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May/ June 1996 Issue #9 The Magazine for Interactive Fiction Enthusiasts This issue’s awfully late in coming out this time around, largely due to my already fully booked writing schedule. I’ve been so busy, I haven’t even had a chance to play any text adventure games in months! Needless to say, I’m out of touch with the newsgroups too. I’ve had to hear third-hand about Mike Roberts releasing TADS as freeware and what’s up in the r.a.i-f competition. The good news is that the book I’m working on is wrapping up even as we speak, and I hope to be both a diligent zine editor and a reliable source for game hints again sometime in the near future. I’m finding that each issue’s Top 10 picks for Web sites devoted to text adventure games are increasingly reflecting the impact of new technologies. For example, this issue’s list includes a wonderful site with a number of Java-enabled Inform games you can play online—if your browser supports Java, that is. There’s also a site devoted to the long-awaited developments in playing interactive fiction games on Apple’s PDA, the Newton. This issue also includes a thoughtful article by John Wood on play- er character identity in interactive fiction. It’s a response of sorts to Doug Atkinson’s article on gender and IF games back in issue #3, which I think has generated more response than any other article to date in the zine. Matt Newsome shares an e-mail exchange he had with Infocom implementor Stu Galley, and the prolific C.E. Forman con- tributes his reviews of Spiritwrak and Gumshoe. In other news, I’ve been asked to allow XYZZYnews to be translat- Contents: ed into German, which I’ll be more than happy to see take place. I wouldn’t mind seeing translations into other languages either. Top 10 Picks for IF on the Web.................2 Until next issue, happy gaming! Letters .......................3 Eileen Mullin Player Character [email protected] Identity in Interactive Fiction........................7 Interview with Stu Galley.................12 Sneak Previews ........13 Game Reviews: Gumshoe ..............14 Spiritwrak..............15 What’s on the Disk....16 NEWSBRIEFS…NEWSBRIEFS…NEWSBRIEFS…NEWSBRIEFS… May/June Top 10 Picks XYZZYnews is published bimonthly by Bran Muffin Communications, 160 West for IF on the World Wide Web 24th Street, # 7C, New York, NY 10011, USA. Email: [email protected]. URL: Infocom/Inform Games in Java http://www.interport.net/~eileen/design http://www.wpi.edu/~timbuktu/inform /xyzzynews.html. Send all inquiries, let- ters, and submissions to any of the addresses above. Pueblo Multimedia MUD Client http://www.chaco.com/pueblo/ Contents © 1996 XYZZYnews. All rights reserved. Published in the United States GameSpot (includes walkthrough for Zork Nemesis) of America. http://www.gamespot.com/ Electronic versions: There are currently three versions of XYZZYnews Interactive Fiction (IF) Authorship made available online. One is in ASCII http://www.duke.edu/~srg3/IFAuthorship.html and can be viewed with any text reader. You can also download a .PDF file that J.L. Stroud, Jr.’s Tricky, An Interactive Novel mirrors the layout of the print version. Use the Adobe Acrobat Reader (available http://members.gnn.com/JStroud/mw5/tricky.htm for Windows, Mac, DOS and UNIX) to view the .PDF file; no special fonts or linked The Symbolic Theory of Game Design graphics are needed. You can obtain http://www.symbolicsoft.com/theory/theory.htm Acrobat Reader from ftp.adobe.com in the pub/adobe/applications/Acrobat folder, or follow the links from their Web World Weavers World Wide Web Home Page page at http://www.adobe.com. Thirdly, http://www.crl.com:80/~nimh/world_weavers/ you can also read this issue of XYZZYnews on the World Wide Web at Fundación Pro-Imagyna (in Spanish) http://www.interport.net/ ~eileen/design/xyzzy.9.html http://www-fib.upc.es/~e4181785/ Subscriptions: Both electronic versions Text Adventures on a Newton Information Page are available at no cost. You can obtain http://www.mit.edu/people/sanj/zparse.html either one by FTPing to the ftp.gmd.de/if- archive/magazines/XYZZYnews directory. To be added to the mailing list, please Jay’s Interactive Fiction Page write to [email protected] and specify http://www.cs.uml.edu/~jpenney/if/ text-only or .PDF version. The print ver- sion includes a 3.5" Mac or PC disk and is $21 (U.S.) for one year (6 issues) or $3.50 for a sample issue. For print sub- scriptions outside the U.S. or Canada, please email or write for rates. All products, names, and services