The Great Infocom Replay: Foreword
Quite a while ago, I decided that I had too many petty interests, and that I should pick one and pursue it. I thought I’d work on running some really good D&D, but basically it hasn’t worked out. I have been unable to establish a regular-enough group of players, and have not felt entirely compatible with some of the players who I was able to attract. It has been a big let down.
Something recently reminded me of
Suspended, and I thought I’d give
it another play. I found that I could still beat it from memory, which made me
happy, and I played around with the custom and advanced scenarios, too. I also
finally learned how to get a good score. (I don’t think I ever got a better
score than 7 in the past.) Then I started looking at my big pile of IF games
to play, and my big pile of IF games to write. (I count seven abandoned
projects in my code tree, each with a CVS directory in it.)
So, I’m puttering about again and trying to determine whether I can get motivated enough to do any real work on this. I finally wrote ZMachine::ZSCII, getting me one more letter in The CPAN Alphabet Game, and I’ve been poking at hand-assembling Z-Machine programs. I want to get a better handle on how to construct IF, though, and part of that means playing more. (I’m also really enjoying the IF Theory Reader.)
I’ve gone back and played a bunch of the games I liked, and I want to play a bunch of the games I never did. I gave some thought to trying to organize an interactive fiction “book club,” but I decided it would probably not pan out. (If you think I am wrong, you can make a comment or something. I am not made of stone.)
Included in the games I want to play (or play again): the Infocom canon. I’ve only played about a third of it, and some of it I barely remember. I’ve decided to try playing all of it. To avoid any indecision, I’m going to do them in order. I haven’t decided how to limit my play time, but I think it will be something like “at least three sessions, unless I finish the game earlier than that.”
Playlist:
- Zork I ✓
- Zork II ✓
- Deadline
- Zork III ✓
- Starcross
- Suspended ✓
- The Witness
- Planetfall ✓
- Enchanter
- Infidel
- Sorcerer
- Seastalker
- Cutthroats
- HHGG ✓
- Suspect
- Wishbringer
- A Mind Forever Voyaging ✓
- Spellbreaker
- Ballyhoo
- Trinity
- Leather Goddesses of Phobos
- Moonmist
- Hollywood Hijinx
- Bureaucracy ✓
- Stationfall
- The Lurking Horror ✓
- Nord and Bert Couldn’t Make Head or Tail of It ✓
- Plundered Hearts
- Beyond Zork ✓
- Sherlock
Not found in my collection, although I’ll see if I can get them:
- Zork Zero
- Shōgun
- Journey
- Arthur
Checkmarks, above, are games I’ve played in the past, although I haven’t completed all of them.
Wish me luck!