Interactive Fiction: New Stuff
While going through some student work, I've also been made aware that the winners of IF 2008 have been announced and have tried to at least take a couple steps around in each.
One thing I'm noticing is that either I'm still lousy at IF, or I've just no patience for guessing games. When I ask to "x table" and I get "I see no such thing" after it specifically mentioned a table, I'm outta there. I still remember my frustration with Photopia trying to get out of a room and realized that I didn't know enough to "fly" though I did resort to "cry."
I think that with experience of playing comes a more adept manner of playing and a better vocabulary at the ready. After the holidays, I usually take some time to relax and explore areas that I never seem to have time to put the effort into. IF will be on the January agenda.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology
November 17th, 2008 at 7:40 am
We’re in the same boat here. I’m not a legal pad and pencil kind of writer, but some of the formats now are harder work than I’m willing to invest-on either end, as creator or consumer.
November 17th, 2008 at 8:48 am
I’ve been trying to revive the ecstasy of those early days with Photopia and moving on to others, but the walls of “I don’t recognize..” and “I don’t see…” and such are getting tired.
Timewise, I’m a slow and thoughtful reader through linear story; IF and hypertext either need to be mastered or discarded in my creative mind.
November 17th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
The issue with IF is that if something isn’t working for you as a reader (i.e. you can’t refer to something that’s plainly there), you usually can’t get to a part you might potentially like. With a linear text (and to a lesser degree, hypertext) you can skim over a passage you’re not really into, or even just skip ahead.
To me, that’s a weakness of the medium, not a reflection on its readers.