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DESIGN-DRIVEN APPROACHES TOWARD MORE EXPRESSIVE STORYGAMES a Dissertation Submitted in Partial Satisfaction of the Requirements for the Degree Of
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA CRUZ CHANGEFUL TALES: DESIGN-DRIVEN APPROACHES TOWARD MORE EXPRESSIVE STORYGAMES A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in COMPUTER SCIENCE by Aaron A. Reed June 2017 The Dissertation of Aaron A. Reed is approved: Noah Wardrip-Fruin, Chair Michael Mateas Michael Chemers Dean Tyrus Miller Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies Copyright c by Aaron A. Reed 2017 Table of Contents List of Figures viii List of Tables xii Abstract xiii Acknowledgments xv Introduction 1 1 Framework 15 1.1 Vocabulary . 15 1.1.1 Foundational terms . 15 1.1.2 Storygames . 18 1.1.2.1 Adventure as prototypical storygame . 19 1.1.2.2 What Isn't a Storygame? . 21 1.1.3 Expressive Input . 24 1.1.4 Why Fiction? . 27 1.2 A Framework for Storygame Discussion . 30 1.2.1 The Slipperiness of Genre . 30 1.2.2 Inputs, Events, and Actions . 31 1.2.3 Mechanics and Dynamics . 32 1.2.4 Operational Logics . 33 1.2.5 Narrative Mechanics . 34 1.2.6 Narrative Logics . 36 1.2.7 The Choice Graph: A Standard Narrative Logic . 38 2 The Adventure Game: An Existing Storygame Mode 44 2.1 Definition . 46 2.2 Eureka Stories . 56 2.3 The Adventure Triangle and its Flaws . 60 2.3.1 Instability . 65 iii 2.4 Blue Lacuna ................................. 66 2.5 Three Design Solutions . 69 2.5.1 The Witness ............................. 70 2.5.2 Firewatch ............................... 78 2.5.3 Her Story ............................... 86 2.6 A Technological Fix? . -
The New Zork Times by Brief but Savage Downpour
® “All the Gnus Weather: Thic fog, followed That Fit, We Print” The New Zork Times by brief but savage downpour. VOL. 4. .No. 2 —SUMMER 1985— INTERFERON EDITION New Release: A Mind Forever Voyaging A Mind Forever Voyaging, the first were to be introduced. While you're advanced-level Science Fiction story busy exploring the future, the scien- from Infocom, is for true text- tists and programmers who created adventure buffs. Why? Because it you are honing and perfecting the has more locations to visit (several simulation's parameters. Thus, as the hundred), more things to do, more story progresses, you can travel responses, and a large vocabulary further and further in time, watching (1800+ words) than any of our previ- Rockvil prosper as the Plan ously released products. succeeds, or perish as it fails. Only The story takes place in 21st- you can tell on what course the century Rockvil, South Dakota. The country sets itself by adopting the United States of North America has Plan. fallen prey to incredibly high unem- While there are several puzzles to ployment and crime rates. Political keep players on their toes, designer indiffererence, perhaps caused by Steve Meretzky (author of Planetfall backward educational systems or and Sorcerer, and co-author of The diminishing national resources, has Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) Items from Dr. Perleman’s desk are contained in every A Mind Forever swept the nation. Exploiting this op- concentrated more on immersing the Voyaging package. portunity, Senator Richard Ryder has player in a vast, highly detailed, develop (sic) the Plan for a Renewed realistic world; a vision of the National Purpose, stressing patriot- destiny of mankind. -
The Z-Machine Standards Document: Contents
The Z-Machine Standards Document: Contents The Z-Machine Standards Document Version 1.0 22nd June 1997 two misprints corrected, 9th August resources appendix updated and discovery added to header table, 4th September ● Preface ● Overview of Z-machine architecture Fundamentals ● 1. The memory map ● 2. Numbers and arithmetic ● 3. How text and characters are encoded ● 4. How instructions are encoded ● 5. How routines are encoded ● 6. The game state: storage and routine calls Input/Output ● 7. Output streams and file handling ● 8. The screen model ● 9. Sound effects ● 10. Input streams and devices Tables ● 11. The format of the header ● 12. The object table ● 13. The dictionary and lexical analysis Instruction Set ● 14. Complete table of opcodes (with Inform assembly syntax) file:///D|/doc/zspec10/index.html (1 of 2) [6/22/2000 4:34:11 PM] The Z-Machine Standards Document: Contents ● 15. Dictionary of opcodes An Unusual Font ● 16. Font 3 and character graphics Appendices ● A. Error messages and debugging ● B. Conventional contents of the header ● C. Resources available (with WWW links) ● D. A short history of the Z-machine ● E. Statistics ● F. Canonical story files file:///D|/doc/zspec10/index.html (2 of 2) [6/22/2000 4:34:11 PM] The Z-Machine Standards Document: Preface Preface The Z-machine was created on a coffee table in Pittsburgh in 1979. It is an imaginary computer whose programs are adventure games, and is well-adapted to its task, implementing complex games remarkably compactly. They were still perhaps 100K long, too large for the memory of the home computers of their day, and the Z-machine seems to have made the first usage of virtual memory on a microcomputer. -
