Review: The Meteor, the Stone and a Long Glass of Sherbet

The Meteor, the Stone and a Long Glass of Sherbet (home)
by Graham Nelson, 1996 (Inform)
First Place, IF Comp 1996

Summary:
An early puzzler and tribute to Zork, marred by patchy descriptions and clunky parser mechanics.

What worked:

• A comprehensive hint system -- helpful if only for matching up your intentions with a formulation that the parser will accept.
  
• The story elements (although strictly secondary) make for good reading.
  

What didn't work:

• Consistently difficult parser, perhaps typical of an early inform game.
  
• You can't look under something, but you can move it to the same effect. You cant pour a liquid on something, but you can throw it at the same target.
• Working out the proper syntax for tying and untying a rope to various objects is a chore.
• Look at arrow: "Do you mean the arrow or the arrow?"
  
• Exposed inform mechanics:
  
• Want to stand on something? You learn you can't "enter" it.
  
• Trying to interact with a particular animal -- say showing it or giving it something -- yields the message that it's not "animate."
  
• Trying to cast an unmemorized spell yields the unhelpful message: "You can't see any such thing."
• Is something giving off light? You'll have to pick it up and check your inventory to know for sure.
• Many bits of scenery do not offer themselves up for further examination or interactions. Even gimmes like a chair: "sit on chair" -> "That's not something you need to refer to in the course of the game."

Spoiler notes: (highlight to read)

• The egg-hatching puzzle provides perhaps the most frustrating round of guess-the-verb, since the "burrow" or "hole" does not exist to the parser, and you end up having to push the egg "north". How unlike the ladder, which cannot be put "down" from the tree, but has to be put on the "floor" (and not the "ground").
• The calibrated swivel mounting, which has no description, but which you are required to attach a scroll to in order to win the game -- is infuriating. Until I peeked at the hints, I assumed it was mounting the anvil.

Review: Spider and Web

Spider and Web (home)
by Andrew Plotkin, 1998 (Inform)
Best Game/Best Puzzles, XYZZY 1998

Summary:
A twisted masterpiece

What worked:

• Lively story, and an excellent NPC.
• Difficult, innovative puzzles.
  
• A "use of medium" worthy of Infocom's finest hours.
  

What didn't work:

• Occasional parser pain: Trying to look inside a desk yields the unhelpful message that there is nothing on the desk. Trying to repair a broken device yields a missing verb, and trying to fix it yields a synonym: What would you like to attach it to? There were a few other cases like these.
  

Spoiler notes: (highlight to read)

• This game applies the concept of the "unreliable narrator" in an altogther new way.
  

Review: I-0 (Interstate Zero)

I-0 (Interstate Zero) (home)
by Adam Cadre, 1997 (Inform)
Best Game/Best Individual PC, XYZZY 1997

Summary:
"Oh, there's a lot of opportunities, if you know when to take them..."

What worked:

• The entire game is structured for multiple solutions.
  
• A colorful player character.
  

What didn't work:

• It's so small.
• The puzzles were simple and rigid -- your efforts either resolved the matter, or were ignored. They seemed to exist mostly to differentiate one branch of the plot tree from another.
  

Spoiler notes: (highlight to read)

• The trunk and glove compartments of the vehicles in the game were not explicitly noted in the room descriptions -- but rummaging through them proved worthwhile.
  

Review: Metamorphoses

Metamorphoses (home)
by Emily Short, 2000 (Inform)
Second place, IF Comp 2000; Best Writing, XYZZY 2000

Summary:
Small, puzzle-driven, experimental

What worked:

• Toys! There are a number of devices in the game that take multiple inputs for a combinatorial explosion of results. It's good fun working these out.
  
• Many puzzles permit multiple solutions. Together with the "toys", this yields a game where I always had something more to try.
  
• Tight, vivid prose and a pleasing (though secondary) story.
  

What didn't work:

• Too often I stumbled into holes in the parser, e.g.:
  
• A game with a lock should understand the verb "pick". (Particularly if the character is equipped with an item that has been compared to a hairpin!)
  
• Shouldn't "earth" be a synonym for "ground" in an elemental-themed game?
  
• If I can see "frogs" (plural), shouldn't the parser understand what a a "frog" (singular) is?
• An item described as a sponge should be provided with some verb to allow it to soak up water.

Spoiler notes: (highlight to read)

• A "reluctance" puzzle: Overcoming your resistance to entering the dark crawlspace requires repeating a (refused) instruction several times.

