Well, it didn’t take long for me to fall right back into character with this–and I had to search the net to find the WinFrotz Interpreter to download.
I love IF, because it’s just so me. I am in my element here, but it’s just so much more obvious when you’re stuck on one blue screen that keeps telling you something like, "That verb doesn’t seem to be part of your API" — in other words, in responding to my typed instructions to move along in the story, the program and I don’t speak the same language. Precisely like my dealings in the real world.
In the meantime, there is a hurried pace picking up as the pager I’m trying to turn off is buzzing, vibrating, and threatening my sanity.
THE PAGER IT HURTS US!
Where, oh where did I put that list of words to use in IF play? I try more words–even "cry"–though it’s never worked before.
The pager’s buzzing and vibration seems to have set up a sort of resonance in your body, which reacts like the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.
I’m getting panicky now; I recognize the warning signs from previous excursions into IF as well as life. Think! Think!
*** So it goes ***On the last day of your working life you accomplished 0 of the 0 tasks assigned you.
Interactive Fiction, especially in this format (although I have the same luck with my methods in gaming (Silent Hill 2, for example), is just made for me–though I strongly doubt the creators would at first agree. I do not take the direct route; I do not follow directions; I meander and look under rocks while walking into walls–just not what the superplayer might be expected to do. But then again, what fun is it to race through these stories picking up every treasure and come out with the maiden swooning at your expert sense of direction and memory each time. Hell, the games last about an hour that way.
No, I’d be the perfect beta tester. I will come up with thirty wrong words for every single obvious one to make the thing work. I’d be a source of valuable information and a helluva lot of fun to watch playing if these writers would consider me as a guinea pig. I’ll bet that IF would take on a whole new life if the games could last a week or two instead of a couple hours of gameplay, and the boredom for many with this form of reading/playing would be eliminated.
(Book and Volume, Copyright, Nick Montfort, may be downloaded here: Book and Volume
WinFrotz, which is needed to run the game can be downloaded here: Win Frotz v.5.3
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology