Interactive Friction: IFComp 2016 Review: Detectiveland by Robin Johnson

Interactive Friction: IFComp 2016 Review: Detectiveland by Robin Johnson

http://ift.tt/2egF1IC

These are quick thoughts about an entry in the 2016 Interactive Fiction competition.

I previously complained that this author's last game, The Xylophoniad, failed to use the excellent point-and-click user interface that the author had created for Draculand. This latest release, an old-school detective noir thriller, fixes that complaint in Spades. (See what I did there? 'Cos of Sam Spade? Never mind.) This is a visual and aural presentatation that pops: pretty graphics, some era-appropriate tunes, a clattering typewriter font, Detectiveland has been polished to the hilt. The core story is fun too, with no cliche of the genre left un-mined. Femme fatales, dangerous gangsters, corrupt politicians, it's all here. Where Draculand was content to simply riff on the sparse, terse writing of the old Scott Adams adventures, Detectiveland expands on the format, giving room for some top-notch comedy writing (the letter from a publisher to an H.P. Lovecraft wannabe is great). Puzzles are generally straightforward and logical. One new element has been introduced: you need to be 'holding' the appropriate object in order to see its specific action-verbs. Some puzzles involving dropping an object in the vicinity of other people/objects seemed inconsistent with this 'holding' idea though, possibly they could be re-thought. The pacing is good: there are three separate cases to work on, simultaneously if you like, and a wrapper that raises the stakes and ties together all the cases. Two secrets that also allow for a hidden, optimal ending provide some replayability. If Draculand provided the proof of concept, Detectiveland is definitely the finished article. After gothic horror, greek mythology and now detective noir, it makes me wonder what other familiar milieux would be appropriate for this kind of lightly comic tone. Medieval times? Haunted mansions? Desert islands? I look forward to whatever Robin Johnson comes up with next.

Gamebook blogs

http://ift.tt/2egF1IC
via Planet Interactive Fiction http://planet-if.com/

October 19, 2016 at 06:08AM