This graph represents the games of this IF Comp, cumulatively rated by quality, according to the data I’ve collected so far. This ranking predicts how well the games will do in the Comp — sort of. There are two problems.
I was wrong about one thing…
Immersiveness is certainly *not* the product of playability and emotional salience — not if this survey is measuring what it’s supposed to measure.
Also, a prediction from eyeballing the data: _Duel In the Snow_’s going to do pretty well this year.
Watching Them Watching Us
I’ve been going through the foreign language reviews, looking for cultural differences and so on. There are a few things that stand out: The Russians didn’t like _The Duel That Spanned the Ages_, considering it cheesy science-fiction. Which it is; but it seems they’re not tuned in to how difficult it is to do action in IF.
Both the Russians and the Hispanics (actually there’s only one Hispanic reviewer that I saw) showed a clear preference for highly narrative works, and were dismissive of simulator-based adventure-style games, like Spelunker’s Quest. (more…)
What is good in IF?
Can a work be good but unpopular?
Most of us think so. Victor G. has recently raised the shades of Homer and James Joyce to defend this notion. But it raises questions about how we can measure a work’s goodness.
The IF Comp is great, because it allows us to rate works against one another. We know then how good a certain work is, in the Comp-playing public eye. But if we conceed to Victor that a work can be good, but unpopular, then all bets are off: especially if we also accept that a work can be popular, but bad.
Now, I’ll make an ugly little confession: I really don’t care for _Ulysses._ Not much for the _Illiad_, either, although bits of it I quite enjoy. Maybe I’ll change my opinion when I’m an old man; presuming I should be so lucky. (more…)
What YOU Like in IF – more data
I’ve recently gone through the online reviews of IF Comp 09 games, looking for commonalities and patterned differences in what people like about IF. What I found is counter-intuitive; or at least, contrary to the prevailing wisdom.
Admittedly, my method required a lot of gisting. So, I’d like to collect more numerical data. Then when we get the scores, we can sort through this to see what the strongest influences are. And that means we can tell IF authors with specificity how to write games you’ll like better.
Take the survey and tell us what you like in IF.
If you’d like to pass along the link, you may find this one more convenient, as it won’t break under cut-n-paste:
http://tinyurl.com/y8m5oxo
Whacko Kills 13: The Real Tragedy Is That This Will Make People Dislike Muslims, Imams Say
Yeah, okay; so the guy was under psychological pressure, and it’s a coincidence that he said, “Praise Allah!” just before he opened fire. Isn’t a strong religious background supposed to help you cope with psychological pressure?
While the media wrings their hands about what a U.S. soldier killing other U.S. soldiers in the name of Allah will make the American public think about Islam, Muslims ideologues tell us how deeply hurt they are that people might think that Allah wants Muslims to murder. It seems to me these folks are confused: I’m fine with Allah not wanting Muslims to murder. They don’t need to tell me; they need to tell people like Major Hasan.
A PowerPoint slide from Major Hasan’s presentation to the military. This presentation raised eyebrows, but no red flags. Officials explained they didn’t want to discriminate.
What Makes IF Enjoyable? — Conclusions Drawn
The two primary factors that make IF enjoyable are:
1. Playability. The game should not normally interfere with the player’s attempt to play it, although players will tolerate a high degree of frustration if the game seems to be meant to be frustrating (some of us kept playing _Beta Tester_), and especially if the game is frustrating in a variety of ways. (more…)
WTF?! – a free side-scroller development package!?
There’s a free software package that allows you to create World of Warcraft-seeming side-scroller games. They’ve released the whole thing for free, but they don’t provide a lot of info to go along with it.
I’ve been keeping an eye on this, and I haven’t noticed anyone taking advantage of it. The programming is mostly scripting, although I haven’t figured out how to put it all together yet.
If you know something about Flash- based programming with XML, or if you want to try your hand making games with this thing, let’s put our heads together: I’ve created a google group for the purpose. Let’s see if we can’t figure out the procedure for making a game.
–If anyone knows how to get the attention of the WTF?! guys, let me know. Maybe we can get a demo of how the tools work, or some such.
The Ascot: review of IF Comp reviews — Meta-Cleverness Doesn’t Matter
Some people liked _The Ascot_ and some didn’t, and remarkably, for what we might call the traditional or naive view of what makes text games good, those people tended to agree on everything about the game. They just *felt* differently about it, and they report feeling differently because of the narrative voice.
Some liked it, others didn’t: and this determined reviewers’ attitudes toward the game: not the CYOA form, not the interactivity, not the clever meta-ending that a few people found. (more…)
Notes from Cambodia
Last night, I had a date with two very nice young women. Westerners. It was nice to find people who share my values. It didn’t go anywhere; I was shy about inviting myself back to their place, and I think they were, too. (more…)
