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Ries—In This Case, Strega by Andrew Vachss—When the Briefest IF Mention Jumped out at Me

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November/ December 1996 Issue #12 The Magazine for Interactive Fiction Enthusiasts I was curled up reading one of those hard-boiled crime sto- ries—in this case, Strega by Andrew Vachss—when the briefest IF mention jumped out at me: Lily took us to her office, at the end of the corridor. It looked like a kid’s playroom except for the computer screen on the desk. I looked at the keyboard—there was no lock-out device. “How do you keep someone from getting into your records?” I asked her. She laughed, tapping some keys. “Want to play a fast game of Zork before we get down to business?” The screen had some kind of mazes-and-monsters game on it. ”That’s all you have it for?” “Sure,” she said, looking at Immaculata as I was an idiot. Of course, there’s probably no such this as a “fast” game of Zork, but it was great to see the unexpected reference. (Actually, this whole series by Andrew Vachss would make a great basis for an adventure game, but that’s beside the point.) Contents: If you run across any similar mentions in popular fiction, I’d appreciate hearing about it—please let me know the author’s Top 10 Picks for IF on the Web.................2 name, book title, and the publisher. Letters .......................3 In other news, I think you’ll find a lot of stuff worth reading in this issue. Neil deMause interviews Amy Briggs, author of Romancing the Genre: An Interview with Infocom’s historical romance Plundered Hearts. Rob Daviau Plundered Hearts’ polled visitors to the IF newsgroups about how they went about Amy Briggs .................5 seeking help when stuck in the middle of a game. And C.E. The Year in Review: Forman has compiled his second annual year-in-review report IF in 1996 ..................9 on the state of events in the IF community. Chris has also announced that commitments to a new ’zine will prevent him Cheat, Beg, Wheedle, Cajole...and other from continuing to contribute to XYZZYnews. His final piece— strategies for how we and interview with playtester extraordinaire Michael Kinyon— finish IF games .........15 will appear next issue. I want to thank Chris for his prolific Bulletin Board: prose and cheerful devotion to all things IF-related—he has been readers helping an inspiration to us all, and his articles will be sorely missed. other readers............18 Until next issue, happy gaming! Announcing the XYZZY Awards...........19 Eileen Mullin What’s on the Disk....20 [email protected] NEWSBRIEFS…NEWSBRIEFS…NEWSBRIEFS…NEWSBRIEFS… November/December Top 10 Picks XYZZYnews is published bimonthly by for IF on the World Wide Web Bran Muffin Communications, 160 West 24th Street, # 7C, New York, NY 10011, USA. Email: [email protected]. URL: A Time of Madness http://www.xyzzynews.com/. Send all http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/~mc/atom.htm inquiries, letters, and submissions to any of the addresses above. Adam Crutchlow’s text adventures page http://www.public.iastate.edu/~evers/text_adv.html Contents © 1996 XYZZYnews. All rights reserved. Published in the United States Fredrik’s Interactive Fiction Starter’s Kit of America. http://www-und.ida.liu.se/~d91frera/ifstart.html Electronic versions: There are Home Page for PilotZIP (Z-Code Interpreter Program) currently three versions of XYZZYnews made available online. One is in ASCII http://www.concentric.net/~rbram/zip.shtml and can be viewed with any text reader. You can also download a .PDF file that IF World Online mirrors the layout of the print version. http://www.rit.edu/~fxp4258/if/ Use the Adobe Acrobat Reader (available for Windows, Mac, DOS and UNIX) to view Interactive Fiction Online Archive the .PDF file; no special fonts or linked http://www.mlab.uiah.fi/~akivela/if/zpletx/ graphics are needed. You can obtain Acrobat Reader from ftp.adobe.com in the pub/adobe/applications/Acrobat Jerry’s Hugo Homepage folder, or follow the links from their Web http://oak.kcsd.k12.pa.us/~jnichols/hugo/ page at http://www.adobe.com. Thirdly, you can also read this issue of Python Language Home Page XYZZYnews on the World Wide Web at http://www.python.org http://www.xyzzynews.com/xyzzy.12.html Python Universe Builder Subscriptions: All electronic versions are http://www-acs.ucsd.edu/~jstrout/python/pub/index.htm available at no cost. You can obtain either the ASCII or PDF versions