Sidney Merk's News Archive

     I did the IFComp T-Shirt again last year. Orders have long since ended, but here is the IFWiki page about it. Below this entry, I've posted the back art.

     In award news, The Traveling Swordsman was nominated in four of the ten XYZZY Award categories for games of 2006, earlier this year. Being nominated is like an award in itself, and while TTS missed the win in three categories (Best Game, Best Puzzles, and Best Individual PC), it won the award for Best Story. The awards page on the IFWiki is here. I nearly napped through the live awards presentation held on the IFMud, but made it just in time for the Best Story category (and the full transcript, as a plain-text file, is here).

     I posted the TTS source code last month. It includes some documenting text files (with a developer's journal) that might be of interest to other IF authors.

     There was a discussion in the int-fiction newsgroups (which became, oddly enough, an “us vs. them” debate) a year ago about having an Interactive Fiction Community Forum. Two or three forums were launched in a short period as a result, and I offered to host a phpBB3-based board for Rioshin, one of the discussion's participants. I'm an admin there too, and the message boards are here under the intfiction.org domain I already own.

     This year's IFComp is coming fast, but it's not too late to sign up (the deadline is September 1st) and enter a game (the deadline is September 29th). With too many real-life conflicts this year, and after barely missing the “top three” for two consecutive years, I'm sitting this one out.

     I intended to finish the TTS page in the review area soon. That's "intended" -- past tense. A very busy work schedule, plus today's discussion in the interactive fiction games newsgroup has left me sapped. I'm disappointed that some players disliked parts of the game, but just as pleased knowing that many judges did like it.

     I'm very happy at how TTS turned out. For good or bad, it's exactly the game I wanted it to be. Sure, I scrapped an idea for a couple alternate endings along the way, but it wasn't only to save time. It was to focus on the one ending that made the game right. Sooner or later, I'll post an extended discussion, or link to the various recent newsgroup posts, or even post my full (lengthy) design and development journal.

     On a different note, I received this email about Breath Pirates early Tuesday morning, but I only logged in and noticed it tonight. This really made my week. I'm even a little ashamed at suggesting -- earlier today, in fact -- that writing interactive fiction just might not be worth it. It really is, and this is exactly why.

     As for the Slamdance awards, it was A. A. Reed's Whom the Telling Changed that was chosen to represent Interactive Fiction last year. He compiled a set of player transcripts -- very interesting to learn the kinds of obstacles new IF players have, when trying out this kind of game for the first time.

     I decided to re-render the chapter start scenes from Trading Punches. I have cranked up the detail settings in Bryce-5, and the resulting images are clearer than the originals. I've also changed to 800x480 (was 640x480), which is the size of the chapter start scenes I have designed for the second game in the Convergence Saga series. I'm not planning a game update -- just a graphics resource update.

     I got the go-ahead to design this year's IFComp T-shirt, which I really enjoyed doing. The shirts, available in five colors, have been on sale for the past two weeks. Order-taking ends after tomorrow. The shirts are sold through Feelies.org, and all orders will be produced and shipped after selling ends.

     The official IFComp results are in, and Distress came in 4th out of the 36 entries. Congrats to the top 3 games, Vespers, Beyond, and A New Life -- and also to all the other competition authors. I highly recommend Chancellor -- I may post a walkthrough for that one soon; I'm sure this is why it wasn't in the top 3. I intend to collect links to other reviews and post them here soon, too.

     Also, The Wall Street Journal Online posted the IFComp article today. It was mentioned at SlashDot, but the resulting comments consist primarily of (a) silly jokes about Zork, (b), silly jokes about sandwiches and Kansas, (c) discussions about BBS games, BBGs, MUDs, and roguelikes, none of which are really Interactive Fiction, (d) general criticism of text-based games, (e) actual IF discussion, but with an obvious lack of reading the article, and (f) off-topic banter. It's great to get exposure like this for Interactive Fiction, but it's a shame a half-hour interview was reduced to a couple sentences about making sandwiches.

     Hmmm.... I need to move old entries to an archive soon...

     Jay Goemmer has handed maintenance of the IF Collaborators' List to me. This is a page at the IF Wiki for those interested in collaborating on Interactive Fiction projects. If you have any interest in teaming up with others to create IF, check out the list. You can contact collaborators already listed, or be added to the list yourself. I'd like to keep that page updated and current, to make it more useful.

     After many months of taking it easy, and a failed attempt to complete a game for the 2005 Spring Thing competition, I'm motivated again for more Interactive Fiction development. I'm currently working on an entry for the 2005 Annual Competition -- a graphic adventure, not based on any of my prior games. I'm also considering The Oxygen Wars, which was to be a follow-up to Breath Pirates (QuickBASIC, 1997). I have also started design work for the second game in the Convergence Saga series -- a prequel to Trading Punches. That's on hold, while I complete my 2005 IF-Comp entry.

     Soon, I will add my recent reviews (previous contributions to the 2004 Non-Comp Review Project and SPAG) to this website. Time permitting, I may also play and review a few more recent games. On a side note, I have also revised the About Me page.

     By request, I have released the source code to Trading Punches. If you are a Hugo author and would like to peek at the code behind the game, feel free to do so. However, please don't go changing it around and releasing pirated versions of it. It's for learning purposes only.

     Before voting ended, I wrote this lengthy essay about my entry. Part of it is just paranoid speculation, but I do address some concerns about the plot. It may also shed light on the larger story -- what I was thinking, why I wrote the game in the way I did, etc. Read it at your discretion, and keep in mind that the results were still three weeks away.

     Although the update (version 1.7) includes dozens of fixes/changes (see the notes if you already played the competition version -- otherwise don't peek, because it contains spoilers), I didn't add anything to the ask/tell responses. I had planned to, but I decided to fix what needed fixed, and let the lack of responses remain as-is. I didn't want to change the game in a way that would turn it into something else, and I didn't want to add further detail when much of what's already available may be excessive. If you don't already have version 1.6 (the competition version), download the full .ZIP of version 1.7 (which also includes the graphics and music files).

     With the results so close now, and because I plan on posting my reviews of the 2004 Competition Games when it ends, I have created this website. I may also post my thoughts on my own entry. I'm almost finished with an updated version, which includes dozens of changes, fixes, and improvements. I have included built-in hints, and the chapter titles now appear on the status bar (an important thing, when players may not have realized that you're supposed to skip stones in the chapter called "Skipping Stones" and serve drinks in the chapter called "Serving Drinks"). Other changes are numerous, but I may post a link to a complete list when the update is released. The contest version wasn't bad (although the reviews may disagree), but the update will be more polished and playable.