External Links


fourin1.zip *
MS-DOS Application
fourin1.gam
Post-comp release, version 1.​1.7
Requires a TADS interpreter. Visit IFWiki for download links.
fourin1.sit
Mac OS Application (Compressed with StuffIt. Free StuffIt Expanders are available for most systems at www.stuffit.com.)
fourin1.gam
Comp version 1.​0
Requires a TADS interpreter. Visit IFWiki for download links.
4in1​_src.zip *
zipped together with development logs and an essay about the game
fourin1.sol
Solution
* Compressed with ZIP. Free Unzip tools are available for most systems at www.info-zip.org.

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Four in One

by J. Robinson Wheeler profile

Humor
1998

Web Site

About the Story

"Do you realize how behind schedule and over budget this picture is?"
"Look, Mr. Thalberg," you say. "All I've gotta do is get the master shot in the can. So, maybe it'll take twenty takes. But when I get that take done, with the rewrites we're back on schedule and on budget."
"Twenty takes!" blurts Irving. "How many have you shot so far?"
"Fourteen," you say. "The Marx Brothers are getting a little impatient, but I think they respect me as a director..." Irving's face puffs and squinches. For a moment, you think he's about to have a seizure, and then suddenly Irving lets loose with a peal of laughter.
"Respect you! That's a good one," Irving says to you. "You play golf, right Sam?"
You nod. "Yes, Mr. Thalberg, I do."
Irving snaps his fingers with a manly click. "Val, go round up the boys and get them to the set." Val nods and leaves. "There," says Irving. "You've got them all teed up. You have TWO HOURS to get a take that we can print. I'd say you've got the same chance as getting a hole-in-one. Or in this case, a four-in-one."


Game Details

Off-Site Reviews

SPAG
In summary, Four in One reminded me of Tempest from the previous year's competition--a brilliant idea, thoroughly and intelligently done, that I wanted to like more than I did. And just as Four in One arguably worked better as the transcript submitted to the IF Fan Fest, so Tempest works better as, well, the play, and the literacy of the attempt to translate it can't hide that.
-- Duncan Stevens

This is quite an interesting concept, putting a new spin on IF. Instead of the game being object-centric, it is NPC-centric, with NO objects of any use what so ever, and more NPC's per square pixel than any other game I have played, although most of them are thinly implemented.
-- David Ledgard
See the full review

>INVENTORY - Paul O'Brian writes about interactive fiction

Four In One is a the most character-intensive piece of IF I've ever played. Almost every location has one or more characters in it at all times, and these characters are as fully implemented as they need to be. The gaffer, for example, is not terribly talkative -- ask him about the movie and he'll say "A job's a job," but ask him about the lights and he has an opinion, as he should. Every character has responses about the things they should know about, though if you spend much time in conversations with them you will run afoul of the game's time limit. The Marx brothers can tell you about each other, the movie, MGM (Groucho says, "MGM stands for 'more godless movies.'"), and anything else they ought to know about. Four in One does an outstanding job juggling all these characters, giving them just the appropriate depth of implementation so that the game really rewards replay. After I had solved the game, I went back and just chatted with the various characters, and was delighted with the extent to which they are implemented. The author's research is quite apparent in these moments, and it makes a big difference. Four In One taught me things about the Marx Brothers that I had never known before, and made me want to go out and rent A Night at the Opera again. That's entertainment.
See the full review

Page Update History

  v.8: 10-Feb-2024 19:33 - JTN (Current Version) - Edit Page - Normal View
Changed Web site URL
v.7: 06-May-2022 00:42 - Paul O'Brian
Changed external review links
v.6: 03-Jun-2019 18:51 - kgarlow
Changed description, download links
v.5: 05-May-2013 07:07 - Edward Lacey
Changed external review links
v.4: 07-May-2008 16:35 - Paul O'Brian
Changed external review links
v.3: 28-Feb-2008 09:14 - Eriorg
Changed author
v.2: 18-Feb-2008 23:05 - Emily Short
Changed cover art
v.1: 16-Oct-2007 01:47 - IFDB
Created page