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."