Arayna v0.035 alpha 2535

Charles A. Crayne

No, I wasn't complaining about Paul's "hell parser" or his sense of entertainment value - I've done enough of that in the past {REF: aoaprogramming & alt.lang.asm archives}. The above was an expression of angst over attempting to play a handful of IFs from the various download sites. For example, I found the old "Robots of Dawn" to play on the Apple II emulator only to find that being familiar with the novel doesn't seem to help solve the first puzzle -- especially since the game author has changed the plot Baley summoned to solve the liquidate of Fastolfe -- NOT the clearing of (the still alive) Fastolfe of roboticide . If there exists useful clues in the bland environment, they aren't apparent to me...so I am left with a game of trial-N-error until I stumble upon the right mixture of words. I do, however, realise that a big part of the appeal of IF is the joy one feels when they finally discover the obvious solution (wasn't obvious before because the author-magician is good at slight-of-hand distraction) and that this series of challenges keeps the gamer coming back for more, but some puzzles seem like they'd only be appealling to the handful of truly dedicated solvers.

Perhaps I've reached up and, unluckily, brought down one too many bad apples? I readily admit that it is an error to judge the entire tree. I am probably not the first to become dizzy from the disorientation of seems to be a worthwhile persuit and enjoyable read. Also, it takes effort to read a novel...one can't expect to jump to page 23 to see what happens and be able to enjoy the "awe" and "ah-hah" emotions that can only be appreciated when one understands the build-up described in the between pages. Static (hard-copy) fiction is often described as a one-on-one, but one-way, personal "talk" or "chat" of the author to the reader. That would seem to define dynamic (interactive) fiction as something leaning toward a "simulated dialog" between the two. If that is the case, then clear and understandable language units are needed on both sides of the equation.

I must say that your own "Castle Elsinore" game is rather intriquing and probably spoils the gamer with enjoyable content and playability. It is certainly one of the good apples in my bucket.

Nathan.