6th Annual Interactive Fiction Competition Games 2000 - Part 2 By Dorothy Millard @~Concluded from last issue Dinner with Andre by Liza Daly - 18th Commencing in a restaurant, Dinner with Andre is a well written original game about a date from hell. It starts out as a story- based game but then poses increasingly difficult obstacles in your path. I was "publicly humiliated" for getting it wrong on more than one occasion! Once past the main puzzles there are some interesting plot twists. End Means Escape, The by Stephen Kodat (Tads) - 21st In The End Means Escape you are thrown into the deep end with no idea of your challenge. I examined a number of items, read the book and through persistence eventually persuaded the door to open to receive the following response "Fine," it whimpers "You want to see what's on the other side? Then look..." "My highest purpose, my greatest goal, is to be a void that travellers pass through." I checked the hints file and was told that I need to leave the room, but when I typed OUT I received the message "The walls insist, "You shouldn't leave like this." When I tried to EXIT DOOR I was told that my thoughts become muddled. I thought the response to EXAMINE SCISSORS was interesting "Gleaming chrome twists and folds upon itself, quivering like mercury." I would never have likened scissors to mercury! With muddled thoughts, doors and walls talking to me, and text that didn't really make much sense, I was none the wiser as to what this game is about and quickly lost interest. Maybe it is too "deep and meaningful" for me! I was glad to escape to another game! Enlisted by G. F. Berry (Z Code) - Joint 23rd Enlisted is a modern Trek style space game in which you enlist in a routine spacefaring mission only to find yourself and your crew in deep trouble. There is a lot of text to read, but it is well written and interesting. There are no objects to manipulate and for the most part you are "led" through the first part of the game. Later on I died a few times. I found it necessary to follow the walk through when it came to the space walk as I got completely lost. This is a difficult game and is longer than most competition games. Escape from Crulistan by Alan Smithee (Windows) - 43rd Crulistan, a country lying somewhere between Iraq and a hard place, has seen a lot of unrest over the years. As a reporter for a foreign newspaper, you have been stranded in the capital during a particularly dangerous time where the situation has reached crisis proportions. In other countries, martial law would have been imposed at that point, but not in Crulistan, where martial law has already been in place for decades. Presently under the iron rule of Sheikh Rottan as-Salami and his Holy Guard units, the regime is rather hostile to foreigners and sure enough, you have been thrown into jail and sentenced to death as a spy. Now you must escape. I would have liked a few more synonyms as I had a bit of trouble finding the right words to use and the NPCs wouldn't talk to me. It has a limited vocabulary which is a pity as it made the game frustrating to play. Worth a look though. Futz Mutz by Tim Simmons (HTML Tads) - 25th Played with HTML Tads you must have an updated interpreter before the game will load. Described as an interactive romp, Futz Mutz, is pleasant change. When you load Futz Mutz you are greeted by a colourful opening screen and music which immediately gave it bonus points for me! Eventually the music gets a little annoying but don't be tempted to turn it off or you miss sound effects and other things later in the game. You are a dog and the game commences with you in a cage in a pet shop. I though the writing was quite humorous, especially the description of the pet shop owner who is "calorically challenged." I must remember that one! I loved it when you type bark and you actually hear it. The author thanked his dog for providing the sound effect. I liked this game - a bit of light humour, although be prepared for some mature language later on. It even has a nice closing screen when you type quit. I don't know what happens if you win as I haven't got that far yet. Got ID? by Marc Valhara (Z Code) - 29th A good old-fashioned puzzle-filled game, Got ID? is the story of your quest to endear yourself to the in-crowd by bringing a case of beer to their party, but there is a complication in that you are underage. This is one of the larger competition games with lots of locations to explore which need careful mapping. It has an inventory limit of five items and terse location descriptions, but on the whole the game is worth a look. Guess the Verb! by Leonard Richardson (Z Code) 11th This year (finally) your parents have decided that you're old enough to wander the midway of the Avogadro County Fair without adult supervision. You are drawn to a brightly lit carnival booth that invites you to "Guess the Verb!" Here you meet Lalrry, the natural language parser with a heart of gold. He'll take your guess and spin the wheel. Guess correctly and you'll take home a stuffed frog. Guess incorrectly and suddenly you'll embark on adventures with much higher