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Stories and comments across the archive that link to ifarchive.org.

Comments · 200

  1. Download links by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative · on 2003 Interactive Fiction Competition Announced

    Important note: The AGT game Curse of Manorland was accidentally left out of the Windows game installer, IFComp2003.exe. Until that file is corrected, please download the game separately.

    If you are interested in downloading individual games, you can do so by following the links on the games page.

    The games entered in the 2003 Annual Interactive Fiction Competition are available from the following locations:

    If you want to download all of the games, you have several choices of files to download.

    • For Windows, there are two files which contain everything you need. IFComp2003.exe contains all of the games. WinInterpreters.exe has all of the interpreters, which are the programs you'll need to run the games. They are Windows installers, so you will only need to double-click them once you've downloaded them, and they'll do their thing.
    • For the Mac, Comp03.sit contains all of the games which can be run natively under MacOS, and MacInterpreters.sit has all of the interpreters.
    • For everyone else, Comp03.zip contains all of the games.

    To ease bandwidth requirements, please use the BitTorrent links if at all possible. If you use BitTorrent, when you're done downloading, please leave your download window open for a while, so others can download the files from you.

    Most of the interpreters you will need are available from the IF Archive. You will need interpreters for TADS 2 and 3, Z-code, ALAN, AGT, and (if you're running Windows) ADRIFT.

  2. Download links by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative · on 2003 Interactive Fiction Competition Announced

    Important note: The AGT game Curse of Manorland was accidentally left out of the Windows game installer, IFComp2003.exe. Until that file is corrected, please download the game separately.

    If you are interested in downloading individual games, you can do so by following the links on the games page.

    The games entered in the 2003 Annual Interactive Fiction Competition are available from the following locations:

    If you want to download all of the games, you have several choices of files to download.

    • For Windows, there are two files which contain everything you need. IFComp2003.exe contains all of the games. WinInterpreters.exe has all of the interpreters, which are the programs you'll need to run the games. They are Windows installers, so you will only need to double-click them once you've downloaded them, and they'll do their thing.
    • For the Mac, Comp03.sit contains all of the games which can be run natively under MacOS, and MacInterpreters.sit has all of the interpreters.
    • For everyone else, Comp03.zip contains all of the games.

    To ease bandwidth requirements, please use the BitTorrent links if at all possible. If you use BitTorrent, when you're done downloading, please leave your download window open for a while, so others can download the files from you.

    Most of the interpreters you will need are available from the IF Archive. You will need interpreters for TADS 2 and 3, Z-code, ALAN, AGT, and (if you're running Windows) ADRIFT.

  3. Download links by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative · on 2003 Interactive Fiction Competition Announced

    Important note: The AGT game Curse of Manorland was accidentally left out of the Windows game installer, IFComp2003.exe. Until that file is corrected, please download the game separately.

    If you are interested in downloading individual games, you can do so by following the links on the games page.

    The games entered in the 2003 Annual Interactive Fiction Competition are available from the following locations:

    If you want to download all of the games, you have several choices of files to download.

    • For Windows, there are two files which contain everything you need. IFComp2003.exe contains all of the games. WinInterpreters.exe has all of the interpreters, which are the programs you'll need to run the games. They are Windows installers, so you will only need to double-click them once you've downloaded them, and they'll do their thing.
    • For the Mac, Comp03.sit contains all of the games which can be run natively under MacOS, and MacInterpreters.sit has all of the interpreters.
    • For everyone else, Comp03.zip contains all of the games.

    To ease bandwidth requirements, please use the BitTorrent links if at all possible. If you use BitTorrent, when you're done downloading, please leave your download window open for a while, so others can download the files from you.

    Most of the interpreters you will need are available from the IF Archive. You will need interpreters for TADS 2 and 3, Z-code, ALAN, AGT, and (if you're running Windows) ADRIFT.

  4. Download links by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative · on 2003 Interactive Fiction Competition Announced

    Important note: The AGT game Curse of Manorland was accidentally left out of the Windows game installer, IFComp2003.exe. Until that file is corrected, please download the game separately.

    If you are interested in downloading individual games, you can do so by following the links on the games page.

    The games entered in the 2003 Annual Interactive Fiction Competition are available from the following locations:

    If you want to download all of the games, you have several choices of files to download.

    • For Windows, there are two files which contain everything you need. IFComp2003.exe contains all of the games. WinInterpreters.exe has all of the interpreters, which are the programs you'll need to run the games. They are Windows installers, so you will only need to double-click them once you've downloaded them, and they'll do their thing.
    • For the Mac, Comp03.sit contains all of the games which can be run natively under MacOS, and MacInterpreters.sit has all of the interpreters.
    • For everyone else, Comp03.zip contains all of the games.

    To ease bandwidth requirements, please use the BitTorrent links if at all possible. If you use BitTorrent, when you're done downloading, please leave your download window open for a while, so others can download the files from you.

    Most of the interpreters you will need are available from the IF Archive. You will need interpreters for TADS 2 and 3, Z-code, ALAN, AGT, and (if you're running Windows) ADRIFT.

  5. Download links by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative · on 2003 Interactive Fiction Competition Announced

    Important note: The AGT game Curse of Manorland was accidentally left out of the Windows game installer, IFComp2003.exe. Until that file is corrected, please download the game separately.

    If you are interested in downloading individual games, you can do so by following the links on the games page.

    The games entered in the 2003 Annual Interactive Fiction Competition are available from the following locations:

    If you want to download all of the games, you have several choices of files to download.

