Reviews by danyadsmith
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Engaging after an Adjustment to the Interface, April 21, 2012As I continue my beginner's journey into the worlds of interactive fiction, I am learning that I am a purist in some respects. When I open an interactive fiction that includes pictures or music, I find myself disengaged and a bit annoyed. When I'm told I have to play in a browser and I find that I can't type in my own commands, I am a bit taken aback. (What do you mean, I can't play offline? So you're saying I can't save and restore?) The first time I visited the page where The Colder Light is hosted, I didn't give the game a chance. I didn't like the fact that the commands would be dictated to me. It felt passive. Something about going through the process of typing in my own commands is preferable to me. It slows me down. It gives me time to think. It gives me a sense of control and immersion.
All that said, as I was browsing IFDB last night looking for games to add to my queue, the name Jon Ingold kept coming up in my search results. I downloaded a few of his highest-rated games based on their descriptions and recommendations, but it was late and I wanted to play a short game. When I returned to the description of The Colder Light and it was described as a short story, I decided to give it another chance. I'm very glad that I did.
At the beginning of the story you learn that you are a child left alone in a bleak, dark and dangerous ice land. Your father is missing. You must fend for yourself. The interface presents you with your opening moves. You can go inside, look at the sky, examine what you are wearing or carrying or discover what you are beneath. (Spoiler - click to show)(The carrying command is hinted as it is preselected.) During gameplay I never used the beneath command because I didn't consider it significant, but in hindsight I would have found it useful. As you examine your environment and the things at your disposal, you begin to understand how to move the story forward.
After you get the hang of the game's core objects and how they work together to solve puzzles, advancing the story becomes quick work. You find that the game relies less on discovering the objects than on figuring out what to do with them once discovered. To solve the first puzzle, you need to (Spoiler - click to show)discover the wood rune by examining the fire pit inside, go back outside, then play the wood rune and the giant rune. When you summon the Withered Tree, you climb it, break off some branches, and take them inside to keep your fire going. This is also the key to uncovering a portable light source. Once you solve it, the controls become a gift not a hindrance.
In the beginning, I wanted the descriptions to be a bit longer. The author tells the story through very concise and measured prose. He uses his words very sparingly and yet manages to convey the appropriate mood. The tight writing allows the story to move forward quickly, and the story becomes a bit more engaging with every turn.
The Colder Light was the fourth interactive fiction that I've played to completion. After getting over my own personal biases against the interface and online game play, I found it to be an enjoyable experience. When I reached the end of the story, I felt like I had progressed through a clear and believable character arc with a satisfying conclusion.
I'm still a bit curious about how the game would play in a traditional offline interpreter. I wish the author would provide the option. If you are on the fence about playing this game because the interface doesn't woo you, give it a chance. It grew on me.
On Not Writing to Save the Relationship, April 9, 2012My history with interactive fiction is fraught with frustration and failed attempts. I remember having at least two games on my Commodore 64 (or maybe my Apple IIc) that I started but never finished. After a long hiatus from interactive fiction I discovered a text adventure buried in the Terminal on my Mac a year ago. After several attempts to solve it, I set it aside. A few months later, I found a copy of Adventure that I installed and played a few times. I still haven't finished it.
For some reason I can't yet explain, I continue to be drawn to text-based adventures. About a month ago, I stumbled upon Andrew Plotkin's The Dreamhold which led me to install Zoom and frequent the IFDB. I started downloading games based on recommendations focusing mainly on games for beginners with solid storytelling. Violet is the third game I've played and finished without help from walkthroughs.
The game presents you with an ultimatum - write 1,000 words on your dissertation or your girlfriend Violet is leaving you. In total, you are presented with six distractions to resolve. During my first few attempts at the game, I could see clearly the objects I needed to work with and I had a vague idea of what to do but the how escaped me. My inexperience with IF probably worked against me more than anything. I'm still learning about all of the common actions you can perform in an IF world. After my third or fourth foiled attempt I decided I was going to hate the game. I decided that there was no plausible ending that would satisfy me. But I was starting to gain ground with the puzzles and I kept going.
I think I restarted the game around five or six times before I solved it. And I really wanted to hate the ending. As I worked my way through it I started commentating audibly. I said things like "This game is [bother]," and "Seriously?!" and "This reminds me of MacGyver in a bad way." I also became quite disgusted with Violet, the quirky narrative voice that seemed to enjoy berating me and making me feel stupid for attempting to solve the game's puzzles in decidedly rational, logical ways.
This afternoon I played the game through to the end and I laughed out loud. And I smiled as I read the conclusion. And I uttered my final commentary on the game: "That was crazy!" And I shook my head and smirked for at least a whole minute. And I realized that if I were a person who could find no humor in absurdity I would have been less than amused.
Violet works very well as a beginner's game. In hindsight, the puzzles aren't difficult but each one is more nonsensical than the last. Once you embrace the absurdity you are on the fast track to finishing the game. The game also strikes a nice balance between interactive and fiction. It presents the player with challenges and punctuates them with monologues that clearly convey the backstory, the stakes and the immediate obstacles.
Although I found Violet (as a character) to be maddening, she did inspire all of the anxiety and motivation I needed to play through to completion. In the end, I think I just wanted to prove her wrong and shut her up, so I will close by saying thanks to Violet for (sort of) giving me the last word. If I could choose my own ending, I would totally break up with her.
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