stakes - including your life! You must explore, plunder and stay alive - all while avoiding the most terrible of fates, being reunited with your parents. I enjoyed this game. Happy Ever After by Robert M. Camisa (Z Code) - 34th Having been dumped by a lady, you receive a letter from your Uncle Steve offering you the job of looking after his hotel/museum while he goes on vacation. It was lonely and isolated and seemed the perfect place to heal a broken heart. Happy Ever After is a modern fairy tale with a dash of science fiction thrown in. The storyline is original and the game has some good puzzles, especially Merlin's alchemy machine, although I found the doors a bit of a mystery. You unlock a gold door which vanishes in the traditional puff of smoke only to be replaced by a brass door, so you unlock that one and it is replaced in the same way by a iron door. On the whole though this game has lots of puzzles to mull over and is worth playing. Infil-traitor by Anonymous aka Chris Charla (BASIC) - 48th You are Drake Cartright, master spy for the CIA. The situation in Vladistan is tense. Both the East and the West use Vladistan as a crossroads for their international efforts to spread their ideology across the globe. You fight for freedom and against tyranny, and now your fight has lead you here, to Vladstoka. Make sure you read the readme file that comes with this game as it has rather interesting background information. A living artefact of adventure games past. I quote from the text "Considering that this was to be released at the same time as Zork II, it's pretty primitive, but I think the game is surprisingly fun to play. (It's also super easy. I beat it in an hour). It's also cool to play a new game from way back when, especially if you're in the mood for some nostalgia." Infil-traitor has the typical two word parser of that era. I was pleasantly surprised at finding this piece of nostalgia so far down the list of games. Don't be put off by its poor rating in the competition, this is a must play for text adventure enthusiasts. Jarod's Journey by Tim Emmerich (HTML Tads) - 47th Written with HTML Tads Jarod's Journey is enhanced with special formatting, interface improvements and graphics and therefore needs the latest interpreter to run. It tells the story of a boy who learns about Jesus and expects the player to follow along and learn with him. Although reasonably well written this is Interactive Fiction only in the very loosest sense of the word. Kaged by Ian Finley (Tads) - 1st The opening paragraph of Kaged sets the scene so well that I have copied it out below: "The madness started a week ago. The entire Citadel of Justice is on razor edge. It began in the Department of Enforcing when a patrolman shot his partner. He begged to be locked away, claiming to see devils. Two days later they found Henrik from the Office of Filing in the courtyard, dozens of dead starlings at his feet and his naked body smeared with blood. They carted him off to hospital on the next train. And then, yesterday, Geta your superior in the Office of Documentation, found her way to the thirtieth story of this great building and leapt to her death. Some say it's the brutal heat wave over the city, some say the air, some whisper about other things. The Citadel trembles with quiet, bureaucratic panic, but you force calm into your body. Now is not the time. You have an interview with the High Inquisitor himself today. You must not appear afraid." Kaged is original, well-written story with a rich vocabulary, but I couldn't figure out exactly who was on which side sometimes, which caused some confusion and spoilt the atmosphere. Letters from Home by Roger Firth (Z Code) 12th In Letters from Home which is set in a old-fashioned large house you must gather letters masquerading as objects which are then used in a cryptic crossword at the end, using each letter of the alphabet. This game can best be described as a puzzlefest. Little Billy by Okey Ikeako (Windows) - 50th Strangely one of the opening screen states "The author has no writing talent whatsoever." The game screen is divided into four boxes, a large one at the top which shows your location and other relevant information, with a smaller one underneath where you click to take action. The other two small boxes on the right contain buttons for save, inventory and quit in one and the story number in the other. The story moves along by you simply clicking in the bottom box, for instance there will be a knock at the door and you simply click on "continue" to open door and the story moves on. Very occasionally you get a chance to even choose from several options! Forget it! Marooned by Bruce Davis (ADRIFT) - 45th After finishing with some afternoon fishing, you notice some rather dark and menacing clouds have snuck up on you. While preparing to head back to port, the wind picks up and jagged streaks of lightning stab the sky. A heavy rain begins to pelt you. The waves grow stronger and threaten to dump you in the raging ocean. Dark clouds drift overhead and the ocean swirls angrily around the boat. You can barely make out anything