The 'interactive fiction' format hasn't changed in any fundamental way since the early 1970s, in the same way that the format of the novel hasn't since 1700. Graham Nelson 1970schangeearly Change image and share on social
A deliberate choice on my part was for the player to continue to find new possibilities in the early Attic rooms far into the game. I think this builds atmosphere, though it means there's no neat division of the prologue from the middle game. Graham Nelson atmosphereatticbuild share on social
This means keeping many trails open at once, inevitably requiring a fairly 'parallel' plot. This plot should be discovered rather than announced, so show, don't tell. Graham Nelson announcediscoverfairly Change image and share on social
Writing a really general parser is a major but different undertaking, by far the hardest points being sensitivity to context and resolution of ambiguity. Graham Nelson ambiguitycontextgeneral Change image and share on social
Players very widely disagree with me about what's hard and what's easy. and in a way, 'I won, but it was a fight' is the best compliment a game can receive. Graham Nelson complimentdisagreeeasy Change image and share on social
At the end of April I archived 'Curses' and Inform, and announced them on the newsgroups. Graham Nelson announceaprilarchive Change image and share on social
Eventually I found it had been working all along-but didn't show anything on screen until it had the first full page of text. I inserted 30 new lines, and suddenly my toy said 'hEllO woRlD'. An hour later I understood alphabet shifting rather better! Graham Nelson alphabeteventuallyfind share on social
The time has mainly gone on getting Inform into a decent shape for public use. I suppose the plot of 'Curses' makes a sequel conceivable when compared with, say, the plot of 'Hamlet' but none is planned. Graham Nelson compareconceivablecurse share on social
If pushed, though, I'd say that the next stage will be reached when it it's no longer true that about 75% of the best games were written in 1980's on the way to that. Graham Nelson gamelongpush Change image and share on social
If you're setting a game during the Cuban Missile Crisis, look through a library. find out what people were wearing, what other issues were in the news, how houses were furnished, what cars were being driven. Especially include things which now seem foreign. Graham Nelson carcrisiscuban share on social
