Homer in Silicon on Date/Warp

Date/Warp is a visual novel from Hanako Games, paced out with puzzles. I liked a lot of things about it, but had some issues with the structure; essentially, my discussion is about how to handle situations where you want the player to replay and try most of the alternate versions of a multiple-ending game, where that will mean that late replayings will be mostly the same experience over again. Date/Warp enforces this more than many other games (though in a way I gather is not unusual for visual novels) by having the best ending be completely locked and inaccessible until you have played through almost every possible variation.

It’s a problem that has some bearing on multiple-path IF. I know, for instance, that there are people who did play Alabaster this way and found it exasperating to do so — see TempestDash’s review here — even though the intention was to steer players aggressively towards interesting endings and point out which mysteries were missed, rather than to encourage complete exploration of content. So, though I’m critical of Date/Warp as an experience in that regard, I think it raises some useful questions.

PAX East 2011

So, as last year, there will be organized IF events at PAX East this year (March 11-13, Boston). Last year’s event was a big event with lots and lots of IFfers, and plenty of fun all around, so we’re hoping for good things again this year.

I’m going to be speaking on interactive dialogue, as we just got this panel approved:

Interactive Drama: Dialogue as Gameplay

Jonathon Myers (Moderator) [Writer, Reactive Games]
Stephen Dinehart [Narrative Designer, Narrware]
Evan Skolnick [Writer, Producer, Editorial Director, Vicarious Visions]
Emily Short [Interactive Fiction Author, Independent]
John Gonzalez [Lead Writer, Lead Creative Designer of Fallout: New Vegas, Obsidian Entertainment]

Other IF and IF-related stuff: zarf will be speaking in a main-PAX panel on self-funding via Kickstarter. There will also be an IF suite as before, with some organized meetings and discussions, Speed-IF, and casual socializing; there may be some overlap activities with the IGDA Writers SIG, the special interest group for professional game writers; the IF theory book may, Kevin Jackson-Mead hopes, be finished and ready to share.

Note that you will need a PAX badge to see my panel talk or zarf’s, but that all the rest of the IF activity is separate and free to attend.

If you’re interested, check out the ifwiki page for a current list of people attending, or to sign up or suggest events.

Cool stuff you might enjoy

If you got a Kindle recently, Choice of Games has announced that several of their products are now available from the Kindle store. These are CYOA-style works, so they don’t involve as much typing as Kindle IF would. Check out Choice of the Dragon or Choice of Broadsides.

Treasures of a Slaver’s Kingdom is now free, after three years of being available for pay only. It was totally worth buying, as I said at the time, but now you don’t even have to. Enjoy a dwarf sidekick, limb loss, and a highly-effective PILLAGE verb.