vivdunstan: Art work for the IF Archive including traditional text adventure tropes like a map, lamp, compass, key, rope, books a skull, and a sigh referring to grues (interactive fiction)
Taking stock of my latest parser interactive game writing progress. Much to do, but encouraged can finish in time for IFComp 2026. And can see a way forward in the short term. Happy to share that it's episodic, and historical, but otherwise spoilery details redacted in the attached progress summary!

Chapter 1 - Prologue - SOME TO DO; Chapter 2 - ** *** ******* - VIRTUALLY EVERYTHING STILL TO DO (though have plan in Ulysses); Chapter 3 - * ********* ****** - NEED TO FLESH OUT, MAKE LESS ON RAILS IF POSS; Chapter 4 - ********* ** ****** - NEED TO CONVERT TWINE PLOT DESIGN TO INFORM CODE; Chapter 5 - ***** ** ****** - EVERYTHING STILL TO DO (though have plan in Ulysses); Chapter 6 - ******* ** *** ****** - MOST STILL TO DO (STARTED CODING) (though have plan in Ulysses); Chapter 7 - Epilogue - ALMOST ALL DONE

Thinking about what needs to be tackled/finished, I'm thinking I'll code the rest in order of chapters 2, 5, 6, 4, 1, 3 and 7. The first three are ones I'm currently most excited to tackle. Coding 4 from the existing plot design should be fairly mechanical. And finishing 1, 3 and 7 ought to be be easy.

Of course "ought to be easy" is a very risky thing to say when it comes to writing and coding up computer games, including interactive fiction! But I also know they're the sections that need the least amount of work still done on them. And almost certainly best tackled late in the day.
vivdunstan: Art work for the IF Archive including traditional text adventure tropes like a map, lamp, compass, key, rope, books a skull, and a sigh referring to grues (interactive fiction)
Another casualty of the UK Online Safety Act: all interactive fiction (including traditional parser text adventures) games stored at http://ifarchive.org are currently geoblocked to UK users. The IFTF folks are trying to work out a solution, but there is no current clue to how long that might take. The archive holds 30+ years worth of generally amateur/free IF games - a vast number. Including my own. Which I can't play online right now. Not that I want to, but it's rather ironic! Meanwhile the intfiction forum where this might usually be discussed is still down 36 hours later, after a Linode cloud server outage.

And IFComp is also likely to be affected, including the next competition opening for judging in just over a month. IFTF folk are currently urgently reviewing that. I wonder if I'll be able to play *any* IFComp games this year.
vivdunstan: Art work for the IF Archive including traditional text adventure tropes like a map, lamp, compass, key, rope, books a skull, and a sigh referring to grues (interactive fiction)
Inform 7 source code for my IFComp game "Bad Beer" is now freely available in the IFArchive. It is also linked from Bad Beer's IFDB game web page. April 1 is Source Code Amnesty Day for interactive fiction games. More info about my release in my intfiction forum post.
vivdunstan: Art work for the IF Archive including traditional text adventure tropes like a map, lamp, compass, key, rope, books a skull, and a sigh referring to grues (interactive fiction)
Reminded of April 1 Source Code Amnesty Day for interactive fiction games, I've just uploaded Inform source code for my IFComp 2024 entry Bad Beer. Source uploaded to IFArchive, and will take some days to process. Maybe ready by April 1st or soon after? Fab initiative.
vivdunstan: Art work for the IF Archive including traditional text adventure tropes like a map, lamp, compass, key, rope, books a skull, and a sigh referring to grues (if)
Revising the interactive fiction section of my website, postponing my next IFComp game to 2026, not later this year. On plus I have a really good design worked out and it's well in progress. But it's bigger than I'd initially planned, and I want to give it enough time to develop sufficiently richly. Postponing the game entry to 2026 gives me lots of time to develop all of its chapters much more fully. And also to allow for at least a couple of rounds of thorough playtesting. I'm really excited by this new game design, and want to do it justice. Allowing more development time should really help!
vivdunstan: Art work for the IF Archive including traditional text adventure tropes like a map, lamp, compass, key, rope, books a skull, and a sigh referring to grues (interactive fiction)
The third and final thing I bought with my IFComp prize money. A new solitaire card game with a Sherlock Holmes theme. Very happy with my haul!



vivdunstan: Art work for the IF Archive including traditional text adventure tropes like a map, lamp, compass, key, rope, books a skull, and a sigh referring to grues (interactive fiction)
Just ordered the second thing with my IFComp prize money. Our local bookshop is stocking this. Newly published next week. I will report back what it's like. Still have some IFComp prize money left.

