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Now That I've Cleared out the New Issue #14 The Magazine for Interactive Fiction Enthusiasts Now that I’ve cleared out the New Year’s Eve party detritus — the confetti is swept, the empty champagne bottles tucked in with the recyclable trash — I’d like to venture forth with a 1998 proposition, not so much a resolution, for the IF commu- nity: let’s turn the now-yearly IF competition into a biennial event, celebrated every two years perhaps much like the Olympics are now. The benefits are readily apparent: IF programmers could have twice as long to fine-tune their entries, investing more time in thoughtful writing, elegant puzzle design, fleshed-out storylines, and better bug-testing; more aspiring programmers would toss their hats in the ring; while the rest of the IF fans would have more time to enjoy and methodically explore each new competition game — savoring more fully developed, memorable games instead of hurrying through too many games that, while generally well-conceived, were too rushed through development (to meet competition deadlines) to prove really enjoyable. Contents: While many IF fans have more free time than I do — and anyone who’s stayed tuned this long for XYZZYnews’s uneven Top 10 Picks for IF on the Web ................2 publishing schedule knows that I haven’t much to spare — just as many face even heavier demands from their work, family, Letters.......................3 school, and other obligations. So let’s give ourselves a collec- The Effects of tive break...! Many of us took years to finish Zork, Adventure, ‘XYZZY’ in the 1997 Trinity, and the other classic text adventures. Why would we Interactive Fiction want to rush through 35 games (in this year’s competition Competition Games....5 alone) in a couple of hours or, at most, days each? Spot the IF Reference! .................8 One of my real New Year’s resolutions was to stop short- changing my personal Web site, and I’m glad to say I’m acting All That Erasmatazz....9 on that one with some recent improvements to the IF Roundtable: The XYZZYnews home page: There’s a new and improved guest- Art of the Puzzle ......12 book (http://www.xyzzynews.com/guestbook.html), search Announcing the 1997 engine (http://www.xyzzynews.com/search/), and subscription XYZZY Awards.........28 form (http://www.xyzzynews.com/subscribe/). Let me know what you think of the new features! Tales from the Code Front...............29 Until next issue, happy gaming! Game Review: I-O .....35 Eileen Mullin Bulletin Board ..........16 [email protected] NEWSBRIEFS…NEWSBRIEFS…NEWSBRIEFS…NEWSBRIEFS… Issue # 14 Top 10 Picks XYZZYnews is published more-or-less for IF on the World Wide Web bimonthly by Eileen Mullin, 160 West 24th Street, # 7C, New York, NY 10011, USA. Email: [email protected]. URL: http://www.xyzzynews.com/. Send all Interactive Fiction Web Ring inquiries, letters, and submissions to http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Lair/7152/ any of the addresses above. Hole in the Wall — Interactive Fiction Contents © 1998 XYZZYnews. All rights http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Meadows/3355/ reserved. Published in the United States if.htm of America. HUGO interactive fiction authoring system home page Electronic versions: There are http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Academy/5976/ currently three versions of XYZZYnews hugo.html made available online. One is in ASCII and can be viewed with any text reader. You Zork Grand Inquisitor can also download a .PDF file that mirrors http://www.activision.com/games/adventure/zgi/ the layout of the print version. Use the index.shtml Adobe Acrobat Reader (available for Windows, Mac, DOS and Unix) to view the Megagame: Interactive Fiction .PDF file; no special fonts or linked graph- http://www.dgware.com/ ics are needed. You can obtain Acrobat Reader by following the links from http://www.adobe.com/. Thirdly, you can ifMUD: A MUD Forever Voyaging also read this issue online at http://fovea.retina.net:4001 http://www.xyzzynews.com/xyzzy.14.html The Space Under the Window (Andrew Plotkin) Subscriptions: All electronic versions are http://www.edoc.com/zarf/zplet/sutwin.html available at no cost. You can obtain either the ASCII or PDF versions by FTPing to The Adventure Market the ftp.gmd.de/if-archive/magazines/ http://spinndb.asfh-berlin.de/market/ XYZZYnews directory. To be added to the mailing list, please write to eileen@inter- Updated Infocom Bugs list port.net and specify text-only or .PDF ver- http://members.aol.com/graemecree/infobugs/index.htm sion. The print version is $15 (U.S.) for one year (6 issues) or $2.50 for a sample issue. For print subscriptions outside the The World of IF U.S. or Canada, please email or write for http://www.natcom.org/if/home.htm rates. All products, names, and services are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Editor: Eileen Mullin Associate Editor: Neil deMause Contributors to this issue: Alan Conroy Sell your games or look for treasures at the Adventure Market. 