Re: Ah Ha! The Results of the First Annual "Iffys".


6 Oct 1995 22:11:39 GMT

In some article Carl Muckenhoupt <carl@fox.earthweb.com> wrote:
> All Quiet on the Library Front

This game annoyed me for being to 'in-house'; I didn't like the way it
was set in the world of interactive-fiction, pretty much to the exlcusion
of all else (and 'hunt-the-correct-action' with the techy was just hope-
lessly too strict! I ended up decoding the game file to make sure I was
trying the right thing!). Over all I didn't rate it.

> >Tube Trouble

This game was just too small. Some of the restrictions in action were too
forced ("You can't eat that, this is a tube platform..." Duh! I was hiding
it under my coat, wasn't I??), and when I thought it was going somewhere
interesting (I'd got on the train) I lost because I didn't make the
last move...
Too simple, again, I didn't rate it. Sorry!

[TADS stuff, didn't try it all]

Guess I've missed an attribution somewhere ... someone (sorry!) wrote this :
>>MAGIC TOYSHOP was another one which I didn't vote for. For a start I think
>>Gareth forgot about the two-hour rule with that infernal chest. Also, the
>>game seemed more geared as a series unrelated logic puzzles, rather than as a
> >coherent piece of interactive fiction.

I loved this one! I laughed all the way through it. The noughts and crosses
was hilarious, similarly the gnomon. Boxes was interesting for being totally
different to every other puzzle in the game, and tower of hanoi was just
downright cheating! The final puzzle was a little hard for the 2 hour limit,
though I made it with the help of a computer (I deduced the first character,
(and hence a considerable deal more) and did a brute force search on it! I
later deduced my original deduction was fucked beyond belief :-)
Unlike Library, I thought this had its IF-references in perspective.
I felt the puzzles fitted into the scene quite well, so I voted for this one.

I never did finish A Break In The Weather, have finally gotten bored reloading
old positions, but I loved the scenery (even if it seemed a little prettified
in places) so I voted for it. First if possible.

Well, that was my view on what was a slightly smaller entry field than I'd
expected. Might I reccomend that we open the contest earlier this year, that
more games be entered. At the very least, could we agree on the rules so
development can seriously begin?

regards, ct