A Provisional Canon, Pt. II

In the late 80s, just as the companies that introduced Interactive Fiction fell on hard times, non-professional communities of creators and fans began to coalesce around electronic forums on private, dial-up BBSes and large subscription services such as Compuserve. With the growth of the Internet, the disparate subculture consolidated around the Usenet news groups rec.arts.int-fiction and rec.games.int-fiction. Commercial offerings dwindled, but new authoring tools were brought to market and refined. By 1995, Interactive Fiction belonged to the amateurs.

Its far too early -- or at least I'm far too ignorant -- to seriously propose a "canon" for Second Wave games. However, you have to start somewhere, and these seemed like good bets. I'll check my math as I work through the list.

Essential authors are more readily identifiable; those who have won the most awards and followers include Michael J. Roberts, Graham Nelson, Andrew Plotkin, Adam Cadre, Ian Finley, Jon Ingold, Emily Short, Paul O'Brian, Robb Sherwin.

I have been wary to include titles for systems other than Inform/Glulx, TADS and Hugo. My impression (admittedly second-hand) is that the earlier authoring languages were parser-poor, and that most "homebrew parsers" have been found wanting. If you know of exceptions I have overlooked, please let me know.

Z-machine productions are slightly overrepresented here. This isn't intended as a judgment against the other authoring systems; rather, I have decided to focus my own (eventual) effort on Inform, so I am most interested to see what others have done with it.

And now, the envelope please...

1988
Michael J. Roberts introduces TADS
Deep Space Drifter (TADS) by Steve McAdams and Michael J. Roberts

1990
Ditch Day Drifter (TADS) by Michael J. Roberts

1991
t-zero (Shareware) by Dennis Cunningham
Cosmoserve (AGT) by Judith Pintar

1992
Volker Blasius opens IF archive

1993
Graham Nelson releases Inform as open source software
Curses! (Inform) by Graham Nelson
Perdition's Flames (TADS) by Michael J. Roberts
The Horror of Rylvania (TADS) by D.A. Leary
The Sound of One Hand Clapping (AdvSys) by Erica Badun

1994
G. Kevin Wilson founds SPAG
The Underoos that Ate New York (Inform) by G. Kevin Wilson
The Legend Lives! (TADS) by David Baggett

1995
First Annual IF Competition
A Change in the Weather (Inform, IFC pick) by Andrew Plotkin
Uncle Zebulon's Will (TADS, IFC pick) by Magnus Olsson
The Mind Electric (Inform, IFC pick) by Jason Dyer
Christminster (Inform) by Gareth Rees
Theatre (Inform) by Brendan Wyber
Jigsaw (Inform) by Graham Nelson
Lethe Flow Phoenix (TADS) by Dan Shiovitz

1996
"Crimes Against Mimesis" by Roger Giner-Sorolla; TADS is open-sourced
So Far (Inform, XYZZY pick) by Andrew Plotkin
The Meteor, The Stone, and a Long Glass of Sherbet (Inform, IFC pick) by Graham Nelson
Tapestry (Inform, IFC pick) by Dan Ravipinto
Delusions (Inform, IFC pick) by C.E. Forman
Small World (Inform) by Andrew D. Pontious
Lost New York (TADS) by Neil DeMause
Kissing the Buddha's Feet (TADS) by Leon Lin

1997
Liza Daly opens IFmud
I-O (Inform, XYZZY pick) by Adam Cadre
The Edifice (Inform, IFC pick) by Lucian P. Smith
Babel (TADS, IFC pick) by Ian Finley
Glowgrass (TADS, IFC pick) by Nate Cull
She's Got a Thing for Spring (Inform) by Brent VanFossen
A Bear's Night Out (Inform) by David Dyte
The Tempest (Inform) by Graham Nelson
The Lost Spellmaker (Inform) by Neil Brown
Sunset Over Savannah (TADS) by Ivan Cockrum
Shades of Grey (DOS) by Mark Baker et al

1998
Spider and Web (Inform, XYZZY pick) by Andrew Plotkin
Photopia (Inform, IFC pick) by Adam Cadre
Muse: An Autumn Romance (Inform, IFC pick) by Christopher Huang
The Plant (TADS, IFC pick) by Michael J. Roberts
Little Blue Men (Inform) by Michael Gentry
Anchorhead (Inform) by Michael Gentry
Losing Your Grip (TADS) by Stephen Granade
Bad Machine (TADS) by Dan Shiovitz
Once and Future (Commercial/Cascade Mountain Publishing) by G. Kevin Wilson