in front of you. Despite your attempts to keep the boat upright, a huge wave hits you and dumps you into the raging ocean. Thus the game commences with you marooned on some kind of apparently uninhabited island. You must get off this speck in the middle of the ocean. You are free to explore the island in this traditional type game. It was nice to see a game with a different colour scheme (I've been playing too many Z Code games). The ADRIFT Interpreter completes words for you, for example if you type "x c" it will complete the word to read x clothes. Sometimes it completes with the wrong word, for example I wanted to type IN but I got INVENTORY instead, but if you keep typing the correct letters appear and so long as you are aware of it, it's not a problem. Additionally Auto-Correct can be turned off if this annoys you. The ADRIFT Interpreter also has a Control Panel with all the standard commands such as Examine, Pick Up, Wear, Remove, Goto, Help etc, which can be used with the mouse. You can also use the mouse to point to the text instead of typing words and in fact, if you wish, most actions can be accomplished using the mouse. Marooned is nothing new or special, but fun anyway, despite its low ranking in the IF Competition. Masque of the Last Faeries, The by Ian R Ball (Z Code) - 31st The prologue sees you entering through the grand entrance where you are told that you are late and to hurry to get your costume. In Act One the masque has begun - you are Belephron, Regent of the Elves. In the early part of the game I couldn't really find anything to do other than wait to see what eventuates. Later on you are able to visit the Forest Glade but I was still not sure what I was supposed to be doing and had to resort to the hints to find out. The characters in the game are interesting. Masquerade by Kathleen M. Fischer (Z Code) - 8th Masquerade is set in the Civil-War era of the 1800s and is a romantic work of story-based interactive fiction. The plot is fairly linear but there are several forks which lead to different endings based on your decisions - apparently there are 12 different endings. There are few objects in the game. Using the senses, examining and interaction with NPCs is what is required. Metamorphoses by Emily Short (Z Code) - 2nd. The author states that it is not a difficult game, although I am not so sure, and that almost all puzzles have more than one solution. Apparently it is possible to put the game into an unwinnable state, but it is not particularly likely unless you go out of your way to do so. It has great atmosphere and is very well written. Metamorphoses takes place in an otherworldly realm, a plane obliquely linked with the physical world, to which you have been sent on an errand. At the start a voice, remembered, tells you to "Find the elements and bring them to me." The game abounds with breathtaking imagery and there are many nooks and crannies to explore. While exploring you will learn more about yourself and your past. The theme is, appropriately, metamorphosis, the transformation of objects, of elements, of light, of the universe, of yourself. There are several different endings. My Angel by Jon Ingold (Z Code) - 6th My Angel is based very loosely on the poem "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe. There are two modes in which this game can be played, Novel and Normal. I found the Novel mode to be difficult to follow and recommend that the game is played in normal mode. The author states that My Angel is an interactive short story - a story is written, with the game prompting you for what you want to be described, or done by the main character. It moves the onus of telling a good story partly onto you, the reader. Instead of typing compass directions you must WALK LEFT or WALK RIGHT and this form of movement takes a little getting used to. The story flips back and forth between the main thread and some flashback sequences and you can actually interact with the characters and objects in the flashback sequences. You and your companion are telepaths and it is important to remember this. For the most part it's a well-told story that manages to keep the player involved. Nevermore by Nate Cull (Z Code) - 7th Described as an interactive gothic, Nevermore has intricate inventory-based puzzles and a spooky tower to explore, Nevermore is a classic, just don't do what I did and try sleeping near the start. Anyway after a restart I did much better and thoroughly enjoyed as far as I have got in this game. On the Other Side by Antonio M rquez Mar¡n (DOS) - 46th I quote from the readme: "On the other side is a strange piece of interactive-fiction. In this game you will be the computer that guides the interactive-fiction player, that is, we will type the descriptions of the locations, the responses to the commands of the player, etc..." What can I say? - forget it! Pickpocket, The by Alex Weldon (Z Code) - 32nd It's been twenty years since you left your home to come to the little-known nation of Weldonia. You can hardly remember why. it was mostly just because you were unhappy with the state of your life as it was and