are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Editorial deadline for Issue #10 is July 15, 1996. Editor: Eileen Mullin Contributors to this issue: Stuart Beach C.E. Forman Matt Newsome GIFs from the Text Adventures on a Newton page. John Wood 2 Issue #9 May/June 1996 LETTERS…LETTERS…LETTERS…LETTERS…LETTERS…LETTERS…LETTERS…LETTERS…LETTERS… Eileen, ideas on trying to solve prob- Eileen, lems. Both my children are I found the articles about accomplished role-play games playtesting in XYZZYnews #8 I’m in awe of the tremendous masters (dungeon masters), so both informative and enter- quality of your XYZZYnews I guess their imaginations are taining. As a suggestion for ’zine; initially I read the sharpened through those expe- further exploration of the HTML versions, then I read riences. topic, how about an interview issue #4 as a PDF (using the I wish you success with with Michael Kinyon? This recently published Amber ver- your other endeavors. I can guy tests more “modern” sion of the Acrobat reader for only hope that we r.a.i-f fol- games than anyone else in the OS/2) and was much taken lowers can enjoy reading your entire IF community, and he with the beautiful layout. I editorial and your ’zine layouts earns frequent praise for his also like the simple, but in- for some time to come. work. Things I would like to character, title graphics you Thanks again for so much learn from him: Why did he use on your html pages. enjoyment! decide to become a tester I started with Adventure —Roger Lee (rather than an author) of IF? (Colossal Cave) on IBM’s [email protected] What are the most frequent VM/370 years ago, but soon bugs? (and are some of them got my own computer kit—a compiler-specific?) Which Z80-based Nascom-2—on Hello Eileen, traps should potential game which I was lucky to enjoy authors try to avoid? Are there products from Level-9, I discovered the XYZZYnews noticeable trends in modern Magnetic Scrolls, Infocom, and files uploaded to GMD have IF? Any gossip about not-yet- others. Somehow, I wish it file names in capitals. Not that finished games? were possible to port those e.g. Windows 95 cares (which As always, I was stunned games to one of the modern I’m using), but a UNIX hacker by the quality of your materi- parsers—dream on! Although I (which I am from time to time) al. Thanks for brightening up have 2 Nascom-2 machines, might think it’s less than prac- my day, and keep up the good neither is in working order any tical. work! longer. However, I haven’t —Anders —Martin given up hope—I still have the [email protected] [email protected] cassette tapes (believe me!). What surprises me, and gives much pleasure, is the To XYZZYnews: Eileen, quality of recent output in material such as Curses, In Issue #7 of XYZZYnews I encourage you to reconsider Theatre, and so on— I have to [“Interface Changes: A Brief [not printing articles initially admit that these “feel” at least Look at the Evolution of the published on Usenet] for the as good as some of the Infocom Adventure Game Engine], you following reason: games, although even to didn’t mention my favorite Usenet articles last for a myself, that is almost heresy! early Mac text adventure with few days; XYZZYnews lasts These days, I play IF on graphics…Transylvania, by indefinitely. I only recently my OS/2 machine and am cur- Penguin Software. It was avail- rediscovered IF, and I found rently enjoying Inform, TADS, able for the Mac in 1984. It your magazine to be an invalu- and AGT games. My son is used a simple two-word parser able resource. If an article is building an Inform game, but and contained B&W graphics sufficiently good, you should I’d better not try to steal his for each location, inventory consider including it whatever thunder, as he’s now grown item, and character. The graph- the source, so that the people taller than me! ics were on the left side along who tune in months and years I like to enjoy IF in two with a short description of the from now will be able to bene- ways: in competition with my location below the picture. The fit from it. son (15)—he’s much smarter text for actions taken and items Just my two cents. Cheers! than me, darn it—and in the available scrolled along the —Pat company of my daughter (19) right side of the screen. Text [email protected] during which we spark of new was input by the player at the May/June 1996 XYZZYnews 3 LETTERS…LETTERS…LETTERS…LETTERS…LETTERS…LETTERS…LETTERS…LETTERS…LETTERS… bottom of the screen. The About a year ago I stumbled steam.
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