Re: Is there anyone who does NOT use IF-tools...


29 Apr 1995 05:34:54 -0700

e9226344@stud1.tuwien.ac.at (Marcus-Christopher Ludl) writes:

> [...] Isn't
>anybody out there interested in the things BEHIND the game? The
>algorithms for parsing, compressing string data, general coding...
>To all who use Inform and TADS (and similar tools): Please don't feel
>personally offended, I'm just looking for others who could be interested
>in such things...

Well it seems to me that the interest of this group tends towards the
writing of these games rather than their programming, if that's a fair
distinction. Generally speaking there seems more interest in
discussing plots, puzzle design, specific programming questions
related to existing tools, etc. rather than the design of parsers and
so on.

Obviously there are a lot of possible reasons why. My own is that I'm
more interested in authoring a game than I am in the mechanics of
parser design, if only because designing a reasonably useful parser is
beyond my current skills. Not only that it, well, doesn't really
interest me. Writing parsers is neat, I suppose, but I'm much more
interested in authoring games, so I'm quite happy to use existing
tools. There are probably a ton of games out there that never got
further than the parser stage.

That isn't to say that you'll be ostracized for trying to raise
parser discussions here. Such issues are obviously discussed. But
perhaps a group with an interest in natural language parsing or AI
might be more amenable to carrying that particular ball.

>2) It seems to me that there are FAR more games that "will be finished
>soon" than there are games that "are finished". Now, I've not yet completed
>my first game, either, but I would never daresay "Hold your breath, my
>game is going to be finished soon", simply because I believed my game to
>be "nearly finished" much too often in the past (and another bug, and
>another, and...). [...]

Well that's very sensible of you not to trumpet your unfinished game.
:) Some of us here have not been so sensible. It think I've mentioned
my perpetually unfinished game before, though I try not to publicize
it simply because I personally consider bragging about vapourware to
be highly distasteful. But I've probably succumbed to this unclean
temptation in the past and I'm definitely part of this large club of
authors with To Be Finished Soon games. (this is sounding rather
confessional, isn't it? My game is well over 3 years old now.)

As to why there are so many games in such a state, I'd say it's because
it's bloody hard to write a good text adventure! And, more to the
point, a lot of work. A ton of work. Text adventures offer tremendous
possibilities for interesting user interaction. Trouble is the author
has to code all that in... accounting for a myriad possibilities. That
gets complex really quickly!

And given that the text adventure market in 1995 is rather small, the
opportunities for financial remuneration are pretty slim. There aren't
big money carrots to induce people to finish games quickly. Most of us
have lives of some sort - jobs, school, whatever. My congratulations
to the handful of people out there who have written good adventures!
It's not an easy feat.

- Neil K.

-- 
  49N 16' 123W 7'  /  Vancouver, BC, Canada  /  n_k_guy@sfu.ca