Weekly Links #116

There's something about parser-based interactive fiction. For years, my interest has been slowly declining, but never entirely vanishing. I kept playing, and reviewing... and once every four-five years even authoring a new one. My "new" work in progress was actually started last year, but I became discouraged and abandoned for a while. Guess that wasn't meant to last. Especially as for the past few months, finishing old abandoned works has been my modus operandi.

So stay tuned for City of Dead Leaves, a puzzle-light interactive fiction mood piece about someone looking for their lost love in a post-apocalyptic city. It won't be especially deep, or smart, but hopefully you'll like it either way. Doubly so as how the game came to be is a story in itself, that you'll hear when it comes out.

And now, for the important news. After a long delay, SPAG Magazine issue #63 is finally out! A rather thin issue, from which stands out an article about voting blocks the likes of which have plagued the Hugo Awards as of late, and their impact on interactive fiction. Also, the magazine appears to be in new hands (again), which might just be good news.

Still in the way on interactive fiction, allow me to plug a friend's recently launched Twine game, a text-based RPG reminiscent of traditional gamebooks. Dragon Fate may be ISO Standard Fantasy, but it's no less interesting for that. It even makes fun of some genre cliches. And while it's not exactly deep, there's some metaphorical meat on those bones. Give it a try.

Last but not least, a couple of post-mortems: From Ars Technica, The Making of RuneScape, occasioned by the game's 15th anniversary. Happy birthday! As for Gamasutra, this week they brought us the story behind NetHack's latest update, which concludes with a promise that it won't be the last one. Hopefully the next release won't take another 12 years, either.

With that, I leave you to enjoy the Sunday. Have fun and make games!