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Interactive Fiction Competition Enters Its Third Decade (thenewstack.io)

Posted by samzenpus on from the which-way-do-you-turn? dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Voting is concluding this week for the 21st Annual Interactive Fiction Competition. All the games are available free online, and on November 15th the contest's organizers will announce the game that's received the highest average ratings. "This year's contestants entered 55 original text adventures – a new record," notes one technology blog, which argues that the annual competition provides a link to the history of both gaming and computers. New game-creating tools have "democratized" the field, and the contest may also ultimately lead game creators to explore even more forms of digital media.

30 comments

  1. *** You have missed the point entirely. *** by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Speak gently, she can hear the daisies grow.

  2. So what are the best tools? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I've looked at a few, but maybe somebody here can give me some more informed opinions.

    1. Re:So what are the best tools? by phantomfive · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I played "Five Minutes to Burn" for a while, and reminded me of everything I don't like about interactive fiction. Commands that don't quite work right, needing to build up a map in your head based entirely on "N, S, E, W," (easier to draw the map on paper, for bigger worlds), and lots of text that hides important points (seriously, who needs to look at a magnet to figure out how to start a fire?)

      "Cape" was a more intuitive presentation, where your options are always obvious. The options were good enough that I made it through to the end of one story. I don't think your choices make much difference to where you end up though, it's mostly a click-through story. Worth a read.

      "Laid off from a Synesthesia Factory" has an interesting premise, but has too many words, and the words don't always make sense. For example, this sentence: "the kitchen is like all kitchens are; the shelves, you are certain, were literally cubicles once." A kitchen with cubicle shelves is not like all kitchens are. A little buggy because the "help" command completely ruins everything. Maybe that's on purpose. It's never clear if a particular command had effect or not.

      "Midnight Swordfight." Interesting concept. It is helpful because it tells you what commands can be used at any given point. Unhelpful because not only can you travel through time in the forward and backward direction, also clockwise and counter-clockwise. I didn't want to break out paper to draw a map, so I gave up.

      Not sure what other of the games might be good.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    2. Re:So what are the best tools? by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      "The Duel" is good too. You can use the browser back-button to fix bad options (and solve the puzzle without going through so many redundant options).

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  3. Unbeatable by chipschap · · Score: 1

    Still hard to match the good, well-written and imaginative text games. They play on all sorts of platforms, demand very little resources, and often provide great entertainment and challenge. Some of them are really thought-provoking.

    Also keep in mind that most of them are free (or very inexpensive) and can be produced by a single talented person. The quality of tools has steadily improved (look at Inform 7, for instance). You don't have to be a mega-studio to produce a quality text game.

    1. Re:Unbeatable by The+Fat+Bastid · · Score: 1

      I can't stand Inform 7. I tried it when it first came out. Seemed like a huge breakthrough but sheer level of pointless verbosity really made it inviable for me. For example, the last thing I tried doing was adding an extension. When you include it you have to type out the full name and even "by ". One of the many wastes of time! This was a long time ago when it first came out, I can not speak for it now. Is it any better?

    2. Re:Unbeatable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Inform 7 is frustatingly limited by targeting the Z-machine: for instance it doesn't allow you to create object at runtime, if you wish something to appear, you have to have it ready at compiletime in some unaccessible room.

      It also believes you want to use the standard header, which is a hassle if you want your game to be a bit less of a first-person dungeon-crawler.

    3. Re:Unbeatable by BasilBrush · · Score: 1

      The point of Inform 7 is to make writing IF accessible to writers who are not programmers. At it's best, describing the geography, fixtures and objects, it lets the game maker think in a far more literary way about the world she's creating. By contrast constructing a list of interlinked data-structures can exercise the logical brain whilst turning off the creative one.

      If you're more a programmer than a writer, then Inform 6 probably is more comfortable. But hey, Inform 6 didn't go away. It's still there in the Inform 7 IDE. And there's all the other tools such as the Skein that makes the Inform 7 IDE such a massive step forward on the old text-editor approach.

      I quite like their concept of credit where credit is due with extensions. Too often the public domain world is full of takers that don't even recognise the work that others have put in. If you resent having to type the name of the author of an extension, once per game you use it in, then it's fair to say you don't deserve the gift you've been given.

      It's fair to say that Graham Nelson and friends did a fantastic job on Inform 7. They are due enormous credit.

  4. "Interactive Fiction", eh? by jeffb+(2.718) · · Score: 5, Funny

    So that's what they're calling the campaign Twitter feeds these days...

    1. Re:"Interactive Fiction", eh? by goose-incarnated · · Score: 1

      So that's what they're calling the campaign Twitter feeds these days...

      Got another one:

      Q: Do you know what they call IF that is at least slightly fun or entertaining?
      A: A Game

      ;-)

      --
      I'm a minority race. Save your vitriol for white people.
  5. Halloween Interactive Fiction by Feneric · · Score: 1

    The 18th Annual Halloween Ghost Story Contest on Saugus.net was just held too and had a winning interactive fiction entry. It's also been accepting horror interactive fiction entries for years.

    1. Re:Halloween Interactive Fiction by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, a winner, and also the only entry that was sent in. How shocking.

      I should create an interactive fiction story about driving through Saugus, that's enough to terrify anyone.

