vivdunstan

Thought about reusing some old LPC MUD code - dated 1992! - in a puzzle in my latest interactive fiction game that I'm writing. Then looked at the LPC code and thought "Way too complicated for what I need here!" So I'm going simpler. But it is nice to revisit.

I was a wizard in the St Andrews University MUD back then, as was Martin. I also played through to wizard level on a Glasgow MUD at the same time. Many happy memories.

Currently listening to this one, the last story in season 5 of the Benny audios. And gobsmacked.

It's a totally bonkers adventure for Benny and Adrian. Truly bizarre in a theatrical and imaginative way. It reminds me of so many things e.g.

Blake's 7 TV episode "Gambit"
Alice in Wonderland
Doctor Who adventures with the Toymaker
The Prisoner TV series
MUD computer games
Tom Stoppard's play "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead"

There's very little logic to anything, though it does repeatedly argue for its own internal logic.

But it's utterly compelling to listen to.

Great music too! And extremely metatextual.

But yup, crikey. Highly recommended.

I do realise I've written very little about what it's about. But going in unprepared is probably for the best.

Cover of Bernice Summerfield and the Masquerade of Death

Nice write up about my latest IF game.

Lining up my next old IF game to play and write on the intfiction forum. This one's a Blake's 7 game, a traditional parser text adventure. I think it's incomplete, but what's there looks really promising. And amusingly it's been compiled with the built in Inform debugging commands on. So I may be able to explore more than I can play through. I was just trying e.g. "PURLOIN VILA. DROP VILA. EXAMINE VILA." Then getting mentally muddled with some of my extra wizard commands (built in LPMUD and from my personal wiztool) and wondering why they're not working too! This will be fun. Fitted in around continuing IFComp playing.

I'm currently playing Level 9 interactive fiction text adventure game Knight Orc from 1987. Which feels like a MUD with many autonomous NPCs running around, fighting and grabbing treasure! And has some very unusual command shortcuts, as shown in the image of part of the manual. A very intriguing game. Which can get into unwinnable states, like Melbourne House's The Hobbit. But I am very much enjoying it. Will write up more thoughts after. I have a dedicated thread on the intfiction forum for my new foray into old games.

Some of the command shortcuts, e.g. FOLLOW <person>, GO TO <place> (which works out the sequence of moves needed), RUN TO <place> (like GO TO but faster), and FIND <object> to go to a place with a specific object.

Some of the command shortcuts, e.g. FOLLOW <person>, GO TO <place> (which works out the sequence of moves needed), RUN TO <place> (like GO TO but faster), and FIND <object> to go to a place with a specific object.

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Entries tagged with mud

Coding 1992 style

Bernice Summerfield: The Masquerade of Death

Bad Beer game review

PURLOIN VILA

GO TO CASTLE

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February 2026

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