Deep Space Drifter

Baf's Guide

You are a deep space explorer in distress who docks on an abandoned space station seeking rescue. Structurally, DSD is split into two parts - the first one taking place in the station itself, and the second - on the planet the station is orbiting around. The first part has a nice (albeit non-exceptional by modern standards) setting with not-too-hard puzzles (I'd got the feeling they were intended as appetizers for the next part). The second section of the game effectively is a sketchily implemented bunch of puzzles; the puzzles themselves, however, are of top quality - very elaborate, logical, fun to solve, and immensely satisfying.

The development process for DSD has been described by Mike Roberts in his TADS manual, and I agree with him in that the entire game reflects its history. I'd especially recommend it to beginning IF-authors, since it shows pretty clearly that even a great authoring talent, and excellent programming skills won't help you if you don't plan your work thoroughly.

-- Valentine Kopteltsev