    • For Windows, there are two files which contain everything you need. IFComp2003.exe contains all of the games. WinInterpreters.exe has all of the interpreters, which are the programs you'll need to run the games. They are Windows installers, so you will only need to double-click them once you've downloaded them, and they'll do their thing.
    • For the Mac, Comp03.sit contains all of the games which can be run natively under MacOS, and MacInterpreters.sit has all of the interpreters.
    • For everyone else, Comp03.zip contains all of the games.

    To ease bandwidth requirements, please use the BitTorrent links if at all possible. If you use BitTorrent, when you're done downloading, please leave your download window open for a while, so others can download the files from you.

    Most of the interpreters you will need are available from the IF Archive. You will need interpreters for TADS 2 and 3, Z-code, ALAN, AGT, and (if you're running Windows) ADRIFT.

  6. Download links by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative · on 2003 Interactive Fiction Competition Announced

    Important note: The AGT game Curse of Manorland was accidentally left out of the Windows game installer, IFComp2003.exe. Until that file is corrected, please download the game separately.

    If you are interested in downloading individual games, you can do so by following the links on the games page.

    The games entered in the 2003 Annual Interactive Fiction Competition are available from the following locations:

    If you want to download all of the games, you have several choices of files to download.

    • For Windows, there are two files which contain everything you need. IFComp2003.exe contains all of the games. WinInterpreters.exe has all of the interpreters, which are the programs you'll need to run the games. They are Windows installers, so you will only need to double-click them once you've downloaded them, and they'll do their thing.
    • For the Mac, Comp03.sit contains all of the games which can be run natively under MacOS, and MacInterpreters.sit has all of the interpreters.
    • For everyone else, Comp03.zip contains all of the games.

    To ease bandwidth requirements, please use the BitTorrent links if at all possible. If you use BitTorrent, when you're done downloading, please leave your download window open for a while, so others can download the files from you.

    Most of the interpreters you will need are available from the IF Archive. You will need interpreters for TADS 2 and 3, Z-code, ALAN, AGT, and (if you're running Windows) ADRIFT.

  7. Download links by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative · on 2003 Interactive Fiction Competition Announced

    Important note: The AGT game Curse of Manorland was accidentally left out of the Windows game installer, IFComp2003.exe. Until that file is corrected, please download the game separately.

    If you are interested in downloading individual games, you can do so by following the links on the games page.

    The games entered in the 2003 Annual Interactive Fiction Competition are available from the following locations:

    If you want to download all of the games, you have several choices of files to download.

    • For Windows, there are two files which contain everything you need. IFComp2003.exe contains all of the games. WinInterpreters.exe has all of the interpreters, which are the programs you'll need to run the games. They are Windows installers, so you will only need to double-click them once you've downloaded them, and they'll do their thing.
    • For the Mac, Comp03.sit contains all of the games which can be run natively under MacOS, and MacInterpreters.sit has all of the interpreters.
    • For everyone else, Comp03.zip contains all of the games.

    To ease bandwidth requirements, please use the BitTorrent links if at all possible. If you use BitTorrent, when you're done downloading, please leave your download window open for a while, so others can download the files from you.

    Most of the interpreters you will need are available from the IF Archive. You will need interpreters for TADS 2 and 3, Z-code, ALAN, AGT, and (if you're running Windows) ADRIFT.

  8. Download links by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative · on 2003 Interactive Fiction Competition Announced

    Important note: The AGT game Curse of Manorland was accidentally left out of the Windows game installer, IFComp2003.exe. Until that file is corrected, please download the game separately.

    If you are interested in downloading individual games, you can do so by following the links on the games page.

    The games entered in the 2003 Annual Interactive Fiction Competition are available from the following locations:

    If you want to download all of the games, you have several choices of files to download.

    • For Windows, there are two files which contain everything you need. IFComp2003.exe contains all of the games. WinInterpreters.exe has all of the interpreters, which are the programs you'll need to run the games. They are Windows installers, so you will only need to double-click them once you've downloaded them, and they'll do their thing.
    • For the Mac, Comp03.sit contains all of the games which can be run natively under MacOS, and MacInterpreters.sit has all of the interpreters.
    • For everyone else, Comp03.zip contains all of the games.

    To ease bandwidth requirements, please use the BitTorrent links if at all possible. If you use BitTorrent, when you're done downloading, please leave your download window open for a while, so others can download the files from you.

    Most of the interpreters you will need are available from the IF Archive. You will need interpreters for TADS 2 and 3, Z-code, ALAN, AGT, and (if you're running Windows) ADRIFT.

  9. Download links by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative · on 2003 Interactive Fiction Competition Announced

    Important note: The AGT game Curse of Manorland was accidentally left out of the Windows game installer, IFComp2003.exe. Until that file is corrected, please download the game separately.

    If you are interested in downloading individual games, you can do so by following the links on the games page.

    The games entered in the 2003 Annual Interactive Fiction Competition are available from the following locations:

    If you want to download all of the games, you have several choices of files to download.

    • For Windows, there are two files which contain everything you need. IFComp2003.exe contains all of the games. WinInterpreters.exe has all of the interpreters, which are the programs you'll need to run the games. They are Windows installers, so you will only need to double-click them once you've downloaded them, and they'll do their thing.
    • For the Mac, Comp03.sit contains all of the games which can be run natively under MacOS, and MacInterpreters.sit has all of the interpreters.
    • For everyone else, Comp03.zip contains all of the games.