2 Issue #14 XYZZYnews LETTERS…LETTERS…LETTERS…LETTERS…LETTERS…LETTERS…LETTERS…LETTERS…LETTERS… Programmers wanted the latest news and events in >XYZZY Readers: I’ve received a query the IF world! Gee, grandpa. What from a Santa Monica-based —Brian Wilt was it like back then? television entertainment com- [email protected] pany that is looking for IF I believe it wouldn’t take much game programmers to possibly time to compile a list of those develop an online adventure Hello, Eileen, replies from the more recent for their Web site. The compa- games and turn it into another ny is Rysher Entertainment I started out playing Infocom ’Tales from the Code Front’ (http://www.rysher.com/). It games in the mid-’80s, and article. produces and distributes such have recently begun to re- —Martin titles as Highlander: The acquire the games via the [email protected] Series, F/X: The Series and Activision collections. Here is Soldier of Fortune Inc. something that I discovered That’s one of the most fre- Excellent writing skills while playing Planetfall. quent requests I receive — and will count for a lot here. The While inside the safety I’m obliging this issue with the adventures should also be webbing (in the escape pod) at answers to “What XYZZY totally immersed in the world the beginning of the game, it is Does…” for the 1997 IF com- of F/X, Highlander or Soldier of possible to retrieve both the petition entries. Enjoy! Fortune Inc. — they are look- towel and the kit buy typing —Eileen ing for something that would “read the towel” and “read the stand alongside the best kit.” The game will then say: episodes of the actual series. Dear XYZZYnews: If you would like to toss your >Read the towel hat in the ring, please contact: (picking it up first) Hi, I saw your posting on XYZZYnews, requesting maps Eddie Camarillo It then tells you what is writ- for the mazes (alike and differ- Director, Marketing/ ten on the towel (or the kit). ent.) My father and I have Guy in Charge of Web Stuff Trying to GET the towel or mapped out these mazes in Rysher Entertainment kit elicits a response to the detail. I’m afraid I don’t have 2401 Colorado Avenue, Ste. 200 effect that you cannot reach the maps in an electronic for- Santa Monica, CA 90404 the item from your current mat right now, but I can give perch. you some hints to mapping —Gary MacDougall them yourself. Dear Eileen, [email protected] For the maze alike, drop an item on the floor in each room. Hello! I wanted to say that I There are at least 12 rooms in am a great fan of interactive Hi Eileen, this maze, so you may have to fiction and I think that this is a carry several armloads worth great magazine to publish! I am How about re-running your into the maze. To get out of the 12 years old and in 6th grade. I ‘What XYZZY Does’ column; maze from the first room, go was introduced to Zork and from issue (don’t remember up. All of the connections in The Colossal Cave in fourth which, but the article dealt this maze are two-way. That is, grade. I beat Adventure with a with the competition entries of if you can get to room B from little help from my mom, and 1995)? I also remember you room A, you can get to room A beat Zork 1 and 2 alone. urging authors to implement from room B. However, the At school we were getting the magic word in their games, passages are twisty, so the con- old, small, cheap computers and it seems your promotion nections are often “bent.” that couldn’t really handle any was very successful. The maze different is more games that my friends usually Nearly every new game has convoluted, but you don’t need play. I loaded all of the Zorks, a cute response to XYZZY, and to truck in loads of items to and a few others. I think they it’s become one of the very first solve it. Each room in this are still on the computers, and commands I try with each maze is, indeed, different. No the kids really like them. game. My current favorite two rooms have the same exact Thank you for printing all of comes from ‘Apartment F209’: description. The descriptions XYZZYnews 3 LETTERS…LETTERS…LETTERS…LETTERS…LETTERS…LETTERS…LETTERS…LETTERS…LETTERS… are made up of three key zles to help beginners, also XYZZYnews, but here in Spain words, in various orders, for advice on solving mazes etc.
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