation did not ring authentic for me on either the geopolitical or the biographical topics. The last moment of the game's optimal ending seemed abrupt and not-quite-plausible to me as well. If the author has much real-life experience talking to embittered Third World citizens, I must say that I don't think it showed in this game. Score 4.

2007 IF Comp: Various notes

• I am reminded of some aspects that tend to make a successful Comp game. Here are some familiar rules of thumb:
  • Narrow focus. Five or ten rooms instead of 15 or 30. One major NPC instead of five (unless you've got enormous amounts of free time, energy and skill). Three puzzles instead of ten.
  • Thorough implementation. Make sure that your game premise holds up under questioning. Make it so that everything can be examined (this takes more time and effort than you might think). In case of puzzles, implement multiple ways of expressing the solution, along with intelligent responses to lots of sensible commands by the player -- and have those instructions gently point the player toward the solution. Should you attempt conversation with NPC's, and should you furthermore attempt "ASK/TELL X ABOUT Y," be sure that the NPC knows about all the main topics that the player might ask/tell about; also make sure that that knowledge changes appropriately whenever there is a major plot twist.
  • Lots of beta testing by lots of beta testers. This is especially important for achieving that thorough implementation.
  • Coherence/consistency. Don't put in puzzles or scenes, or any game element for that matter, just because you like them; make sure that they are part of the story.
  • Originality.
  • Knowledge of your limitations as a writer and programmer. Don't try to be too funny or clever or experimental.


• Thought experiment. I am imagining a game that alternates between two different settings:
  1. A road trip, in which a man is driving with his girlfriend, his best friend, and his father.
  2. A fantasy world, in which the Evil Duke has kidnapped the Princess. The Prince and his sidekick must rescue his beloved and marry her while the ailing King is still alive.
  In this game, the Prince's quest ends in disaster, while the thoroughly enjoyable car trip is entirely in the Prince's imagination; the real world is his way of coping with the burdens of the fantasy world.
  
  I'm not going to write a game like this myself (if you want to, go nuts) -- but it is an example of a new take on a game archetype ("alternating real world-fantasy world") that has IMO grown thoroughly stale.


• There was a change in the judging rules this year: For the first time, judges could post their reviews and discuss the games in advance of the judging deadline. Before submitting my game scores, I chose to do it the old way, i.e., refrain from reading other judges' reviews or scores. On the other hand, I did read several reviews after submitting scores and before writing up my reviews for this blog.
  
  I'm ambivalent about these new judging rules. On the one hand, I like the idea of my votes being truly my own, as opposed to following the herd or otherwise being unduly influenced by others' opinions. On the other hand, other judges could point me toward some aspects of games, in fact some entire games, that I would have missed if I had just done everything on my own. Maybe in next year's comp, time permitting, I'll do two rounds of playing/judging: one where I record preliminary scores and reviews on my own, then another where I take other judges' views into consideration.

2007 IF Comp Reviews: Games I rated 2-3

These reviews are intended to be spoiler-free, with the possible exception of Eduard the Seminarist and Press Escape To Save. (In those two reviews, I reveal solutions to puzzles that I judged virtually impossible to solve without consulting the walkthrough.)

I rated the games very subjectively, based in large part on my emotional reaction to them. Unfortunately I played no game this year that I would rate a 9 or 10 in absolute terms. I ended up scaling my scores upwards, giving a 10 to the game I played that I wanted the most to see win.

I can score games harshly. If a game has just one aspect that rubs me the wrong way, then I can give it a very low score, regardless of the things I like about it. Some of those "must-have" aspects for me are prose style, originality, solvability, and coherence/consistency. Here are the games that I rated 2 or 3 (on a scale of 1 to 10) this year:

• The Chinese Room. In-jokey puzzlefest based on stories and thought experiments in philosophy. As I did with Reconciling, I felt (to be honest) that the authors were a little too impressed with their own knowledge and cleverness, and that they provided more name-dropping than insight. With Chinese Room, I found the puzzles to be arbitrary and unfair, and the tone of the writing seemed smug to me. Score 3.


• Ferrous Ring. Surreal dystopian thriller with experimental user interface. I appreciate this game's attempt to improve on some of IF's strange game-playing conventions, which together are one of the big reasons why IF is a lonely hobby with only a small cult following. The problem, of course, is that it is hard to improve on those conventions while still creating works that we would recognize as IF. For me, Ferrous's attempts at innovation were unhelpful and in fact confusing. Example: The game seems to want to eliminate the dependence on compass directions, which is one of those strange IF conventions. Unfortunately, IMO, this game's location descriptions do not provide nearly enough information to replace the sense of setting/orientation that those compass directions provide. I had problems with the game's menu interface and alternative command structure as well. These problems made it hard for me to stick with the game's story. One minor detail: whereas Varkana had cool-sounding character names like "Farahnaaz," Ferrous has awkward-sounding names like "Glex Kalimer." Try saying that ten times, fast. Score 3.