    To ease bandwidth requirements, please use the BitTorrent links if at all possible. If you use BitTorrent, when you're done downloading, please leave your download window open for a while, so others can download the files from you.

    Most of the interpreters you will need are available from the IF Archive. You will need interpreters for TADS 2 and 3, Z-code, ALAN, AGT, and (if you're running Windows) ADRIFT.

  10. Download links by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative · on 2003 Interactive Fiction Competition Announced

    Important note: The AGT game Curse of Manorland was accidentally left out of the Windows game installer, IFComp2003.exe. Until that file is corrected, please download the game separately.

    If you are interested in downloading individual games, you can do so by following the links on the games page.

    The games entered in the 2003 Annual Interactive Fiction Competition are available from the following locations:

    If you want to download all of the games, you have several choices of files to download.

    • For Windows, there are two files which contain everything you need. IFComp2003.exe contains all of the games. WinInterpreters.exe has all of the interpreters, which are the programs you'll need to run the games. They are Windows installers, so you will only need to double-click them once you've downloaded them, and they'll do their thing.
    • For the Mac, Comp03.sit contains all of the games which can be run natively under MacOS, and MacInterpreters.sit has all of the interpreters.
    • For everyone else, Comp03.zip contains all of the games.

    To ease bandwidth requirements, please use the BitTorrent links if at all possible. If you use BitTorrent, when you're done downloading, please leave your download window open for a while, so others can download the files from you.

    Most of the interpreters you will need are available from the IF Archive. You will need interpreters for TADS 2 and 3, Z-code, ALAN, AGT, and (if you're running Windows) ADRIFT.

  11. Download links by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative · on 2003 Interactive Fiction Competition Announced

    Important note: The AGT game Curse of Manorland was accidentally left out of the Windows game installer, IFComp2003.exe. Until that file is corrected, please download the game separately.

    If you are interested in downloading individual games, you can do so by following the links on the games page.

    The games entered in the 2003 Annual Interactive Fiction Competition are available from the following locations:

    If you want to download all of the games, you have several choices of files to download.

    • For Windows, there are two files which contain everything you need. IFComp2003.exe contains all of the games. WinInterpreters.exe has all of the interpreters, which are the programs you'll need to run the games. They are Windows installers, so you will only need to double-click them once you've downloaded them, and they'll do their thing.
    • For the Mac, Comp03.sit contains all of the games which can be run natively under MacOS, and MacInterpreters.sit has all of the interpreters.
    • For everyone else, Comp03.zip contains all of the games.

    To ease bandwidth requirements, please use the BitTorrent links if at all possible. If you use BitTorrent, when you're done downloading, please leave your download window open for a while, so others can download the files from you.

    Most of the interpreters you will need are available from the IF Archive. You will need interpreters for TADS 2 and 3, Z-code, ALAN, AGT, and (if you're running Windows) ADRIFT.

  12. Download links by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative · on 2003 Interactive Fiction Competition Announced

    Important note: The AGT game Curse of Manorland was accidentally left out of the Windows game installer, IFComp2003.exe. Until that file is corrected, please download the game separately.

    If you are interested in downloading individual games, you can do so by following the links on the games page.

    The games entered in the 2003 Annual Interactive Fiction Competition are available from the following locations:

    If you want to download all of the games, you have several choices of files to download.

    • For Windows, there are two files which contain everything you need. IFComp2003.exe contains all of the games. WinInterpreters.exe has all of the interpreters, which are the programs you'll need to run the games. They are Windows installers, so you will only need to double-click them once you've downloaded them, and they'll do their thing.
    • For the Mac, Comp03.sit contains all of the games which can be run natively under MacOS, and MacInterpreters.sit has all of the interpreters.
    • For everyone else, Comp03.zip contains all of the games.

    To ease bandwidth requirements, please use the BitTorrent links if at all possible. If you use BitTorrent, when you're done downloading, please leave your download window open for a while, so others can download the files from you.

    Most of the interpreters you will need are available from the IF Archive. You will need interpreters for TADS 2 and 3, Z-code, ALAN, AGT, and (if you're running Windows) ADRIFT.

  13. Download links by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative · on 2003 Interactive Fiction Competition Announced

    Important note: The AGT game Curse of Manorland was accidentally left out of the Windows game installer, IFComp2003.exe. Until that file is corrected, please download the game separately.

    If you are interested in downloading individual games, you can do so by following the links on the games page.

    The games entered in the 2003 Annual Interactive Fiction Competition are available from the following locations:

    If you want to download all of the games, you have several choices of files to download.

    • For Windows, there are two files which contain everything you need. IFComp2003.exe contains all of the games. WinInterpreters.exe has all of the interpreters, which are the programs you'll need to run the games. They are Windows installers, so you will only need to double-click them once you've downloaded them, and they'll do their thing.
    • For the Mac, Comp03.sit contains all of the games which can be run natively under MacOS, and MacInterpreters.sit has all of the interpreters.
    • For everyone else, Comp03.zip contains all of the games.

    To ease bandwidth requirements, please use the BitTorrent links if at all possible. If you use BitTorrent, when you're done downloading, please leave your download window open for a while, so others can download the files from you.

    Most of the interpreters you will need are available from the IF Archive. You will need interpreters for TADS 2 and 3, Z-code, ALAN, AGT, and (if you're running Windows) ADRIFT.