1999
Varicella (Inform, XYZZY pick) by Adam Cadre
Winter Wonderland (Inform, IFC pick) by Laura A. Knauth
For A Change (Inform, IFC pick) by Dan Schmidt
6 Stories (TADS, IFC pick) by N.K. Guy
Hunter, In Darkness (Inform) by Andrew Plotkin
9:05 (Inform) by Adam Cadre
Aisle (Inform) by Sam Barlow
The Mulldoon Legacy (Inform) by Jon Ingold
Exhibition (TADS) by Ian Finley
Worlds Apart (TADS) by Suzanne Britton
Non Sarà Un'Avventura (Inform/Italian, IT pick) by Roberto Barabino
Cosmic Adventure (Inform/Italian) by Davide Orlandi

2000
Kaged (TADS, IFC pick) by Ian Finley
Metamorphoses (Inform, IFC pick) by Emily Short
Being Andrew Plotkin (Inform, XYZZY/IFC pick) by J. Robinson Wheeler
Ad Verbum (Inform, IFC pick) by Nick Montfort
Rameses (Inform) by Stephen Bond
Shade (Inform) by Andrew Plotkin
Shrapnel (Inform) by Adam Cadre
The Best Man (Inform) by Rob Menke
The Djinni Chronicles (Inform) by J.D. Berry
Galatea (Inform) by Emily Short
Dangerous Curves (Inform) by Irene Callaci
Heroine's Mantle (Inform) by Andy Phillips
My Angel (Inform) by Jon Ingold
Rematch (TADS) by Andrew D. Pontious
Uno Zombie a Deadville (Inform/Italian, IT pick) Tommaso Caldarola

2001
All Roads (Inform, XYZZY/IFC pick) by Jon Ingold
Moments Out of Time (Inform, IFC pick) by L. Ross Raszewski
Heroes (Inform, IFC pick) by Sean Barrett
Vicious Cycles (Inform) by Simon Mark
The Gostak (Inform) by Carl Muckenhoupt
Pytho's Mask (Inform) by Emily Short
Textfire Golf (Inform) by Adam Cadre
Degeneracy (Inform) by Leonard Richardson
Best of Three (GLULX) by Emily Short
The Beetmonger's Journal (TADS) by Scott Starkey
First Things First (TADS) by J. Robinson Wheeler
No Time to Squeal (TADS) by Robb Sherwin and Mike Sousa
Fallacy of Dawn (HUGO) by Robb Sherwin
Enigma (Inform/Italian, IT pick) by Marco Vallarino
Flamel (Inform/Italian) by Francesco Cordella

2002
Savoir Faire (Inform, XYZZY pick) by Emily Short
Another Earth, Another Sky (GLULX, IFC pick) by Paul O'Brian
Till Death Makes A Monk-Fish Out of Me! (TADS, IFC pick) by Jon Ingold and Mike Sousa
Photograph (Inform, IFC pick) by Steve Evans
Janitor (Inform) by Kevin Lynn and Pete Seebach
The Moonlit Tower (Inform) by Yoon Ha Lee
Constraints (Inform) by Martin Bays
When Help Collides (Inform) by J.D. Berry
Lock & Key (GLULX) by Adam Cadre
1893: A World's Fair Mystery (TADS) by Peter Nepstad
The PK Girl (Adrift) by Robert Goodwin
La Pietra della Luna (Inform/Italian, IT pick) by Paolo Lucchesi
Timewarp (Italian) by Marco Saccone

2003
Slouching Toward Bedlam (Inform, XYZZY/IFC pick) by Daniel Ravipinto and Star Foster
Risorgimento Represso (Inform, IFC pick) by Michael J. Coyne
Scavenger (TADS, IFC pick) by Quintin Stone
Gourmet (Inform) by Aaron Reed
City of Secrets (GLULX) by Emily Short
The Recruit (TADS) by Mike Sousa
Shadows on the Mirror (TADS) by Chrysoula Tzavelas
Filaments (French, IT pick) by J.B. Ferrant
Warmage (Italian) by Giancarlo Niccolai

