Category: parser

Savoir-Faire Feelies as PDF

Thanks to Vince Laviano, there is now a PDF version of the Savoir-Faire feelies. These were once produced in physical form, and included

— a modern-day letter (page 1 of the PDF) offering some context
— a pamphlet about the history of the Lavori d’Aracne
— a scrap of somewhat tattered old paper containing a design for part of the mechanical chef
— a sealed letter, to be read after playing (the last page of the PDF)

I have put it on the archive, but since it will take a few days to work its way through there, the file is also downloadable for now from elsewhere.

Letters from Home (Roger Firth, 2000)

Letters from Home (Roger Firth, 2000): a game I didn’t get very far into during its competition release some years ago. I replayed it this evening. It belongs to a small collection of verbal-puzzle interactive fiction where the words used to describe things are more important than the things themselves, along with Infocom’s “Nord and Bert”, Ad Verbum, Puddles on the Path, and Goose, Egg, Badger.

Continue reading “Letters from Home (Roger Firth, 2000)”

Second Person

Second Person is now available for sale. It is a collection of essays on role-playing and board games, and some related computer game forms, including IF. It has a very short piece by me. It also has lots of great material by other people. I haven’t gotten my contributor copy yet, but I’m looking forward to it; others may want to check it out too.

Ebb and Flow of the Tide

The Ebb and Flow of the Tide is another entry in what now turns out to be a series of fantasy adaptations by Peter Nepstad. Like Journey of the King, Tide is based on a story by Lord Dunsany, which means that it relies on rich, lyrical, intentionally archaic language.

I found Tide considerably more accessible, though: there are no long cut scenes or overwhelming passages of conversation, just a strange, dreamy environment which one must explore to make progress. It can take a little while to find the right trigger to move events onward, but there aren’t any puzzles otherwise. (If you find yourself stuck, try all your senses on everything around.)