If I saw something marked as a sequel to something else, I would probably assume (unless I were told otherwise) that it was an official sequel–either written by the same person as the original, or done with the original author’s approval.
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I agree with bg and have updated my definitions above accordingly.
I will say, however, that my instinct is to give latitude to the actual author of a game on these choices.
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Since only the author knows their inspirations, I feel you should be free to take things wherever you wish. When I first hear “inspiration,” I imagine content rather than mechanics or interfaces, but I think that’s just my humanities background talking. If you feel inspired by a UI, then that’s yours to say, or not.
Regarding sequels, there is a “fan fiction” tag. I enjoy fan fiction personally and will give my Zork WIP that designation. In the end, though, “Sequel” seems something an author would assert and critics would evaluate. This seems different from something that is purely a matter of interpretation/reception like “significance.”
I guess this is a lot of words to say that I think some things should be what you say they are!
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What would we do with something like Unnkuulia X? It is inspired by Unnkuulia but not (I think) in the proper canon. It’s clearly a bit more than “inspired by,” too.
Well, my rule of thumb is that the author has the only say regarding inspiration – that’s why I’d recommend finding a quote. Is there one in the >ABOUT output or game byline or somewhere else online?
It certainly sounds like it qualifies for “makes reference to” at a minimum. I don’t know enough about the games to say about other relationships.
I still feel that “inspired by” is something an author would attest to. In addition to “fan fiction,” I just noticed an “homage” tag which might be applicable.
edit: yes, as OtD says
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I’ve been tinkering with game references (check out the Pick up the Phone Booth and Aisle page)
I’d also like to ask whether games with a special “xyzzy” response should be counted as references to Adventure - which is technically the case - or if we should just make an “xyzzy” tag. David Welbourn has quite the exhaustive list of games which respond to “>XYZZY”.
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Given how ubiquitous it is, I would say that Scroll Thief references Adventure (there’s a whole section of Adventure’s geography accessed through a magic mirror), but Death on the Stormrider doesn’t (it has a response to “xyzzy” and “plugh”).
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I’m sure there are people who recognize XYZZY without ever having played Adventure. Quite a few, I suspect, given the awards. It may have taken on a life of its own.
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One of those people would be me. I knew about XYZZY for about a decade before I learned that it was from Adventure and what specifically it did in Adventure.
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If someone makes a tag for this, it might make sense for it to say “xyzzy response” or something that would avoid ambiguity with the xyzzy awards.
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I’ve made an “XYZZY response” tag. tag away!
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This list might be helpful:
http://www.plover.net/~davidw/responses/xyzzy.html
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I’m going through it now!
e: I’m continuing the bang away at the list, and many others have added tags, too. Currently 350 tagged games!
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“Xyzzy response” is now one of the top 50 tags on IFDB!
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I have to admit, I don’t know of any of my parser works WITHOUT an xyzzy response. It’d take a while to go back and look, though. Would be kind of fun.
I only have one game implementing XYZZY, and I made it so it wrecks the game. In practice, it made people have to restart the game on Clubfloyd pretty quickly because they wrecked their game pretty quickly (AllThingsJacq.com - Interactive Fiction | NightFloyd - January 9, 2013 - Ghosterington Night by Wade Clarke)
-Wade
That list does not appear to be updated for a while (last year mentioned is 2020). My own IFComp entry is tagged with “xyzzy” response (and so are many others), can we ping davidw to update the list? My “xyzzy” command enables undo right at the start of the game so players can skip the visit to the sage.
>undo
You have just embarked upon your adventure.
>xyzzy
You feel your eardrums pop as the pressure in the throne room
changes. Across the mists of time, these words come to you:
"The veil of causality has been torn. Now go and fulfill your destiny!"
>undo
The air becomes charged with energy, and a dark mist envelops
the area where the outline lingers. Gradually, the demon fully
reforms from the bloodstain, its dark form standing once again in
the throne room. Your sword emerges whole from the demon's body.
Lydia emerges from the demon's gaping maw, her body covered
in a dark slime. Her dress is stained and tattered,
but she is alive and seemingly unharmed.
Lydia scrambles to her feet, and as she makes her escape from
the throne room, the dark slime disappears from her body, and
her dress repairs and cleans itself.
>
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I did get through David’s list, and added every game there. But many, many others have have added games besides! It was fun to watch the number climb as I worked.
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