Letters

Eileen,

I found the articles about playtesting in XYZZYnews #8 both informative and entertaining. As a suggestion for further exploration of the topic, how about an interview with Michael Kinyon? This guy tests more "modern" games than anyone else in the entire IF community, and he earns frequent praise for his work. Things I would like to learn from him: Why did he decide to become a tester (rather than an author) of IF? What are the most frequent bugs? (and are some of them compiler-specific?) Which traps should potential game authors try to avoid? Are there noticeable trends in modern IF? Any gossip about not-yet-finished games?

As always, I was stunned by the quality of your material. Thanks for brightening up my day, and keep up the good work!

Martin
braun@uba.de

Eileen,

I encourage you to reconsider [not printing articles initially published on Usenet] for the following reason:

Usenet articles last for a few days; XYZZYnews lasts indefinitely. I only recently rediscovered IF, and I found your magazine to be an invaluable resource. If an article is sufficiently good, you should consider including it whatever the source, so that the people who tune in months and years from now will be able to benefit from it.

Just my two cents. Cheers!

Pat
patl@catfish.lcs.mit.edu

Eileen,

I'm in awe of the tremendous quality of your XYZZYnews 'zine; initially I read the HTML versions, then I read issue #4 as a PDF (using the recently published Amber version of the Acrobat reader for OS/2) and was much taken with the beautiful layout. I also like the simple, but in-character, title graphics you use on your HTML pages.

I started with Adventure (Colossal Cave) on IBM's VM/370 years ago, but soon got my own computer kit -- a Z80-based Nascom-2 -- on which I was lucky to enjoy products from Level-9, Magnetic Scrolls, Infocom, and others. Somehow, I wish it were possible to port those games to one of the modern parsers -- dream on! Although I have 2 Nascom-2 machines, neither is in working order any longer. However, I haven't given up hope -- I still have the cassette tapes (believe me!).

What surprises me, and gives much pleasure, is the quality of recent output in material such as Curses, Theatre, and so on -- I have to admit that these "feel" at least as good as some of the Infocom games, although even to myself, that is almost heresy!

These days, I play IF on my OS/2 machine and am currently enjoying Inform, TADS, and AGT games. My son is building an Inform game, but I'd better not try to steal his thunder, as he's now grown taller than me!

I like to enjoy IF in two ways: in competition with my son (15) -- he's much smarter than me, darn it -- and in the company of my daughter (19) during which we spark of new ideas on trying to solve problems. Both my children are accomplished role-play games masters (dungeon masters), so I guess their imaginations are sharpened through those experiences.

I wish you success with your other endeavors. I can only hope that we r.a.i-f followers can enjoy reading your editorial and your 'zine layouts for some time to come.

Thanks again for so much enjoyment!

Roger Lee
rlee@hursley.ibm.com

Hello Eileen,

I discovered the XYZZYnews files uploaded to GMD have file names in capitals. Not that e.g. Windows 95 cares (which I'm using), but a UNIX hacker (which I am from time to time) might think it's less than practical.

Anders
Anders.Borg@axis.se

To XYZZYnews:

In Issue #7 of XYZZYnews ["Interface Changes: A Brief Look at the Evolution of the Adventure Game Engine], you didn't mention my favorite early Mac text adventure with graphics...Transylvania, by Penguin Software. It was available for the Mac in 1984. It used a simple two-word parser and contained B & W graphics for each location, inventory item, and character. The graphics were on the left side along with a short description of the location below the picture. The text for actions taken and items available scrolled along the right side of the screen. Text was input by the player at the bottom of the screen. The object of the game was to rescue a princess who had been captured by a vampire and hidden somewhere in a haunted land. The only real problem was that in some locations, going one direction then back the opposite direction did not always return you to the location you came from. Other than that it was an excellent game which mixed a text adventure with graphics very nicely.

Al Staffieri Jr.
AlStaff@aol.com

Eileen,

I just finished reading issue #8 and found it as enjoyable and informative as ever.

