Interactive Fiction on the Brain
I think, probably since I woke up this morning … oh wait, I forgot I didn’t actually go to sleep last night … *crickets chirp* Since very early this morning, probably around the time I took my shower, I’ve had my mind twisting and turning around Interactive Fiction concepts, particularly what I’d want to do with an IF game, were to make one. I’d want it to be fiction, but I’d want it to be a game.
Which is probably exactly where my problem lies when trying to wrap my head around it — IF is similar to gaming, but it’s more like reading in many ways. It’s like a book that you can EXAMINE closer when you’re interested in some details more than others. To design a particularly good piece of Interactive Fiction, I think you need to be able to make the story intuitive and engaging without being predictable.
Of course, I don’t know that, because I haven’t actually read/played any IF. I know, it’s weird. I just have this intuition about IF, from everything I’ve read that’s related to it. I think about IF similarly to the way I think of platform games (particularly 3D adventure games) where you want it to be challenging without actually being difficult — you want the player taxing their mental resources without tapping out. The moment they start looking for a hint system of a walkthrough, I think you’ve gone too far.
Of course, I think this is one of those things I’m just going to have to try first. *sigh*
I find it odd that you’ve passed a(n erroneous) judgement on IF, since you admit you’ve never even played any. They can be quite varied, particularly IF games made by Emily Short, who has gone beyond the single room IF and actually made a few that were entirely conversation-based.
TBH, “a book you can examine closer” is an over-simplification that I find unpalatable. :
If you don’t capitalize EXAMINE, you lose the bad joke I made. :P
Oh, I got the joke, it’s just that it was bad enough not to repeat. :P Nor was it the topic I thought deserving of comment.