When the best-loved makers of text adventures met the best-loved sci-fi satirist of the decade, the result was an unforgettable classic of interactive fiction.
Thank you! Almost every year was hard for one reason or another, but the period the series is entering right now, 1998-2002, was especially difficult: there was such an explosion of innovative amateur games concentrated in that period that many modern classics had to be left by the wayside in choosing only one game per year.
1984 was definitely a hard one, too! My short list for '84 included Infocom's Seastalker, Suspect, and Sorcerer; Level 9's Return to Eden; the first Lone Wolf gamebook; System 15000 (one of the first hacking games), Drug Wars; the Islands of Kesmai MUD; experimental games Deus Ex Machine and Eureka!; Hampstead (an early UK political game); and one of the earliest commercial releases of computer poetry. Like I've said, as comprehensive as this series might seem, it's really only the briefest whirlwind tour...
Do you consider releasing all of your shortlists when the year is over? This one list alone is so fascinating that I think that it would make for a great companion piece.
No. The Gown is not the solution the the Bablefish puzzel, if you use the gown then the game just gets bored and you're eventually shot out of the airlock without the fish but can still continue. The satchel needs to go on the hook. This article is terrible and now I'm upset.
This is really well done. Congratulations and thanks!
Thanks for the article. It was great to remember Babel Fish.
Great blog series, thanks! Which year was the hardest to downselect to just one game?
Speaking of 1984, I'm going to be giving Mindwheel (Broderbund, 1984) a spin (I just got its hardback book that you're supposed to read first).
Thank you! Almost every year was hard for one reason or another, but the period the series is entering right now, 1998-2002, was especially difficult: there was such an explosion of innovative amateur games concentrated in that period that many modern classics had to be left by the wayside in choosing only one game per year.
1984 was definitely a hard one, too! My short list for '84 included Infocom's Seastalker, Suspect, and Sorcerer; Level 9's Return to Eden; the first Lone Wolf gamebook; System 15000 (one of the first hacking games), Drug Wars; the Islands of Kesmai MUD; experimental games Deus Ex Machine and Eureka!; Hampstead (an early UK political game); and one of the earliest commercial releases of computer poetry. Like I've said, as comprehensive as this series might seem, it's really only the briefest whirlwind tour...
Do you consider releasing all of your shortlists when the year is over? This one list alone is so fascinating that I think that it would make for a great companion piece.
Planning for this to be a feature of the book version!
No. The Gown is not the solution the the Bablefish puzzel, if you use the gown then the game just gets bored and you're eventually shot out of the airlock without the fish but can still continue. The satchel needs to go on the hook. This article is terrible and now I'm upset.
You may be misremembering. Excerpt from Infocom's official Invisiclues for the game:
C. You need to block the small hole.
D. Let's hope you aren't stuck here, because it only gets harder.
E. It has something to do with the hook above the hole.
F. You need to hang something on the hook.
G. Examine the gown.
H. Notice the loop? Hang the gown on the hook, then press the button
again.
I. Well, you've made a little progress. Don't give up now.
J. You'll have to block the drain...
Satchel covers the robot panel. Mail goes on satchel so that it goes flying when the robot crashes into the satchel.
Tea or No Tea was my Waterloo.
That’s Zaphod who finds the 900 year old ship, not Ford by the way.
Not in the radio series! =)
Great, now I have to go listen to the Radio series and pick up on all the differences :).