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From: mkinyon@peabody.iusb.indiana.edu (Michael Kinyon)
Subject: Re: My comments on the entries
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Date: Fri, 6 Oct 1995 20:17:51 GMT
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OK, now for my (semi-serious) comments on the entries.  As Andrew said 
elsewhere, leaving my ego aside.  And as I indicated in a different thread, 
I didn't vote because some authors felt uncomfortable with the idea.
Possible minor spoilers ahead.

In article <okRJqOC00WB6Mu6AQL@andrew.cmu.edu>, 
Andrew C. Plotkin <erkyrath+@CMU.EDU> wrote:

>A Change in the Weather: Whoo hoo.

Whoo hoo, indeed.  By far my favorite over and above everything in both
categories.  The enormous tree of possible moves appealed to the part of me
that likes to play games in order to experience all possible outcomes instead
of just winning.  (Interactive fiction is a way of experiencing the 
many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics first hand.)  It is also
one of the best entries in terms of prose quality in my view.

>The Mind Electric: I ranked this really low, to be honest.

This is the one about which I feel the most ambivalent.  It ended up being
my number 4 in the Inform category but more by default.  I would be interested 
in seeing the author develop this world further.  I did not like the ending,
which I thought smacked of too much of an attempt to be profound.  Like
Andrew, I solved almost none of the puzzles on my own, and the solutions did
seem unclear even once I knew what they were.  There was a certain "feel"
that the game had that appealed to me, whence my ambivalence.

>...Then again, the cyberpunk atmosphere didn't particularly do it for me -- 

Cyberpunk is indeed passe, but I can't say that my feelings toward the game
were influenced by it.

>The Magic Toyshop: Liked it a lot.

I did too, though I had an advantage that none of the rest of you had:
I played an earlier version in which the chest puzzle was much easier.
(In particular, I solved it just by staring at the rules for a few minutes.)  
This was my number 2.

>People seem to have ragged on it for not being a story-and-atmosphere piece

I thought there was plenty of atmosphere; I really felt like I was playing
with toys in a toyshop.  Plus I fell in love with Catharine (or is it 
Catherine?)   Gareth's NPCs are very engaging.

>MST3K: I laughed a lot. A terrific idea.

I chuckled only once or twice and ended up not caring much for it at all; this 
was my number six.  It has been interesting to see that many on the other
side of the Atlantic liked it even though they have never seen the TV show.
I don't watch TV and had no idea what the opening (in the text file (and why
wasn't that just absorbed into the game?)) and the ending were all about.
That type of context-dependent humor just has no appeal for me.  Also, I felt 
sorry for the kid whose (admittedly very bad) game was being trashed; to me,
there seemed to be a streak of cruelty in the send-up that I just couldn't
forgive.

>All Quiet on the Library Front: I wasn't able to solve it.

I wasn't either, and ended up removing it from my hard disk after a couple
of weeks of getting nowhere.  Also, I wasn't very engaged by the atmosphere
or story.  This was my number 5.  I realize that it was a first effort, and 
I strongly encourage the author to keep it up.  (Actually that remark applies
to everyone, whether I liked your game or not.)

>Tube Trouble: Solved it, but again, it was small and thin.

Having seen several negative comments about this game, I guess I'm going to
be the first to say that I liked it a lot.  This was my number 3.  I thought
it was very tight, very appealing, and very well-written.  To my mind, this
game was the best one that actually satisfied the rules of the competition;
it seemed just the right size.  Well done, Richard!

>Uncle Zebulon's Will: Liked it. Although it owed perhaps a little too
>much to the "classic" IF tropes of brightly-colored magical objects
>arbitrarily scattered around the landscape.

Yes, it's genre-bound, and no new ground is covered, but it is still a 
very nice game indeed.  This was my number 2 in the TADS category.  
I especially enjoyed the reactions of the demon in various situations.

>Toonesia: Liked this the best of the TADS entries. Great evocation of
>a scenario -- you figure out what to do by understanding how the
>universe works. Plus, it's funny.

This was my number 3.  It is pretty funny, and despite what I said above
about not watching TV nowadays, I did grow up quite familiar with a certain
group of cartoon characters upon whom the characters in Toonesia might be
based.  The only minus for me was the static nature of it that Jacob has
acknowledged in another thread.  Gareth has spoiled me on how NPCs should
behave.

>The One That Got Away: Not much there; it didn't pull me in. (So to
>speak. :-)

I was reeled in hook, line, and sinker.  This was my number 1 in the TADS
category.  I found the whole idea and framework very appealing, but what
vaulted this game over all the others in the TADS category were all the
extras.  I enjoyed the storekeeper's descriptions of the photographs, the 
extra junk that one fishes out of the lake (especially showing the VAX to the 
storekeeper), and the one thing that made me laugh out loud: the Moby Dick
parody in the pamphlet.  All in all a very nice game.

>A Night at the Museum Forever: Nice idea, but like other people have
>said, it didn't do much with it. Time travel puzzles are well-known
>and this had nothing new. 

This was my number 6 in TADs, for essentially the same reasons. 

>Undertow: About even with Zebulon for second place in the TADS entries.

This was my number 4, just barely eked out by Toonesia.  I like the mystery
genre of IF quite a bit, though I agree with Andrew that there have been
no real advances in it.  I have nothing against this game; I just liked
numbers 1 through 3 a bit better.

>Undo: Again, I laughed a lot.

My number 5.  Mildy amusing.  I chuckled a bit at the nothing-something
jokes.  Neil deMause has been reading his Heidegger, it seems.  Or based
on how the game seems to deconstruct, his Derrida.

>I very much tend to like large games and dislike small ones.

I can't say I have strong feelings either way.  On the one hand side, 
I appreciate the care and work that goes into large, well-constructed
games.  On the other, small games appeal to me from a minimalist perspective.

>Should I try to normalize for that if I vote next year? Try to vote for 
>quality per unit time, or quality per kilobyte of game file?

Nope, just go with your instincts.

>Whoo hoo. On to next year.

Whoo hoo, indeed.

-- 
Michael Kinyon                  | email: mkinyon@peabody.iusb.edu
Dept of Mathematics & Comp. Sci.| http://sun1.iusb.edu/faculty/mkinyon/
Indiana University South Bend   | phone: (219)-237-4240
South Bend, IN 46634 USA        | fax:   (219)-237-4538
