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Hi, I'm completely new to the world of IF. I didn't have a computer until the late 90's when this kind of game was already out of fashion but I have always enjoyed puzzle games. My video game experiences come from the days of Atari, the NES, and SNES. I always gravitated more towards RPG's, which in many ways I think use the same skills as IF but I know the experience is different.

For about a decade I was completely disconnected from video games but recently I've gotten it into my head to go back and examine the roots of video games, even playing games that are older than I am. Based on a friend's advice I started with King's Quest and I really enjoyed playing that and did pretty well. Then I read about Zork. Now I'm kind of interested in the whole IF genre. I've been a big RPG fan for years, both table top and video game. I've also played several online RPG's with a similar format. The GM gives you a scenario and everyone has to respond with what their character is doing. The only difference with IF is that the scenarios are pre-written. It also interests the writer in me and after I've played a bunch of these, I'd like to try my hand at writing one of my own.

My usual methods would be to start chronologically. I figure that if the people who were playing them at the time could take them in that order then I could as well, but I welcome any advice on what games would be best to start out with especially if anyone feels that going chronologically wouldn't be the best way to go. So now on to the questions:

1.) I keep on reading that I need WinFrotz to play these games on a Windows PC. Unfortunately all that I've been able to find are versions of WinFrotz designed for Win95/NT. Would that work on my Windows Vista machine or are there more recent versions? Is there another interpreter that I could use? I downloaded Advent.z5 so if something else is designed for Windows Vista and will play that file let me know. Alternatively I suppose I could find a DOS interpreter and download DosBox but wanted the thoughts of the forum.

2.) Are there any comprehensive lists of IF games that anyone knows about? I realize that it would be impossible to catalog every homebrew game in existence but does anyone know of a list of every IF game released by a software company? Are there any lists of popular/common homebrew games? Lists like that would be helpful for me to navigate the various types of games and see what I would like.

3.) Does anyone have any recommendations as far as games that I absolutely must play at some point or recommendations of where I should start? I planned on starting with Adventure but if that isn't a good place to start I'd like to know what people recommend and why.

4.) Are there any 2-player IF games (probably internet based) so that you and a buddy can play in a game world where multiple people can wonder around and you can interact with them as well? If so, where I would learn about those?

I appreciate any and all feedback. Please let me know what you think.

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"A kaitou is a creative artist who skillfully steals his prey, but a detective is nothing more than a critic who finds fault in what is left behind."
- Kaitou Kid, Detective Conan Episode 78 (Conan vs Kaitou Kid Part 1)

Use Gargoyle, not WinFrotz: http://code.google.com/p/garglk/downloads/list

Some recommended lists are here: http://ifwiki.org/index.php/Recommended_games
Also check out the IFDB: http://ifdb.tads.org/

For multiplayer IF, check out Guncho: http://www.guncho.com/

1) The latest Windows Frotz is here:
http://ifarchive.org/indexes/if-archiveXinfocomXinterpretersXfrotz.html
Scroll down the list to "WindowsFrotzInstaller.exe" (or "WindowsFrotz.zip") if you don't want to use an installer. I don't have an install of Vista to hand, but it was built and tested on Windows 7.

I am pretty new to IF aswell. If you want some good beginner games some forum users gave me some really good recommendations on some posts I have here the past week or so.

My first game was 'The Dreamhold'. Its s tutorial game but doesn't make you feel too much like a newbie!

A really great source for games that even includes reallly early classics is ifdb.tads.org

All of the big modern players in the genre post their titles here aswell as being able to grab Infocom classics such 'Zork' and Scott Adams 'Adventureland'.

I have only completed two games so far but like you I am really looking forward to trying loads more titles.

Happy hunting!

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Octofuzz

Supplementary to the good advice you've already been given on this topic, you might want to also look into trying out some MUDs ( / MUSHes, MOOs -- the MU generally indicates multi-user) or sitting in on a ClubFloyd session.

But then in the next post someone directed me to WinFrotz and told me that it should work on Vista, so if the functionality in Windows is not in question why should I choose Gargoyle over WinFrotz? What are the differences? What are the advantages of each? I haven't been able to find a good reference which explains interpreters to me. I've just found lists which just say these are the interpreters and this is what they're compatible with. Is this just personal preference and they're really just about the same?

Please let me know.

_________________
"A kaitou is a creative artist who skillfully steals his prey, but a detective is nothing more than a critic who finds fault in what is left behind."
- Kaitou Kid, Detective Conan Episode 78 (Conan vs Kaitou Kid Part 1)

Just to add to the confusion, WinFrotz and Windows Frotz are not the same thing. WinFrotz is an outdated program that I don't recommend to anyone, while Windows Frotz (mentioned by David here) is actively developed. So don't be fooled when you see WinFrotz version 2.32 next to Windows Frotz version 1.17.

Which one you'll want to use of Windows Frotz or Gargoyle is a matter of personal preference. Many people prefer Gargoyle for two reasons: It can play more games (Frotz is for z-code games, but Gargoyle includes interpreters under the hood for most big IF systems so that you don't need a bunch of "terps" to play different games), and its main design goal is to look good.

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"The thing I like about deadlines is the wonderful whooshing noise they make as they go past."
- Douglas Adams

So why do some people prefer Windows Frotz?

_________________
"A kaitou is a creative artist who skillfully steals his prey, but a detective is nothing more than a critic who finds fault in what is left behind."
- Kaitou Kid, Detective Conan Episode 78 (Conan vs Kaitou Kid Part 1)

According to Emerald Windows Frotz allows you to select text while Gargoyle doesn't, but I'm not sure whether this is (still?) true. I've been using Windows Frotx and Glulxe for no other reason than that those are the ones I happened to download first and have served alright ever since. Maybe I should switch to Gargoyle?

So I downloaded Gargoyle and loaded "Hunt the Wumpus". There doesn't appear to be a way to save a game in progress. To me that seems odd but wanted to know if I just haven't figured out how to do this or if there really is no way to save an IF game. Would other interpreters allow me to save?

_________________
"A kaitou is a creative artist who skillfully steals his prey, but a detective is nothing more than a critic who finds fault in what is left behind."
- Kaitou Kid, Detective Conan Episode 78 (Conan vs Kaitou Kid Part 1)