vivdunstan: Art work for the IF Archive including traditional text adventure tropes like a map, lamp, compass, key, rope, books a skull, and a sigh referring to grues (interactive fiction)
Got the first thing I've treated myself to from my IFComp 2024 prize money (I have quite a chunk of the prize still to spend). Jeff VanderMeer's "Wonderbook: An Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction". Reading this book is not going to magically make me a great writer. I know that the important thing is to just write, and stick at it. And I've confidence from my IFComp 2024 game that I can complete new creative writing projects in future. But any tips I can get from the book I will gratefully receive and apply to my own projects. It is a gorgeous book. Lavishly illustrated, very creatively designed. Not a wall of text. So it's accessible even for reading challenged me.

vivdunstan: Art work for the IF Archive including traditional text adventure tropes like a map, lamp, compass, key, rope, books a skull, and a sigh referring to grues (interactive fiction)
Watched the IFComp results ceremony tonight. Happy with my final ranking, which was in the top half of all the games, in a year with extremely high quality entrants. Compared specifically to last time I entered I finished in a higher position, and increased my average voter score a lot. Comparing the two years and the equivalently placed games and their scores, this year was a much higher standard. So pleased with that! I will also be due a cash prize from the Colossal Fund prize pool for authors. Which will be nice to get. Happy 🙂
vivdunstan: Art work for the IF Archive including traditional text adventure tropes like a map, lamp, compass, key, rope, books a skull, and a sigh referring to grues (interactive fiction)
Found out when the IFComp 2024 results will be announced. In two weeks time, on a live stream on Twitch. I will be tuning in. I don't expect to rank highly, but will be happy if I improve on my showing last time I entered! Just delighted to have been able to finish another game to take part this year. And looking forward to seeing how everyone fares.

The competition itself has 10 days left to run. It's been a rewarding albeit sometimes nerve wracking experience!

IFComp 2024

Sep. 1st, 2024 04:12 pm
vivdunstan: Art work for the IF Archive including traditional text adventure tropes like a map, lamp, compass, key, rope, books a skull, and a sigh referring to grues (interactive fiction)
IFComp has opened for another year, with 67 different interactive fiction games entered. Ranging from traditional parser text adventure games through to choice based pieces and RPGs. I have a game in the competition this year ("Bad Beer") but would encourage folks interested in new IF games to check out all of the competition entries. All are worth playing, covering a huge range of genres, themes and styles. Judging is open to all comers, and runs until October 15th. https://ifcomp.org
vivdunstan: (lord of the rings)
I'm continuing my reread of The Fellowship of the Ring. And the party have just got through Moria. But I was struggling hugely to visualise in my mind the different rooms and levels that the party were going through, especially later on in their time in Moria. But I can remember a time when I could visualise them clearly. For many years. So this seems to be something I've lost since, or can't do now anyway. It's not that I'm not remembering the Peter Jackson movie version. But my image of the journey through Moria was memorably different from the movie I saw in 2001. I remember clearly having "thoughts" about the film's depiction of Moria, and how different it was from how I imagined it looked ever since I'd started reading the book for the first time as a young child. But now I can't really visualise any geography at all as I read.

Relatively recently I tried an aphantasia online test. And scored highly. Which would fit with my struggles to visualise things in my mind now. Including faces. Even very close family! But I'm now wondering after this LOTR rereading experience if it's something that I've developed more in recent years. Perhaps as a result of my progressive neurological illness.

When I was young I could visualise things, and draw from images in my mind. However when my neurological illness started in 1994 at age 22 I quickly noticed my ability to think abstractly diminishing. Rather a big problem for a computer science PhD student needing to program. I quickly lost the ability to program effectively in lots of languages. Though at the time I just coped as best as I could. It's more distressing looking back.

So yup, I wonder if visualisation is another loss with time, perhaps due to my long term illness. It's partly also why I dreaded designing cover art for my latest IFComp game. But hey, got there!

Curiouser and curiouser anyway. I am enjoying my LOTR reread despite this. Next up Lothlorien.
vivdunstan: Part of own photo taken in local university botanic gardens. Tree trunks rise atmospherically, throwing shadows from the sun on the ground. (Default)
I dug this out again, and had a go drawing some cards. Here are the ones I drew tonight.



Note this is not any standard layout or spread, just something I drew up impulsively. I wanted to draw more than 3 cards, but not too many more. In particular I wanted enough that I could choose to ignore some if I wanted. Equally I don't want cards in particular positions to have any special significance. So it's 5 cards drawn, at random, of which I can choose to ignore several in my musings, if they don't feel right for me now.

The artwork is gorgeous. It's woodblock based, by Spanish artist Tomas Hijo. On the downside the Minor Arcana cards are mostly just pips-style, like ordinary playing cards, so lacking individual illustrations. But the court cards have proper individual illustrations, as do the Major Arcana.

The biggest downside for me using this deck is that the accompanying guide is akin to a foldout map/poster rather than a little booklet as you often get with Tarot decks. I can ignore that guide, using other references for help with interpretations. But I do like the extra information the foldout guide has relating the cards to the Lord of the Rings theme. And I don't want to miss those. I could easily see me getting tired of battling with the foldout poster though.