Z-Machine Interpreters in the 1980S, Infocom Published About Three
By Hugo Labrande Issue #5 : Z-Machine interpreters In the 1980s, Infocom published about three dozen of text adventures on most platforms of the era, from the TRS-80 to the Atari ST. Their method to spend minimal time on portability was to create a virtual machine, the Z-Machine, and compile their games into bytecode that could be read by the Z-Machine. All was needed was some software that could read this bytecode and execute it on a target machine: an interpreter. To ensure that all interpreters behaved coherently, Infocom actually wrote specifications for the Z-Machine (version 3, 4, and 5 for text-only, and 6 for graphical adventures), which specified how the interpreter should behave; this was to make sure that the people tasked with writing a new interpreter would follow the same rules as the other ones. This specification was then reverse-engineered by amateurs as early as the end of the 1980s (Barry Boone on the TI-99/4A, the InfoTaskForce in Australia, etc.). In the 1990s, people added some features and fixed a few inconsistencies, and created version 8, which was basically the same as version 5 but allowed larger file sizes. This gave the Z-Machine standards, which are available online: http://inform-fiction.org/zmachine/standards/z1point1/index.html This means that if you’d like to implement a Z-Machine interpreter, all you need to do is follow this specification. Over the years, literally hundreds of Z-Machine interpreters have been written, for sometimes very exotic platforms. They sometimes have their own quirks, can fall out of fashion, or get forgotten; I cannot begin to retrace all the Z-Machine interpreters that have been written. -
The Status Line
Meet Mike’s Important Dream Date Reader Poll See page 7 The Status Line See page 6 Volume VI Number 1 Formerly The New Zork Times Winter/Spring 1987 Douglas Adams' Bureaucracy Not very long ago, Douglas Adams It's a sad story, one that's replayed (who is, as everyone knows, the best- every day for millions of people selling author of that zany interactive worldwide. Of course, it's not always story The Hitchhiker's Guide to the a bank at fault. Sometimes it's the Galaxy™) moved from one apartment postal service, or the telephone com- in London to another. He dutifully pany, or an airline, or the govern- notified everyone of his new address, ment. All of us, at one time or including his bank. In fact, he person- another, feel persecuted by a bureauc- ally went to the bank and filled out a racy. What can be done? change-of-address form. Only Douglas Adams would exact Soon after, Douglas found that he such sweet revenge. He retaliated by was unable to use his credit card. He writing Bureaucracy™, a hilarious discovered that the card had been interactive journey through masses of invalidated by the bank. Apparently, red tape. the bank had sent a new card to his You begin Bureaucracy in your old address. spiffy new apartment. You're going to For weeks, Douglas tried to get the Paris this very afternoon for a combi- bank to acknowledge his change-of- nation training seminar and vacation, address form. He talked to bank offi- so you'll need to leave as soon as you cials, and filled out new forms, and get the money order your boss has applied for another credit card, but mailed you. -
Adventure Anecdotes from the U.S.A. (Pdf)
Adventure anecdotes from the U.S.A.∗ Gregor Neumann and Boris Schneider You wouldn't believe the complications you can encounter when trying to sell software. The adventure specialists at Infocom share their experi- ences with matchbooks, special types of paper, and freeze-dried astronaut food. On the highway between New York three-year-old is playing the violin for and Boston a small Japanese car races the very first time. Again and again through the first hours of morning. In- the unnerving sound was heard. The side are Gregor Neumann and Boris people at Infocom seem to be used to Schneider. Their destination: Cam- it. Perhaps a poltergeist? It is then bridge, near Boston, the town of res- explained to us that the sound effects idence of the Infocom software com- for the 16-bit versions of the adven- pany. ture Sherlock are digitized and tested Once before we had a glimpse at that moment. Following some pecu- behind-the-scenes with the adventure liar logic, the tests of the most ghastly experts at Infocom, when Steve Meret- sounds are the longest and loudest. zky and Dave Lebling explained to us how they write adventure games in our first issue. Nevertheless, our morning drive to the Infocom headquarters is more than a courtesy visit. We are looking for new stories that may inter- est the readers of PowerPlay. The offices of Infocom are lo- cated on the fifth floor of a very new commercial building. A sign saying These are the people who invent the \Infocom|Imagination sold and ser- \feelies": Elisabeth Langosy, Gail Syska, Carl viced here" is found next to the en- Genatoffio, and Angela Crews. -
