Next Steps for The Z-Machine Matter
08/06/2011
Considering the various reviews and Introcomp feedback on my game The Z-Machine Matter, there's no doubt a lot of work ahead of me. I feel like I signed up for a 10k race and somehow ended up in a Marathon. Maybe an Ultra Marathon. Here's my own assessment of The Z-Machine Matter in its current state:
- As a prototype or proof of concept, it's not bad for those who like old-school mysteries
- The PDF manual, plot and characters pay hommage to classic Infocom mystery games
- There's a hint of a multi-layered plot around a murder mystery with cold war intrigue
- There's some decent use of Inform Extensions, built-in hints and standard commands to suggest the game may one day have reasonably good fit & finish
But...
- Not everyone is impressed by having an homage to Infocom
- The game needs to be more engaging --IF references alone don't make it interesting
- Where there are IF references they need to be more clever
- Some of the IF references may be too much of a distraction
- As a prototype, the code is a bit of a hack -- some things don't work as expected
- There's a lot of hard-coded logic that need to be made more general
- There's a combinatorial explosion of objects, some of which serve no purpose yet
- There's a need to pace how much information, topics, objects are put in front of the player in order to have more controlled pacing and more digestible information
- The writing, especially room descriptions, needs to better convey an atmosphere of mystery
- The dialog needs work to be more authentic, less stilted
- The NPCs need work to be more observant of what's happening around them
- NPC reactions need to be based on what's been revealed and what's still a secret
- The NPCs need to help guide the story rather than just respond to questions
- There's too much stuff lying around in closets and desk drawers
- There are pacing issues that need to be adjusted
- There are still occasional ambiguity problems
- Commands like ANALYZE, ACCUSE, ARREST still need to be implemented
- The logic behind motives, alibis and suspects needs to be completed
- The paceholder end of Act II needs to be more dramatic and robust
- I need to decide whether additional locations and characters are required or whether I can limit the scope of the story to what's currently in place
The last point is perhaps the most important. My original story outline includes The Brass Lantern, a roadhouse not far from the Blakely Estate and a barkeep named Nelson Graham. I'm not so concerned with the additional effort of writing that section, but figuring out how to keep the pacing tight could be a challenge. And in the meantime, I think I need to focus on tightening up Act II before jumping into Act III.
No doubt there's a lot of work ahead. With a more-than-fulltime job, it's gonna be a challenge. But if I can break it down into smaller steps, perhaps I can just take it 1 mile at a time. Meanwhile, feedback, suggestions, input and SCRIPT transcripts are always welcome!
I used the IntroComp time period as a way to take a break from the source code other than fixing very minor errors, typos, etc. So now I'm ready to dive back in.
More Z-Machine Matter... you can do it!
Posted by: Duncan | 08/06/2011 at 06:52 PM
good to hear you're back on track!
Posted by: Agent Kong | 08/07/2011 at 05:22 AM
hey, can u email me please? i wanna bounce some ideas off ya. thanks!
-cory
Posted by: ezfreemann | 08/07/2011 at 07:20 AM
thanks for the encouragement guys. I'm not sure I'm actually back on track just yet, but I will be soon.
--Z
Posted by: ZUrlocker | 08/09/2011 at 05:42 PM