In reviewing the about section of curses, a game which I’ve played many times, came across the intriguing prospect that initially, the game was much larger than its current size, and some material was removed.
I’m just curious if anyone has any idea What additional scenes or elements were part of the original curses?
3 Likes
Where have you found this?
The impression I’ve got from the release notes included in various versions of the game file is one of expansion, not reduction.
2 Likes
I remember reading that the near-final Alexandria section was going to be much larger when a friend suggested restraint.
3 Likes
From Nelson’s reminiscences published in Nov 2019 by the Digital Antiquarian:
The art of the Modernist collage is to somehow provide some cement which will hold the whole thing together. In the case of Curses, that cement is provided by the continuity of the Meldrew family and of the house […] It loses coherence when it goes further afield, and this is why a final proposed addition, to do with the subway systems of various world cities all being joined up, was dropped. It didn’t feel like Curses any more. The weakest parts of Curses are the last parts added, and I suspect that the penultimate release is probably a better experience than the final one.
(Of course, the idea of a mega-subway-system has been done since, although I don’t know if it’s been done in IF.)
5 Likes