The Status Line
The Status Line Volume VII Number 1 Formerly The New Zork Times Winter/Spring 1988 Sherlock Holmes - Immortal Legend “You are standing in the spill of a gas The Crown Jewels have been stolen; com’s new “Immortal Legends” series. streetlight outside 221 B Baker Street. The games feature enhanced interaction You have come in response to an urgent You’re the only one who can find them with legendary characters of the past in summons from your old landlady, Mrs. the settings in which they became fa- Hudson. As the fog swirls around you, exposed and the With Holmes by mous. Developed by Bob Bates and you huddle into your coat and shiver in government will fall your side, you use Challenge, Inc., the series combines the predawn chill.” into international your wits, intuition, humor and puzzle-solving into satisfy- Thus begins Sherlock: The Riddle of disgrace. and a myriad of ing adventures that will stay with you the Crown Jewels, which catapults you Only 48 hours clues to solve the long after you turn away from the com- into the fog-bound streets of Victorian remain to solve the riddles and piece puter. The game Sherlock itself is a London. All week long, the city has crime. With Scot- together the mys- comic mystery, and its cast of charac- been bustling with preparations for Her land Yard baffled, tery. From Trafalgar ters includes the Baker Street Irregu- Majesty's Golden Jubilee. Crowds of the Prime Minister Square to Madame lars, Mycroft Holmes, and the always- sightseers and souvenir vendors fill the calls on Sherlock Tussaud’s, from incompetent Inspector Lestrade, about streets. -
Riddle Machines: the History and Nature of Interactive Fiction
Riddle Machines: The History and Nature of Interactive Fiction The MIT Faculty has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters. Citation Montfort, Nick. "Riddle Machines: The History and Nature of Interactive Fiction." A Companion to Digital Literary Studies, edited by Ray Siemens and Susan Schreibman, John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 2013, 267-282. © 2013 Ray Siemens and Susan Schreibman As Published http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9781405177504.ch14 Publisher John Wiley & Sons, Ltd Version Author's final manuscript Citable link https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/129076 Terms of Use Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike Detailed Terms http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ Nick Montfort Riddle Machines: The History and Nature of Interactive Fiction 14. Riddle Machines: The History and Nature of Interactive Fiction Nick Montfort Introduction The genre that has also been labeled "text adventure" and "text game" is stereotypically thought to offer dungeons, dragons, and the ability for readers to choose their own adventure. While there may be dragons here, interactive fiction (abbreviated "IF") also offers utopias, revenge plays, horrors, parables, intrigues, and codework, and pieces in this form resound with and rework Gilgamesh, Shakespeare, and Eliot as well as Tolkien. The reader types in phrases to participate in a dialogue with the system, commanding a character with writing. Beneath this surface conversation, and determining what the computer narrates, there is the machinery of a simulated world, capable of drawing the reader into imagining new perspectives and understanding strange systems. Interactive fiction works can be challenging for literary readers, even those interested in other sorts of electronic literature, because of the text-based interface and because of the way in which these works require detailed exploration, mapping, and solution. -
The Status Line Fall 1986
Vol. V/No. 4 —Fall 1986— Glamour Edition Soon To Be A Major Interactive Story… HOLLYWOOD HIJINX Who can forget those wonderful Herman would team up together to childhood summers spent with play games in the garden or help your Aunt Hildegarde and Uncle Aunt Hildegarde with her dinner Buddy Burbank? Uncle Buddy was parties. There was also the time he a Hollywood mogul, Aunt Hilde- got sick in the top bunk when you garde his loving (and very rich) were sleeping in the bottom one. wife. They had no children of their Or the time he tripped you on the own, but you and your cousins beach stairs and you fell and got a were always welcome at their bloody nose. But you were able to sprawling Malibu estate. forgive and forget in the name of The house itself was loads of cousinly love. fun. There was the luxurious Well, those days are all behind movie theater, the gaudy round you. Uncle Buddy has been dead satin-covered bed, the gold-plated for several years, and now Aunt bathroom faucets in the shape of Hildegarde has passed away, too. Aunt Hildegarde and Uncle Buddy would be proud of the Oscars, and the goofy props from It seems like the end of an era — Hollywood Hijinx package. old Buddy Burbank movies. And until you learn that you've inher- the grounds had everything from a ited the entire estate. There's just private beach to a hedge maze, one quirky stipulation: you can where you usually managed to get only claim your booty if you find Breakthrough In lost. -