wanted to go somewhere to start anew. You have learnt the local language and make a living selling miscellaneous trinkets in the marketplace of the nation's capital, Alexandria. Today was fairly uneventful until a street orphan about 12 picks your pocket. You vow to yourself that you won't go home for the night until you get your money back. This puzzle-oriented game has an interesting story, but there are some "guess the verb" situations. I particularly liked the puzzle to get rid of the dog as it was original and made a change from the usual bone, meat etc. I enjoyed this game. Planet of the Infinite Minds by Alfredo Garcia (Tads) - 19th As a librarian you are told to "lighten-up" by your boss, so you head off to the funfair during your lunch break. I managed to finish the game without solving any of the puzzles or scoring any points at all! Oh well, back to the drawing board. I restarted and this time followed the gypsy to be drawn into the game. She tells you that you are not from this Earth at all, but from a far off planet, a planet much greater and more beautiful than this one: Medvidev - Planet of the Infinite Minds. The sub-title of this game is Interactive Farce and it should not be taken seriously. Worth a look. Prodly the Puffin by Craig Timpany & Jim Crawford (Z Code) - 35th You are a puffin and you want your pitchfork back. Prodly the Puffin is a simple bizarre fun game which includes things like making a snowman. It is completable in about half an hour. Punk Points by Jim Munroe (Z Code) - 22nd Punk Points opens at the show in a dark, poorly lit and packed club, but it's all a dream. The game is set in a school and you are a 13 year old male teenager with a poor self-image. Enough said! Rameses by Stephen Bond (Z Code) - 13th Rameses is the story of an adolescent boy who is his own worst enemy. It is implemented well-enough but it is not a happy story. It wades through unpleasant adolescent experiences, and being stuck with a bunch of stereotypical boarding school students doesn't appeal to me at all. Rameses is puzzleless and heavy on NPC interaction, using a menu-based conversation interface rather than ask/tell. There is little the player can do to alter the course of events. You can get through almost the entire game by typing "wait" repeatedly. There is some profanity in this game. Return to Zork: Another Story by Stefano Canali (Z Code) - 26th Return to Zork is a traditional adventure set in the world of Zork and developed with permission from Activision. It opens up with the familiar "Hello Sailor." You won the grand prize of the Dizzy World Resort sweepstakes, a map to Shanbar and a Tele-Orb. This sounded great when you found the package in your mailbox, but you underestimated how hard the journey would be to Shanbar to claim the prize. Anyway, the trip is nearly over, and soon you'll be able to meet Rooper and Trembyle and get what you deserve! The game commences atop a rock path in the Flathead Mountains. You will find many references to the Zork Universe in this traditional game. Shade by Andrew Plotkin (Z Code) - 10th Shade is a one location game (if you don't count the kitchen and bathroom nooks) set in your apartment. I looked around for a while, became thirsty and managed to sate my thirst, but was still none the wiser as to what my objective was. Perhaps there isn't one! Anyway I lost interest and moved on. Stupid Kittens by Pollyanna Huffington (Z Code) - 44th Stupid Kittens is described a game for mature players but I found it to be juvenile. This game is just weird, for instance at the start, you find yourself in Karen's room where she is holding a grenade. She states "Today we'll see if Fuzzles (you as one of the stupid kittens) is smart enough to save its own life. Seeing as I couldn't even get out of the basket and was told that I'd rather lounge right here and sniff my arse, no thanks, I don't think I care. On to the next game. Threading the Labyrinth by Kevin F. Doughty (Tads) - 40th An experimental "game" where you type words found in the text to explore. The writing is more poetry than prose. Transfer by Tod Levi (Z Code) - 5th A puzzle oriented game set in the Cliffside Underground Research Laboratory where an experiment has gone wrong and there is a traitor in your midst. Transfer is a well-written interesting game, well worth a look. Trip, The by Cameron Wilkin (Tads) - 33rd Life after college has turned out to be a bummer. The real world, as it turns out, is kind of rough, and it's hard finding work. This, along with the realization that you are getting older and your intense fear of death, has put you in a lengthy and ever increasing depression. Your friend from high school, Joel, has invited you to come up and spend the weekend with him in Utah. It's a bit of a journey, but since you've nothing else to do, it might take your mind off life for a while. I didn't like the way this game was written. It is hard to put into words, perhaps it's the subject matter, using words like dude, trippy, alright man, yeah etc. Anyway it didn't suit my taste in games and I didn't want to complete it. Unnkulia X by Valentine