[cardician]

Originally Posted by EvoG

[URL="http://jerz.setonhill.edu/if/gallery/galatea/index.html"]

I agree, check this site out if you like IF. This little thing was a lot of fun. I had a good time going through and finding some of the other endings. It is very well done. My hats off to the creator.

[indyjones2131]

Whats that one that I think was a sort of hybrid that had you running the globe and time traveling. I remember seeing the ad for it in a very old magazine - it showed nazi germany and maybe space. Seemed like an awesome game.

Any1 know this one? Is so how is it? Good inventory puzzles?

[EvoG]

Originally Posted by indyjones2131

Whats that one that I think was a sort of hybrid that had you running the globe and time traveling. I remember seeing the ad for it in a very old magazine - it showed nazi germany and maybe space. Seemed like an awesome game.

Any1 know this one? Is so how is it? Good inventory puzzles?

Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?

Didn't play this one actually, but I remember enjoying them, though not the specifics.

[indyjones2131]

No, it wasn't Carmen Sandiego. This was a real adventure game. I can not think of the name for anything. I've always wanted to try it.

[EvoG]

Originally Posted by indyjones2131

No, it wasn't Carmen Sandiego. This was a real adventure game. I can not think of the name for anything. I've always wanted to try it.

Trinity?

Was it a graphic adventure? Any details you recall perhaps about the interface, unique elements/method of interaction(I know you didn't play it, but maybe recall seeing something)?

[Rowne]

I just thought I'd pipe in with a mention for Starship Titanic, that game had a text parser. Though I sheepishly admit that that game drove me completely bonkers.

[indyjones2131]

Okay, so there were like 103294723 verb options to pick from or you could type. There was a small graphic window... I think you start in the future and go back to the Roman empire and then maybe Nazi Germany.

[AFGNCAAP]

Originally Posted by indyjones2131

Okay, so there were like 103294723 verb options to pick from or you could type. There was a small graphic window... I think you start in the future and go back to the Roman empire and then maybe Nazi Germany.

It sounds very much like Legend Entertainment's Time Quest.

[indyjones2131]

YES !!!!!!! GOD !!!!!

Is the game awesome!? Does it have smart puzzles and great adventure?

I need a good game to play after BS.

[eriq]

Can I just say that the Sierra text and Legend text-based interface games were some of the best adventures ever?

[Rubes]

I definitely agree to check out some of the newer IF out there. There are some great games that do a nice job of "getting out of the way" with regard to text parsing.

Since it was brought up, I thought I'd mention that we're working on a game as we speak that is a hybrid first-person 3D-text IF game that incorporates a text parser. We're using the Torque Game Engine (www.garagegames.com) for the 3D graphics engine, and we added on a full text parsing engine designed after some of the newer IF parsers out there. It allows for full freedom of motion to explore the environment and the somewhat more elaborate interaction offered by the text parser.

We were also a little concerned about the different kind of interface that this would require, but we think we've designed a system that is fairly simple and easy to use, and it doesn't seem difficult to switch between mouse/keyboard for movement and keyboard alone for text entry.

We still have a ways to go, though. We're aiming for an initial release in the Fall of our prototype, which will be freeware. We're really excited about it, and it's nice to hear that there may be some interest in that type of game.

[Gnomepeople]

YAY i loved these. I once played a lord of the rings text praser from like 1982 it didnt even have an image... i couldnt even get past like the first bit. It sed smeagol runs into a bush. Sam is with you.

I just kept typing hit sam then it wuld say you hit sam with a stick you cut sams face.

[NcroManiac]

I love text parsers but only if they understand what I am saying, and in modern times I tend to prefer them with graphics (even better when they are moving) and sound.
Altough good writing can do wonders, and somtimes make me forget the lack of audio and visual commodities.

[Jazhara7]

I think they are fun. I played "The Perils of Rosella" (one of the King's Quests, though I can't remember which) with text parser.



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[Gnomepeople]

They are cool just more difficult then your average game and usually very frustating!!!!

[QFG]

I also miss the well-implemented text parser...

[Melanie68]

There's an indy/amateur/free game called Trilby's Notes from the same developer as 5 Days a Stranger and 7 Days a Skeptic. This one, unlike the first two uses a text parser so if you're hankering to play that kind of game...

[Tramboi]

Mmh I love text parsers (good and/or modern ones, at least, not Sierra's or Scott Adams' ) but I don't think they fit with 3rd person adventures.
They are best left for text-only games or text games with still pictures.
A question of pacing I guess...

I never felt limited by the interface in the best graphic adventures, it's a matter of interface and puzzle design.

[Lee in Limbo]

I have never played a text parser I didn't intensely dislike. The notion of inputting arcane text commands holds absolutely no fascination for me. The IDEA of inputting your own commands and getting an actual response relative to your command is a fantastic idea, but I've never seen it implemented to take full advantage of the concept.

The idea of working from a large but definite list of contextually relevant command words presents some interest, but the interface problem is prohibitive. Something a little less intrusive and more intuitive has to be devised, and I hate to say it, but it can't be solely text-oriented.

Something akin to MMO and RPG spell and item icons, with small mouse-over text descriptions or wiki-like blurbs might work wonderfully. It would have all of the advantages of both dialogue trees and inventory, but would be confined to a small, smart toolbar at the top or bottom or side of the screen. In fact, making this interface toobar customizable would go a very long way towards making such adventures more accessible and pleasing for many players.

As well, I've often thought that the next generation of Interactive Fiction should implement something similar in text form, with wiki blurbs and hotlinks built into the text, to do away with those clumsy text command phrases.

However, a return or resurgence of true Text Parser games seems utterly impossible to me. Most game devs simply have no idea how to make that work better, and you wind up with something that completely knocks you out of the narrative flow while you puzzle away at word association games. For those that love and live for such things, it's a hidden Shangri La, but for the rest of us who have little or no fascination with such guessing games, I believe that it's dry and dull and deathly stale.

[thniels]

I just thought I'd pipe in with a mention for Starship Titanic, that game had a text parser. Though I sheepishly admit that that game drove me completely bonkers.

While I too was driven equally mad by Titanic, the text parser was in fact pretty funny at times - more specifically at the times where you'd be completely stuck and just wonder around yelling random prophanities at characters who actually appeared to defend themselves in a fashion one would have to revisit early incarnations of LS-Larry to experience elsewhere. But since my finding-myself-stuck-history almost exclusively boils down to an insufficient vocabulary I must regretably vote against the reinception of text parsers, although I would welcome a good hybrid interface.