Aid for Bored Gamers aka the "if you liked that then try this" thread - The Bear and Badger

davyK

OK.

Credit to @elmlea for posting eloquently and with no little effort in the "Bored" thread.

Bored with gaming? Post a game here that thrilled you and hopefully a kind soul will post back with details of a modern equivalent to reenergise your enthusiasm.

I'll start with one even though I'm not particularly bored at present:

Game : F-Zero X
Why? : Balls to the wall arcade racing. Speed. A big aggressive pack to thread through . Pick up and play handling with control subtleties to be learned. A goodly selection of quality tracks (with algo-generated ones once you win everything) and an Excellent TT mode with staff ghosts. (btw F-Zero GX is great but too hard for its own good).

Lord_Griff

Game : Link: Deja Vu
Why? : Classic gaming, evoking memories of Groundhog day among others. Keeps you entertained for hours.

Eric

Never heard of that one Griff, good Crosby Stills and Nash album though.

Game: F- Zero x
Modern Day Gaming equivalent: Need For Speed Hot Pursuit
Why? Balls to the wall arcade racing. Speedy, pick up and play handling with handbrake/nitro subtleties to be learned. Excellent photo mode and brilliant Autolog features allowing you to chase friends times down.

(EDIT: More obvious choice Wipeout HD/Fury Great Game!)

No split screen mode though

WorKid

Would be delighted if anyone could recommend some good modern text adventures. They were definitely my thing (way) back in the day.

WorKid

Also much lols at Griff. Well played.

Elmlea

I have stealth edited my first line to avoid embarrassment

That reminds me of Floor 13, which used to be one of my go-to old DOS games to play when I needed a bit of a gaming pick-me-up. I loved things like that and the old Microprose game Covert Action, where the systems running in the background deciding what went on seemed so complex, so over the top, but you still felt that your actions were influencing them in some way.

Floor 13 especially is indicative of those rock-hard "have a notepad and pen to hand" style of games where they weren't afraid to kill you off very rapidly. Can't find a way to play either of them on OS X though.

hylian_elf

This reminds me of what I wanted a website I dreamed up to do.

Elmlea

WorKid wrote:

Would be delighted if anyone could recommend some good modern text adventures. They were definitely my thing (way) back in the day.

They're called "interactive fiction" now and there's billions of them available if you have one of the z-code interpreters (which are all free... can't remember for the life of me the one I used to use). A lot of the old Infocom games are abandonware apparently, I'm sure I managed to get a free copy of I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream and The Lurking Horror.

For modern ones though, there are some running on that HTML-based system, Twine, which are worth looking at. People are doing some quite esoteric things as shown here.

In terms of more traditional z-code IF, download an interpreter and play Photopia as an entry point. There are literally millions, all free, all about 5kb, and all worth a shot.

Moot_Geeza

Is there anything like General Chaos on XBLA/PSN (or retail/indie games on last gen consoles), for same room 4-player multiplayer?

Nothing too in depth, as it would likely only get played once or twice with alcohol.

davyK

Lord_Griff wrote:

Game : Link: Deja Vu Why? : Classic gaming, evoking memories of Groundhog day among others. Keeps you entertained for hours.

ahem...

Moot_Geeza

Davy's gif reminds me of the last forum.

Edit: Now that it's visible it doesn't.

beano

Elmlea wrote:

WorKid wrote:

Would be delighted if anyone could recommend some good modern text adventures. They were definitely my thing (way) back in the day.

They're called "interactive fiction" now and there's billions of them available if you have one of the z-code interpreters (which are all free... can't remember for the life of me the one I used to use). A lot of the old Infocom games are abandonware apparently, I'm sure I managed to get a free copy of I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream and The Lurking Horror. For modern ones though, there are some running on that HTML-based system, Twine, which are worth looking at. People are doing some quite esoteric things as shown here. In terms of more traditional z-code IF, download an interpreter and play Photopia as an entry point. There are literally millions, all free, all about 5kb, and all worth a shot.