• Wish. Fantasy world interlaced with real world in the life of a young child. Solidly implemented, with competent writing and some nice touches, but we've seen this type of game before, and I believe we are well past the point of diminishing returns. Score 3.


• Eduard the Seminarist. College campus exploration, in a historical setting, as part of a novel adaptation. I'm afraid that this game did very little for me. The location descriptions were especially lacking in places. In particular, the Hidden Bed of Wilhelm Waiblinger, revealed only by consulting the walkthrough, was another candidate for my favorite wacky moment of the comp. Score 3.


• Slap That Fish. Combat game, with silly incongruous opponents. I'm guessing that this was one of those game ideas -- I've had a number of these myself -- that came in a bolt of inspiration and seemed wildly original or compelling or hysterically funny at the time, but ultimately turned out to, um, not actually be that way. Score 2.

2007 IF Comp Reviews: Games I rated 4-5

These reviews are intended to be spoiler-free, with the possible exception of Eduard the Seminarist and Press Escape To Save. (In those two reviews, I reveal solutions to puzzles that I judged virtually impossible to solve without consulting the walkthrough.)

I rated the games very subjectively, based in large part on my emotional reaction to them. Unfortunately I played no game this year that I would rate a 9 or 10 in absolute terms. I ended up scaling my scores upwards, giving a 10 to the game I played that I wanted the most to see win.

I can score games harshly. If a game has just one aspect that rubs me the wrong way, then I can give it a very low score, regardless of the things I like about it. Some of those "must-have" aspects for me are prose style, originality, solvability, and coherence/consistency. Here are the games that I rated 4 or 5 (on a scale of 1 to 10) this year:

• Deadline Enchanter. Experimental game with surreal dystopia setting. I did not quite get what was going on with the Infocom references, or much else in the game for that matter. I did like some of the detailed touches, though. "Taster's Choice-powered motorcycles with battering-ram sidecars" would be a candidate for my favorite wacky moment of the comp, if I were not certain that the author was quite aware of its wackiness. Score 5.


• Lord Bellwater's Secret. Congrats to this year's second runner-up! Puzzly game of intrigue, set in a rich heir's library in the 19th century. Great attention to detail (and solvable puzzles!) but I did not find it memorable -- as with Jack Mills, the characters seemed "stock" to me -- and there are a couple of awkward moments. In particular, there was a moment where I expected an intense emotional response from the player character and instead got something to the effect of, "Jolly good!" Score 5.


• Press Escape To Save. Surreal journey through metaphorical mind-space, by a young and enthusiastic author. I'm sure that all of the Comp judges (except maybe for an exceptionally intuitive/obsessive few) were unable to finish without consulting the walkthrough. At one point, following said walkthrough, I typed in the command HIDE SKLORPFEL. (The "sklorpfel" in this game is something like a magic wand.) The game responded thusly:

  You open your mouth nice and big and insert the end of the sklorpfel into your mouth to hide the light. It doesn't taste very nice.

  That, my friends, is my favorite wacky moment of the 2007 Interactive Fiction Competition. I also liked locations such as the Pool of Excessive Knowledge and the Sea of Abstract Data, the latter of which evokes "pictures of people such as George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Albert Einstein, etc." in the player character's mind. Score 5.


• Reconciling Mother. Surreal exploration of a college campus, a mansion, underground caves, and more. A very bizarre game with tons of trinkety items, a handful of NPC's, some psychosexual drama, and lots of name-dropping. The player character is a spy-type agent who's starting a difficult mission. Many other agents have already attempted this mission, and all of them have gone missing. I joked to myself that it would be amusing if all the other agents were alive and merely lost among the game's dozens of locations. The game is kind of interesting, but it fails both as a game and as a story. Score 4.
  
  Edited to add: This game placed 25th out of 27, with an average judge's score of 2.95. I think that the judges as a group were a little over-harsh with this one: It at least has an interesting setting/atmosphere and competent prose. You can interact with non-player characters by typing "GIVE ALL TO [NPC];" perhaps other judges did not notice this trick.


• Packrat. In-jokey treasure hunt set in a castle. Has atmosphere and some cute moments, but some weak puzzles and bugs. Score 4.


• A Matter of Importance. In-jokey treasure hunt in the form of a jewel heist. Some likeable prose, but I think it falls in that uncomfortable gap between in-joke and legitimate game. Score 4.


