. Spinning .

It is just before five a.m., and I have not gotten much further into Watchmen. I have gone back to IF Anchorhead—which is by Michael S. Gentry, first released in 1998 and now into its fifth, and found it through John Timmons’site and on from there.

Via various links—I don’t remember how I got there, just as in IF itself, I have neglected to write it down but downloaded and bookmarked the spot—I reached what I think will be a most enjoyable piece of IF called Anchorhead by ( ) (this is where I have forgotten to first get the author’s name before writing this entry, but in going back to the downloaded version to check have come up with a “text buffer overflow” so I shall attempt to correct this post later). It is supposedly more in the gothic genre, one of my favorites (Edgar is practically dancing atop my desk at this remark) and has offered some difficulty in maneuvering without being frustrating. I will report more as I go along, but would like to hear from others who may have entered Anchorhead themselves.

Isn’t it amazing how the best thoughts (or so we think) come to mind when we are purposely striving for non-activity mindlessness? I was just playing Solitaire while waiting for my hair to dry (excuse) and I realized that there is even an element of interactive play between the computer and player that involves a strategy similar to using the computer for IF. Knowing that all Solitaire games are preplanned (after losing three or four, they’ll give you an easy one), I tend to have developed what I think is a strategy in winning. (Jeeezus!, the programmers are saying to themselves, she just figured that out?) Briefly, always moving cards from the right with the larger covered pile, holding out on moving until a King makes it necessary, knowing that if they give you two black sixes on top, they’ll give you a red seven somewhere, etc., etc. Obviously Solitaire is an old timer in the interactive computer world, but the concept could be extended to text-based interactive play.

This is probably all figured out already somewhere, but half the fun of exploration is discovering things for yourself—even if it is twenty years after the fact.

Sometimes I can be such a jackass. Why didn’t I go to John Timmons’ “Modeling your World” before I jumped into IF? After being shot up, eaten by dogs, and endlessly going in circles, NOW I find a terrific beginning IF fan’s guide. Yes, I had already checked out Dennis Jerz’s very comprehensive site that includes basic commands and tips, but I didn’t print them out to have handy when I play–just committed them to memory and promptly forgot them all in the excitement of writing/playing the stories. I have done so now, and will at least have some sense of guiding hands in my future journeys. I always was a stubborn child, and age has just compounded the problem. Oh well, live and learn.

John Timmons: http://www.johntimmons.com/if/ifonline.html

Dennis Jerz: http://jerz.setonhill.edu/if/gallery/help.html

Well, since no one saw fit to help me avoid my own multiple deaths in Adam Cadre’s Shrapnel, I have not gotten much farther along in the story. I would give up to frustration, but will instead go back and reread some of the info on interactive fiction commands and tricks. I believe there may be a cheat sheet somewhere on the internet for this story, as I came upon one on Autumn Romance which unfortunately, merely discouraged me from bothering to work through it myself, so I am not in the least tempted to find Shrapnel’s script, but sure would have appreciated a little help from you IF junkies! Instead, I must return to the torture of being ripped apart by dogs (I keep forgetting about them if I’m away from the story too long) or getting blown up in the woods. This should improve my already rather sour mood.

No, no analytical essay on the aesthetics of Shrapnel or lack thereof, just a question:

How do I get out of the woods when I’m with the two men who get blown away? I got away from the dogs by not going near the g.d. house, but now I’m stuck in the woods with these guys (Whitman?) and can’t get anywhere.

Boy, I’ve never wished so strongly that someone would please read my log and help me out!

Another major life decision made: Screw Autumn Muse. I’m going back into Schrapnel and see if I can manage to remain alive a little longer.

���Photopia” has proven not to be my sole exploration of Interactive Fiction. After messing around a bit (and there’s a definite relationship between how we deal with real life situations and how we deal in our IF interplay, and messing around and messing up is part of both) with others such as “Schrapnel”, “Metamorphosis”, “Cave Adventure”, among others, I tried Muse: “An Autumn Romance” (Note, I’m too lazy to go back and ensure that I have the proper titles here, but IF fans will recognize them I am sure). I’m not drawn to Sci Fi or Fantasy—although Bizarre is good—so I decided to try to ascertain if the element of surrealistic adventure was a necessary part of the story. I’m not big on Romance either, but it seemed to offer a different sort of adventure, and I knew that it would not have been produced had it not had potential readership.

“Autumn Romance” does indeed create within the player a sense of involvement, and offers the same level of frustration, sense of accomplishment and interest of a more action-packed adventure. I have not gotten very far into it as yet (hey, I’m new at this!) but it has piqued my interest enough to go back again to this story as well as others out there. As with all IF, several ventures are necessary to complete the story, and as noted in a previous post, necessary to also come back with some understanding of the story line and structure. IF will, I’m sure, be an ongoing study, and an enjoyable one at that.

I realize that I must produce a paper on Photopia by Tuesday morning, but figured perhaps I should do a little more research first. This professor is one that I suspect sees through any bs that I may produce. So…

Wow! Adam Cadre’s Shrapnel!!
You die instantly upon the wrong move,
You die over and over and over again, and
You cannot QUIT the program.
I love it.

I believe I should thoroughly research this one out before I work on the paper. And, after hours of hard work and much thought put into interacting with these programs, I cannot call them games. I wouldn’t be playing games when I have a paper to write, now would I?