Kopteltsev - 27th The Great Master of your village announces that the Demons of Unnkulia are back again and they demand a human sacrifice, unless we want our nice Vilefen to be wiped off the Earth's surface. After a long discussion the villagers decide that since you, Joan Fleaumont, are an orphan, you are optimal for the purposes of sacrificing. Of course, they don't ask YOUR opinion on the matter. In great haste, they tie you up and throw you into a cell. You are left there while they prepare to burn you alive as a sacrifice to the Demons of Unnkulia. Your task is to escape your fate and save your village from the dreadful demons. Interestingly Unnkulia X doesn't mean ten but the letter most often used in mathematics to substitute an unknown number. It is used because it's not easy to assign numbers to the Unnkulian games. After Unnkulia I and II, Unnkulia III and IV have been announced but never released. So Unnkulia X means "Unnkulia I-don't-know-what-number." As a traditional type text adventure this didn't rate well in the IF Competition, however, it is a fun puzzle-oriented game for those who like this type of thing. It was probably a little large for the time limit imposed by the Competition. Void: Corporation by Jonathan Lim (AGT) - 41st This one did very badly in the IF Competition, mainly because the author forgot to compile it before sending it in and for a lot of people it was just too difficult to get it working and play it. In this regard, I thank Bev Truter for compiling a working version for me to review. One of the two most powerful corporations in the world, The New Sydney Corporation, make Electric Hallucinations or EH, a virtual reality beamed into the brain centres, which are used in booths by people for entertainment and information. They build a massive city, New Sydney, in the Australian desert, where everyone sleeps during the scorching day, and moves about during the freezing nights. You, as privateer Dan Clayman, the toughest, fastest gunslinger in the Solar System, get the meanest assignments, and this one is MEAN. You are to cheat your former bosses. Although entered in this year's Competition the game was written several years ago (the date on the opening screen is September 1998). Although not a literary masterpiece, the story is intriguing and the game is reasonably well-written. I had problem in that you can't PUSH BLUE BUTTON you must simply PUSH BUTTON or it doesn't work, despite this being in the walk through. One point I did like was when I tried to read the graffiti, I got the following message "You can't read the graffiti so you just examine it." At the end you are told that you have completed the most complex, hardest game to come from JPC Electronics, but really it isn't very hard and can be completed in about an hour. What-IF? by David Ledgard - 52nd In What-IF you choose from a menu of seven historical items and are presented with a story. The choices are 1226 Holy War or Jihad, 1433 West Meets East, 1492 New World or Old, 1807 The failed American Revolution, 1861 The Trent Affair, October 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, September 1938 The Munich Crisis. The stories are interesting in themselves but it is not Interactive Fiction, unless you consider choosing a menu item interactive, also some of the stories are inaccurate. Withdrawal Symptoms by Niclas Carlsson (Z Code) - 36th The objective in Withdrawal Symptoms is to find out what's inside the safety deposit box willed to you by your aunt. On the way, you have to solve a few rather contrived puzzles. The writing is passable but should have been proofread by a native English speaking person, for example "the room is crowded with unpatient customers waiting to go about their business." A fairly short game. Wrecked by Campbell Wild (ADRIFT) - 39th A mate has recently got you interested in shipwrecks, you never knew there was so much unclaimed treasure lying at the bottom of the oceans. All you need to do is find a wreck, search it, and you're a billionaire. At least, that was the way he put it. After doing some research you find out about a particular ship sunk in not too deep water and get your supplies together. Arriving in a village near the ship you steps off the bus and all your stuff is stolen by a pizza-faced 14 year old desperate to feed some drug addiction. The game commences with you stranded in the village Ambersville without any money, only the clothes you are wearing and a rather desperate ambition. I am only part way through Wrecked but I have enjoyed as far as I have got in this traditional type adventure. Although rated poorly in the IF Competition give this one a try. It is nothing new or revolutionary but is a good solid fun game. YAGWAD by Digby McWiggle aka John Kean (Z Code) - 9th This game about a dragon is a conventional, funny and thoroughly delightful game. You're an unlikely hero hoping to rescue the princess from the nefarious beast and win the king's favour. It is impossible to put the game in an unwinnable state and there are no sudden deaths. Puzzles are not too hard and fun to solve. Recommended! - o -