  14. Download links by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative · on 2003 Interactive Fiction Competition Announced

    Important note: The AGT game Curse of Manorland was accidentally left out of the Windows game installer, IFComp2003.exe. Until that file is corrected, please download the game separately.

    If you are interested in downloading individual games, you can do so by following the links on the games page.

    The games entered in the 2003 Annual Interactive Fiction Competition are available from the following locations:

    If you want to download all of the games, you have several choices of files to download.

    • For Windows, there are two files which contain everything you need. IFComp2003.exe contains all of the games. WinInterpreters.exe has all of the interpreters, which are the programs you'll need to run the games. They are Windows installers, so you will only need to double-click them once you've downloaded them, and they'll do their thing.
    • For the Mac, Comp03.sit contains all of the games which can be run natively under MacOS, and MacInterpreters.sit has all of the interpreters.
    • For everyone else, Comp03.zip contains all of the games.

    To ease bandwidth requirements, please use the BitTorrent links if at all possible. If you use BitTorrent, when you're done downloading, please leave your download window open for a while, so others can download the files from you.

    Most of the interpreters you will need are available from the IF Archive. You will need interpreters for TADS 2 and 3, Z-code, ALAN, AGT, and (if you're running Windows) ADRIFT.

  15. Download links by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative · on 2003 Interactive Fiction Competition Announced

    Important note: The AGT game Curse of Manorland was accidentally left out of the Windows game installer, IFComp2003.exe. Until that file is corrected, please download the game separately.

    If you are interested in downloading individual games, you can do so by following the links on the games page.

    The games entered in the 2003 Annual Interactive Fiction Competition are available from the following locations:

    If you want to download all of the games, you have several choices of files to download.

    • For Windows, there are two files which contain everything you need. IFComp2003.exe contains all of the games. WinInterpreters.exe has all of the interpreters, which are the programs you'll need to run the games. They are Windows installers, so you will only need to double-click them once you've downloaded them, and they'll do their thing.
    • For the Mac, Comp03.sit contains all of the games which can be run natively under MacOS, and MacInterpreters.sit has all of the interpreters.
    • For everyone else, Comp03.zip contains all of the games.

    To ease bandwidth requirements, please use the BitTorrent links if at all possible. If you use BitTorrent, when you're done downloading, please leave your download window open for a while, so others can download the files from you.

    Most of the interpreters you will need are available from the IF Archive. You will need interpreters for TADS 2 and 3, Z-code, ALAN, AGT, and (if you're running Windows) ADRIFT.

  16. Download links by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative · on 2003 Interactive Fiction Competition Announced

    Important note: The AGT game Curse of Manorland was accidentally left out of the Windows game installer, IFComp2003.exe. Until that file is corrected, please download the game separately.

    If you are interested in downloading individual games, you can do so by following the links on the games page.

    The games entered in the 2003 Annual Interactive Fiction Competition are available from the following locations:

    If you want to download all of the games, you have several choices of files to download.

    • For Windows, there are two files which contain everything you need. IFComp2003.exe contains all of the games. WinInterpreters.exe has all of the interpreters, which are the programs you'll need to run the games. They are Windows installers, so you will only need to double-click them once you've downloaded them, and they'll do their thing.
    • For the Mac, Comp03.sit contains all of the games which can be run natively under MacOS, and MacInterpreters.sit has all of the interpreters.
    • For everyone else, Comp03.zip contains all of the games.

    To ease bandwidth requirements, please use the BitTorrent links if at all possible. If you use BitTorrent, when you're done downloading, please leave your download window open for a while, so others can download the files from you.

    Most of the interpreters you will need are available from the IF Archive. You will need interpreters for TADS 2 and 3, Z-code, ALAN, AGT, and (if you're running Windows) ADRIFT.

  17. Infocom Games! by Slur · · Score: 4, Informative · on Mac OS X Classic Games Roundup

    If you like Infocom adventures you should Download Frotz! 2.4.1. This interpreter installs into /usr/local/bin and runs in the Terminal. It would be nice to have a Cocoa front-end for this. Perhaps some cool Mac Geek will find the time....

    Frotz! 2.4.3 is also available in source code form if you're into building from source. You just have to make sure you have the ncurses library installed (Fink helps). I had to rename the "init_process" function (in src/common/process.c and src/main.c) to "my_init_process" before it would build. Some kind of symbol conflict with libSystem....

    You can play Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy on the web but I don't think it allows you to save the game.

    Fortunately you can download the HHGG data file (option-click) right off the web and play it in Frotz!

    As for other Infocom and Z-engine games, here are some links to resources straight out of the Mac Frotz readme file:

  18. Re:This is why I'm hanging on to my original PC . by lightspawn · · Score: 1 · on Will Classic Games Disappear Forever?

    I recently purchased at a flea market an unopened Infocom collection on CD-ROM. But dang it, the installer wouldn't work under Win98!

    I'm sorry, I know this is offtopic, but...

    All you need (at least, for everything except the graphics titles like Arthur and Journey) is the .z5 files (probably named with a .dat extension on the CD).

    Just copy them somewhere and find a .z5 interpreter (like Frotz). You'll find interpreters for more platforms than you'd expect, including Palm, Psion, Amiga, Acorn riscOS...

  19. Re:warez rulez by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0 · on GameCube ISOs Released?

    I wouldn't care if the "game industry" would cease to exist tomorow, there are enough NES, SNES, Gameboy, Neo-Geo etc. roms out to play. There are also people who make games for fun (Nethack, IF, etc.) and some even do something creative.

