Simple IF interfaces
Recently Emily Short [twice], David Cornelson, Nick Montfort, and others have written about the command line/parser in traditional IF, and whether we can improve or eliminate it. Understandably, when a...
View ArticleHow much can you change it and still call it IF?
I got really sick once as a kid, and my folks bought me a choose-your-own-adventure book. I loved it and checked more out from the library, but soon saw a pattern: the choices presented rarely gave me...
View ArticleSecond best?
I'm sure more-qualified people have discussed this more intelligently, but I never let that stop me before...There are notable works written in second-person narrative, but the majority of fiction is...
View ArticleMissing the forest for the stereotypes
I'm familiar with several mediums of interactive text, but it seems each is stereotyped by outsiders. In some cases, the stereotypes are fairly accurate of what has been done in that medium up until...
View ArticleApproaching Absolute Zero
At AdventureDevelopers.com, Beiddie Rafól has written a feature called The Cold Hotspot. The Adventure Developers site is geared toward graphical adventures, and the feature's four articles (1, 2, 3,...
View ArticleCYOA Goodness
Choose-your-own-adventure books are often slighted by the IF community for their simple branching structures and lack of true interaction/world modeling. Fair enough, but I think interesting stories...
View ArticleGOT LAMP
I just finished Jason Scott's IF documentary GET LAMP.After the intro, I thought, "Wow, an old computer turning on, then a bunch of old guys talking about caves. That'll keep 'em on the edge of their...
View ArticleRed Rover, Red Rover, Send Someone Right Over
My wife and I were thinking of entertainment options besides watching a DVD and that didn't involve going out. We finally hit upon playing an interactive fiction game together. She's never tried IF,...
View ArticleCool Stuff
I've added another page to my site for stuff I like or want to talk about that's not related to interactive text. It's under the "Cool Stuff" link in the header. Technically this post belongs over...
View ArticleJason Shiga
I commented on the absence of minorities in GET LAMP, but forgot the brief interview with the one person I actually recognized: Asian-American cartoonist Jason Shiga. Jason talked about children...
View ArticleThe Next Big Thing
Harry Potter. The Da Vinci Code. Twilight. I predict that during my lifetime someone will write the new popular bestseller, but it will be digital and interactive. It won't have a command prompt, but...
View ArticleEntice
How do we entice new readers to IF? Unfortunately, I think a lot of existing IF isn't what the average reader is looking for. The characters and conflicts (such as they are in many IF titles) don't...
View ArticleVideo Games as IF
Most of you are familiar with the IF Arcade compilation – classic video games reimagined by IF. In my perambulations about the internet, I've come across a handful of more recent video games envisioned...
View ArticleHiatus
I guess I've said what little I have to say on the subject of interactive fiction for the time being. This part of my blog is going on indefinite hiatus. If I get around to finishing a work of IF that...
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