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The Magazine for Interactive Fiction Enthusiasts

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September/ October 1995 Issue #5 The Magazine for Interactive Fiction Enthusiasts One of the new hats I’m wearing these days is as an online volunteer in America Online’s Mac Games Forum. In that role I’ll be expanding my horizons beyond IF games, but I certainly hope to add to the IF games in those file libraries and encourage related discussion on AOL’s message boards (oops, my hidden agenda is showing :) ). Well, I’ve also discovered from poring over your responses to my reader survey (from the July/August issue; survey results begin on page 14) that collective- ly you all play a lot of non-IF games too; you can find the highlights of the survey inside on page 14. So if you’re ever on America Online and are an avid Mac user, please be sure to drop me a line at my new address there, AFC Bran ([email protected]) or visit the weekly online games chat (keyword: MGM) on Fridays at 10 p.m. EST. Slightly less geeky Something else I like to do, whenever I get a chance, is check out who on the Web has a hyperlink from their site to the XYZZYnews home page. (I have a little ‘referers’ script that lets me do that.) Every time I Contents: run it I’m surprised to find new links from people I don’t even know. Some of these mentions just list the name of the ’zine on a list of Sneak Previews ..........2 “cool sites”; others give a little blurb or write-up about the ’zine’s Letters .......................3 function. One of my favorites — and I assume that page has been changed The Infocom Trivia Quiz...................5 now, because it doesn’t show up any more on my searches — was on a page reviewing online ’zines. As I remember, immediately above the Competition XYZZYnews review was an analysis of another computer gaming mag- Summary ...................7 azine described quite derisively as appealing only to real nerds/geeks News Briefs..............14 (substitute your appropriate local slang term here). The review for XYZZYnews immediately followed, and consisted of only three words: Survey Results ......14 “Slightly less geeky.” :) Top 10 IF Sites ......15 This review makes me laugh every time I think of it — but I didn’t save the URL, so if anyone else remembers this page I’d really appreci- Game Reviews ate hearing from you! Christminster.........16 Until next issue, happy gaming! Theatre .................17 Eileen Mullin TimeSquared .........18 [email protected] Guess What? Another Update to the Infocom Bugs List .....19 Answers to Trivia Quiz.................21 What’s on the Disk....24 Sneak Previews XYZZYnews is published bimonthly by Bran Muffin Communications, 160 West 24th Street, # 7C, New York, NY 10011, USA. Email: [email protected]. Send This issue’s “Sneak Previews” looks at two games in develop- all inquiries, letters, and submissions to ment by folks who’ve contributed to the pages of XYZZYnews. the address above. Way to go, guys! Contents © 1995 XYZZYnews. All rights The Path to Fortune, by Jeff Cassidy and C.E. Forman, is the reserved. Published in the United States of America. opening chapter in a fantasy epic known as “The Windhall Chronicles.” Written in Inform, this intermediate adventure Electronic versions: There are puts players in the shoes of the acrophobic young hero Aerin, currently two versions of XYZZYnews a blacksmith’s apprentice turned adventurer, who has been made available online. One is in ASCII awarded the task of uncovering the long-lost treasure of the and can be viewed with any text reader. dragon Kirizith in order to pay off the debts of the town of You can also download a .PDF file that mirrors the layout of the print version. Windhall. Along the way, Aerin learns the arts of swordsman- Use the Adobe Acrobat Reader (available ship and magic, and discovers what it really means to be an for Windows, Mac, DOS and UNIX) to view adventurer. the .PDF file; no special fonts or linked A cast of 14 NPCs help and hinder Aerin during the graphics are needed. You can obtain Acrobat Reader from ftp.adobe.com in course of his journey through the Mendeval Empire, from the the pub/adobe/applications/Acrobat ever-rhyming Mire Cat to the mysterious grand wizard folder, or http://www.adobe.com/ Nostrophidius to Sir Gunther IX, whose sheer incompetence Software.html. You can also read this as a knight is surpassed only by his complete inability to issue of XYZZYnews on the World Wide speak fluently in the noble tongue. “The Path to Fortune” is Web at