Quote:
Originally Posted by mart
If you read my posting you will see I didn’t assert that the Scumm interface is the equivalent of the text parser interface. I said I would position it between the text parser and the point-and-click interface, but that I had no problem with calling it a verb/noun point-and-click interface.
And no, if you read my postings you will see that the multiple-icon interface that I was speaking about isn’t basically the same as the Scumm interface. You are referring to the window or bar in which the text icons (verbs and nouns) are replaced by object icons. And in this respect you are right. But I was referring to the multiple-icon cursor that the player used directly on (hidden) hotspots in the action window, and that is something different.
(...)
Of course, if one calls both the Scumm interface and the interface with the multiple-icon cursor “point-and-click interfaces,” one can assert that LucasArts made “point-an-click” adventures popular. But this is just based on definition, and describes the actual situation rather poorly. As we all know, the Scumm interface (and for instance Legend’s combination of the text parser and long list of given nouns and verbs) was a transition stage which resulted in today’s games with a multiple-icon or one-icon cursor. But if we distinguish, at least between to kinds of “point-and-click” interfaces, one with verbs/and nouns and one without verbs/nouns but with only a (multiple) mouse cursor to interact, the assertions about popularity and influence become quite different. And in terms of influence - which was the subject I was commenting upon – the Scumm interface didn’t have much influence and it didn’t last very long.
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mart, have you actually played early SCUMM games? They all do feature interaction with hotspots in the main gameplay window, so I am not sure I understand where you put the distinction. I agree that some Legend's games could be called a middle ground between text parser and point'n'click, but not LucasArts'. SCUMM is pure point'n'click, just as much as
King's Quest V. There is simply no practical difference between a list of verbs and a list of icons, or between a list of nouns and a graphically represented inventory.
