The plot line of my piece is not too complicated and follows the semi-traditional prologue of much IF in that the player finds themselves at the beginning of the story waking up in a foreign environment, clueless as to how they got there or what they must do. Little else is known about the protagonist as they are a genderless, featureless character whose shell the player must inhabit until the end of the gameplay. (see below)
The only feature known to the player during the game is that you are hungry. As this is not in and of itself a character trait (although I’m sure many great literary scholars could infer that the character’s hunger is a symbolic representation of humanity’s voracious appetite for sexual experience, or something ridiculous like that) the player is forced to pour into the protagonist their own desires and attributes by what they choose to input. This though is severely limited by the amount of commands available to the player throughout the story, a hindrance resulting from my own inability to comprehend the vastness of Inform 7 programming (and trust me, it’s not the only thing I couldn’t wrap my head around).
Continuing on from the prologue, the player surveys their surrounding and discovers that they are in a cave, the mysterious atmosphere of which is completed by a strange old man cooking various items over a fire (which in a cave is a terrible idea…imagine the smoke!). His companion is none other than an impish little gnome, whose peculiar dance and stand-offish attitude grant him a bizarre appeal to the interactor. These two constitute the NPCs of the story, yet they are not truly what they seem to be because I could not ultimately figure out how to manipulate the software so as to allow the player to talk to them. Instead, they are no better than common objects with dialogue in the description, accessed only by using the “examine” command. (see below)
It was this aspect which was perhaps one of the most frustrating aspects of utilizing Inform 7, as I could not figure out how to actually tinker with the input commands. This therefore renders the player only a few options when it comes to inputting his or her commands, allowing my inadequacies to become their frustrations.
Two rooms are accessible from the cave, a closet to the west and a bathroom to the east. In the closet there is a pile of fish bones (the piece of scenery). As for the bathroom, I wished not to describe the entire room itself, but only to place it into existence. For this reason, when reached the message is that the door is shut and the room is occupied. Due to its relative ease (in relation to other aspects of using Inform 7) creating rooms within the program was quite enjoyable and appealed to me for its ability to create an atmosphere often lost in much of IF. As much time is spent by the player merely trying to figure out the whys and hows of a work as they meticulously explore each of the input options, the descriptions found upon entering a room is a refreshing break from the otherwise monotonous nature present in Interactive Fiction. Furthermore, the description of rooms helps to reinforce the novel or story aspect of IF, a crucial piece found oftentimes in severe state of want.
Finally, included in my work are three interactive objects, which the player must utilize to reach the end of the narrative. They are (and yes the latter two are completely made up, Dr.Seuss-esque words): a fish, a fosh and a f00sh. Faced with three choices, the interactor must decide which of the creatures they will eat. The fish is a neutral choice, neither causing failure nor success. The fosh however is the player’s ticket to winning the game, for when one chooses to eat it they receive a congratulatory message stating that they have won the game. If though they choose the f00sh they begin to vomit incessantly, thereby losing the game. Of course, just like the rest of the work, both the congratulatory and failure messages are nothing more or less than a farce designed to give the player a sense of completion (or in the very least, finality). (see below)
Given the fact that I could not figure out how to program an actual end of game message, I decided to use the response message of eating one of the items as a means to finish the game. After all, what’s more infuriating than not being able to finish something one has started? Although the game is very much still playable after eating either the fosh or the f00sh, the fact that they convey a sense of conclusiveness in their responses is proof enough that the game has a not only a definite beginning, but also a definite end.
It is in these and other ways that I wished to communicate my opinion of the ludicrousness of Interactive Fiction throughout “Tom’s Tale.” Although I struggled through many of the processes associated with the writing of IF (namely the creation of NPCs and manipulation of input commands), I found the Inform 7 program allowed me to accomplish what I set out to do – try my hand at writing IF. While I still hold strongly to the belief that IF is a sad excuse for enjoyable literature, working with the Inform 7 software has increased my appreciation for those who write works of IF for the mere pleasure it gives them. However, this sense of appreciation is matched with my uncertainty of the saneness of such individuals, as it is my conclusion that one must be either a person of intense patience, clinically insane, or just extremely bored to derive any sense of enjoyment of accomplishment from working on IF. It is however not for me to judge, as my interactions and standpoint on IF as a whole (both reading and writing) fall in the area of extreme prejudice. But I reside happily in such, knowing that the written novel will never fail to entertain, educate and envelope me in its acute storytelling abilities.
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