Bite-sized fan games

[DrPaul]

This thread is a continuation of a thread that started in Non-Zork Chat called "A short Tex Murphy demo by DrPaul"

We talked about resurrecting the idea of developing a fan-based game by way of creating small 'bite-sized' games which have a better chance at reaching completion.  There were a few ways we could go about this:

1. Filling in the gaps.  Events that we watch or hear about in the graphic games but don't get a chance to act out.

2. Hidden Short stories.  Many stories or legends are described throughout the Zork games, but aren't playable parts of the game.

3. Turn fan-fic to fan-game.  Build a new game (probably text adventure) out of one of the pre-existing fan-fic short stories.

So that's what this thread is about.

[DrPaul]

We have some graphic game snobs here that don't want anything to do with text adventures.

OK.  I accept that.

I suggest that the best bet for a small, graphic Zork game would be to adapt the scene in which Antheria Jack is freed from his cell in Grand Inquisitor and he then sneaks around to get all our stuff that was confiscated and gets us out of the prison so that we can continue the game.

The GI game itself has a map of the whole prison which we could easily reproduce in 3D as a setting for the game.

Someone else might have something better, but I've already created a real-time 3D 'engine' in which the player has complete freedom of movement in a first-person-perspective.  It's written in Java3D and will run on virtually any platform.
I created this for a program I developed recently.  Check it out at http://myKnexus.com

(And you guys thought I was just a text guy.  Yeah, I can do 3D.  I just happen to like text.)

Anyway, what do you think?  I think a little Antheria jack graphic adventure would be a great place to start.

[DataAngel]

Did you just call me a snob? :-?

[Siriusstar]

I'd play or beta an Antharia Jack mini game. We did see what he got up to on the monitor, but it could be a good starter to play from his PoV. I'd love to have the chance to play as Dalboz; perhaps in the bit when he goes to try to make Yannick see reason. Of course Nemesis is full of off-camera stuff. Any number of Lucien's exploits as the Nemesis might make a good mini game. Text-wise, I'd LOVE to delve into the stuff surrounding Spellbreaker & Beyond Zork. Or perhaps play as the thief in Zork I.

That's just off the top of my head. I'm re-working my way slowly through all the Zork games chronologically on my laptop. I'm sure I'll see lots of mini game opportunities as I go.

That library looks really neat. The software seems like an interesting concept, too.

[DrPaul]

Did you just call me a snob?

Yes.  But I meant that in a *good* way.

[DrPaul]

That's just off the top of my head. I'm re-working my way slowly through all the Zork games chronologically on my laptop. I'm sure I'll see lots of mini game opportunities as I go. Smiley

That is impressive!  It would take me months if not years to play all of those games.  When you say chronologically, do you mean by release date or by year GUE?  Are you including the Enchanter series?

I can play Nemesis and GI in a day each.  RTZ would take a few days.  But the text games would take me several days, if not weeks, each.

When you replay them, will you allow yourself to look at your old notes for the games?

---

You mentioned playing the Theif in Zork I.  That is a cool idea.  The is a small fan game in which you play the troll in Zork I.  But it's a small game even by my bite-sized standards.  The thief would be much more interesting.

Since you know the lore so well, maybe you could write a short fan-fiction for the purposes of turning it into a game.  I could code it into a playable text adventure pretty easily.  If you find it easier, you could write it in the format of a game transcript instead of normal prose.  

Or, how about this:  Suppose you want to do the Thief game.  While you are playing Zork I, make sure you have the transcript feature enabled.  Then we will have a record of all of the Thief's interactions with the adventurer and we could ensure that the new 'Thief' game will be consistent with 'real' events.

[Siriusstar]

That is impressive!  It would take me months if not years to play all of those games.  When you say chronologically, do you mean by release date or by year GUE?  Are you including the Enchanter series?

I can play Nemesis and GI in a day each.  RTZ would take a few days.  But the text games would take me several days, if not weeks, each.

When you replay them, will you allow yourself to look at your old notes for the games?