That HTML based text adventure render (twine), is the shit- and that text game about love that escapes me is great- despite not being as reactive to hovers as others. Which aren't worth as much IMHO.

Brooks

I can't remember if there are Twine things that are actually games rather than just hypertext-buffed short fiction and/or poetry exercises.

Porpentine's a fine human being though. All those game theory transfolk are, there's been this slightly amusing correlation recently between producing the sharpest current game analysis blogwrite and being an MtF, I assume because they all hang around together in the Bay Area. Am subbed to all their twitters.

davyK

First time I held a Kindle I was convinced it would be an excellent platform for text adventures. I still am - to point where I requested to be on the beta dev kit list to see if I could cobble something together.

Got my "acknowledgement / we are over subscribed" email and have heard nothing since - must be well over a year ago now.

Elmlea

Bean, are you thinking about Cara Ellison's Twine game, Sacrilege? It's a bit naughty but is ostensibly about love.

AJ

davyK wrote:

First time I held a Kindle I was convinced it would be an excellent platform for text adventures. I still am - to point where I requested to be on the beta dev kit list to see if I could cobble something together. Got my "acknowledgement / we are over subscribed" email and have heard nothing since - must be well over a year ago now.

Frotz was ported ages ago, if you don't mind hacking your Kindle.

beano

Pretty sure it wasn't, Elm. Going back before the circle jerk long started, perhaps. Not to say her's is bad but I haven't played one called sacrilege.

Brooks- the last twine I played had something to do about being a perfect host, so many points of failure, inventory to collect- hardcore adventure novel perhaps. Must've been full of duplication to contain all of the variants. This was not one from Porentine IIRC.

Generally, transmedia gaming, gamification, city hunter PMs have always gelled well in the Bay together or not. Curiously, west coast has a lot to answer for.

Elmlea

Typing on a Kindle's a nightmare though, isn't it? Bean, if you remember the Twine game about being a perfect host I'd love to give that a shot.

AJ

It's not too bad on the original Kindle, with it's full qwerty keyboard an' all. I assumed that was the one Davy's got, when he said it looked excellent for text adventures.

Elmlea

I used to have one of them (well, a second or third gen one, the last one with the keyboard) and I doubt I could be bothered to type more than a Tweet on it.... interesting idea though.

AJ

Good thing for abbreviated commands, then.

beano

Doubt I'll remember Elm, although thinking about it it was deffo covered by giant bomb, or rps, or someone, or the guardian. Heck it might've been or twitter. Actually thinking about it doesn't help. It was definetly about being a host, might've been a house party, or a dinner party, almost definitely.

Soz abar that.

If it can't be found (I can't find it), I'll recreate it g'damn it.

Elmlea

No worries chum, I'll go hunting.

mk64

WorKid wrote:

Would be delighted if anyone could recommend some good modern text adventures. They were definitely my thing (way) back in the day.

Not quite the same but you should check out The Walking Dead (video game) as its pretty damn good and is pretty much a point and click where you can choose your path. Its got some button bashing but its a very simple/effect game. I'm on chapter 2. Chapter 1 is free on ipad if you want a taster.

Elmlea

Good call, TWD is an evolution of the Monkey Island line really, after Curse/Escape From became less about clicking on words.

davyK

AJ wrote:

It's not too bad on the original Kindle, with it's full qwerty keyboard an' all. I assumed that was the one Davy's got, when he said it looked excellent for text adventures.

Correct - I have the international edition of Kindle 2. Lovely thing - I prefer it to the touch screen version. I got paperwhites for the kids - the soft keyboard seems OK on that - would be doable - especially with a smart interface using abbreviations and maybe a virtual dpad for NSEW movement etc. (Kindle 2 has a dinky little dpad which is perfect for it).

Kindle 2 on the right - note the little 4 way joystick which can also be pressed down for selection.

Roujin

Moot_Geeza wrote:

Is there anything like General Chaos on XBLA/PSN (or retail/indie games on last gen consoles), for same room 4-player multiplayer? Nothing too in depth, as it would likely only get played once or twice with alcohol.

CASTLE CRASHERS.

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