Adventure Story Game for iPod Released

XO Play writes "XO Play today released an adventure story game for the iPod called 'The Rise Of The Lost,' puts you in the role of Sir Jacob Zaviour. Your mission is to travel through lands and fight the evil Wizard Sazque. As you read through the adventure you will be asked to choose your destiny by selecting from a number of options found at the bottom of the page, similar to the 'choose-your-own-adventure' series. The game costs $9.99 is played via the Notes section of your iPod." It wouldn't take too much to write a generator for such games, as Notes uses small text files with HTML tags for links, as long as you had the data to do it with.

Comments

Wait a second...

[andfarm]

If I read this correctly, this "game" is just a bunch of cross-linked text pages. Ten dollars for this is a rip-off -- there's no non-deterministic play (same thing happens every time if you make the same decisions), no "memory" (the only source of state is the current position -- there's no way to implement an inventory!).

Frankly, I'm rather unimpressed -- the probable quality of the game is VERY low.

Re:Wait a second...

[cei]

Actually, it was a guy from England named Steve Jackson, who was no relation to Steve Jackson Games.

Too many Jacksons, too little media coverage.

Re:Wait a second...

[Trurl's Machine]

If I read this correctly, this "game" is just a bunch of cross-linked text pages. Ten dollars for this is a rip-off -- there's no non-deterministic play (same thing happens every time if you make the same decisions),

I don't remember the box price of the classic Level 9 games in 1980's - I was a teenager then, so my father was paying for my computer games - but they were also text-only and strictly deterministic. And I think they were worth no less than modern video games I buy for my kids today...

Re:Wait a second...

[localman]

Wow -- you've obviously never read a choose-your-own-adventure book. Those are a blast. We're talking printed paper here: now that is simple and deterministic.

Also, I don't imagine that writing a good choose-your-own-adventure is easy. I don't know if this one is actually good, but for the sake of argument... it's like writing a book, but with the twist of exploring a wider set of plot possibilities.

A friend of mine wrote a wacky online choose-your-own-adventure that was quite popular back when the web was young. If you're a bit freaky the game is a real blast. I happen to know he spent months and months on it. There is no reason to think that 10 dollars for a well-thought-out game of this type would be a rip off.

And the idea that deterministic entertainment is inferior is kinda nuts -- nearly all entertainment (books, movies, music) is deterministic. You might want to give games like this a chance before trashing them.

Cheers.

(Sorry 'bout the double post, but Slashdot made me anonymous for some reason?)

Re:Wait a second...

[localman]

Anyway, why would I want to play a game of this sort on my iPod? ... If I wanted choose-your-adventure, I'd pick up one of those books

Well, if we assume that the iPod one is well written, you might choose it since that's the only medium it's available in. It's not like all the choose-your-own-adventures are interchangable :)

Just like I still boot up my crappy PC to play CounterStrike even though I'd much rather use my Mac :)

But you're right that it would be fairly clunky. I guess I'm thinking that choose-your-own-adventures are a somewhat immersive experience (relative to solitaire, breakout, etc), and having it on a tiny portable device might be kinda cool. That's all.

Cheers.

Great

[Anonymous Coward]

Does this mean future 3rd party iPod games? I'm definately hoping for more!

-Teh Pimp

Re:Great

[martingunnarsson]

There might be more to come, but if they are limited to use the notes function in the iPod, don't expect anything fancy.
If Apple provided an easy way of executing programs from the harddrive and a nice specification of the iPod API, then we'd probably se lots of small games. I wonder if that's ever gonna happen.

Ever Since I Read This, All I Can Think Of...

[TheWanderingHermit]

Now that I've seen this, over and over in my head I keep hearing the same line:

"You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike."

Re:Ever Since I Read This, All I Can Think Of...

[CeramicNuts]

Turn to page 42

Re:Ever Since I Read This, All I Can Think Of...