    Same goes fore the "music industry" and other "industries" that produce "intelectual properity".

  20. Fuck Mozilla by Mprx · · Score: -1, Troll · on The Top 25 Squaresoft Games Ever?
    I had a really long comment ready to post, but Mozilla crashed when I tried to preview it. I'm not typing it all again, so here's a summary of the main points.

    * FF9 should not be on the top 25 - horribly unoriginal, bad gameplay, bad characters.

    * FF8 is best in the series.

    * FF8 has best gameplay, no random encounters after getting Enc None (very early), no levelling up needed. Random encounters are bad, and an artifact of primitive technology of times past.

    * FF8 has best characters. Squall much more realistic than others. Play Rameses (an IF game) using Frotz to understand his character better.

    * FF6 is only good for the first half, gets very boring in World of Ruin. PC rpgs do no linearity better. FF6 should be ranked about 10th at best, not 1st.

    * FFX is underrated, should be much higher. Excellent story, only FF7 has better (although FF7 is quite bad at everything else)

    * Chrono Trigger is also overrated.

  21. Re:Adventure games on Linux by 0x0d0a · · Score: 1 · on Adventure Gaming: Rest In Peace?

    What I've found frustrating is the lack of adventure games available for Linux

    Really? I've found that adventure game support for Linux is actually quite good relative to other genres.

    There's an entire commercial seven-episode line in the LadyStar series.

    Hopkins FBI was, I believe, the first commercial SDL-using game available for Linux.

    Want to play older adventure games in Linux? ScummVM can run older Lucasarts adventure games. AGIL lets you play old AGI Sierra games, and FreeSCI old SCI Sierra games. TADS can run on Linux to let you play TADS-based text adventure games (it *is* true that there isn't an HTML-enabled runtime for Linux, but that hasn't turned to be much of a big deal), and Frotz lets you play text-based Z-Machine games on Linux. Both of these have massive libraries of games, some of which are very good (I dearly love Tower of Babel for TADS). There are runtimes for numerous other, less widely-used systems listed on ifarchive.

    Finally, I realize it's not a fantastic solution, but adventure games that use DirectX are more likely to work with WINE than the latest 3d shooter because they tend to use fewer features. Riven, for instance, works this way.

    But I wonder if the Linux gaming market isn't somewhat different than the Windows gaming market. Many of the people who run Linux are older professionals. We're often not runnng the latest and greatest equipment. Perhaps one explanation for the lackluster sales of Linux games is that they're targeting the wrong population.

    I agree -- the best selling games for Linux have been Civilization, SimCity 3, Kohan...the games without high end system requirements on 3d cards or CPU. They tend to be less twitch games.

    I wish adventure game developers would return to the VM-based approach that Sierra and Lucasarts used to great success. The portability and ease of debugging is well worth it.

  22. Is it that time of the year again? by Violet+Null · · Score: 1 · on Adventure Gaming: Rest In Peace?

    Every year we get someone pontificating on the death of adventure games. It really gets tiresome. If only we could get some 'FACT: Adventure games are dying' trolls to liven things up...but they seem to all be scared away by the color scheme here.

    Anyways, adventure games aren't dying. Text adventure games may be dead (commercially), but they live on thanks to the goodly number of tools that people can use to make their own (the most widely known being the Z-machine, which has interpreters on just about everything under the sun). In fact, I'd say that the best of the recent releases are far superior to anything that Infocom produced. Examples: Anchorhead (Lovecraftian), Christminster (Detective), and Spider and Web (Espionage). But, yes, commercially, text adventure is more or less dead.

    Adventure is still going strong, though. You've still got classic adventures like The Longest Journey and Syberia, and you also have the "new" set of adventures (which tend to involve shooting things repeatedly in between the puzzles), such as the Resident Evil series, which, last I checked, seemed to be doing quite well. But even putting that aside, more and more games are now becoming adventure games mixed with something else. Every time you're playing a FPS and you encounter an obstacle that can't be overcome by force, they've taken a page from the adventure genre (many bosses fall into this category). Every time you're in an RPG, and you have to do deliver object A to point B, or convince NPC to agree with you...that's the adventure genre again. And you'll find that games that contain those sorts of puzzles tend to be much better received than games that don't (which would you rather play: Half-Life, or Quake II? Baldur's Gate or Pool of Radiance (the remake, not the original)).

  23. Re:What I'd like... by meloneg · · Score: 2, Informative · on Java for the Gameboy Advance

    ...is a z-code VM, not a Java VM, so I can play the hundreds [wurb.com] of games already available - some of very high quality. Might need a keyboard port too though.
    Ask and though shalt receive.
    Isn't google grand?

  24. Re:Video games for the blind by arose · · Score: 1 · on Braille PDA/Phone

    You know, I've this idea where bloks of for squares are falling... What, you mean for the blind not the deaf? Can't you decide? Well in that case I have Nethack and Ineractive Fiction for you.

  25. text adventures? by Hubert_Shrump · · Score: 1 · on Top Ten Dying Game Genres

    IF Archive has something to say about that.

    Write your own in TADS, Inform, or Hugo.

    You are in front of a green tinted monitor, it is 1983...

  26. Re:text-based games? by Dthoma · · Score: 1 · on Top Ten Dying Game Genres

    Not for amateurs they aren't. They just call it "interactive fiction" now. They write lots of it, and quite a bit of it is pretty good. It's surprisingly easy to do so, and you can find tools, games and other such cool stuff at http://www.ifarchive.org

  27. Zork shell! by tm2b · · Score: 4, Funny · on Which Shell Do You Prefer?

    I prefer the adventure shells.

