Weekly Links #166

Happy Easter, everyone! I'll start by reminding you that we're one week into the Spring Thing interactive fiction festival, and it's the largest edition ever. Still three weeks to go, too, if you want to vote or something.

The other big news this week is about The CRPG Book Project which, as announced by Indie Retro News is near completion: a free history of computer role-playing games by a largely European team, told in a couple hundred capsule reviews and a thousand colorful screenshots, that gives equal space to famous classics and obscure titles (some never translated into English) that nevertheless had a massive influence on the genre. A labor of love, put together over several years, and amazingly enough released for free.

Still on the subject of videogame genres, the first part in a series of articles on visual novels was just announced on the Lemma Soft forums, and it starts out strong with an analysis of current trends.

Next for a bit of nostalgia: Slashdot points to a look back at 8-bit computing, and it's pretty damn thoughtful as listicles go. On a slightly different note, someone just came up with a graphic adventure engine for the Pico-8 inspired by LucasArts' SCUMM, and coming surprisingly close.

To end on a less cheerful note, Play the Past has a feature on death in online virtual worlds. Being part of such a community that was hit repeatedly by the deaths of prominent members, the whole thing struck a chord with me.

But I have more to read and think about, not to mention today to deal with. See you around.