[Benley]

You're not the first person to think that. At MacHack last year, one of the Apple guys on the iPod development team actually implemented that for the notes reader (I can't remember the guy's name, sadly. He was the guy who wrote the notes reader app)

I can't play Doom on my iPOD?

[parksgm]

Cry me a river...really. Who in their right mind would turn their nose up at the quality of a game on an iPod, which is market primarily as a MUSIC PLAYER?!?

If you want to play games while you walk around, go get a GameBoy Advance, download games to your cell phone, or strap a 12 volt lantern battery on that old PlayStation of yours and get to it. Otherwise, remember that text based games did entertain quite a few people back in the day, and probably can provide entertainment value even in these days of 4GB portable music players.

Just because you can't get 85 FPS doesn't mean there is no entertainment value. If you'll recall, the Mona Lisa, which is only ONE FRAME, has been going strong for quite a while now.

Sheesh.

Re:I can't play Doom on my iPOD?

[p4ul13]

Besides; the iPod has solitaire, which is arguably the only game anybody will ever need.

Re:I can't play Doom on my iPOD?

[parksgm]

Wow...I get modded as a troll for posting a critique of an unfair comment against an innocent little iPod game that only wants to entertain and make people happy.

Did I mention I also own and like the iPod (in fact, I bought the mini on Friday night)? From that mod, you'd think I was employed by Microsoft.

Re:I can't play Doom on my iPOD?

[nege]

I agree...but more importantly, why would you pay 9.99 for a new text game, when you could go and probably find one of those old text games (hhgttg!) and convert them? And a couple people probably will, and when they do, you can probably just download them for free if you dont feel like doing it yourself! :)

Re:I can't play Doom on my iPOD?

[damiam]

No one is turning up their noses, but it'd be nice if we could do more. As evidenced by Solitaire, Brick, and Parachute, the iPod is capable of decent graphical games (and other apps), and it'd be nice if Apple would release an SDK allowing their development. Maybe iPod Linux will get there at some point...

Re:I can't play Doom on my iPOD?

[Anonymous Coward]

I agree...but more importantly, why would you pay 9.99 for a new text game, when you could go and probably find one of those old text games (hhgttg!) and convert them?

I agree. And why would anybody buy new music when they can just listen to music that's already around? And why go to see new movies when there are plenty that have already been made? And don't get me started about books...

Re:I can't play Doom on my iPOD?

[kimota]

>Just because you can't get 85 FPS doesn't mean there is no entertainment value. If you'll recall, the Mona Lisa, which is only ONE FRAME, has been going strong for quite a while now.

And while it might only be one frame, the resolution is *bitchin'*!

--Kimota!

get creative, and also technical docs

[morcheeba]

You could creatively overcome these limitations...
- To generate "random" numbers, you could have 10 "links" to each page spaced closely together - (for example every letter of the words "go north" leads to a different outcome). The user would pick one. This is defeatable, of course, but if the result is delayed a bit (you die in the room after the next), it would be hard to track. The links could also be shuffled every time you resync.

- you can encode inventory with lots of copies of each page. For example, file "Room001-0010" means you have object 2, while "Room001-0110" means you've got objects 2 and 4 (couting in binary here). Sure, it's wasteful, but if you've got 40 freakin' gigs, it's possible. Also, different stages of the game could use different objects, and you could have the user trade them in when they reach a certain stage. Once you've killed the dragon, your sword gets stuck in his gut.

Just give it time, and someone will write a script to port Zork ;-)

Get the whole tech specs for the notes format here. You can link to music, so this adventure could be quite entertaining.

Re:get creative, and also technical docs

[andfarm]

Your random number idea is interesting. However, the inventory idea wouldn't work for any but the simplest games -- you see, not only should a user be able to pick up objects, but also drop them in various locations. Even not considering this, let's say you want a game with, say, 32 objects. Not taking "can't happen" situations into consideration, you'd have to make 2**32 = four billion (!!) variations of each possible spatial situation. Youch.