Here are the 5 cards I drew tonight:

Top left - The World (The Fellowship)
Middle - The Fool (Frodo)
Top right - The Eight of Rings (the deck replaces Pentacles with Rings)
Bottom left - Justice (Legolas)
Bottom right - The Magician (Gandalf)

Of these Eight of Rings relates to study and learning. I'd like to use that to remind me that I need to return to my Gaelic language study. It's easy to keep meaning to do something in future, but never get round to it in a reasonable time. I need to make a deliberate effort to prioritise this.

Frodo's Fool card relates to great opportunities being offered, the chance of an exciting adventure. This doesn't resonate with me at the moment. I am too limited, even considering more cerebral adventures. And trapped for now in a never-ending cycle of many extended neurological flares. But it's a gorgeous card.

The Fellowship card is, if anything, even more gorgeous. The guide with the cards suggest this is about having nearly reached a goal, and a sense of community. Well this does resonate. IFComp 2024 is going to open for judging in a fortnight. I have a new game all finished, entered and ready for the competition. And I am really looking forward to taking part in the closed IFComp authors' community on the IF forum this year. Just excited about it to be honest, however my game fares. Which is a nice place to be in.

Justice - which I thought at first glance was Faramir not Legolas, yes I missed his ears! - seems to be about keeping your vision true and clear. Which I could apply to lots of things. But I'm rather in a muddle of different projects and interests at the moment. And it doesn't really resonate.

The last card, a gorgeous Gandalf illustration for the Magician, reminds me that I need to think of others and not just my own priorities. Obviously paramount in this is Martin, supporting him. But also my friends and family. We hope to have a visit soon from in-laws. Which will be lovely. That's using the interpretation provided in the guide for this deck, rather than a more traditional one.

So 5 cards drawn very loosely, and of those 3 resonated with my current situation a lot. I *adore* the art, though that's on the fully illustrated cards. The simpler pips based cards are disappointing. And I could definitely see the foldout guide becoming a menace. I might have to convert that into a different format. But an interesting experience drawing these.

And yes, I really need to sort out a Tarot/oracle card icon for posts like these!
vivdunstan: Photo of my 72 bass accordion (accordion)
Fandoms colliding for me here. An IF Comp winning interactive fiction author playing an accordion built from a Commodore 64. He’s Swedish, playing a traditional Swedish tune. Though lacks a bass side and notes. More like someone playing classical music on accordion.
vivdunstan: Art work for the IF Archive including traditional text adventure tropes like a map, lamp, compass, key, rope, books a skull, and a sigh referring to grues (interactive fiction)
IFComp have today added new questions that authors must answer about any use of AI generated content in their works for the imminent competition. I was very pleased to be able to tick the “no AI” option for my game. Not even for the cover art, which I did myself. I am not at all a fan of the use of AI in creative fields like this, whether for text content or art. The human cost to creatives working for a living in these areas is too great, as is the environmental cost of running generative AI queries.

vivdunstan: Art work for the IF Archive including traditional text adventure tropes like a map, lamp, compass, key, rope, books a skull, and a sigh referring to grues (interactive fiction)
Brainstorming a new IF game and came up with 10 very rough ideas. One calls out to me the most strongly, but I may also include elements of another five. That should be enough for getting on with! Much to do, but excited. As with the last one I want to get the bulk of the design in place before coding. Many months of slowly musing over ideas to come.
vivdunstan: Art work for the IF Archive including traditional text adventure tropes like a map, lamp, compass, key, rope, books a skull, and a sigh referring to grues (interactive fiction)
Just finished my IFComp game coding, and uploaded a game file to the competition website. 4 weeks ahead of the deadline. But I can now relax. Seeing the preview there, including how it will look to people browsing the competition website, is exciting. It's also nice to see the play online option now works for it.
vivdunstan: Art work for the IF Archive including traditional text adventure tropes like a map, lamp, compass, key, rope, books a skull, and a sigh referring to grues (interactive fiction)
Sending out my IFComp 2024 game for its final round of playtesting. Scary and exciting at the same time! Also tomorrow I will be officially registering to enter the competition.

1/107

Jun. 27th, 2024 09:29 pm
vivdunstan: Art work for the IF Archive including traditional text adventure tropes like a map, lamp, compass, key, rope, books a skull, and a sigh referring to grues (interactive fiction)
Down to just 1 thing left on my todo list of IFComp game fixes. That was 107 items long, including some tricky or major changes. I will be signing up to enter IFComp at the start of July, with final game submission due in late August. The competition and judging runs through September and early October - a month earlier than in the past. And yes, I really need to sort out some cover art. I have a design in mind, and have been experimenting with ideas re drawings on my iPad. That O'Grade in Art and Design has to come in useful somewhere 😜

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vivdunstan: Part of own photo taken in local university botanic gardens. Tree trunks rise atmospherically, throwing shadows from the sun on the ground. (Default)
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