At approximately 3:03 EST, I emerged from Photopia. Some question as to whether I played the last part correctly–PURPLE seemed to go on by itself with its own responses (wicked me, I copied them down in case this was a temporary glitch). And I do have to go back because, maybe it’s just me, I don’t remember what happened at the end, or if I accomplished my mission. Towards the end of the session, it seems I was too concerned with maneuvering, and was not following the story line. Possibly like reading a book, checking your e-mail, and watching TV while making supper and speaking with your spouse all at the same time. Truly enjoyed the humorous responses to some of my idiotic attempts to move forward, and am pondering the implications of a computer generated story that can make me laugh at myself. Similar, I suppose, to certain games where a message is on a card which is drawn or uncovered on a board by moving a piece, but certainly not as intimate or pointedly given in response to direction by the reader. Interesting…to me anyway. Most of you out there are probably beginning to wonder how long I was in a coma while technology marched by.

Well I finally got free from the daily grind to allow some time for research on Photopia and a few other programs. I am learning some things about Interactive Fiction: 1) It takes the fun out of it to write down and follow notes; 2) You can get lost in the exact same places you were lost in the last several times if you don’t have your notes; 3) CRY is not a recognized verb.

When you are first exposed to IF, and indeed you are foolhardy enough to think you remember your path and go racing along, you are most likely to get stuck. You are so anxious to get to the place where you left off that you forget to read the text for clues, examine, take, and inventory every now and then. You forget how you got out of the last jam and frustrate yourself by relentlessly typing in the same command over and over because you just KNOW the creator of this program wouldn’t leave you stranded like this. When absolutely nothing you try works, you go back to the beginning, a broken player. Hemingway himself could not have beaten a reader down emotionally more than this.

I believe that my analysis of IF will be based on the ways it affects the reader during and after interplay. Obviously each time I enter Photopia I bring new information with me (except the crucial parts that I forgot!) and am a different person when I read the opening lines. I’m tense, on edge, antsy to get back to where I left off, but can’t just flip open the book. I realize this is fully possible to pick up where one left off with the addition of the WinFrotz (sp) software download, but I’m winging it for now to examine the reader reaction and learn the methods. I also realize that I can’t go on much longer this way, since it would become a frustrating experience rather than one of intrigue and accomplishment. Since author and reader are in this together, there is a competive impulse to outwit the author by the reader. Just thoughts for now, but need to get back to my game research.

Okay, so you probably don’t care, but I did find my way out of the crystal labyrinth with some assistance and now I’m facing a wolf.

I will likely spend a good few hours of this weekend exploring PHOTOPIA among other interactive fiction. Starting out with a writer’s attitude and a reader’s impatience, I quickly fell into the journey of this game, and I hesitate to call it a game. But it was exciting, frustrating, euphoric, funny; all the things that one hopes to achieve in writing a story in text. Engaging the reader to a point of real emotions, where he is immersed in the narrative to the point where preparing supper is out of the question and customers could bloody well beat down the door before he can tear himself away from the computer screen. (Okay again, change gender references and yes, it’s true.)

Barriers are being destoyed at the same time as bridges are being built within the literary community just as in almost every other field affected by the almighty computer. Arguments fly on all sides especially as to what constitutes art. Progress constantly changes the determination–even when it may be that it is a subjective view, after all. Time and experimentation move things beyond the established (to date) criteria and may improve, but certainly expand the categories. Homo’s red handprint on the cave wall can not remain the standard forever.

I’ll do more on this subject, but in the meantime, if you are curious, please check out John Timmons’ link to Interactive Fiction on this page. Play a bit. See what you discover.

Okay, so I’m into it now. I have just added a new category to this log, Literature just for times such as these. In approaching Interactive Fiction, I came to it with reluctance and suspicion (I am one of those folks who still cannot compare hand-drawn art with computer graphics on the same level) and felt it was “cheating” for some reason. Also brought with me my own feelings against interfering with another’s work, or accepting the text of others as my own. Well, tonight I lost my inhibitions, and suddenly I was no longer a writer but an honest-to-God game player! Yes, I got caught up in the thrill of the journey, and reader and writer both had a hell of a lot of fun. These posts are more just notes to myself I think, so that in analyzing the process, I will remember the turn of events. Speaking of which, and despite being warned to write down what I was doing during interaction, I scribbled but a few. This is very like the way I have approached fixing computer software problems–trial and error–but getting so involved in what I was doing that I’d fail to write down what I’d done in case it didn’t work (or the problem came up again in the future, which with computers, it invariably does). Very similar indeed to where I left myself crashing into the crystal labyrinth walls in PHOTOPIA. I’ll write again on this subject as soon as I find my way around.

In my pursuit of learning, I’m heading into Interactive Fiction. I won’t comment about it much until I get the feel of it, but after a bit of dabbling I realize that I am approaching it from a writer’s viewpoint, and do not see it as a game. As a writer, I indeed use games in the writing process. Freecell, Solitaire, Sliding Tiles, Diamond Mine–all simple matters of dexterity and after much practice, almost automatic maneuvers. Like being able to drive a car without concentrating on turning the wheel to corner, these games allow for the mind to roam free. When stuck on a story, I often open Freecell and in short order, the story has progressed in my mind. Quick! Switch back to Word and get that thought typed down. In IF, the momentary writer’s block is overcome by the reader’s need to find out what happens next. Type “go north.”

To this day I cannot bring myself to write in a book; cannot highlight, notate, even enter so much as my name on the inside cover. I believe this trait was learned and born of Catholic respect for sanctity and transferred to a different god. My initial reaction to IF then is both a reflection of this background and the resulting trepidation to overcome it, and the possessive stand I take in my own writing and reluctance to add in foreign thoughts. Hopefully, “this too shall pass.”