Re: That's not important - leave it alone.


28 Dec 1995 00:13:03 -0500

I agree that "That's not important; leave it alone" is a cop-out, and
annoying to play through. But I think you're ignoring a simple solution,
which is simply to describe in detail only those items that can be used
(and maybe a *few* red herrings):

MALL
Shoe stores, book stores, pet stores -- you name it, they can sell it to
you here, and all with the same annoying Muzak playing in the background.
You wander about for a while until you start to get vertigo, then finally
collapse in front of a drugstore.

> ENTER STORE

DRUGSTORE
Aisles and aisles of consumer goods stretch off to infinity. You're
starting to feel woozy again. You stagger onto a bench beside a candy
rack.

> X RACK

Hey! They've got Gummi Bears! Your favorite! [etc.]

OK, maybe a bit *too* contrived, but you get the idea. In your case, you
could describe all the doors, but lead the player to one in particular --
say, something catches their attention about the door you want them to
open. Then if they insist on trying all the other doors, they can't say
you haven't warned them.

This is hard to do well. But making a small amount of real information
seem like boundless vistas is the trick of good interactive fiction (*all*
fiction, one could argue).

Neil