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Keyword Interface for Conversation Package

Feb 27

Posted by Matt Wigdahl in Computer, Games, Interactive Fiction | No Comments

Following up on my previous articles on integrating Aaron Reed’s Keyword Interface extension with Eric Eve’s Conversation Package system for conversations (part 1 and part 2), I’ve packaged up the interface code as an extension and submitted it to the archive, so it should be showing up there shortly.

The code is a bit different from what was presented in the articles, due to some changes required because of minor issues with new versions of the extensions it builds upon.  The extension should support both Glulx and Z-code text coloring.

Thanks to Strainer for providing me the kick in the pants I needed to get this done!

Edit:  Due to an apparent bug with the OS/X version of Inform where it perhaps adds the author’s name and the extension name together before comparing against the 51-character limit, I’ve changed the name to “Keywords for Conversation Package”.

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Hoosegow Wins!

Feb 23

Posted by Matt Wigdahl in Computer, Games, Interactive Fiction | No Comments

Congratulations to Jack and Ben for another win!  The excellent Hoosegow defeated a deep and strong field to take the $1000 prize in the JiG Casual Gameplay Design Competition.  Congratulations to the other top finishers as well!

The top 4:

  1. Hoosegow — Ben Collins-Sussman and Jack Welch
  2. Fragile Shells — Stephen Granade
  3. Dual Transform — Nigel Smith (actually Andrew Plotkin)
  4. Party Foul — Brooks Reeves

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The Fading Dream

Feb 5

Posted by Matt Wigdahl in Computer, Games, Humor | 3 Comments

There is a once-great nation in the world today — a nation seemingly strong and powerful, but riddled with internal decay.  A land with an uncertain future.

This nation was founded in time immemorial by an intrepid few — settlers from a far more powerful country, who brought their culture along with them to this new, virgin land.  Over time the prevailing mores and social structures would change, but in the early days the new land was in many ways very similar to the old country.

The forests, plains, and mountains of this new land were vast, but required hard work to fully develop.  The first settlers of this nation prized self-improvement and expected that they would improve themselves with time.  This bred a spirit of rugged individualism, but also fostered cooperation.  Paradoxically, their self-reliance and desire to better themselves drove them to work together to achieve ever greater achievements.

It wasn’t long before the new nation eclipsed the old, boasting more settlers and far greater wealth, despite the greater age of the mother country.  The rest of the world started to look to the new land as the leader in innovation, and immigration boomed to unprecedented heights as settlers from all over the world wanted a piece of the “good life”.

Unfortunately, with the increase of population came poverty and other social ills, and political pressure increased to provide support for the ever-increasing members of society that couldn’t seem to be productive or carry their own weight.  The original culture, where skills were prized as essential for both personal and societal advantage, began to be replaced by a growing sense of entitlement — that the nation itself owed its citizens an ever-increasing standard of living, regardless of whether the people could produce it or not.

The politicians, of course, were more than willing to give in.  The currency underwent severe inflation as the administration sought to assure everyone a basic standard of living, and although ever more sophisticated consumer goods became available, the prices continued to rise to astronomical levels.  Unfortunately for the administration, however, the hyperinflation didn’t have the desired effect.  Currency was more plentiful, but you still had to earn that currency yourself, and not everyone was able to hold a job.

The next step was to provide full employment through a menial public works program.  Legions of the underclass flocked to these simpler, less-demanding jobs as a means to achieve their dreams.  But this type of employment was considered unpleasant and degrading, and the citizens agitated for their leaders to provide a mechanism whereby they could work in businesses of their choice, but be guaranteed a certain level of income regardless of their actual profitability.  This was a far cry from the successful giant corporations of the nation’s early days, which were large industrial enterprises that employed many workers with a high degree of competition for positions.  Workers were expected to be skilled in those days and those who couldn’t pull their weight were thrown out with little concern.  These new businesses were smaller, and government subsidies (at the cost of pushing the inflation rate ever higher) reduced the risk these businesses needed to assume.

In the end, even this was superseded by an almost Marxist regime.  No longer would small businesses be formed via a person’s circle of friends and acquaintances.  What about those people who didn’t have contacts even competent enough to file the government paperwork and go through the motions required to collect their paycheck?  The government solution was to remove the limit on the number of businesses a person could be a partner in, and at the same time randomly match aspiring business owners together, in the hopes that the more entrepreneurial types would carry the load for the less capable since they could collect an additional government paycheck for a small additional amount of work.

