Re: Announcing: Fyleet, Crobe, Sangraal

[Andrew Plotkin <erkyrath@netcom.com>]

Adam Atkinson <ghira@mistral.co.uk> wrote:
> On 28-Aug-99 01:05:03, Andrew Plotkin said:
> 
>>But it's uncomfortable to be faced with a Crobe-master who says "You can
>>give things to me", and know that "give object to crobe" isn't the right
>>answer. I have to think about what to type, which isn't ideal. It's not
>>just a matter of ignoring all the four-word commands.
> 
> In the particular case of the Warden of Crobe, I think he tells you
> the syntax the first time you meet him. "give wombat" is no big
> surprise. Who else are you going to be giving it to? Not a problem.

I think you're missing my point, which is that it *is* a problem. A pretty
small problem, yes. I can memorize new syntaxes for standard commands. (I
use the word "new" deliberately.) But it's getting in the way of me
playing.

I don't want to hammer on this a whole lot, because the games are built
the way they're built and I don't expect them to be changed. But you're
asserting that it's a non-issue because no complex commands are needed to
solve the game; and as a UI designer I must point out that it *doesn't
work that way.*

>>I realize that this is an exercise in historical restoration, not a new
>>game project. Nonetheless, I'm not tremendously motivated to get into
>>these games.
> 
> One issue-ette is that permission was conditional on making only
> unavoidable changes.

Yes, that's another reason the problem exists.

--Z

"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the
borogoves..."