Given these limitations, porting Zork to this format would be well nigh impossible, even with a 40GB drive: by my conservative estimate, Zork has 100 rooms, 30 objects, and another 10 or so other states (gates opened, dragons slain, etc.) This would necessitate some 109 trillion files (2**10 [for states] * 2**30 [for rooms] * 100 [player rooms]), NOT allowing for object movement, which (at perhaps 500 bytes each) would take up about 48 petabytes (50,000 TB). With object movement allowed, this would grow to quantities not representable with current notation -- call it about 2**224 bytes. (2**10 [for states] * (100 rooms ** 30 objects) * 100 rooms [for player]) Perhaps with some future technology (indistinguishable from magic), but not anytime soon.

(Combinatorics are fun!)

Re:See?

[47Ronin]

I know the parent was a troll, but just to list some of the games available for Mac.. there are a few thousand and a growing many are simultaneously released for both PC and Mac, including Halo: Combat Evolved, SimCity 4, The Sims (and sequels), Command & Conquer: Generals, Age of Empires II, Northland, Activision Anthology, Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc, ToySight, Championship Manager 03/04, Wakeboarding Unleashed, Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness.

Apple's own small list of SOME of these games at this link includes, but is not limited to: 3D Hearts Deluxe, 3D Spades Deluxe, 4x4 EVO 2, A-OK! The Wings of Mercury, Active Lancer, Activision Anthology [NEW], Age of Empires II: Gold, Age of Mythology, Airburst, Alchemy, Alias Underground, Aliens vs. Predator 2, Aliens vs. Predator Gold**, American McGee's Alice, America's Army, Androkids, Another War, Arcane Arena, Argonaut, ARR!, Arthur's 1st Grade, Avalanche, Avernum 3, BabelBloX, Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn, Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal, Bejeweled, The Belt, Big Money Deluxe, Billy Frontier, Birdie Shoot, Black & White, Black & White: Creature Isle, BloodRayne, BombSquad, Bongo Boogie, Bubble Trouble X, Bugdom 2, Burning Monkey Casino, Burning Monkey Mahjong Solitaire, Burning Monkey Solitaire 3, Burst, Candy Cruncher, Captain Bumper, Chainz, Championship Manager 01-02, Championship Manager 4, Civilization III - Game of the Year Edition, Clive Barker's Undying, Coldstone, Command & Conquer Generals, Cosmic Encounter Online, Cro-Mag Rally, CrossCards, CyberExtruder, Deimos Rising, Diablo II*, Dominions - Priests, Prophets & Pretenders, Doulber Gold, Dragon's Lair 3D, Drip Drop, Dungeon Siege, Earth 2140, Enigma, Enigmo, Episilon Tahari, Equilibria, Escape Velocity: Nova, Europa Universalis II, EverQuest, F1 Championship Edition, Fallout, Fallout 2, The Feeble Files, Finding Nemo Games, Fly! II**, Forma, Freedom Force, Galactic Patrol, Geneforge, Geneforge 2, Germs, Ghost Master, Ghost Recon: Game of the Year Edition, Giants: Citizen Kabuto**, GLTron, Gorky 17, Green Machine, Grizzly Adventure, Gutterball, Halo: Combat Evolved, Harpoon 3, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Heavy Metal F.A.K.K.2*, Helix, Heroes of Might and Magic IV, High Roller, Icewind Dale**, iConquer, Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb, iPuppets Presents: Colin's Classic Cards, James Bond 007: Nightfire, Jeopardy! 2, Jinni Zeala, Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer, Kick Off 2002, Kiki the Nano Bot, Knights and Merchants*, Law & Order: Dead on the Money, Legion, Lineage, Links Championship Edition, Lua Lua, MacPuyo 2, Marble Blast Gold, Master of Orion III, Max Payne, Maximum Pool*, Maya Personal Learning Edition, Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, Medal of Honor: Spearhead, Mind Rover, Monster's Inc. Games, Mummy Maze Deluxe, Mutant Storm, Myst III: Exile*, Myth II: Soulblighter, Myth III: The Wolf Age, NASCAR 2002, NASCAR 2003, Neverwinter Nights, Nickelodeon Jigsaw!, NingPo MahJong, NoLimits Rollercoaster Simulation, No One Lives Forever, No One Lives Forever 2, Oni*, Only Mortal, Orbz, Otto Matic, Owari, Payback, Pillars of Garendall, Player Manager 2003, Pocket Tanks, Ponere, pop-pop, Power Chips, QBz, Quake*, Quake II*, Quake III: Gold*, Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield, Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc [NEW], realMYST, Red Faction*, Republic: The Revolution [NEW], Return to Castle Wolfenstein, RHEM, Sacrifice, Scramble, Second Life, Seven Seas Deluxe, Shadowbane, Shadowbane: The Rise of Chaos [NEW], Sheep*, Sim Theme Park*, SimCity 4, SimCity 4: Rush Hour [NEW], Simon Extreme, Simon the Sorcerer II*, The Sims*, The Sims: Hot Date, The Sims: House Party*, The Sims: Livin' Large*, The Sims: Makin' Magic, The Sims: Superstar, The Sims: Unleashed, The Sims: Vacation, Sin Gold*, Slope Rider, Slots from Bally Gaming, Snowball Run, Solace, Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix, Solitaire Till Dawn X, Spelvin, Spider-Man, Spin Crisis, SpyHunter, Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force, Star Trek: Elite Force II, Star

