Re: [bookclub] John's Useless Objects

[John Baker <baker-j@ix.netcom.com>]

Mike Noel wrote:
> After it was all done I was curious about a few things.  First of all,
> what was the laundry chute good for? I tried throwing the bottle down
> the chute but the poison gas either collected in the basement or floated
> up and got me.  I can't remember which one it was.  I tried to throw
> some other things down the chute but everything seemed to get stuck.

One of the favorable reviews that the game got (long ago) complimented
JFW on being refreshingly absent of in-jokes.  So I with some
embarassment admit that the laundry chute was mainly there as an
in-joke.  When I first rented that apartment ('89 or '90 I think), I
kind of liked the fact that it had a laundry chute.  Approximately half
of everything I ever tried to throw down it got stuck.  That would lead
to me and my college roommate at the time (both him and his room were
edited out of the game) spending unreasonable amounts of time trying to
retrieve items of clothing that we _really_ wanted back but...  "You
have a feeling you will never see it again." :)  During one ill-fated
attempt to get items out, we became convinced that we needed something
heavy to drop down it.  We ended up sending down a 25 lb iron
weight-lifting plate, which promptly got stuck too.  Weeks later when we
were prodding UP the chute with a very long, sturdy board we dislodged
it and it nearly killed me.  (This technique is not accounted for in the
game, BTW)

Anyway, that's the story of the chute.

Some other meaningless (but fond for me) Fire Witch trivia:

When I was distributing early beta copies to some testers I had
recruited from the newsgroup, I was using the incoming directory of
ftp.gmd.de.  I was placing encrypted zip files with the .gam file inside
there.  Shortly thereafter I started getting bug reports from someone I
didn't know.  Paul David Doherty had seen the file ("b.zip"  I think it
was), downloaded it, and was curious enough to perform a dictionary
attack on it using pkcrack.

I personally am curious if after all these years anyone ever discovered
my extremely tiny and trivial Easter Eggs.  Some of the beta testers
will answer you if you say their names out loud (the phrase was of their
choosing).

I also know that there at least 3 people who know what "necken-sway"
means. :)  I won't give that one away though.  It's easy enough if you
look for it, but it doesn't have any bearing on the game.

I had an awesome time writing that game, and it was released at a time
when there wasn't a hell of a lot out there.  It really did cause a
small stir in the community during the first few months.  When it came
up as a bookclub suggestion, I knew that it would be much more
critically reviewed this time around, what with all the really quality
stuff that has been released over the last few years.  And it was. :) 

But that's fine with me.  I wrote it the way it was because that's the
type of game that I personally like to play.  I've always had a fondness
for Zorky/Scott Adamsy types of games, and if I ever get around to
writing the sequel, it'll be the same way.
-- 
John Baker
"Contemplate this on the Tree of Woe." - Thulsadoom