Author: emshortif

5J39

Another build of Inform has been released; this one is less dramatically changed than the last, though it does get rid of a bunch of bugs. It also introduces lists, so you can have a growing sequence of numbers (say) without having to know how many there will be when you create the property or variable.

My favorite new example uses that feature and several features of the previous build to create Robo, an NPC who can learn action scripts and perform them back on command.

The syntax document has also been re-updated with the new syntax for list-management.

Jeremy Douglass’ Dissertation

on interactive fiction is now available. Jeremy was kind enough to let me read a draft a few weeks ago, and I found it quite enlightening. The introductory chapters, where he re-evaluates the timeline of IF and discusses the role of academic criticism in studying new media, I found pretty convincing.

More challenging is his argument that the term “player character” should be abolished entirely, on the grounds that it conflates several different kinds of relationship that the player can have with the characters in the game, and that using the terminology makes it unnecessarily hard for us to distinguish those different functions. I’m not sure whether this will change anyone’s long-held habits, but the argument is intriguing and worth a read.

Finally, Douglass offers several extended readings of specific works of IF, and especially a very long analysis of Andrew Pontious’ Rematch. This is great stuff, and I haven’t seen much IF criticism like it.

The book is not a small one and will take some time to go through, but it’s worth the attention. If at some point I come up for air from other tasks, I may address the substance of it at more length here — we’ll see.

In the mean time, congratulations to him for finishing, and thanks for making it available for everyone to read!

Too Many Things! (Or: in which Emily takes a little vacation)

I get lots of email about IF. Lots. And lots. This is flattering. However: the amount of time it takes to get through my inbox is becoming unworkable, and I need to get some other things done. So I am taking a break from some of it; specifically:

If you have bug reports or feature requests for Inform 7, they should go to Graham. That’s where they always wind up anyway, so you’re not missing anything by sending them there.

If you have coding support questions about Inform 7, they should go to rec.arts.int-fiction or to the #I7 channel on ifMUD. These days there are a fair number of people who have written complete I7 games and are competent to help with most requests. (We will still be monitoring the extensions-development thread.)

If you have hint requests about one of my games, they should go to rec.games.int-fiction.

If you want to comment on a review I wrote about your game, or give feedback on one of my games, that is terrific. I’m still interested, but I don’t promise to answer immediately. Please don’t feel snubbed.

If you have an I7 extension, you should go ahead and send it to me; I don’t promise that service will be instant, but this is one area where I don’t have a great substitute for me, so I will try to make sure any new material gets posted at least once a week. Please give your email a sensible subject line, such as “[I7] New Extension”.

If you want beta-testing, design guidance, help tracking down the URL of something you think I posted 5 years ago, etc., this is not really the best time.

ELO Conference

The Electronic Literature Organization is currently calling for presentation proposals and submissions of artists’ work for a conference in late May of next year. I know they’re interested in interactive fiction, so if you have something you’d like to submit to their gallery, now is the time — the submission deadline is November 30th. Artists selected are expected to attend the conference; some financial assistance is available.

Play It Yourself

On a previous post, we’ve been discussing what makes a game feel like work to play, and what doesn’t — and a lot of the answers come back to matters of polish. Is the game bug-free, or close to it? Are puzzles well clued? Are there responses to lots of unexpected commands? Are boring, repetitive actions omitted? Is the space easy enough to understand that the player doesn’t need to map? Does the game help track important clues for the player, so he doesn’t have to take notes?

People keep recommending beta-testing as a way to find and correct such flaws. This is good advice, but it misses a point I think is just as essential:

Play it yourself.

Continue reading “Play It Yourself”