2004
Luminous Horizons (GLULX, IFC pick) by Paul O'Brian
Blue Chairs (Inform, IFC pick) by Chris Klimas
All Things Devours (Inform, IFC pick) by Toby Ord
Sting of the Wasp (Inform) by Jason Devlin
Gamlet (Inform) by Tomasz Pudlo
Dreamhold (Inform) by Andrew Plotkin
Return to Ditch Day (TADS) by Michael J. Roberts
Trading Punches (HUGO) by Mike Snyder
Necrotic Drift (HUGO) by Robb Sherwin
Dead Reckoning (Inform) by Andrés Viedma Peláez (trans. Nick Montfort)
La mort pour seul destin (French) by J.B. Ferrant

A Provisional Canon, Pt. I

Based on the reading I have done so far, I have collected a list of what seem to be the most esteemed and influential games. I will present the list in two parts (i.e. according the the First and Second "Wave" of IF) with a few historical notes where it seems worthwhile.

The First Wave of IF was characterized by a number of companies, so I have tried find representative works from each of them for this timeline.

1982
Zork III (Commercial/Infocom) by Marc Blank and Dave Lebling
Starcross (Commercial/Infocom) by Dave Lebling
Deadline (Commercial/Infocom) by Marc Blank

1983
Suspended (Commercial/Infocom) by Mike Berlyn
Enchanter (Commercial/Infocom) by Marc Blank and Dave Lebling
Snowball (Commercial/Level 9) by Mike/Nick/Pete Austin
Planetfall (Commercial/Infocom) by Steve Meretzky

1984
Mindwheel (Commercial/Synapse) by Robert Pinsky, Steve Hales and William Mataga
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Commercial/Infocom) by Douglas Adams and Steve Meretzky
Sorceror (Commercial/Infocom) by Steve Meretzky
Suspect (Commercial/Infocom) by Dave Lebling
Return to Eden (Commercial/Level 9) by Mike/Nick/Pete Austin

1985
A Mind Forever Voyaging (Commercial/Infocom) by Steve Meretzky
Spellbreaker (Commercial/Infocom) by Dave Lebling
The Worm in Paradise (Commercial/Level 9) by Mike/Nick/Pete Austin
Transylvania (Commercial/Penguin-Polarware, "Comprehend" edition) by Antonio Antiochia
Breakers (Commercial/Synapse) by Rod Smith and William Mataga

1986
Activision purchases Infocom
Trinity (Commercial/Infocom) by Brian Moriarty
Leather Goddess of Phobos (Commercial/Infocom) by Steve Meretzky
The Pawn (Commercial/Magnetic Scrolls) by Rob Steggles, Hugh Steers and Ken Gordon
Amnesia (Commercial/Electronic Arts) by Thomas M. Disch
Portal (Commercia/Activision) by Rob Swigart
Perry Mason: Case of the Mandarin (Commercial/Telarium) by Erle Gardner
Oo-Topos (Commercial/Penguin-Polarware) by Michael Berlyn

1987
Bureaucracy (Commercial/Infocom) by Douglas Adams
Border Zone (Commercial/Infocom) by Marc Blank
Stationfall (Commercial/Infocom) by Steve Meretzky
The Lurking Horror (Commercial/Infocom) by Dave Lebling
The Knight Orc (Commercial/Level 9) by Pete Austin
Guild of Thieves (Commercial/Magnetic Scrolls) by Rob Steggles
Jinxter (Commercial/Magnetic Scrolls) by Georgina Sinclair and Michael Bywater

1988
Mindfighter (Commercial/Abstract Concepts) by Anne Popkess and Fergus McNeill

1989
Collapse of Infocom
Scapeghost (Commercial/Level 9) by Pete Austin
Myth (Commercial/Magnetic Scrolls) by Paul Findley
James Clavell's Shogun (Commercial/Infocom) by Dave Lebling

1990
Arthur: The Quest for Excalibur (Commercial/Infocom) by Bob Bates
Time Quest (Commercial/Legend Entertainment) by Bob Bates

1991
Activision releases "The Lost Treasures of Infocom" compilation
Spellcasting 101: Sorceror Gets All The Girls (Commercial/Legend Entertainment) by Steve Meretzky

1992
Frederick Pohl's Gateway (Commercial/Legend Entertainment) by Mike Verdu and Glen Dahlgren
Wonderland (Commercial/Magnetic Scrolls) by David Bishop
Spellcasting 201: Sorceror's Apprentice (Commercial/Legend Entertainment) by Steve Meretzky

1993
Legend Entertainment releases the last widely-distributed, commercial parser-driven games
Gateway II: Homeworld (Commercial/Legend Entertainment) by Mike Verdu and Glen Dahlgren
Eric the Unready (Commercial/Legend Entertainment) by Bob Bates
Spellcasting 301: Spring Break (Commercial/Legend Entertainment) by Steve Meretzky

Literacy: Why Johnny Can't Guess the Verb

In order to become "literate" in Interactive Fiction, I will be selecting and reviewing works (such as those by Infocom and Level 9), winners of the annual Interactive Fiction Competition and XYZZY Awards, and other titles recommended by resources such as SPAG and Home of the Underdogs.

