2008 Interactive Fiction Competition Reviews - Delta

[alastarian1]

did you programed it with inform? is the game all based on choices like that? when a fiction is INTERACTIVE, it must hold its name.

[Wintericecrystal]

@alastarian1

It's not my game. I didn't program it at all.

[bitgroove]

This is the worst video review I have ever seen. My CYOA system definately deserves better than this! Why haven't you shown the inventory interface which is neat as some reviewers said last year? Why haven't you mentioned the load/save function? And why have you cut out most parts of this little demo adventure? Well, I can see why... because you are not here to review our games seriously but to discredit us. I will put you on my troll list from now on.

[2hakkabakka]

@bitgroove Yes, the review on the blog "my blog loves me" actually DID say "I can see what’s in each of my hands by glancing at the bottom of the screen. That is sort of neat.", right after it said "You know those beta-testers that you have to have or your game will be shit? If English is not your first language, you should make sure it is one of theirs. Thank you.". While Wintericecrystal do seem to enjoy ripping on thing, you're looking more like a troll than he does - a "bad writer" troll.

[bitgroove]

@2hakkabakka Sorry if I made that impression to you. I can assure you that I'm not a troll. I just believe in what I do and say it loud. There is nothing wrong with it imho. A "bad writer"? Well, I always told the IF community at the the intfiction . org forums that my field of expertise is coding/programming and not novel writing. Never the less, I think I'm capable of writing a good novel and CYOA adventure in the future. I learn and make progress as I go, you know...

[bitgroove]

@2hakkabakka Oh and I would like to point out one more thing, just to make some things clear. In the Interactive Fiction community there is a so-called "war" going on between fans of parser-based text adventures and fans of multiple-choice/CYOA (Choose Your Own Adventure) games. I belong to the CYOA fanblock. We dislike parsers, because we think that a text adventure should focus on gameplay and not on verb guessing and typing. It's like this old "Linux versus Windows" thing on the internet.

[2hakkabakka]

@bitgroove There is seriously a dedicated fanbase who believe they can even remotely compete with parser-based adventures? That's like a "war" between lamers and programmers. Never-the-less, judging by that Wintericecrystal also gave parser-based games poor reviews as well, I don't think he's biased on the matter.

[bitgroove]

@2hakkabakka Well, it's not really a "war". This was just my way of saying it, hehe. No, it's more like a turning point. We are the verge of a new generation of Interactive Fiction games which are completely different. I have declared myself to be one of the initiators of this new breed. Parser-based adventures are becoming more and more out of fashion. There is a push for new techniques, new gaming concepts and stuff. Even Emily Short has mentioned that in one of her articles this year.

[bitgroove]

@2hakkabakka Ofcourse at the beginning of each new forming fanbase there is a resistance from the old fanbase. That's why I said it's like a "war", because there is friction. Fans of a new style usually compete with fans of an old style. It's like in the music business. When a new style of music is introduced most people are sceptical at first. And everything looks a bit lame here and there at the beginning. Especially when programmers like me are in the process of defining the new coming style.

[bitgroove]

@2hakkabakka Programmers like me see themselves as pioneers of a secret project. Area 51, so sto speak. ;) I am actually quite happy with the process so far. I don't have much time though, because people outside will begin to understand the big picture soon. But I can still relax, because I'm a few years ahead with my ideas. Unless ofcourse someone else in this world is having the same ideas as me right now. I hope that's not the case.

[2hakkabakka]

@bitgroove Well, hopefully you've got a great idea going - one that's greater than "CYOA movies" were in the Nighttrap era back in the 80s. My personal opinion, though, is that CYOA was the old ways that parser-based games abandoned. ...but I guess that all it takes is a humongously great idea to revive the genre, so good luck to you.

[bitgroove]

@2hakkabakka Thanks for wishing me luck. I will need it. And yeah, I want to revive and extend the CYOA genre. That's the whole idea behind it. No more, no less. Coding my Node-X interpreter is a first step into that direction. I'm aware that my CYOA adventures themselves are lame at this stage. That's because my main focus is still on the development of the Node-X engine itself. When this process is finally over I hope to be able to write a decent CYOA adventure for my own interpreter...

[jeremyfreese]

I kept looking back at this page hoping you would review Violet.

[Wintericecrystal]

I haven't been well, I'm afraid. So it did kind of screw up my plans. I might get round to it yet.

Congratulations on coming first, by the way.

[jeremyfreese]

Sorry to hear you haven't been well. Your Quake Marine reading had me laughing out loud for the better part of a minute.

[lucypigpuppet]

I hope you're better soon, and you enjoy Violet.

[lucypigpuppet]

I hope you haven't gotten discouraged by the poor quality of the first two games you've played. Try Violet. It's awesome and I'd love to see a video review.

[Wintericecrystal]

They weren't awful games, they're just going down as "not rated"; either I didn't like the premise or the game wasn't long enough to judge properly. Believe me, I've played far worse. Unfortunately, I'm not well at the moment so there won't be any more reviews for a while. Thank you for the recommendation though, I will try Violet.