Extra! Extra!

Read all about it! Absolutely nothing to read about! Extra! Extra!

The Interactive Fiction scene has gone quiet in the run-up to IFComp, and there's a dearth of new text and text-ish games, although three demos are being released for Introcomp.

I've also taken a bit of a holiday from my work in progress / intensive planathon of the remaining sections, and my hopes of releasing it before IFComp have breathed a raspy death rattle. The IFComp results typically seem to come out in mid November, so I might try and release the game on my birthday (the 21st), or just before Christmas.

Silent Conversation

Silent Convseration
By: Gregory Weir
Format: Browser
Play it|Blog Post

Gregory Weir's latest of his monthly games is a platformer that takes place within the texts of various public domain works. It's arguably not as fun as just sitting down with the books themselves, but Weir conjures some truly striking landscapes and effects out of their words.

Cacophony

Cacophony
By: Owen Parish
Format: Z-Code
@IFDB|@IFWiki

Cacophony is a surreal, well written adventure that seems to empasise the puzzley more than the literary.

Work In Progress: Yuck

I'm working through the parts of the game in the order players will see them. I've completed most of the fourth one (of seven in total).

Town; Afternoon in the House of Secrets

Town and Afternoon in the House of Secrets
By: Anna Anthropy
Format: Browser

These two games are simple, succinct, and controlled entirely by clicking hyperlinks in the text. They're notable to me in particular because of how similar they are to what I'm attempting to do with my current work in progress, and they also happen to be fun, well written adventures to boot.

Of the two games, Town presents less of a challenge, but also, I think, makes better use of the format.

The King of Shreds and Patches

The King of Shreds and Patches
By: Jimmy Maher
Format: Glulx
Homepage|@IFDB|@IFWiki

The result of over two years development, The King of Shreds and Patches is a Lovecraftian mystery set in a carefully researched depiction of Elizabethan London.

The game includes a graphical map, a hint system, and a (perhaps incongruously chatty) tutorial mode for those new to Interactive Fiction.

Work In Progress

So I'm working on a short, keyword-driven IF game following the adventures of a pair of crime fighters in a retro-futuristic, 1910s/20s styled city. I've planned seven separate locations, each with their own little puzzle, conversation or event, and so far the first two are pretty much done.

This has been a good two or three months in the planning, but hopefully implementation will be finished in a month or two.