Newsgroups: rec.arts.int-fiction
Path: gmd.de!Germany.EU.net!mcsun!uunet!lotus!lotus!grady
From: grady@esel.lotus.com ( Steven Grady)
Subject: Alone in the Dark (was: Alone in the world)
In-Reply-To: pshepard@nyx.cs.du.edu's message of Thu, 20 May 93 21:48:20 GMT
Message-ID: <GRADY.93May24164652@esel.lotus.com>
Sender: news@lotus.com
Organization: (Consulting for) Lotus Development Corporation
References: <1993May20.214820.18436@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu>
Date: 24 May 93 16:46:52
Lines: 27

In article <1993May20.214820.18436@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu> pshepard@nyx.cs.du.edu (Pat Shepard) writes:

> Since we don't currently have the ability to code good actors, the best
> bet seems to be to find excuses for the character to be alone in
> the world of the text adventure.

I thought _Alone_in_the_Dark_ had a particularly good solution to this --
it used horror (in particular, Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos) as a genre.
Your character is exploring a house by him- (or her-) self, which is
reasonable since the house is haunted and no one else would want to venture
in there.  There are other "characters", ie monsters, which, being simply
monsters, are not expected to do more than attack you.  I know it's been
used in other games, but this game does a particularly good job of making
use of the existing, limited technology in such a way that you don't really
notice the limitations, and instead really feel the effects the game designers
wanted (i.e. tension similar to fear, spiced with a bit of horror).

Don't get me wrong -- I am frustrated that the current fashion does not
seem to allow for any text-based adventures to be marketed, but as graphic
adventures go, I think AiiD has finally justified their existence.
--
	Steven
	grady@lotus.com
"He doesn't know when he's beaten, this boy.  He doesn't know when
he's winning either.  He doesn't have any sort of sensory apparatus
known to man."