But how do you quit?

[ZackSchil]

I tried making a similar game a while back. Mine was text and ASCII "art" based though (mostly used for maps but there were other graphics). I got pretty far into making the game before losing interest but I always had one problem. After you navigate about 300 pages, there is no way to get back to the iPod's main features without hitting back 300 times! How did these folks solve the problem? Do you have to reboot the iPod every time you get bored with the game? How do you save your game? (I used an ingenuous little trick for entering 4 digit level checkpoint passcodes)

Re:But how do you quit?

[ZackSchil]

I figure I'll karma whore and explain my system for passcodes. When you reached a certain part of the game, you'd write down the passcode it gave you on a sheet of paper, then reboot your iPod (to go listen to music or whatever). The next time you opened the game, on the first screen there would be an option to enter in your passcode. Clicking on it brought you to a screen that looked like this:

1 - - -
2
3
4
5

1 through 5 being links. Each number, say, 4, would lead to a document inside the folder named after it with that number, containing another file that said:

4 - - -
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5

It would go on like that until the last number, of which each contained its own file. For invalid numbers, it would say "Invalid Passcode" with a link back to the title screen. Valid passcodes linked to whatever state and location the game was in when you read off the code.

I guess it might be fitting to discuss the method I used for my game. Each time you decided to perform an action, you'd be linked to a different world state (or folder). That way you could actually interact with the game even though the notes feature does not have access to anything more than basic HTML (no scripting at all). Luckily, most world states were only a few files large because the action would usually trigger a puzzle that wouldn't allow you to leave a room. One of the biggest troubles was just keeping all the wold states straight amongst what grew to literally hundreds of thousands of files. If you broke a vase in your house in the game and were allowed to leave, a whole "broken vase" world had to be created. Every single text file for the game had to be duplicated and scrubbed through by a script to make sure that the game "remembered you had broken the vase. This is the main reason why I gave up on the game. Every insignificant event that wasn't self-correcting had to have its own world branch in which that task was completed! Oh, if only for some basic, basic scripting. Or perhaps a game making tool that simulated scripting by allowing me to program with it, then generated all of the event branches and HTML files for me. Then, I'd make a game. A good one. Hell, maybe I'll write the tool! Some day. Alas, for enough free time...

