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Re: Apple II games



For the strictly text based, my favorite interface was the Scott Adams. I liked them because the screen was so organized, and you were 80% sure what it was in a specific location what you could interact with, 90% sure what the exits were, and the screen timing effect that flashed you being taken to the closet location in "The Count" I thought was very cool. Since I was so young when I first played them, I also liked the fact that you could just type the first three letters of a word for the parser to understand it. It saved a lot of work, for a kid. Being an adult now, when I play an IF game, I can't help typing out the whole word out of pure instinct.

The problem with the Scott Adams games was that they were somewhat mechanical, as it seemed that most of the time the idea was to find treasures then drop them at a specific location, which, as an overall goal, is a bit lackluster. They could have benefited from more story development. They also could have used some sort of little tune or sound effect(s) when you accomplished something within the game.

For picture IF games, my favorites were the kind that drew the object(s) on the screen if they were at the location, such as Cranston Manor. I always got a big kick out of the ones that had little animations, like Sherwood Forest or Creature Venture.

By the way, if you are a fan of Infocom IF, you ABSOLUTELY MUST watch this video. Coolness defined.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nigRT2KmCE


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- xorxif