I think of this as the Myst ending. You win, Atrus says “feel free to keep wandering around.” But there’s nothing else to do[*].
You could see why they did the ending that way – the point of Myst was supposed to be running around these beautiful environments. But it wasn’t very popular and they went with “traditional” roll-credits-and-quit endings for the sequels.
[* Some releases added a bonus explorable Age to find, but the original Myst didn’t have that.]
I think the version I played cut to credits. I don’t remember this. With that said, this approach typically works with a dynamic multifaceted world that reacts and changes in response to the game being won. If things stay much as they were prior to winning, that deflates much of the point.
I sincerely appreciate you pointing this out to me. Going to go look for the OG version now.
ETA: Now I’m not sure… I played Myst a loooooonnnggg time ago and now I’m not sure if I’m mis-remembering a sequel as the original…
Was able to confirm. I played a half-remembered sequel when I was young. Have never played the original. Added to the list.
Funnily enough, I did exactly this in A Mouse Speaks to Death. When you reach the end of the game, there’s the option to “Remember Differently” and go back and relive your recollected life differently, but there are elements that don’t appear on a first playthrough, or even a second, a meta-level of memories that can only be unlocked if you do go back and remember different events about your life (or contradictory events in some cases).
I’m not clear how many players are doing that, though. Most people I’ve asked seem to be aware that there was a “larger than a single lifetime” element to be found, but they hadn’t actually found it, and I don’t know if that’s because they did replay and didn’t get it, or just didn’t replay in the first place.
I added a post-victory “endless mode” to Beyond the Chiron Gate, but that game is based on randomly generated environments and random events, so continuing after you win just means getting more random environments and events.
I’m trying to think of other games… I seem to recall that I completed Superluminal Vagrant Twin and it told me about things I hadn’t done in the game, but I don’t remember if it let me keep playing in order to do them.
I think general IF is not conducive to extended play: most games you’re following a linear plot and puzzle chain, and once you’ve solved that, there’s usually not a lot else to do in an IF environment unless you want to walk around examining the drapes mining for text you haven’t seen. It’s like when you finish a book - you might leaf back and re-read passages you really liked, but you’re basically done.
The games that remain compelling after finishing the main quest usually have an extra solid gameplay/crafting/building element that often isn’t present in many IF games (like if Minecraft had a plot), whether it’s fun combat, grinding for loot, or being able to extensively experiment with tools and physics. especially if the game unlocks all possibilities after winning. Or games that are open world with extensive exploration possible.
I could be wrong, and what I’ve discovered online is inconclusive, but I seem to remember that Twin Kingdom Valley fits this category.
Aside from the endgame of Warp you can continue playing in God mode after finally finishing and receiving a secret code. This enables you to visit every game location instantly and given the size of the game there will be many that you haven’t encountered.
Sadly for me there is no big bad wolf JJ.
secret code for the postgame… viable solution, save two cases: games with source code released, and keeping track of the actual finished state, esp. in games with multiple paths & solutions for major puzzles. The latter can be solved forming the secret code from the relevant variables & flags (akin to the “save password” of early 8-bit console games; this can also solve the former issue, at least from a casual source browsing, I guess, but knowing the circulation of “cheat save password” back in the day, I’m not exactly sure of the soundness of the idea (ahem… 'fessing up, back in the 8-bit days, I actually cracked a pair or so of (non-Infocom) C64 text adventures for “solving” hideous puzzles (and, honestly, I wonder about the initial scope of the reverse engineering of the Zcode, back in early '90s…)
Best regards from Italy,
dott. Piergiorgio.
It does let you keep playing, yes, though there is a way to end the game once you have all the achievements.
I disagree, because with source code available, there’s always a lot of opportunity to cheat, but that doesn’t make those games invalid. It’s just like a walkthrough: It requires just a little self discipline to enjoy the game instead of looking up the solution.
Could host the game. 
Drop the game file and source after a year.
On self-discipline, perhaps I’m the lone pre-7 Inform developer whose still NOT have looked at Christminster source, because, well, I still haven’t seriously tackled the binary, less so enjoyed (and solved) it, but it’s unquestionably a limit case (nutcase ?)…
OTOH, I admit that I don’t have solved Diabolical, but after roughly 40% of the story, I correctly understand that the source is more than worth the accompanying spoiler(s)… included the lone source with a substantial post-game mechanism & content.
So, I can agree with you, player-side, but I disagree developer-side (and I strongly suspect that in our lil’ community many people are eager to look to my sources…
Pink, you should understand that I’m an “OS extremist”, so source together from day 1… even at a price (more on this elsewhere later ?)
Best regards from Italy,
dott. Piergiorgio.
In theory, I agree with you, dott. Piergiorgio. In practice, I’m not going to succeed in convincing many people to release their source at all, let alone Day 1, so I feel like hassling the folks who’ve already agreed to release their source and game files after a set amount of time is potentially counter-productive. Besides, as Veeder pointed out some time ago:
Preserving that mystery for just a little while seems like a reasonable desire. Indeed, the 2011 Hat Mystery wasn’t released with a walkthrough.
If I recall correctly, Quarterstaff: The Tomb of Setmoth allowed you keep playing the game after you beat it. Although if you got that far you probably already saw most of what there was to see.
A game that really does continue the narrative after the apparent arrival at journey’s end is the monumental opus Ferret. On finally achieving the end of Phase 15 a revisit of your journey is required to end your Pilgrim’s Progress disquiet.
It has an ending (that will end the game), but as long as you don’t do the final thing, you can keep on playing with a full score.
While it doesn’t match the letter of this request, Cragne Manor matches the spirit of it. Near the end of the game (but not at the very end), you can obtain a walkie-talkie (I think, or a radio) that lets you hear author commentary in every room of the game). So it gives you a nice new way to experience a world that you’ve mostly complete already.
interesting idea for implementing the favourite “post-movie”, the director’s commentary, in an IF, provided that the post-game item enabling it is consistent with the setting (e.g. a magical ring in a fantasy setting)
Best regards from Italy,
dott. Piergiorgio.
“Beating the game” is a bit tricky to define. But I think (sort of) I have two games that could fall into this category. Strictly speaking, for an Inform 7 game, I consider anything with “continue with stuff to do” that falls outside UNDOing to be part of this.
Threediopolis allows you to search for random odd scenery after finding what Ed Dunn wants. It’s meant to be trickier than the main game, and in fact it’s much bigger. There’s no big reward or plot for solving it. It’s just there for those who enjoy the abstract challenge. But you could also argue it’s an extension of the puzzle, and “truly winning” means finding all the scenery.
A Roiling Original works similarly. After you defeat the big bad enemy in store T, you’re allowed to continue and open up Store H, which has a bunch of denouement puzzles that give a new “you win” ending.
So the question is, when do you officially beat the game? Store T, or Store H? It feels like Store T to me, since Store H was not in the original release. But a case could be made both ways. At any rate, you’re still locked out of finding bonus points you missed.
And after you defeat Store H, a new area (Demo Dome) opens up full of author commentary and reflections. But it’s not really playing, as you don’t have any puzzles to solve!
This is difficult to separate from “here’s a meta-command to see a side area once you restart.” Though I really do enjoy having that additional content.