IFDB has recently added the ability to enter “inspired by” data for games. In cases where there is solid evidence of a game’s inspiration, such as a public quote from the game’s author (online or in the >ABOUT information of a game, for example), we can now add that historical fact to the world’s best public repository of interactive fiction information.
If you’re the author of a game, then obviously you’re the best person to provide this information (should you choose to share it), so if you get a chance please update the pages for your games. It should be possible to enter multiple games if there were multiple inspirations.
If enough games get updated, it will be possible to build a kind of “family tree” of games that is sure to be of interest to those curious about the history of IF.
Note that (as I understand it), the intent is to track artistic inspiration (possibly including technical inspiration) with this field. There are already ways to note that Game X references Game Y, or is a port or remake, etc.
The system is not set up to track attribution of inspiration, but if you know of a relevant quote, please add it here. In the short term, it will be a way to confirm the validity of an “inspiration” note, and in the long term it might be possible to incorporate that information directly.
What were the inspirations for your own games? Are there other games about which you know something regarding their inspiration?
But it turns out someone had already added an “adaptation of” reference! (This happened years ago, of course, it’s not news.)
Is my game an adaptation of Wumpus, or a new game inspired by Wumpus? This is pretty subjective so I left my entry alone. But I think both kinds of links are relevant to the genealogy idea.
Some of my games are directly inspired by others, but one game, Absence of Law, was specifically designed to take the best puzzles from about 10-15 other games. They’re listed in-game. I’m not sure it’s useful to list all 10 such games, so I think I’ll skip those, but adding it when games are inspired by a 1-3 games seems like a good idea!
I’m not aware of how this is done, but I’d love to know! The Maze Gallery contains direct references to Galatea, but it would be inaccurate to say that the game as a whole was inspired by it. If there was a way to note that somewhere, that would be cool!
Ooooh! Bad Beer is partially inspired by @dee_cooke’s Morris, and I mention that in the ABOUT/AFTERWORD text. Going off to potentially update my IFDB entry now
Oh and as a long term genealogist - as well as academic historian - I love this new feature!
c’mon… because of the traditional “xyyzy joke” practically every parser IF references Adventure… aside that, pushing the envelope to the extreme limits, every parser IF can be considered inspired from Adventure…
The idea is excellent, esp. from an historiographical perspective but need a solid defining framework.
That’s a very good question, and the answer could be “both.”
The current feature does not provide any guidance about what the phrases involved are supposed to mean. The current set of options includes: adaptation of, translation of, spoof of, port of, sequel to, prequel to, remake of, makes reference to, and now inspired by.
The definitions that I would use are:
adaptation of: this work tries to faithfully translate the reader/player experience of another work into a new interaction format
inspired by: the author has publicly stated that part of the artistic and/or technical inspiration of this game was another work
translation of: this work tries to faithfully translate the experience of another work into a new language, without any other significant changes to it
spoof of: this work is a parody, satire, lampooning, etc. with a comedic and/or critical goal
port of: this work tries to faithfully translate the interface and reader/player experience of another work into a new technology base
sequel to: this work is set in the same narrative universe as and narratively subsequent to another work, was released after that other work, and is authorized by license or explict permission to use copyrighted elements of the prior work
prequel to: this work is set in the same narrative universe as and narratively precedes another work, was released after that other work, and is authorized by license or explict permission to use copyrighted elements of the prior work
remake of: this work is an attempt to recreate and/or expand the experience of another work, adding new interaction and/or story elements
makes reference to: this work makes an unambiguous and narratively-significant reference to one or more elements of another work
[EDIT: Some of the above clarified based on discussion below.]
A work could qualify for more than one phrase with respect to the same other work. I guess in general I would go for the most specific in cases where there is substantial overlap in meaning. To evaluate Hunter, in Darkness with respect to Hunt the Wumpus, I would say:
It is not an adaptation because it does not try to recreate the same reader/player experience (much more emphasis on narrative, different map, etc.)
It is inspired by because you just said so.
It is not a translation of because both works are in English.
It is not a spoof of because it does not seem to have a comedic and/or critical goal.
It is not a port of because the interface is radically different.
It is not sequel to because Hunt the Wumpus had no real narrative.
It is not prequel of for the same reason.
I don’t think I would count it as a remake of because I haven’t played either for a very long time and can’t remember enough details, but possibly one could argue this.
I’m pretty sure it makes reference but not certain because I can’t remember – is the Wumpus ever named in Hunter, in Darkness? If it’s not, then I would skip this because it’s not unambiguous.
@Piergiorgio_d_errico’s point re: >XYZZY is a good one. It is generally an unambiguous reference, but not significant with respect to gameplay.
I think these heuristics are generally helpful, but I’m not confident that it will be possible to reach consensus regarding “narratively-significant” features in a work, or if I’d want to.
Yeah, and I don’t really think there’s a serious danger of someone going around marking every work with a XYZZY response as “makes reference to Adventure” unless we firmly establish guidelines under which you shouldn’t, because unlike “inspired by”, the “makes reference to” connection has existed for years and we can see that people haven’t been using it that way.
>shoot prey
Tunk. And you flinch at the hissing shriek that echoes down the cave walls.
The dark shape retreats, scrambling away, as your thudding pulse slows.
Moments later, barely sensed, the scent of blood.
You have wounded the Wumpus.
Hooray! I added one. I verified that Nord and Bert’s page now directly says “Inspired Shuffling Around” as well.
Is there a place for backstory on IFDB? Or would that just be author’s notes? Because in this case my thinking was “what Infocom might’ve done with more than 140KB on the disk.”
The discussion about “did Adventure inspire everything because of XYZZY” is an interesting one as it can be argued I always sort of go back to Nord and Bert. (Also, I considered the snarky parser is a feature of H2G2. But H2G2 isn’t inspirational enough to add.)
Is there any way to see, as an author, what you’ve inspired/had translated, etc.?
This is a cool feature. I’ll often be inspired by games in a kind of sideways fashion. People wouldn’t necessarily be able to trace the connections. La Lagune de Montaigne inspired my first parser game, for instance. But now it’s linked!
I can’t take this down, but it’s worth noting to an admin of IFDB that The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy makes note of another sequel, but it says “Not found, by Unknown”, and when i go to it it only says:
Error: This game was not found in the database. If you reached this page through a link, you might want to notify the maintainer of the referencing site of the broken link.
Question: is Scroll Thief (and Balances et al) a “sequel to” Enchanter or “inspired by” it? Definitely “makes reference to” but the degree of connection feels more significant than that.
Another question: is Miss Gosling’s Last Case “inspired by” The Impossible Bottle because of the overall user interface (like the suggested command bar)? Bottle definitely inspired me in building that interface, but didn’t really inspire any of the puzzles, plot, or story.