  6. no MUDs entered? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Are multi-user interactive fiction works completely ignored in this contest or can't they enter?

    I know the writing at telnet://discworld.starturtle.net often had me in stitches back in the day, wonder if they're still up.

    1. Re:no MUDs entered? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, you see, the problem with MUDs is that the author doesn't have complete creative control. Some upstart mage might create a backstory involving Kobolds killing his family. The author won't be able to create the SJW FEEL GUILTY for the mage for hating those poor oppressed trans Kobolds.

    2. Re:no MUDs entered? by halivar · · Score: 1

      The quality of IF in these contests pretty much blows any MUD I've played out of the water. This is really about storytelling, and a MUD has too much of the MMO aspect to effectively tell a story. As an aside, a couple years back I gave top marks to an IF game with the most atrocious spelling and grammar I have ever seen, and bugs, to boot. But the story absolutely grabbed me; just fantastic. Most times, though, the winners are top-notch writers. It's like you're part of a really well-written novel.

    3. Re:no MUDs entered? by chispito · · Score: 1

      It's like you're part of a really well-written novel.

      Isn't it more like a short story? I was under the impression that long form IF is too much for the judges to get through.

      --
      The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
    4. Re:no MUDs entered? by halivar · · Score: 1

      Yes, you're correct. The limit for IFComp is 2 hours of game-play. It can be longer, but only the first two hours can be played before judging (this is on the honor system; I confess to breaking this rule a couple times for exceptional entries).

  7. Which is it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Unbeatable, or hard to match?

    Also keep in mind that most of them are produced by a single untalented person. The quality of tools has created even more crutches for those who lack basic skills to pollute the field with their attempt at being "innovative" (look at what mental handicaps one must have toward programming to consider a language like, for instance, Inform 7).

    1. Re:Which is it? by halivar · · Score: 1

      Inform 7 is needed because, as it turns out, real programmers (/raise hand) write shitty IF. So now actual writers are giving it a go, and are doing considerably better, IMHO.

    2. Re:Which is it? by chipschap · · Score: 1

      Why don't you go back to playing GTA or something suitable for you.

    3. Re:Which is it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Unbeatable, or hard to match?

      Also keep in mind that most of them are produced by a single untalented person. The quality of tools has created even more crutches for those who lack basic skills to pollute the field with their attempt at being "innovative" (look at what mental handicaps one must have toward programming to consider a language like, for instance, Inform 7).

      This is true. Moreover, I'll see your "90% of these games are crap" and raise you a "90% of video games (including the AAA titles) are crap" and even go so far as to say "90% of everything is crap." People have been noting and complaining about Sturgeon's Law since the beginnings of Science Fiction (and probably long before that).

      I'll also say that I see no problem with a good fiction writer who has no idea any "basic skills" in programming. They should know narrative pacing, evocative language, dynamic characterization, compelling plots, and other literary tools. I would value a good writer who could program just as much as a kernel programmer who knew about scenes and sequels; they are a more well-rounded person who is that much interesting, but those cross-skills are not really useful for their work in any substantial sense.

  8. Contradictory detail by Okian+Warrior · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Still hard to match the good, well-written and imaginative text games.

    I think the lack of visual detail is what makes these games good.

    I was surprised that the radio play version of "Hitchhiker's Guide" was so much better than the TV series, and surmised that it was because the radio play left the visuals to the imagination of the listener. I read an analysis of the "Twilight" vampire novels which noted that the novel gives very little detail about the narrator (Bella, in first-person), while other characters are described in detail. That meant that any teen reader could imagine herself as Bella having those experiences - there's no detail that would contradict the reader from making that association.

    (For comparison, consider the Thomas Covenant series, where the main character has leprosy and a defeatist attitude. Admittedly different, but also very hard to identify with.)

    I think the adventure games make good use of that. Instead of giving a complete picture of a house, as might be shown in a modern high-end video game, they have a few words of house description, and the reader is left to fill in the details.

    It also helps if the words can lead the viewer to the conclusion intended by the writer. For example, the text adventure can say "the creepy-looking house" while the video game has to supply an artistic rendition of a house that might or might not look creepy. And if the viewer doesn't understand that the house looks creepy, there's no recourse in the video game.

    H.P. Lovecraft once said that the biggest fear is the fear of the unknown. The underlying reason might be that *anything* is more intense given scant information, because with no contradictory detail your mind is free to fill in the gaps with whatever is most intense.

    1. Re:Contradictory detail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Fun fact: The radio play was actually the original version of Hitchhiker's.

    2. Re:Contradictory detail by SB2020 · · Score: 1

      The HHGTTG Text adventure > http://www.bbc.co.uk/programme...

  9. Photopia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I still remember Photopia from the late 90s as a kid, - no other piece of work has had the impact of "DON'T DRINK AND DRIVE" more so than that game. Utterly amazing and had me in tears.

  10. Interactive fiction -- that's stuff like... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...Katawa Shoujo, right?

    1. Re:Interactive fiction -- that's stuff like... by Falos · · Score: 1

      Wikipedia dates CYOAs to 1976, but yes.

  11. Re: Real World Definition by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sjw types aren't in this for cred. They are just tourist trying to suppress beta males