On Monday, 6 September 1999 at 08:00:00 UTC+1, J R Partington wrote:

In article <37D3E2...@cs.york.ac.uk> Iain Merrick <i...@cs.york.ac.uk> writes:

Fyleet, Crobe and Sangraal remind me of some of the early Acornsoft
games, which were my first experience of 'IF' -- like Castle of Riddles
and Sphinx Adventure. I didn't really get into IF much at that point
simply because those games were so amateurish and badly-implemented. I
had no idea that at around the same time, Infocom were producing much >better games with much better parsers; I just wish I'd had the chance to >play them back then. Many years later I played Curses, and it blew me
away.

I don't think it's just a case of games being 'good for their time'.
Some games are Just Not Very Good. Many of the Infocom games are flawed
by modern standards, but they're still good games. Sphinx Adventure
isn't. And -- in my opinion, at least -- the Phoenix games aren't very
good either.

Ouch! Well, that's put us in our place, hasn't it.
I think we just have to accept that some people like the simple syntax
and the emphasis on puzzles, whereas others don't. I think if they
were being written now, rather than 12-15 years ago, we'd have gone
for a better parser---like the Topologika one, say---and provided
'undo' (for people who are not in the habit of saving games
regularly). Not much else.
JRP
---
In "Countdown to the Egyptian Goddesses of Fyleet," you escape the
cleaning lady by looking into the palantir but don't forget to burn
the amulet.

May I take this opportunity Jonathan to thank you for the endless hours of fun and enjoyable frustration your games have given me down the years. As someone with 26 operations under (and above) his belt including multiple bilateral retinal detachments
your sense of fun and erudite bedevilment has seen me through many a dark day. Days when a Lewis Carroll puzzle from yourself saved me from the Valium bottle. You probably never set out in 1978 to provide a valuable social service to troubled minds but
I shall always be grateful to you and Mr. Kilworth God bless his soul and your colleagues for being there for me albeit vicariously. I still love the games and replay them often. Who knows maybe one day I will solve the Pirate Island in Acheton.
Cheers for all the years. To paraphrase Errol Flynn to Olivia de Havilland in "They Died With Their Boots On" wandering through life with you Sir has been a pleasure.

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On Wednesday, 9 June 2021 at 20:55:15 UTC+1, Roger Durrant wrote:

On Monday, 6 September 1999 at 08:00:00 UTC+1, J R Partington wrote:

In article <37D3E2...@cs.york.ac.uk> Iain Merrick <i...@cs.york.ac.uk> writes:

Fyleet, Crobe and Sangraal remind me of some of the early Acornsoft >games, which were my first experience of 'IF' -- like Castle of Riddles >and Sphinx Adventure. I didn't really get into IF much at that point >simply because those games were so amateurish and badly-implemented. I >had no idea that at around the same time, Infocom were producing much >better games with much better parsers; I just wish I'd had the chance to >play them back then. Many years later I played Curses, and it blew me >away.

I don't think it's just a case of games being 'good for their time'. >Some games are Just Not Very Good. Many of the Infocom games are flawed >by modern standards, but they're still good games. Sphinx Adventure >isn't. And -- in my opinion, at least -- the Phoenix games aren't very >good either.

Ouch! Well, that's put us in our place, hasn't it.
I think we just have to accept that some people like the simple syntax
and the emphasis on puzzles, whereas others don't. I think if they
were being written now, rather than 12-15 years ago, we'd have gone
for a better parser---like the Topologika one, say---and provided
'undo' (for people who are not in the habit of saving games
regularly). Not much else.
JRP
---
In "Countdown to the Egyptian Goddesses of Fyleet," you escape the cleaning lady by looking into the palantir but don't forget to burn
the amulet.

May I take this opportunity Jonathan to thank you for the endless hours of fun and enjoyable frustration your games have given me down the years. As someone with 26 operations under (and above) his belt including multiple bilateral retinal detachments

your sense of fun and erudite bedevilment has seen me through many a dark day. Days when a Lewis Carroll puzzle from yourself saved me from the Valium bottle. You probably never set out in 1978 to provide a valuable social service to troubled minds but I
shall always be grateful to you and Mr. Kilworth God bless his soul and your colleagues for being there for me albeit vicariously. I still love the games and replay them often. Who knows maybe one day I will solve the Pirate Island in Acheton. Cheers for
all the years. To paraphrase Errol Flynn to Olivia de Havilland in "They Died With Their Boots On" wandering through life with you Sir has been a pleasure.
JRP

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To: Roger Durrant

Roger Durrant wrote to rec.games.int-fiction <=-

From Newsgroup: rec.games.int-fiction
On Monday, 6 September 1999 at 08:00:00 UTC+1, J R Partington wrote:

Oh my god, somebody is actually replying to 1999 discussion... I love it!

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