Re:But how do you quit?

[Triv]

here was a text-based game format called SPAM (just try and google that now.)

I love a good google challenge

*grin*

Triv

MESE: Already done.

[ahknight]

As far as a program that uses text files and makes a CYOA thing, that's already done: Multiple Endings Story Engine

Works great. :) No one's seemed interested so it's not seen many updates, but works great the way it is. If someone wants to write some up I'll happily host them. It's real simple to write. I almost made an editor for it as well, which would be rather simple, too.

3rd Generation Only

[metalligoth]

Before you mod me down for whining about not having a new feature on my old device, let me tell you that is not the intent of this post.

The linked notes (which the game relies on), as far as I know, only work on 3G iPods and the miniPod. I couldn't find anything on the game's website that stated this.

I imagine a lot of not-ultra-techie Mac/Win users might get pissed off if they download the game for their 2G or 1G iPod and it doesn't work. Just a thought.

I need an iPod now

[DavidLeblond]

I can finally catch that damn Wumpus on the go!!!

Deterministic != Bad

[OECD]

All good points, but it assumes "deterministic" is a bad thing.

One of the pleasures of gaming is figuring out the worldview of the game designers. With more open-ended games, like RPGs, you can profitably read the rules. I have several games I've never played, but studied the rules like they were Holy Writ.

The interesting thing about page-linked games (like the old text-adventure novels) is that you have to play it through several times to 'get' what the designer thinks is good/bad behavior. "Should I fight the first chance I get, or try not to fight?" It's the urge to understand the system that underlies true hacking.

Heck, if Zork gets ported to the iPod, I might buy one. That or they aquire a radio tuner.

Re:Deterministic != Bad

[TheRaven64]

Heck, if Zork gets ported to the iPod, I might buy one. That or they aquire a radio tuner.

I think Zork would be completely unplayable on an iPod. Either you'd have to create a version which listed all possible options from a room (which would take a lot of the fun away), or you'd have to let people enter words by selecting each letter from a list (which would be painful). Many years ago, I had an INFOCOM interpreter for the Psion Series 3, which was a lot of run, in spite of the fact that it only had enough memory to store one game at a time...

I was interested until...

[JANYAtty.]

I dont have an Ipod but I thought this sounded neat when I started reading the article. Then I got to the punchline- its a text based game. I really thought it would be multimedia- hear an audio file, a text description and maybe a low res graphic. "You enter a room, theres a growling sound from the corridor you just came from. which way do you go" {Hear growling and scrapeing sound} [see graphic of small section of map- use dircetional pad to choose direction.] you get the idea.

evolution of the iPod

[chia_monkey]

This doesn't surprise me as much as it seems to surprise other people. Look at how the iPod started...as a simple mp3 player. Then you could take notes on it. Then you could keep your addresses in there. Now you can download MapQuest directions, take audio notes on it, store pictures. When Apple sees people doing things for their iPod (such as Windows users finding hacks so they too can use them...Apple said "hm...ok...we'll make them available for Windows too"), they see if it's viable and if so, they go for it. I don't for one second believe the iPod is done with its evolutionary process.

Two words...

[bennomatic]

"Hello Sailor!"

I spent two weeks locked in a dark room with Zork III. Worse than crack, those old Infocom games. Too bad that, without a keyboard, you really couldn't replicate the gameplay of those on an iPod.

Anyone interested in developing same for the Handspring Treo 600?

Ask and thou shalt receive...

[NaugaHunter]

Does that Handspring still use Palm OS?

Here you go.

It has a couple of interpreters, and if you hop around it has the games. I just refinished Hitchhikers and am working through Planetfall.

Note - there are other Frotz's around, though I got the OS X one through Fink. Using Terminal really brings out the throw-back experience if you set the background to black and get some neon green for the letters. Though I am 'cheating' with a larger than 80*24 screen for legibility. :)