Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
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From: ceforma@rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu (Christopher E. Forman)
Subject: Re: The entries re-revisited
Message-ID: <1995Oct24.165904.206800@rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu>
Date: Tue, 24 Oct 1995 16:59:04 GMT
References: <459l7o$7ru@flood.xnet.com> <GDR11.95Oct24130411@stint.cl.cam.ac.uk>
Organization: Illinois State University
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Gareth Rees (gdr11@cl.cam.ac.uk) wrote:
: "Curses" would be completely spoiled if you were told at the start all
: the things that the protagonist knows about that are relevant to the
: game.  Can you imagine how boring it would be to read through a piece of
: text containing all that information?  It's much more entertaining and
: exciting to learn these things bit by bit.

For Curses, this is very, very true.  However, not all I-F is designed in
the same manner.  PTF, for instance (due out very soon, I promise), makes
it necessary that you know a little about the characters before you start,
as there are a couple of puzzles that you may not be clear on how to solve
if you had to discover the characters on your own.  11 NPC's take quite a
bit of text to introduce.

Yes, I suppose I could have made the player learn this himself/herself, but
the intro serves more of a purpose than introducing the characters.  It
establishes the goal of the game, tells you a little about the world you
live in, and tells you who you are.  While there's no doubt in my mind that
PTF's long intro could be shortened, I wouldn't want it that way, simply
because it conflicts with my vision of how the game should be.  Were I
doing the game commercially, I would be more interested in designing a
game to fit the player's needs, but in this case, I guess I'm more
concerned with pleasing myself.  Sounds selfish, but it's the truth.

: (In any case, I think that identifying the player with the protagonist
: is a mistake.)

Are you saying I-F should never use the word "you"?
-- 
C.E. Forman                                      ceforma@rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu
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