Infocom Post-Mortem

I just stumbled across a really interesting and somewhat sordid accounting of the never-released sequel to Infocom's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy via Wonderland. It's a fascinating look into how game design can go wrong (or any project, really). I could swear I've written some of those emails myself!

It's also a useful reminder that we're not the first group of people to push at the boundaries of story and technology. In particular, the bit about trying out a third-person point of view pushed this home for me. And really, so much of what we do is informed by the revolutionary storyforms that went before us. As good old Uncle Isaac once said, "If I have seen a little further, it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants."

Comments

[John Evans]

That is really amazing. And the bit about "third person IF", that really blows me away. The idea that you could type "MEANWHILE" as a verb...That's an idea that deserves not to be lost!

[Andrea]

I know, right? I've actually seen an idea like this, on a smaller scale, used in Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. There's a point in the game where you can switch between the viewpoints of Link and a young goron boy as necessary. It's just a gimmick in that game, and I'm sure it's been done elsewhere too, but but but... doesn't it just make your head spin thinking about the sort of multi-threaded narrative this would unspool? If it were used as a central conceit of an entire game, you'd really have to assess how the pieces of story fit together in a holistic, maybe not even very linear fashion.

Fun stuff!

[Richard Bruce]

I can see the shadows of many of my emails and frustrated art direction meetings here. Lessons for us all