• Orevore Courier. One of at least two "disaster in outer space" games in this year's Comp. I followed the walkthrough to finish this one. It somehow didn't engage me. The game has certain elements that were meant to be amusingly incongruous but struck me merely as incongruous cliches. Score 4.

2007 IF Comp Reviews: Games I rated 6-10

These reviews are intended to be spoiler-free, with the possible exception of Eduard the Seminarist and Press Escape To Save. (In those two reviews, I reveal solutions to puzzles that I judged virtually impossible to solve without consulting the walkthrough.)

I rated the games very subjectively, based in large part on my emotional reaction to them. Unfortunately I played no game this year that I would rate a 9 or 10 in absolute terms. I ended up scaling my scores upwards, giving a 10 to the game I played that I wanted the most to see win.

I can score games harshly. If a game has just one aspect that rubs me the wrong way, then I can give it a very low score, regardless of the things I like about it. Some of the "must-have" criteria for me are prose style, originality, solvability, and coherence/consistency. Here are the games that I rated 6-10 (on a scale of 1 to 10) this year:

• Act of Murder. Congrats to the Comp runner-up! Randomized whodunit set in an oceanside mansion. I greatly enjoyed this game in spite of flaws. Conversations with an NPC are hard to do for a writer. Conversations with five NPC's is that much harder. Conversations with five NPC's, when important aspects of the backstory are randomized, is yet another level of design challenge. That this game succeeds at all is remarkable. The success is partly due to solid writing, including a number of plausible little details. Replaying, it was interesting to see what stayed the same and what changed. Some of the flaws are related to some unhelpful responses to the "ASK/TELL X ABOUT Y" commands. Score 10.


• Varkana. Diplomatic intrigue on an alien-yet-human sci-fi world. I like diplomatic intrigue. This is another game that handles its multiple NPC's for the most part with grace and skill. I liked the backstory and atmosphere in this game, as well as the occasional graphical elements. The ending was rushed and confusing, though; the game overall feels like part of something larger and more coherent. Score 9.


• FFF. Mini-puzzlefest. Compared to the typical IF player, I'm terrible at puzzles, and terribly impatient when dealing with them. This time, though, I ended up with a not-unfavorable impression: this game is tightly focused, believable on its own terms, and an original twist on an old puzzle. Score 6.


• Lost Pig. Congrats to the Comp champion! Quirky puzzle-fest with oddball language and worldbuilding. For my part, I liked the game's invented alchemy, especially the notion of "dehyrdrated fire," and its vivid atmosphere. I also liked the character of the PC/narrator, orc-speak and all. On the other hand, I could not make much sense of the gnome character's storyline or underground home, and I found the puzzles to be arbitrary. Score 6.


• My Name is Jack Mills. Hard-boiled detective story. Pros: Newbie-friendliness, solvability, multiple solutions. Cons: The characters and storyline seemed to me to be largely "stock." Score 6.

Samorost 1 and 2; The Marriage; Within a Deep Forest

I gather that Samorost and its sequel are the preeminent examples of surreal little Flash games. I had played the first of these a few years back, then played the second one more recently and enjoyed it.

The Mentisworks blog has a list of Art Games: Best Indy Titles. Number Six on this list is The Marriage. This short, weird little game reminds me of So Far, not only in its themes but in the sense that gameplay is difficult but logical in its own strange way. Number One is called "Within a Deep Forest," but I'm not linking to it because it's an addictive bouncing ball game that took an hour-plus of my life away and gave me nothing in return. Really should not be #1 on any list, dagnabbit.

Miestas, sequel to Menulis

They've made another one of those surreal Flash games.

"ljtextadventure" community

Some people are trying to simulate a text adventure in a Livejournal weblog. (Here is the introductory post with rules.) They seem to be mixing together the roles of player and author; each participant is supposed to begin with a "My Inventory" post. Rooms are defined in posts, including links to other rooms. Other players provide "commands" in comments, which lead to game interaction-like comment threads. It is an interesting experiment.

Educational gaming

Slate.com has a piece on educational gaming. Its headline reads, "World of Borecraft: Never play a video game that's trying to teach you something." It's a misleading headline. The story goes on to describe lots of educational/training/public service video games as boring, but then it mentions Civilization as an example of a game that's both fun and educational.

Edited to add: Grand Text Auto just posted a story about Textfyre, a company being launched to sell traditional old-skool text-based IF games, apparently with an emphasis on "edutainment" for kids. The participants list has some impressive names on it (Ingold, Finley, Gentry), and the division of labor (different people in charge of design, writing, programming) is an interesting idea. Still, those folks face a big challenge. Seems like a big risk/reward proposition.