I posted this on twitter earlier this week, and I’m reposting it here.
Can you identify these opening lines/paragraphs from 15 of the most popular Interactive Fiction games? There’s a mix of newer and older games, some parser-based and some choice-based.
- “The rotating tin cylinder within the phonograph vibrates slightly as a brass needle scrapes against it. The sound of a throat being cleared emerges from the machine’s hornshell speaker, followed by a thin, haunting voice.”
Slouching Towards Bedlam, 2003’s IFComp and XYZZY Best Game Winner, by @Peccable and Star Foster.
- “It’s not just the interest on your loan,” you remember him saying. “It’s maintaining the cryo tube, storing it, powering it, insuring it… even paying for me to come out here and give you this little reminder goes on the bill.”
Superluminal Vagrant Twin, by CEJ Pacian. 2016’s XYZZY Best Game Winner and, per IFDB, the most popular parser game written in the last 5 years.
- “You wake up. The room is spinning very gently round your head. Or at least it would be if you could see it which you can’t.”
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Infocom’s bestselling game and co-written by Douglas Adams and Steve Meretzky.
- “You take a deep breath of salty air as the first raindrops begin to spatter the pavement, and the swollen, slate-colored clouds that blanket the sky mutter ominous portents amongst themselves over the little coastal town of ______.”
Anchorhead, a game that many consider the best IF game of all time. Recently remastered into a commercial version by Michael Gentry. ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=op0uw1gn1tjqmjt7 …
- “You are standing in an open field west of a white house, with a boarded front door.
A small mailbox is here.”
Zork I, the’founder game’ for parser games that took the concepts in Adventure and pushed them further, influencing almost every parser game after it… textadventures.co.uk/games/view/ … hz_vq/zork …
- “Calm down. All you have to do is write a thousand words and everything will be fine. And you have all day, except it’s already noon.”
Violet, by @jeremyfreese . 2008’s IFComp and XYZZY winner. ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=4glrrfh7wrp9zz7b …
- “Will you read me a story?”
“Read you a story? What fun would that be? I’ve got a better idea: let’s tell a story together.”
Photopia, by @adamcadre . 1998 IFComp winner and the most-rated game on IFDB of all time. ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=ju778uv5xaswnlpl …
- "You come around a corner, away from the noise of the opening.
There is only one exhibit. She stands in the spotlight, with her back to you: a sweep of pale hair on paler skin, a column of emerald silk that ends in a pool at her feet."
Galatea, by @emshort . Her most famous game, containing what has been called ‘the best NPC ever’ by people in and out of interactive fiction. Available at ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=urxrv27t7qtu52lb …
- “Pig lost! Boss say that it Grunk fault. Say Grunk forget about closing gate. Maybe boss right. Grunk not remember forgetting, but maybe Grunk just forget. Boss say Grunk go find pig, bring it back. Him say, if Grunk not bring back pig, not bring back Grunk either.”
Lost Pig, by @AdmiralJota. 2007 IFComp and XYZZY Best Game winner. ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=mohwfk47yjzii14w …
- “One morning at dawn the nurse shook him awake because his sobs were being heard in the next room. Once he was awake he could hear that not only was the patient next door but the two hundred dogs kept in the hospital courtyard for use in the laboratory had also been threatened…”
Howling Dogs, by @slimedaughter . The ‘founding game’ for Twine that took early Twine games and pushed them past their limits. Featured at Whitney Biennial, and tied for most popular game on IFDB since it came out in 2012. ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=mxj7xp4nffia9rbj …
- “My family lived on the southern edge of a certain Midwestern industrial city in an old house, old enough that its basement still had a dirt floor”
My Father’s Long Long Legs, by @WarrenIsDead . Popular enough that for some time, searches for this game were one of the largest traffic sources for @emshort’s blog. ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=u6urdbmp6pdv6lk1 …
- “Strolling through the final airlock, you feel satisfied that the facility’s in order: the spacesuits are starched, the moon rocks are neatly arranged, and you personally checked that every stateroom is in perfect condition. Twice.”
Creatures Such as We by @lynneaglasser , the most popular Choicescript game on IFDB, perhaps the best free Choicescript game, and one of the most played of Choice of Games’ collection (as far as I know). ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=8l9cdcd1tbt77hfl …
- "You shouldn’t be sitting in the driver’s seat. You should be getting out on the passenger side, and there should be someone else sitting at the wheel, key in the ignition, keeping an eye out.
And that’s probably how this would be going down, if you had any friends left."
Taco Fiction by @rcveeder . 2011’s IFComp winner, and the most played parser game from 2011 on. ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=2ej7ntbmoit9ytvy …
- “We’re so sorry to hear you’re not having a better time at camp. We know it’s no fun going without your phone for an entire month, but do try to make the best of it. Trust us: It may all seem miserable now but when you’re an adult you’re going to look back on this as one of…”
Birdland, by @bphennessy . Has the record for most XYZZY awards won by a single game, and the most played game of all since 2012. Available here: ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=ap1651hvjldbuugj …
- “Odd, how the light just makes your apartment gloomier. Pre-dawn darkness pools in the corners and around the tops of walls. Your desk lamp glares yellow, but the shadows only draw your eyes and deepen.”
Shade, by @zarfeblong . This is the author’s most popular game, and the fourth-most played game of all time on IFDB. ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=hsfc7fnl40k4a30q …