The Status Line Vol,1Mp VII Nljll'ber 2 Formwly the New Zork Times Summer 1988 Change Is New Mail Order Firm-Really! Inevitable
The Status Line Vol,1mP VII NLJll'ber 2 Formwly The New Zork Times Summer 1988 Change is New mail order firm-really! inevitable. We are pleased to introduce Triton Products Company as the new author Don't panic! ized Infocom direct marketing center. Veterans in the field of phone and mail We've been asking what you'd orders and fulfillment, Triton, in the like to see in our software. And words of Vice President Terry Miller, you've responded. You've sent in "hopes to be the best darn direct mar your Status Line polls, and an keting company you've ever seen." swered our warranty card ques Triton was recently acquired by Ac tions, phone surveys, and in tivision to become the company's package questionnaires. The re direct marketing specialists. sults? You want on-screen maps. You' II notice lots of changes in this You want character development issue of The Status Line, and most of with bar charts. You want color. those are through the expertise and the You want animation. In short, you good graces ofTriton, our new corpo want graphics. rate cousins. Just open to the center of Graphics? From Infocom? Tue the newsletter, and you'll see some of company that advertised itself as the changes immediately: a postage "sticking our graphics where the paid envelope, special coupons and sun don't shine"? We know that offers, clear concise ordering instruc the very idea is anathema to a tions, and who knows what else. number of very loyal Infocom But the more you deal with Triton, fans. -
The Inform Designer's Manual
Cited Works of Interactive Fiction The following bibliography includes only those works cited in the text of this book: it makes no claim to completeness or even balance. An index entry is followed by designer's name, publisher or organisation (if any) and date of first substantial version. The following denote formats: ZM for Z-Machine, L9 for Level 9's A-code, AGT for the Adventure Game Toolkit run-time, TADS for TADS run-time and SA for Scott Adams's format. Games in each of these formats can be played on most modern computers. Scott Adams, ``Quill''-written and Cambridge University games can all be mechanically translated to Inform and then recompiled as ZM. The symbol marks that the game can be downloaded from ftp.gmd.de, though for early games} sometimes only in source code format. Sa1 and Sa2 indicate that a playable demonstration can be found on Infocom's first or second sampler game, each of which is . Most Infocom games are widely available in remarkably inexpensive packages} marketed by Activision. The `Zork' trilogy has often been freely downloadable from Activision web sites to promote the ``Infocom'' brand, as has `Zork: The Undiscovered Underground'. `Abenteuer', 264. German translation of `Advent' by Toni Arnold (1998). ZM } `Acheton', 3, 113 ex8, 348, 353, 399. David Seal, Jonathan Thackray with Jonathan Partington, Cambridge University and later Acornsoft, Topologika (1978--9). `Advent', 2, 47, 48, 62, 75, 86, 95, 99, 102, 105, 113 ex8, 114, 121, 124, 126, 142, 146, 147, 151, 159, 159, 179, 220, 221, 243, 264, 312 ex125, 344, 370, 377, 385, 386, 390, 393, 394, 396, 398, 403, 404, 509 an125. -
The Status Line
The Status Line Volume VII Number 3 Formerly The New Zork Times Fall 1988 BattleTech: Lots of Meching around He cursed himself for what felt like scanned the status report of his the 15th time in the last hour. The 'Mech’s condition. His concentration inside of his neuro-helmet was slick was broken by alarm bells sounding with sweat, making matters even and the warning, “Critical shot to the worse now that there was poor con- head! Man eject!” blaring into his tact with the helmet's electrodes. He ears. Numb, Jason triggered the eject remembered the message that his button, blasting the canopy off the top instructors drilled into his head again of the 'Mech and causing him to drop and again: “Controlling a 'Mech re- the 35 feet to the ground, safely quires patience and above all strate- cocooned within the seat's webbing. gic allocation of resources.” Funny Dejectedly, Jason detached himself how it was never as easy when the from the now useless seat and trudged trainer 'Mechs were firing back. back to the Citadel's training “I cannot let father down,” Jason grounds, realizing that he now had mumbled to himself as he aligned the another failure he would have to try Chameleon's twin medium lasers on to live down with the mechanics. the approaching Locust's torso. “They already hate me because of “Cannot let the computer keep fight- their station in life,” said Jason, real- ing for me, especially after last time,” izing that tomorrow's training session Jason thought, ruefully remembering would be just as brutal as today's.