I'm playing them chronologically by Quendorian time, starting with Zork Zero through all the Enchanter series and Wishbringer, too. I'm more than halfway through Zero now. I think I started about two weeks ago, but I really haven't gotten to play very much. By playing on my laptop I ensure that I'm not playing when I should be doing other stuff. lol. Zero is easily the one that takes me the longest because the world is so huge, but it only took me about five days the last time! Wishbringer is next up.  It should have been first according to *my* chronology, but I was anxious to start Zero again.

I can finish Wishbringer in a single evening. Same with Enchanter- my most often re-played game. I could probably recite Enchanter! The rest vary between 2-5 days if I'm concentrating. I do look up my notes on some of Spellbreaker's nastier puzzles; I know the rest pretty well by now. Z:GI is about a day or two, Nemesis maybe 3-4.

Having played the games so often, I tend to play them the same way every time. On this play-through my challenge is to play them differently.  As well as to actually review and rate them, something I've never done formally!
 

Since you know the lore so well, maybe you could write a short fan-fiction for the purposes of turning it into a game.  I could code it into a playable text adventure pretty easily.  If you find it easier, you could write it in the format of a game transcript instead of normal prose.  

Or, how about this:  Suppose you want to do the Thief game.  While you are playing Zork I, make sure you have the transcript feature enabled.  Then we will have a record of all of the Thief's interactions with the adventurer and we could ensure that the new 'Thief' game will be consistent with 'real' events.

I have a semi-finished short story that could make an easy little game, and I'd love to do something on the thief. I wrote a bit about the stiletto in my Zero companion fic. I'd be happy to take that thread further. I'll be playing Zork I very soon and will keep a record. I have been neglecting my writing and this could be just what I need to get the creative juices flowing again.

[DrPaul]

I like Zork Zero a lot.  I don't remember how long it took me, but I'm sure it was on the order of weeks.

What do you think of Beyond Zork?  I have never been able to play that game all the way through.  Part of the reason is that  there are many things I don't like about it, so I lose interest.  I don't like the interface with the split screens and I don't like the player properties like the whole notion of endurance, strength. dexterity, etc.  

Every time I start, I lose interest very quickly.  My impression is that Beyond Zork has about the same bigness as Zork Zero.  How do they compare in other respects?  Maybe I should give it another go.

[Siriusstar]

Every time I start, I lose interest very quickly.  My impression is that Beyond Zork has about the same bigness as Zork Zero.  How do they compare in other respects?  Maybe I should give it another go.

I know I'm in the minority but I love Beyond Zork. It was the second Infocom game I ever played (after Zork Zero.)  Perhaps that is why the interface never bothered me. My advice would be to simply make your character balanced with an accent on endurance. (I go with 16 endurance.) There is quite a bit of buying, selling and fighting. Some might find those things tedious, but I rather liked them. There are a lot of ways to get rid of trouble and it is pretty logical for the most part.

It isn't nearly as big or long as Zork Zero and it doesn't have the puzzle games. Otherwise it is really tough to compare them as they're so different in spirit. The atmosphere is whimsical, but earthy and materialistic; moral, but slightly twisted. The ending is brilliant and unexpected. All of which I appreciated much more on my replays than I did the first time around, when I was too busy figuring out how not to get killed by all the various creatures.  ::)

And, of course, it runs concurrently with Spellbreaker and has quite a lot of impact on Z:GI's story. I'd even say that Z:GI would be utterly improbable without the hope for the future offered by Beyond Zork. There's quite a bit of Quendorian lore in there, too.

While I understand why folks are turned off by the RPGish elements, the writing itself is lovely and it adds much to the Zork universe. So, yes, I definitely think you should give it another try.

The way BZ ends, I thought it possible that Infocom intended a sequel, but according to two former Infocom employees, one was never formally planned.  

[DrPaul]

I don't know how I never noticed this before, but I was reading through the Beyond Zork manual and  found that there is a "mode" command that allows the layer to switch between the standard or enhanced display.  

After all these years I finally discover the obvious!  I find I can even play it on my PalmPilot this way.

So maybe I will give it another go.  The only trouble with "normal" mode in BZ is that the location descriptions rarely give the available exit directions, so I have to check the status bar to see in which directions I can move.  But I can live with that.