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Interface

These border on being non-IF: our expectations of the behavior of the IF world-model are overturned and an alternative mode of interaction is on offer. Some of these are choose-your-own-adventures in structure, and some turn on resource management.  This category does not include z-abuses such as implementations of Life, chess, sokoban, tetris, etc., for an IF VM; those things can be found under the Abuses category at Baf’s Guide.

  • The Space Under The Window, Andrew Plotkin. (often abbreviated SUTW or SUTWIN). Gets rid of standard features of IF and allows you to change the block of text appearing at the top of the screen by picking a specific word to focus on.  
  • Threading the Labyrinth, Kevin Doughty. Effectively hypertext implemented in TADS.
  • Desert Heat, Papillon. Choose-Your-Own-Adventure, implemented in TADS.  Be forewarned that it contains erotic content, if that’s likely to bother you; it’s somewhat like a steamy fantasy romance novel rendered in interactive form.
  • One Week, Papillon. Choose-Your-Own-Adventure, implemented in TADS.   [My review]
  • On the Other Side, Antonio Marquez Marin. The computer takes the role of the “player”, while the interactor provides text for room descriptions and so on. An interesting experiment, though widely held not to be very successful (presumably because the program lacks the artificial intelligence to “play” very well).
  • When Help Collides, J. D. Berry. A multi-part game that includes some things that are not exactly normal IF, especially a Geisha simulator program, in which your task is to schedule your time properly for best effect.
  • Lock and Key, Adam Cadre. A one-puzzle game that relies on an enhanced interface to make it playable. In Glulx, with rather nice pictures; the layout of the space is presented to the player graphically and can be manipulated partially with the mouse as well as by textual commands.

Real-time Input. Events continue without pauses for turns; the player’s input takes effect when he has managed to type a command and press return.

  • Border Zone, Infocom.
  • Smuggler, Frank Fridd. Written with the Creative Adventure Toolkit. It is possible (among other things) for the player to die if he walks away from the screen for too long and events proceed without him.

Multimedia. The use of pictures and sound in IF is still fairly unusual, though every year sees more (and more intricate) examples. The following games provide some examples of how multimedia effects have been used to date. You can also use the Advanced Search page at Baf’s Guide to find more examples of games with graphics and sound.

  • Arthur, Infocom.
  • Guilty Bastards, Kent Tessman.
  • Arrival, or Attack of the B-Movie Cliches, Stephen Granade. Uses HTML-TADS’ capabilities to include amusing crayon-drawing illustrations and cartoonish sound effects to accompany the game.
  • Six Stories, Neil K. Guy. Still pictures, sound effects, and the use of carefully-made voiceovers which narrate the stories. Also includes some lovely photography.
  • Crimson Spring, Robb Sherwin. Still pictures and music. A bit buggy and bizarre but not without its merits.
  • Fallacy of Dawn, Robb Sherwin. Still pictures, combined with a stats read-out. Somewhat more ambitious but along the same lines is the sequel, Necrotic Drift
  • Carma, Marnie Parker. Animations and music included.
  • Stiffy Makane: The Undiscovered Country, Adam Thornton. Contains pornographic images in addition to the pornographic nature of the IF. Viewer discretion strongly advised.
  • Lock and Key, Adam Cadre. A one-puzzle game that relies on an enhanced interface. In Glulx, with rather nice pictures. The multimedia effects here are an integral, not an optional, aspect of the gameplay.
  • 1893, Peter Nepstad. In HTML-TADS. The full multimedia version of this game includes numerous pictures of the various environments, taken from period photography; the result is probably the most thorough and exacting IF reproduction ever made of a historical setting.
  • The PK Girl, Robert Goodwin. In Adrift, enhanced with pictures of the various anime-illustrated NPCs you meet in the course of the story.
  • Words of Power, Stark Springs. Uses Glulx’s Multimedia abilities to provide images of the major NPCs, as well as a conversation menu separate from the main text screen, and buttons for casting the game’s system of spells.
  • Future Boy, Kent Tessman. A commercial Hugo game with images, sound effects, and animation. The author is not only the designer of Hugo but also a filmmaker, which explains some of the unusual polish he was able to bring to the production.
  • Bolivia By Night, Aidan Doyle. Traditional IF in many respects, but illustrated with photographs at chapter breaks and at some points within the game.