Another day dawns on Keyboard Stadium, and I find it abuzz with activity while I slumbered! I suspect this dynamic will be a constant feature for me, which I will blame on the globe-spanning geography of this field of battle, enslaved to the relentless rotation of the Earth, and NOT my lackadaisical biorhythms. Does anyone else hear a portentous gong alongside each of the Chairman’s countdown posts?
I am impressed by the composure of our Competitors - going about their work with little (visible) sense of stress or pressure. The Iron ChIF announced himself with little fanfare and immediately launched into an explication of the early preparations for his dish. The Challenger concurrently displayed his table setting for the world to sample.
Their respective focus is fascinating: our Challenger jumping straight to PC magic; our Iron ChIF meticulously crafting hidden machinery on which to lay out his dish’s geography. Both engaging directly with the most technically challenging aspect of the Secret Ingredient - their worlds’ magical malleability!
And then there is our Middlebrow Horseman whose impulses echo my own:
TO DIVE INTO ALL THIS EXPOSED CULINARY CRAFT, AND SAVOR IT LINE BY LINE.
I find myself drawn like a moth to the flame of Inform’s novel syntax and constructions, contrasting it to more familiar programming paradigms and watching the code bloom like a sunflower before my eyes. I am simultaneously wishing to slow time to digest all this code, and aching for time to accelerate to provide more of it!
Regarding the teasing glimpses these provide of the final dishes, our War Rider’s observation on the Iron ChIF’s dish rings true:
This immediately jumped to my mind as well! As to our Hungry Horseman’s casual questions, this one in particular created some mild vertigo for me:
Would he dare DEMAND Inform fluency just to solve puzzles in the game?? Fold the technical explorations of the next four days into the dish’s player experience itself??? I don’t think this is actually what my fellow judge meant (nor, after saner thoughts prevailed, where I suspect the Iron ChIF is actually going), but for a mad moment the ground fell out beneath me considering the possibilities.
To regain my footing, let me just warn you all. At some point the impulse to contrast Inform and TADS will overpower the HEROIC resistance I am so far mustering. I don’t know when my mental dams will collapse under the pressure. Please have your eyes on nearby high ground, for your own safety.