The nation wasn’t quite at “from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs”, but it was close, and getting closer.  Could it really take long for them to take that one final step?

What’s that?  Oh, right!  What nation am I talking about?

Why, World of Warcraft, of course!

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Hoosegow

Feb 2

Posted by Matt Wigdahl in Computer, Games, Interactive Fiction, Reviews | 1 Comment

If you’re interested in one-room escape games, JayIsGames is hosting a competition for them.  One of the entrants is Hoosegow, an interactive fiction game by Ben Collins-Sussman and Jack Welch, the team behind this year’s IFComp winner Rover’s Day Out.

I did some design review on this game, although I wasn’t able to beta the finished product.  It’s another well-written, fun little adventure with a tongue-in-cheek Western style that should have wide appeal.  I was very impressed with it.

It doesn’t look like JIG is showing the contest details at the time I’m writing this, but it should be up soon.  Check it out when you get a chance!

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Duplo LEGO Star Wars — A Modest Proposal for the Wii

Jan 10

Posted by Matt Wigdahl in Computer, Family, Games | No Comments

This is a guest post from my son, Thomas, who has a game proposal he’d like to submit to any interested developers.  So if there are any LucasArts folks trolling the blogosphere who are looking for a creative idea for a new game by a very enthusiastic Lego Star Wars fan, read on:

Dear LucasArts,

My name is Thomas Wigdahl and I want to work with you to publish a Wii game called Duplo LEGO Star Wars.  Can you help me create it?

The reason this game uses Duplos is that it’s a new idea that no one has used before.

The best part of my idea is that it has adventure in it and cool bosses that have a variety of vehicles, ships and droids.

My game would be fun to play because you can build your own vehicles and weapons.

Something new in this game is it only has five levels that are longer than Lego Star Wars levels.

Thanks!

Sincerely,

Thomas

Concept art is below:

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GemCraft Is Evil

Dec 30

Posted by Matt Wigdahl in Computer, Games, Reviews, Websites | 2 Comments

All “tower defense” games are evil, compulsive time-suckers, but some are more evil than others.  My entire extended family has become addicted to PopCap’s Plants vs. Zombies, which is quite possibly the most perfectly-refined TD game in existence.

I’ve had brief relationships with several other TDs in the past, from Desktop Tower Defense to several space-themed variants.  The latest one I stumbled across is the nefarious GemCraft Chapter 0.  (I provide these links solely for educational value, of course).  I don’t know if its mechanics are a touch too subtle for me, or if its upper levels are fiendishly calculated to lie right on the razor’s edge of possible solvability, but I have very seldom been so frustrated by a computer game.  I can get through 18 or 19 of 20 levels, only to fail on the last one.  Replay after replay gets me a bit closer, Zeno’s Paradox style, but I’m walking away now.  It’s not worth the frustration, or the waste of precious free time.

Be warned.

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Game Review: Jade Empire

Dec 16

Posted by Matt Wigdahl in Computer, Games, Reviews | 3 Comments

Jade Empire, Bioware

4.5/5 stars

aa1_jade_empire[1]

Before Jonathan, before IFComp 2009 (how many years ago was that, anyway?), I was playing Jade Empire.  I’d gotten about halfway through it by the time I got sidetracked with interactive fiction development, and then really sidetracked by Jonathan.  Even after recovering a bit from that, I was reluctant to pick Jade Empire back up, as I’d forgotten some of the combat mechanics and didn’t really relish trying to come back up to speed and figure out where exactly I’d left off.

Finally, though, I did.  A half-hour here, an hour there, and I finally completed it last night.  It’s definitely in the top echelon of Bioware games, which are all consistently excellent.  I thought the writing was quite good, the plot was interesting, and the combat mechanics integrated very well with the mood of the game and the more conversational aspects of gameplay.

Like many Bioware games, Jade Empire gives you a choice of morality.  Unlike most Bioware games, however, the choice in Jade Empire is not along stark good/evil lines.  Instead you gravitate between the Way of the Open Palm — an altruistic, communalistic, almost paternalistic ethic — and the Way of the Closed Fist, which is a more individualist, borderline-Nietzschean philosophy (“solve your problems yourself, or you don’t deserve to live”).  This gives the moral choices a bit more subtlety and interest than the usual “give money to the poor child or cut her throat” options that are found in some of Bioware’s other titles.

