Newsgroups: rec.arts.int-fiction
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From: neilg@fraser.sfu.ca (Neil K. Guy)
Subject: Re: Adventure interface, Physics
Message-ID: <neilg.730786681@sfu.ca>
Keywords: physics,vr,virtual reality,interface
Sender: news@sfu.ca
Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada
References: <C33349.B0M@acsu.buffalo.edu>
Date: Sat, 27 Feb 1993 04:18:01 GMT
Lines: 32

goetz@cs.buffalo.edu (Phil Goetz) writes:

>It is more like a virtual reality system than a text adventure.
>You are looking at a 3D line-drawn world on your computer screen.
>The world is made of basic geometrical objects ("geons"):  "cubes" (though
>not necessarily all 3D the same), boxes, spheres, cylinders, pyramids, cones,
>sheets.  Rooms are made by joining sheets together to form walls, floors,
>and ceilings, or by being boxes.  Complex objects are made by gluing geons
>together.

 Have you seen the graphic adventure game "The Colony" for the
Macintosh? It does basically that. You have 3-D realtime graphics -
wireframe or filled polygons, and you roam around endless white
hallways, using the mouse to navigate.

 I think it's quite an impressive feat of programming. Response is
almost acceptable on a Mac Plus, and quite fluid on faster machines.
Interaction with objects is limited, however. You can just bump into
things, which makes you stop, makes the object vanish or trigger a
bitmapped 2-D representation of the thing (desk, etc.) that you've
touched.

 It also tried to have a halfway intelligent plot and story along with
the usual boring "shoot the aliens" theme. I mean, it wasn't an
impossibly original plot - it wasn't meant to be, and there lots of
cute inside jokes with various sf books & movies - but it was fun.

 Anyway, I don't know if it's still available. It was published by
Mindscape a while back. If you're interested in this sort of thing I'd
recommend having a look at it.

 - Neil K.