I will attempt to discriminate between Interactive Fiction and "Adventure Games" -- a related genre, but one that places less emphasis on the literary element. There's no litmus test, just a judgment call.

I group the titles into two categories: "First Wave" encompassing everything from the birth of Interactive Fiction to its demise as a commercial format, and "Second Wave", marked by the introduction of IF authoring languages and the revival of the form.

The First Wave looks to have begun in 1982: This is the year that Infocom moved beyond Zork to introduce "Deadline" and "Starcross": Story and character began to rival mapping and puzzle-solving. 1982 is also the year that the Austin brothers formed Level 9 on the other side of the Atlantic.

The Second Wave begins, depending on how you reckon it, in 1988, 1993, or 1995.

In 1988, Michael J. Roberts' introduced the TADS authoring system and "Deep Space Drifter". There were earlier authoring systems -- notably AdvSys and AGT -- but TADS was the first to facilitate the creation of works comparable to those established by the First Wave companies. For the next five years, commercial productions would continue to dominate the medium -- even the productions of the past, as exemplified by Activition's 1991's release of "Lost Treasures of Infocom"-- but by 1993, Legend Entertainment (powered by Infocom alumni) had released its last text parser driven games, and so passed the First Wave. That same year Graham Nelson introduced the Inform compiler (with "Curses!"), which made use of Infocom's reverse-engineered virtual machine.

By 1995, the rise of the Internet facilitated the creation of SPAG, XYZZY news and the first annual IF Competition; from that time to the present day there has been a steady production of quality games and the gradual maturation of a body of theory.

Although IF began in the anglophone world, it hasn't languished there. Second Wave IF seems to have made progress throughout Western Europe: I'll follow it where I can.

Italy has a vibrant community (e.g. IF Italia, IF Corner, L'avventura è l'avventura, it.comp.giochi.avventure.testuali) including a translation of the Inform libraries (InformIt) and an IF authoring language of their own (MAC). France's stake in IF is yet modest, but not unknown: witness Fiction-FR, Amamnèse, Inform en Français and Livrant, a Java-based French-only authoring language. A french game by J.B. Ferrant (translated) won first place in the italian 2003 Premio Avventura competition.

The hispanophone world has two well-organized competitions (sponsored by SPAC and CAAD), and the award-winning Olvido Mortal by Andrés Viedma Peláez has been translated into English by none other than Nick Montfort -- author of "Twisty Little Passages". The German and Swedish speaking worlds also have a presence, as do the Greeks, though I am not linguistically equipped to probe further.

(A sidenote on the propagation of non-english IF: Italian and French IF seem to follow an open-source model, with the source code available for many of the best received games. This is unusual -- though not completely unheard of in the english-speaking IF world.)

The only exit is to starboard.

As the most indulgent New Year's Resolution ever, I pledged to immerse myself in Interactive Fiction. My rediscovery of the medium owes something to the publication of "Twisty Little Passages" by Nick Montfort.

But my roots go back to the age of 10, when my father purchased Infocom's "Starcross" for the Atari 800. I was charmed if not downright possessed.

Over time, I drifted away -- even once I had the means to procure "The Lost Treasures of Infocom" and experience all the games I never had a chance to sample. Even once Graham Nelson and his ilk revived the Interactive Fiction subculture with tools like Inform and events like the annual Interactive Fiction Competition. At last, here was a chance to follow in the footsteps of my Infocom idols...

So what's taken me so long?

I've been a snob. I nursed grand literary conceits for most of my 20s. I didn't want to be diverted into something as obscure as IF.

These days I'm coming to the conclusion that the best way -- perhaps the only way -- to recover my latent creativity is to come to terms with myself. And deep in my heart, I have a warm spot for Interactive Fiction.

I'd like to write something. Eventually. That would be the fruition of a childhood dream.

That's worth something, isn't it?

First, though, I better get to know the territory. I'll record my progress here.