Combat uses three resources — health, chi, and focus, and all of these are emphasized in different ways depending on what style of combat you favor.  If you use standard martial arts, you are limited in range, but don’t inherently deplete chi or focus to fight.  If you use weapons, your focus drains as you fight, and if you use magic or transformation styles, your chi depletes.  On top of these basic mechanics, you have several different types of martial arts, different weapon styles, and different schools of magic and transformations, and you can choose to amp up your damage by spending extra chi, or slow down your opponents by spending focus.  The end result is a very option-rich combat model that is very adaptable to the way you want to play.

The plot follows a Hero’s Journey-type structure.  You’ve been trained in combat at the beginning of the game, and then discover that you have a Mysterious Past™ that gives you a Great Destiny™.  You are forced out of the nest, meet companions, learn more about yourself as you gain strength, and then learn the full extent of what’s been going on for the last twenty years.

The way these revelations are handled in the context of the player’s progression, however, is what makes this game such a high quality experience.  You’re given enough information to make successively wrong conclusions at several points throughout the game, and the twist at the end is pretty unexpected.  Also, by the time you’ve figured everything out, the game linearizes a bit.  I think this was a great choice; you already know what to do, and at that point it’s just a question of doing it.  Putting in a big exploration section near the end would have compromised the flow of the game — and taken me extra weeks to finish it.

Also, your companions are pretty fully-realized, with distinctive personalities and goals of their own, which helps immersion.  There are romance plots available, and while some of the dialogue seems a bit forced, they’re doing romance better at Bioware these days than they did back in the era of Baldur’s Gate 2 and Neverwinter Nights.

One great aspect to the game is the inclusion of several homages to the great Barry Hughart, author of the Master Li and Number Ten Ox series of novels.  I greatly enjoy these books, and was very excited every time a reference (and there were many) came up.  If you enjoy the game, you’ll definitely enjoy the books — they’re some of the best fantasy writing I’ve ever encountered.

All in all, Jade Empire is definitely in my top 5 Bioware and Bioware-derived games.  It doesn’t quite equal the Planescape: Torment or Baldur’s Gate 2 experiences, but it’s right at the level of other top titles like Knights of the Old Republic (the first one) and Mass Effect.  I recommend it to all who enjoy Bioware titles or fantasy with an oriental flavor.  You won’t be disappointed.

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Game Review — Batman: Arkham Asylum

Nov 20

Posted by Matt Wigdahl in Computer, Games, Reviews | No Comments

batman_begins[1]Batman:  Arkham Asylum — Rocksteady Games

Rating:  4.5/5

I’ve played a lot of FPS-type games (including tight over-the-shoulder 3rd person games) over the years, starting with the original Doom.  It’s not my favorite genre — I tend more towards role-playing games, interactive fiction, and turn-based strategy.  It takes quite a bit for an FPS to impress me these days, but Batman:  Arkham Asylum has what it takes.

The premise is fairly simple.  You’ve just captured the Joker and are carting him into Arkham Asylum for the usual ineffective treatment.  Unbeknownst to you, however, the Joker has already salted Arkham with inmates that are actually his goons from a nearby prison, and has a plan in motion to bust out and take over the island.

You, as Batman, must stop him.

The game gives you a very impressive range of gadgets with which to play.  From the Batarang and Batgrapple to the late-game Batline and Batclaw, you always have tools to support what you want to accomplish.  These gadgets support not only different movement options, but also give you great tactical flexibility in combat.  Explosive gel can be used to set traps for enemies or blow open thin walls.  A cryptographic analyzer can short out security nodes and allow access to otherwise-inaccessible areas.  The Batclaw can disarm enemies and pull them toward you, and the Batarang can knock them out.  You can fly with the Batcape, as well as stun enemies with it.  And, of course, you can beat the crud out of enemies with the good old Batfist.

Speaking of combat, the game does an excellent job of hybridizing the “shooter” and “sneaker” genres.  Batman can simply wade in, fists flying, and take out almost unlimited numbers of unarmed goons.  However, armed enemies give Batman more trouble, and for these he is often better off swinging between gargoyles up in the rafters, maneuvering behind the guards in order to take them down silently, in gameplay that’s like an amped-up version of Thief.

