Newsgroups: rec.arts.int-fiction
Path: gmd.de!jvnc.net!darwin.sura.net!spool.mu.edu!agate!pasteur!cory.Berkeley.EDU!librik
From: librik@cory.Berkeley.EDU (David Librik)
Subject: Re: Encrypted hints 
Message-ID: <librik.723778753@cory.Berkeley.EDU>
Sender: nntp@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU (NNTP Poster)
Nntp-Posting-Host: cory.berkeley.edu
Organization: University of California, at Berkeley
References: <1ftktqINNjfu@life.ai.mit.edu> <1ftnlgINNkp4@life.ai.mit.edu> <librik.723701575@cory.Berkeley.EDU> <1992Dec7.090513.672@nwnexus.WA.COM>
Date: Tue, 8 Dec 1992 01:39:13 GMT
Lines: 51

jennings@halcyon.com (James Jennings) writes:

>I think that encoding hints with an "a=z" cypher would be a royal pain.
>It seems to me that any one encription scheme will be harder for some
>people to use than others. Some people could transcribe an "a=z" cypher
>in their head (I can't) while other's would be sufficently baffled if
>the answers were only written backwards.

Well, come up with a cipher that people can't do in their heads.  That's
not too tough.  As for "a royal pain" -- that's why the cipher key was
printed at the bottom of every page.

Yes, it takes time to decode.  But the only times you ever need to decode
a hint are when you're really stuck.

Note that this approach is the opposite of the sort of "walkthrough" that
Dave Baggett wants -- these are individual hints, and the idea is to make
it difficult for you to read any answers without really trying.  What Dave
wants is a way to read over the game, with commentary, if you're not planning
to play it.  (I can see it catching on: "The Alienated Robot of Kalamontee:
A Post-structuralist Deconstruction of the Neo-Colonialist Subtext in
_Planetfall_")

Think of it this way: you've just spent the last four hours trying to get
past the Guardian in UU1.  You have a piece of paper printout with the
following text on it:

   VEHO SD KGKI GSDR DRO VKCF.  NHZF SD SY DRO XKVV.  ECO DRO CGZBT SY

   DRO LZBSYQ BZZW PZB VSWXD.

and down at the bottom of the page is written:

   CODE: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z
  PLAIN: Q R S T U V W X Y Z A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O

--------------------------------------------------------------------

For hints in new games, I really like the idea that was proposed earlier of
a set of numbers (found in the hint book) that you type to the program, and if
you've gone far enough in the game it will give you the hint.  In both cases,
the effort the player has to make -- small, but present -- deters him from 
just "hint"ing his way through the game, but lets him get the answers when
he's really stuck.

The worst solution to this is the one in Lost Treasures of Infocom: there
needs to be SOMETHING to keep you from seeing all the answers as soon as
you open the book!!

- David Librik
librik@cory.Berkeley.edu