by FTPing to the Tolkien text adventure games ftp.gmd.de/if-archive/magazines/ XYZZYnews directory. To be added to the http://www.lysator.liu.se/tolkien-games/adventures.html mailing list, please write to eileen@inter- port.net and specify text-only or .PDF ver- sion. The print version 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 subscriptions 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 #13 is January 31, 1997. Editor: Eileen Mullin Contributors to this issue: Rob Daviau Neil deMause Home Page for PilotZIP C.E. Forman 2 Issue #12 November/December 1996 LETTERS…LETTERS…LETTERS…LETTERS…LETTERS…LETTERS…LETTERS…LETTERS…LETTERS… Eileen, tears at this point and it takes myself old-school; I can’t some moments for him to afford, run, or get into many of When I was eleven or twelve I regain his composure ;)). I real- the industry’s recent games. used to take long walks ly can’t complain though. I have yet to see the PDF through the barren suburban Obviously the computer indus- format, but I fully enjoy the landscapes outside of Buffalo try is driven by money, not text-only version—after all, I (back then it was still verging altogether bad because if it like text-based games, no? I on ‘barren rural landscapes’ wasn’t I’d never have gotten enjoy the reviews and inter- actually). I remember once the privilege of a home com- views, when I recognize the finding a Star Trek fanzine. It puter or playing Zork. It is sad interviewee. wasn’t much, four or five pages though how much is lost with —Mischa Krilov of typed and copied stories, leapfrogging technology. I still [email protected] rumors (Star Trek the Movie?) think we’ve not used up the etc. I doubt much came of that potential of previous systems, little ’zine. I think of it, flap- but then I’ve got a soft spot in Eileen, ping along pathetically in the me ’art for 8-bit machines ;). I snow, when I read ’zines on the am like sooooo happy that Have only just discovered web. Most of them are merely there is a quality movement to XYZZYnews in the Web. Being digital versions of my child- keep IF alive. And if it weren’t an interactive fiction fan since hood memory. I’ll read it and for Issue #1 of XYZZYnews I’d at least 1983, I can truthfully in a little while it’ll be gone have missed out on the fun! say it’s like a breath of fresh after one or two ‘issues’. Thanks for hanging in there air. It’s great to know my Sometimes they stick around with your ’zine! The Web has favorite computer gaming on a page for a long time, never become this big ooey gooey genre is still alive despite the anything new, just those few mass of commercial sites with graphics revolution... ‘issues,‘ like virtual detritus no business on the web (a Here are some bugs that washed up on my screen. It’s Zima site for godsakes?) or have occurred in versions of when really good ’zines that sites that consist of family Infocom games that I have fill a hole in our hearts and photographs and excruciating played, but are not on your lat- minds fail that it really sad- details of intimate family est bug list. I’ll have to check dens me. issues (why not just post fami- the details later in order to find Fortunately XYZZYnews ly pictures on the bulletin out the version numbers (if has not failed. That’s due to board at the supermarket?). possible; my Deadline, your dedication and due to the Your page is one of a few that Starcross and Planetfall reports mass of fans out there that have restored my faith in the are based on Commodore 64 never stopped loving the damn internet ;). versions I haven’t played since little brain teasers ;). I remem- Perhaps I should have wait- my C64 went to that great ber buying a Texas Instruments ed to get sleep before writing computer room in the sky). digital watch from a second this ;), oh well, deadlines, dead- Beyond Zork: The hour- hand shop in the early ’80s and lines...Keep up the Great job glass and arch, combined with telling my friend that I was ma’am! the chest, can cause the game going to start collecting —Joe Nowakowski to lock up on you if used ‘antique technology.’ I thought [email protected] together, and if you haven’t this was incredibly clever. opened the chest previously. Now I find that some of the Here’s what happened to me: I best games I’ve ever played are To begin: used the hourglass to travel to considered ‘antique technolo- the Plaza’s past, and opened the gy.’ How did this happen? One I can honestly say that your chest.
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