Another facet of gameplay leverages Batman’s legendary detective skills.  You can enter “detective mode” at any point, which highlights objects you can interact with, lets you see through walls, and distinguishes between armed and unarmed enemies.  In detective mode you can also use environmental analysis, which allows you to detect, say, a trail of Harley Quinn’s fingerprints or trace levels of alcohol breathed into the air by a treacherous guard.  My only real complaint about detective mode is that it was so useful that I spent the whole game using it, which means that I didn’t see enough of the beautiful environs of Arkham.  If they do a sequel, I’d suggest integrating detective mode more with the natural view of the environment.

Of course, no Batman game would be complete without a selection of big-name enemies for Batman to fight.  This game’s big baddie is the Joker, supported by a host of classic Batman villains including Bane, Szasz, Killer Croc, Harley Quinn, the Sandman, and Poison Ivy.  The Riddler also makes a cameo, having littered the grounds of Arkham with secrets for Batman to find.

These supercriminals usually fall into one of two categories — big bruisers that Batman has to defeat using superior agility and tactics, or more traditional “bosses” that must be defeated in a particular, scripted scenario.  Both these types of fight are done well, although the “Batarang-and-dodge-the-charging-brute” tactic tends to get old by the end of the game.

The environments are very well-rendered, and most areas are visited more than once, since the additional mobility options you get later in the game serve to open up areas you couldn’t get to on the first run-through.  The result is a game that feels open while it subtly guides you, and where you get to learn the lay of the land early on so you can use it to your advantage in the endgame.

I was a bit let down by the final battle, particularly after the high bar set by the rest of the game.  But really, this is a very good title if you are a fan of Batman or like tactical or sneaky combat games.  I’d have no qualms recommending it.

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Champions Offline

Oct 23

Posted by Matt Wigdahl in Computer, Games | No Comments

champions_online_profilelarge[1]If you’d have asked me in mid-August, when the beta for Champions Online was only days away, whether I’d play it or not, I’d have said “of course!”  The beta was fun, but took a bit of the wind out of my sails.  What really killed it, and spiked any real desire to pick up any MMO again, however, was discovering the joys of writing interactive fiction.  It’s pretty hard to force myself to play an MMO after working on (or playing) an interactive story.

After release CO seemed like a pretty solid, if unambitious game, but I just think the entire MMO format works against the immersion into the superhero genre, in a way it doesn’t in a fantasy or SF setting.  The level-grinding mechanic itself is questionable from the get-go, not to mention the fact that you need to take on higher-conning mobs to level maximally quickly.  If you’re getting killed by thugs of whatever level, you’re not going to feel very super.

Then there’s the MMO quest structure, where you’re either:

  1. Killing 10 rats
  2. Acting like a FedEx delivery truck, or
  3. Gathering fromitz boards

If you really want to play a game that makes you feel like a superhero, try Batman: Arkham Asylum.  I doubt I’m even a third of the way through the game so far, but the array of gadgets, gameplay modes, cutscenes and content are very impressive.  And since it’s a single-player game, your character can be powerful without fears of balance issues.  I’m very impressed — this is definitely one of the games that makes it over the new, higher post-IF bar.  I’ll have a full review when I’m done.

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Clockwords

Sep 24

Posted by Matt Wigdahl in Computer, Games, Reviews, Websites | No Comments

clockwordsEmily Short, a prominent interactive fiction author, has contributed to the development of a new browser-based game, Clockwords, which combines the best aspects of the tower defense genre and Bookworm.  Set in a “gaslamp fantasy” setting with crazy mechanical inventions, you type words to arm your contraption and shoot down clockwork attackers before they can get to your machine.

I’ve played quite a bit, and the concept of the game is pretty intriguing, not to mention horribly addictive.  You get letters that boost your damage if you use them, and they come in different varieties and potencies, but you can type any word you want.  Using all your bonus letters in the same shot unlocks another letter chamber, so your vocabulary along with your typing speed is ultimately what determines how much firepower you have.  It looks like it should be a lot of fun for kids as well; I’m sure Thomas will love it, as he likes tower defense a la Plants vs. Zombies, as well as Bookworm.

The only irritating thing about it is that Clockwords is microtransaction-enabled through MochiGames, which means a steady stream of annoying ads and shilling for in-game powerups.  Set your brain filters on “ignore” and you should be fine.

Emily said that the version that’s online currently is just the Prelude, and that in the future there will be more content and gameplay variations.  I look forward to seeing what they come up with!

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