    The core cannot defend itself. It dies.

  28. Re:The application becomes the shell by AtrN · · Score: 1 · on Programming Languages Will Become OSes
    Old news (for those of us around at the time...)

    Adventure Shells

  29. Re:Damm, no keyboard! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0 · on New Gameboy Announced
    I want to play text adventures on that thing!

    Here you go!

  30. Re:Damm, no keyboard! by Mprx · · Score: 2, Informative · on New Gameboy Announced

    Download GBA Frotz and install it on a flash cart and you can play text adventures on the GBA. The interface isn't great, but it's usable. You can download many free games in the z-machine format at The Interactive Fiction Archive, and almost all the Infocom text adventures will work.

  31. Where no piece has fallen before... by edbarrett · · Score: 1 · on Rogue and Tetris ported to . . . . . Diablo II?!?!

    Check out Freefall here. You'll also need an interpreter.

  32. Where no piece has fallen before... by edbarrett · · Score: 1 · on Rogue and Tetris ported to . . . . . Diablo II?!?!

    Check out Freefall here. You'll also need an interpreter.

  33. Where no piece has fallen before... by edbarrett · · Score: 1 · on Rogue and Tetris ported to . . . . . Diablo II?!?!

    Check out Freefall here. You'll also need an interpreter.

  34. Re:They're ruining FORTRAN!!! by Eric+Smith · · Score: 3, Insightful · on Fortran 2000 Committee Draft
    IIRC, the original version of Adventure Cave used an interpreter that was written in F77.
    Some ports might have used F77, but ADVENT was originally written on a DECsystem-10 using Fortran-10, which was DEC's implementation of FORTRAN 66. The original code is available in the Interactive Fiction Archive; there are two versions ever so slightly different, adv350-pdp10.tar.gz and advent-original.tar.gz. I'm not certain which was earlier, though one of them has some messages in mixed case, so that is probably later. All others can be traced back to one of these.

    String handling in FORTRAN 66 was not very portable. On the DECsystem-10, five ASCII characters were stored per word. This was the biggest hassle in porting to another platform.

  35. Re:IF Archive by HeavyGear · · Score: 1 · on Interactive Fiction Competition 2002 Underway
    The Ad Verbum link on The Underdogs site refers to the old GMD site. The IF Archive is now here.

    Ad Verbum is available here.

  36. Re:IF Archive by HeavyGear · · Score: 1 · on Interactive Fiction Competition 2002 Underway
    The Ad Verbum link on The Underdogs site refers to the old GMD site. The IF Archive is now here.

    Ad Verbum is available here.

  37. Re:A few more notes. by Michael+Duggan · · Score: 1 · on Interactive Fiction Competition 2002 Underway

    You can even play zcode games under emacs.

  38. A Note from the Organizer by Sargent1 · · Score: 5, Informative · on Interactive Fiction Competition 2002 Underway

    Hi, I'm the competition organizer. A few words of instruction and explanation. The basic idea is that you're to download and play at least five of the forty games, and then rate them on a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 is the best. Full instructions are in the competition readme file.

    Most of the games run in a virtual machine, so you'll need to download interpreters for those machines. For the TADS 2 and 3 games, grab the unified TADS 2 and 3 source tarball for Unix. For the z-code games, try Nitfol or Unix Frotz. For the Glulx game, try Linux Glulxe or Solaris Glulxe. For the ALAN games, grab GlkALAN for Linux.

    You've got until November 15th to vote. Even if you don't want to vote, feel free to play the games anyway. And if this really gets you jonesing to play more of the recently-released interactive fiction, stop by Baf's Guide to the IF Archive for reviews of many of the games on the IF Archive. Oh, and a minor plug for my IF site, Brass Lantern.

    Stephen

  39. A Note from the Organizer by Sargent1 · · Score: 5, Informative · on Interactive Fiction Competition 2002 Underway

    Hi, I'm the competition organizer. A few words of instruction and explanation. The basic idea is that you're to download and play at least five of the forty games, and then rate them on a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 is the best. Full instructions are in the competition readme file.

    Most of the games run in a virtual machine, so you'll need to download interpreters for those machines. For the TADS 2 and 3 games, grab the unified TADS 2 and 3 source tarball for Unix. For the z-code games, try Nitfol or Unix Frotz. For the Glulx game, try Linux Glulxe or Solaris Glulxe. For the ALAN games, grab GlkALAN for Linux.

    You've got until November 15th to vote. Even if you don't want to vote, feel free to play the games anyway. And if this really gets you jonesing to play more of the recently-released interactive fiction, stop by Baf's Guide to the IF Archive for reviews of many of the games on the IF Archive. Oh, and a minor plug for my IF site, Brass Lantern.

    Stephen

  40. A Note from the Organizer by Sargent1 · · Score: 5, Informative · on Interactive Fiction Competition 2002 Underway

    Hi, I'm the competition organizer. A few words of instruction and explanation. The basic idea is that you're to download and play at least five of the forty games, and then rate them on a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 is the best. Full instructions are in the competition readme file.

    Most of the games run in a virtual machine, so you'll need to download interpreters for those machines. For the TADS 2 and 3 games, grab the unified TADS 2 and 3 source tarball for Unix. For the z-code games, try Nitfol or Unix Frotz. For the Glulx game, try Linux Glulxe or Solaris Glulxe. For the ALAN games, grab GlkALAN for Linux.