I also read a letter in the #7 issue that caught my eye and I just had to put in my two cents worth. The letter was written by Mr. L. Ross Raszewski, regarding the AGT Bashing that seems to be rampant in the IF community. First off I agree with Mr. Raszewski that AGT is getting an unfair rap. I feel that it is totally unfair to the authors of AGT-based games to be judged solely on the fact that the game was written using AGT.

I recently read a review (I don't remember the zine) where the reviewer said "I cringed when I found out the game was written with AGT." The review was for the game "Space aliens Laughed at My Cardigan." Now I will be the first to admit that I played the game and it was horribly written. But that doesn't alter in the least the fact that before the reviewer even started he was already biased against it solely on the fact that it was written using AGT

About a year ago I stumbled onto AGT in the gamers forum in CompuServe and I was ecstatic. I had found something that I'd been wishing for, for 15 years but never knew existed. A way to write my own adventure game, without the hassle of learning a complicated computer language. Then imagine if you will my utter surprise, shock, and disbelief to read that most of the I.F. community frowns upon the one thing that brought me back to Text Adventure.

Now don't get me wrong I have enormous respect for those who write adventures using the other popular languages (e.g. TADS, Inform, etc.) My hats off to these fine people. But after a hard days work if I sit down to my keyboard to work on a text adventure I want an easy to use language, not a lot of technical mumbo-jumbo.

I am very close to finishing a text adventure of my own using the AGT masters edition. And as long as the player doesn't try something that is totally illogical the parser works great. For a while I considered Entering it in the IF contest on the internet but decided not to. Mainly because it is written with AGT and I'd rather it not be held up to the general consensus "It's written with AGT, it can't be any good."

I would like to think that the I.F. community would be glad that people without a great deal of programming experience could have a tool such as AGT as most creative and imaginative writers probably are not "hackers" or "whiz-kid programmers" but that doesn't seem to be the case.

OK, I'll get down off my soapbox now. Thanks for the opportunity to let off a little steam. Please keep up the good work at XYZZYnews.

Ray Rettger
76743.3667@compuserve.com

To XYZZYnews:

I have read the bugs page of the Zork games. Great stuff! Did you ever get older versions of the three Zork games? Now that I know the old versions have cool bugs I am looking for them. I know one friend of mine has Beyond Zork, and Zork1 bought awhile ago. I have the Lost Treasures. I have figured out that if you type things with self in them it does neat stuff:

eat self
wave self
throw self

Joe
jsaid@cs.purdue.edu

Requests for Information

After my 11-year-old nephew turned me on to the "Choose Your Own Adventure" series, especially the few "serious" titles, I began to see the potential for non-fiction using this form.

While searching the Web I came across XYZZYnews and thought you might know about such material. I'm hoping to find what this category is called, sites and places that I can announce the interactive non-fiction title I've nearly finished, that helps people discovery their mission in life and develop strategies to fulfill it. Any suggestions you might have are appreciated.

Sincerely,
Corl Riblet
missionquest@seanet.com

To XYZZYnews:

Hi! I really liked your page on the Infocom games bugs. I have about half of those games and some of the bugs are really neat!

I am also desperately trying to find any information at all on the Mines of Titan game that was written by Infocom. It's not a purely text game but I thought you might have some information on it. I would really appreciate it if you let me know if you do.

Daniel Wong
danielw@easyaccess.com

Eileen,

I've read the spoiler column for some time now, and I haven't as yet found any hints/solutions for the game "Enchanted Castle." Is there any way to get into the room with the smoke that comes out the window? How do I dispatch the basilisk in the closet? How can I pass the Hall of Dragons? Please help me. You can email me answers, or maybe the URL of someplace that does have these available. Thank you very much. I really appreciate any help you can give me.

Jared Menard
kbdm@xanadu2.net

Infocom Bugs List Updates

Found a bug in Mini-Zork. I got an interpreter for my Psion palmtop that runs Infocom games. I did get Mini-Zork. Try inflating the raft, put all of your valuables in the raft, then deflating it! You can pick up the plastic and carry it as a small item and not be encumbered by the treasures. Then when you need something, pump it up and pull it out! One not make sure the pump isn't in the boat when you deflate, otherwise you can't re-inflate it!