http://www.interport.net/~eileen/ xyzzy.5.html slated for release by early October. Subscriptions: Both electronic versions Lost New York is a TADS game by Neil deMause (the creator are available at no cost. You can obtain of MacWesleyan/PC University) that will include dozens of either one by FTPing to the ftp.gmd.de/if- puzzles, over 90 rooms, and several surprising figures from archive/magazines/XYZZYnews directory. New York history. They say you can’t get to know the real To be added to the mailing list, please write to [email protected] and specify New York as a tourist — but this will turn out to be unlike text-only or .PDF version. The print ver- any vacation you’ve ever experienced. At first it looked like sion includes a 3.5" Mac or PC disk and just a trip to yet another tourist trap, until a mysterious dis- is $21 (U.S.) for one year (6 issues) or covery sent you catapulting through time to a New York that $3.50 for a sample issue. For print sub- scriptions outside the U.S. or Canada, you only knew through history books. And now, it looks like please email or write for rates. you will have to change the course of that history in order to return home... All products, names, and services are “Lost New York” is currently about to begin beta-testing, trademarks or registered trademarks of and is expected to be released to the public in December their respective companies. 1995. There will be a fully playable freeware version, as well as a registered version (pricing is not yet final) that will add Editorial deadline for Issue #6 is on-screen hints and a full manual. October 31, 1995. Note: If you’re writing a new text adventure game and Editor: would like to see it announced in the ’zine, please send an Eileen Mullin e-mail to Eileen Mullin at [email protected] and include Contributors to this issue: the words “Sneak Preview” in the subject header. Please Graeme Cree C.E. Forman include as much information as you can about the basic story Greg Soultanis line, how many characters are in the game, what gaming lan- guage was used, and the game’s cost (if any). 2 Issue #5 September/October 1995 LETTERS…LETTERS…LETTERS…LETTERS…LETTERS…LETTERS…LETTERS…LETTERS…LETTERS… TSR-80 in 1982. The following the #4 issue and look forward To XYZZYnews: year I bought my own C-64, and to #5 when it comes out. Zork was the first title I bought Keep up the good work! Wow! Love your publication for it. I spent many months Text adventure games are still (how about going monthly?). exploring the GUE. Like so alive out there and will contin- I’ve played most of the com- many others, however, I was ue to thrive! mercial graphic adventures and seduced by graphics and lost I always come back to text touch with IF for some time. —Mark Fleschler based games. They are by far Then a couple of years ago I [email protected] and away my favorites. This bought The Lost Treasures of often baffles friends and Infocom, and set about to reac- acquaintances who see my quaint myself with the genre. Eileen, Pentium 90 with 16MB RAM Unfortunately, I didn’t finish a and Windows 95 and ask single game in the collection, Many thanks for picking our “how’s DOOM?” and instead I always losing interest along the unofficial home page as one of show them a TEXT-BASED way. Now, thanks to you, I’m the Top Ten Interactive Fiction GAME!?? going to go back and try again. sites for March/April! I only Ah, if they only knew what Your newsletter has convinced found out because out of they were missing… me that IF is not a lost art curiosity I did a Lycos search It seems so unfortunate to form… that many others also on Legend. me that one can no longer type enjoy it. I’ve also acquired a We’re planning on opening any commands in commercial copy of the Adventure Game a new second Web page (also adventures. Just point and Toolkit, and plan to begin fool- unofficial, the admins of the click. Very limiting. Perhaps, ing around with some of my system don’t have time to do in time, as every home gets a own game ideas, which had such things! :P) very soon now computer and more people been forgotten for so long. which will have much more learn to actually type, and as Thanks again for the inspira- information on it, and link people notice the increasingly tion, and keep up the good back to the current one. It will good quality of several IF work! be at http://alcuin.plymouth. games lately, there will be a — Robert Goodwin edu/~ed/legend.html, and is resurgence in interest in text [email protected] currently very much under games.
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