    You've got until November 15th to vote. Even if you don't want to vote, feel free to play the games anyway. And if this really gets you jonesing to play more of the recently-released interactive fiction, stop by Baf's Guide to the IF Archive for reviews of many of the games on the IF Archive. Oh, and a minor plug for my IF site, Brass Lantern.

    Stephen

  41. A Note from the Organizer by Sargent1 · · Score: 5, Informative · on Interactive Fiction Competition 2002 Underway

    Hi, I'm the competition organizer. A few words of instruction and explanation. The basic idea is that you're to download and play at least five of the forty games, and then rate them on a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 is the best. Full instructions are in the competition readme file.

    Most of the games run in a virtual machine, so you'll need to download interpreters for those machines. For the TADS 2 and 3 games, grab the unified TADS 2 and 3 source tarball for Unix. For the z-code games, try Nitfol or Unix Frotz. For the Glulx game, try Linux Glulxe or Solaris Glulxe. For the ALAN games, grab GlkALAN for Linux.

    You've got until November 15th to vote. Even if you don't want to vote, feel free to play the games anyway. And if this really gets you jonesing to play more of the recently-released interactive fiction, stop by Baf's Guide to the IF Archive for reviews of many of the games on the IF Archive. Oh, and a minor plug for my IF site, Brass Lantern.

    Stephen

  42. A Note from the Organizer by Sargent1 · · Score: 5, Informative · on Interactive Fiction Competition 2002 Underway

    Hi, I'm the competition organizer. A few words of instruction and explanation. The basic idea is that you're to download and play at least five of the forty games, and then rate them on a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 is the best. Full instructions are in the competition readme file.

    Most of the games run in a virtual machine, so you'll need to download interpreters for those machines. For the TADS 2 and 3 games, grab the unified TADS 2 and 3 source tarball for Unix. For the z-code games, try Nitfol or Unix Frotz. For the Glulx game, try Linux Glulxe or Solaris Glulxe. For the ALAN games, grab GlkALAN for Linux.

    You've got until November 15th to vote. Even if you don't want to vote, feel free to play the games anyway. And if this really gets you jonesing to play more of the recently-released interactive fiction, stop by Baf's Guide to the IF Archive for reviews of many of the games on the IF Archive. Oh, and a minor plug for my IF site, Brass Lantern.

    Stephen

  43. A Note from the Organizer by Sargent1 · · Score: 5, Informative · on Interactive Fiction Competition 2002 Underway

    Hi, I'm the competition organizer. A few words of instruction and explanation. The basic idea is that you're to download and play at least five of the forty games, and then rate them on a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 is the best. Full instructions are in the competition readme file.

    Most of the games run in a virtual machine, so you'll need to download interpreters for those machines. For the TADS 2 and 3 games, grab the unified TADS 2 and 3 source tarball for Unix. For the z-code games, try Nitfol or Unix Frotz. For the Glulx game, try Linux Glulxe or Solaris Glulxe. For the ALAN games, grab GlkALAN for Linux.

    You've got until November 15th to vote. Even if you don't want to vote, feel free to play the games anyway. And if this really gets you jonesing to play more of the recently-released interactive fiction, stop by Baf's Guide to the IF Archive for reviews of many of the games on the IF Archive. Oh, and a minor plug for my IF site, Brass Lantern.

    Stephen

  44. A Note from the Organizer by Sargent1 · · Score: 5, Informative · on Interactive Fiction Competition 2002 Underway

    Hi, I'm the competition organizer. A few words of instruction and explanation. The basic idea is that you're to download and play at least five of the forty games, and then rate them on a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 is the best. Full instructions are in the competition readme file.

    Most of the games run in a virtual machine, so you'll need to download interpreters for those machines. For the TADS 2 and 3 games, grab the unified TADS 2 and 3 source tarball for Unix. For the z-code games, try Nitfol or Unix Frotz. For the Glulx game, try Linux Glulxe or Solaris Glulxe. For the ALAN games, grab GlkALAN for Linux.

    You've got until November 15th to vote. Even if you don't want to vote, feel free to play the games anyway. And if this really gets you jonesing to play more of the recently-released interactive fiction, stop by Baf's Guide to the IF Archive for reviews of many of the games on the IF Archive. Oh, and a minor plug for my IF site, Brass Lantern.

    Stephen

  45. A Note from the Organizer by Sargent1 · · Score: 5, Informative · on Interactive Fiction Competition 2002 Underway

    Hi, I'm the competition organizer. A few words of instruction and explanation. The basic idea is that you're to download and play at least five of the forty games, and then rate them on a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 is the best. Full instructions are in the competition readme file.

    Most of the games run in a virtual machine, so you'll need to download interpreters for those machines. For the TADS 2 and 3 games, grab the unified TADS 2 and 3 source tarball for Unix. For the z-code games, try Nitfol or Unix Frotz. For the Glulx game, try Linux Glulxe or Solaris Glulxe. For the ALAN games, grab GlkALAN for Linux.

    You've got until November 15th to vote. Even if you don't want to vote, feel free to play the games anyway. And if this really gets you jonesing to play more of the recently-released interactive fiction, stop by Baf's Guide to the IF Archive for reviews of many of the games on the IF Archive. Oh, and a minor plug for my IF site, Brass Lantern.

    Stephen

  46. Some fun stuff by skryche · · Score: 1 · on The Best of Windows Open Source Software?
    How could anybody not mention The Best Game Ever? And, no, it's not (strictly) character-based any more.