Eric Nichols
enichols@cps-systems.com

To XYZZYnews:

Firstly, congratulations on XYZZY news -- it's absolutely excellent. Just thought I'd send something to the Infocom Bugs list:

In an old version of Hitchhikers I had there was a rather important bug which meant that if you saved the game AFTER getting the vision about what tool Marvin wants but BEFORE actually giving him the tool then the game would not remember that you knew the correct tool. This effectively made the game impossible to complete. Alas, I can't tell you the version number of the game because it was at least two computers ago and I'm afraid I've lost everything except the Microscopic space fleet. I've heard other people reporting this bug tho'.

Fortunately, almost everyone was too impatient to save in between these bits so hardly anyone was affected by the bug. I've not yet tried it in the version of HHGTTG I got in LTOI 1 so I can't confirm that the bug is in all versions.

Anyway, thanks again for the zine which is marvellous.

Richard
richard@manor.york.ac.uk

To XYZZYnews:

Hey there.. a few notes on the bug list:

I found a bug in Beyond Zork which is like the elvish sword/nicked sword problem in Zork II.. If you're at the site in the jungle with the Crocodile idol, and the crocodile (the animal) is there too, you can't refer to it.

>attack crocodile
Which crocodile do you mean, the idol or the crocodile?
>crocodile
Which crocodile do you mean, the idol or the crocodile?

>DUNGEON MASTER, KILL ME WITH THE STAFF
"If you wish," he replies.
If you insist... Poof, you're dead!
**** The dungeon master has died ****
The dungeon master follows you.
Your sword has begun to glow very brightly.
>DUNGEON MASTER, KILL DUNGEON MASTER WITH STAFF
"If you wish," he replies.
"If you wish," he replies.
You aren't even holding the staff!

Blazer
blazer@hoflink.com

To XYZZYnews:

This part in Zork III:

>dungeon master, kill me with the staff
"If you wish," he replies.
If you insist... Poof, you're dead!
**** The dungeon master has died ****
The dungeon master follows you.
Your sword has begun to glow very brightly.

Patrick Walton
walton@alice.math.tamu.edu

To XYZZYnews:

Beyond Zork:

The butterfly bug:

I could never "take" the butterfly directly, and any attempt to offer it to the woman told me I had to take it out of the goblet first, but if I did "show butterfly to woman" the system would include "(taken)" in its response and I would be holding the butterfly. Does this variant work in #57?

Also note that the original value of the butterfly may be 5, 10, or 15 (random) and that trying to sell it when the price would be -32768 (15 times for an initial value of 5 or 15; 14 times for an initial value of 10) will hang the PC version.

Hitchhiker's Guide, the new "feature":

Not a bug, but I recall reading that the "thing" can actually be used as a container. Does this work in any/all versions?

Infidel:

The mast "bug":

I don't think it's a bug that removing the shims will allow the mast to be lifted from above; it would seem that this is a logical alternative solution to the problem. Depending upon the shape of the mast and the area above, it really might be possible to remove it with one hand from above but not from below (e.g. if you can use your foot to hold it steady).

Starcross:

Not a bug per se, but amusing little parser insight:

>IS
What do you want to is?
>IS ME
What do you want to is the you in?
>IS ME IN COMPUTER
No, it isn't.

Trinity:

Needless attention to detail award:

If you're in the reservoir when the bomb goes off, you get a different description from if you're elsewhere.

Annoying extra typing requirement award: Typing "TURN DIAL TO OMEGA" will select a symbol at random; you must use "TURN DIAL TO SEVENTH SYMBOL."

Zork II:

You list "N" for all versions on bug #8. Were you unable to get this to work? The key at least in the version I was using is to recognize that the balloon will move up or down on, I think, every fourth turn.

Thus, you need to time the sequence of events according to this. If memory serves, the protocol was to close the burner, wait for the balloon to settle, open burner, leave, light fuse, and reboard. Note that the baloon MUST carry you away the turn after you light the fuse or you will be blown up.

Anyway, those are all the touchups I remember. Thanks for the nice work.

John Payson
supercat@mcs.com

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