    Why not smack on a few IF interpreters for playing some of the excellent (and free) text adventures out there? I particuarly recommend (Win)Frotz.

    Also, MAME and ZSNES are excellent arcade and SNES emulators.

    For eye candy, I'm surprised nobody's mentioned Xaos. Mmm. Fractal zooming. So pretty. Plus, a good introduction to the mathematics of fractals.

  47. TADS, Frotz, and Interactive Fiction by 0x0d0a · · Score: 2 · on The Best of Windows Open Source Software?

    Text-based interactive fiction contains some of the most amazing games ever made, and most are free.

    There are several different IF environments -- TADS and Inform are the most popular, playable by TADS and Frotz, respectively.

    There are many incredible games for both, but two of my favorites are Babel and Toonesia. This type of game loses most of its value if you cheat -- most of the value of the game is in gameplay.

    Give it a shot, and rack your brains...and don't get eaten by a grue.

  48. Linux has good games, laddie buck by 0x0d0a · · Score: 4, Informative · on LinuXbox Boots

    Interesting point, but I really doubt that this is aimed at the general consumer. It's for Joe Linux, who prides himself on doing nifty tech things with Linux.

    Okay, Tux Racer may not be the most amazing thing in the world, but it's fun for a couple hours.

    Freeciv...why is freeciv bad? You don't like civilization? There are some differences, but aside from the fact that civ had more artists (and, IMHO, a worse interface) and is a bit easier to use, not huge difference in fun factor.

    Lets consider some others:

    zangband/ToME/angband/nethack/etc: These *are* a lot of fun. Diablo has much more simplistic, boring gameplay, and it took off all over. Most variants have a pretty simple text or 2d graphics based interface without music, but some are a bit more elaborate. Be a bit of a pain to play on the controller, yes...

    Chromium BSU: flashy scrolling shooter. Could use the 3d hardware in the X-box.

    Dunno if you can just use ordinary ol' x86 binaries (particularly considering RAM usage), but:

    Quake 3 (use the 3d hardware). Not free.

    Abuse: This was a *blast* when it came out -- I played it over and over. It's looking a little dated now, but it's still a good game. Free now -- thanks crack.com.

    Pingus is apparently shaping up pretty well.

    There's part of the amazing Exile series available for Linux. (shareware)

    Maelstrom may be too "simple" for you, as it's only an astroids clone, but it was a very well known game on the Mac for a long time, and I still like it.

    While I'm not a tremendous fan of Illwinter's Conquest of Elysium II, their Dominions: Priests, Prophets, and Pretenders is a non-flashy but very deep, very good strategy game. Shareware.

    There's a DOS-style shooter from Mountain King Studios, Raptor. (shareware)

    Finally, there are all the emulators and whatnot...take a look at GNUboy, TuxNES, snes9x, DGen/SDL,
    FreeSCI, Sarien, Exult, XU4, ScummVM, Basilisk II, YAE and others.

    There are a host of Loki ports that you can't get any more except used. Lots of good stuff from LGames, though I'm not as big a fan of their stuff as some other people are.

    Finally, text-based but really, really sophisticated, good, and almost all of them free, there are text-based interactive fiction (Try Tower of Babel before giving up on this...first one I ever beat without cheating, and it's *soooooo* good). The Interactive Fiction Archive has games and players.

    Finally, many good games can be played through WINE -- Starcraft, Fallout, Max Payne, Half Life...

    These are just some of the games that I enjoy under Linux. There are lots more (admittedly, some of lower quality) available at the SDL Games Page and the Linux Games Tome.

    Linux games usually take a bit more (okay, often a lot :-) ) more effort to set up properly. But they're often very customizable, you can actually have an impact on the game design ("This game needs feature X"), and you don't have to leave the comfortable environs of Linux. And the environment is getting better, not worse.

  49. Curses! by jonadab · · Score: 1 · on What (And Where) Are The Classic Free Games?

    I think my favourite free-as-in-zero-dollars computer game of all time is Curses. This game will keep you up late at night and get you up at all hours of the morning. Eventually you'll find yourself searching google groups (rec.games.int-fiction) for solutions to some of the trickier bits. (Like that %$#! flashlight battery hidden right under your nose where you can't get it without the [spoiler ommitted].)

    You'll also need a z-machine to play it. For the classic MacOS, the obvious choice is MaxZip, though there are of course numerous others.

    OS X can probably run frotz (though you may have to compile it). Anyway, whatever platform you need it for, you should be able to find something here. They've got z-machines for everything, including certain brands of pocket toasters, or so it seems. (The z-machine was originally developed for Zork.)

  50. Curses! by jonadab · · Score: 1 · on What (And Where) Are The Classic Free Games?

    I think my favourite free-as-in-zero-dollars computer game of all time is Curses. This game will keep you up late at night and get you up at all hours of the morning. Eventually you'll find yourself searching google groups (rec.games.int-fiction) for solutions to some of the trickier bits. (Like that %$#! flashlight battery hidden right under your nose where you can't get it without the [spoiler ommitted].)

    You'll also need a z-machine to play it. For the classic MacOS, the obvious choice is MaxZip, though there are of course numerous others.

    OS X can probably run frotz (though you may have to compile it). Anyway, whatever platform you need it for, you should be able to find something here. They've got z-machines for everything, including certain brands of pocket toasters, or so it seems. (The z-machine was originally developed for Zork.)