FYI, Wierd Al gets Mechanical Licenses for all the songs he uses, from the copyright holder.
4 Likes
I sit corrected. Touché.
I think Weird Al needs to get permission since he’s using the same music as another song. He is technically doing a cover and selling it, and that’s why. The push and pull on “sampling” songs is pretty involved itself. The safety line for music is seven notes/intervals in a row before a melody can be considered copied. In the musical Wicked, Stephen Schwartz deliberately hid seven notes of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” with a completely different rhythm in the Wicked Witch’s “Unlimited” leitmotif.
Mad Magazine was in the full-on parody business, and that’s why they always change the titles and character names to things like “Lube Skystalker” in Star Roars.
2 Likes
Not exactly. It’s more like it uses a different kind of interface to create a command to the game that, as a piece of data, is the same “shape” as a simple parser command – a verb and (usually) a noun. But as Dan says, it doesn’t actually get there by parsing text.
It also implements a world model – interconnected rooms, portable and non-portable objects, inventory, etc. – that is so heavily associated with parser games that they’ve become near synonymous.
For the most part, I think that world model is what supports the game design paradigm that we’ve come to think of as parser games, and it’s what people who like parser games actually like about them. All I did was take out the actual parser, which is, for the most part, what people who don’t like parser games actually don’t like about them.
And since parser game authors – with the exception of a few numpties like me – generally start with an out-of-the-box parser, it means that the process of designing a game in gruescript is pretty much the same as designing a parser game.
So I’m really pleased to see Gruescript explicitly allowed in ParserComp. In terms of what sort of games people can expect to make, or play, it’s probably less of a departure than what people like Arthur diBianca are making – games that do parse text, but have an underlying structure that’s unlike anything you’ve seen in a parser game before. And I’m really looking forward to those. Variety is awesome, and it’s refreshing to see that even ‘restricting’ a competition to parser(ish) games still encourages new forms.
8 Likes
That’s good enough for us. I do hope we get some Gruescript games in the comp now we’ve discussed this point.
3 Likes
I appreciate that ParserComp organizers are trying to emphasize the underlying spirit of the parser experience, but at the risk of infuriating everyone and inciting a mass riot, if the world model, inventory, puzzles, object to action gameloop, etc are what renders Gruescript viable for entry, what about a game like Lux by Agnieszka Trzaska? You wander a large map, collect items, solve puzzles by using items, explore the possibility space through actions, etc. The only problem is ehm, well, you know, it’s uh, how do I say this, Twine…
2 Likes
Infuriation and riots are prohibited under rule 999.
You know what? Let’s just see what happens. I think most people understand what we mean by parser game and the rules are clear as can be. I propose not to worry about this too much.
5 Likes
How the monsters appeared in the Wasteland by V Dobranov also has good world model etc, that I keep wishing that it’s a Parser game, as opposed to Choice.
Speaking of which, does Twine have Array, and whether or not the Links/Text can be hidden, depending upon the value of the elements of such array?
I’m thinking like
Print "you're carrying "
If (carry[lamp]) print "lamp"
If (carry[coin]) print "coin"
Except it’s Twine/HTML. The same with Choice/Links.
Also, whether or not the text on the page can be dynamically updated, depending on the links clicked, as opposed to having to always create a new window/page? I think that you can add text to the page, at least?
1 Like
Rereading this thread, I feel almost inclined to write a Wittgensteinian game about language-games. Strict definitions <-> common usage of words, interpretation dependent on context.
I did say almost… I would have to think hard how to extract a game experience from these themes.
2 Likes
Please do, and we’ll create a special voting category for you.
2 Likes
Anóther category!? By God, haven’t we subdivided the place up enough?
Oh alright then, but make sure it has really vague boundaries.
-mumbles- Note to self, mustn’t speak of Him… -/mumbles-
2 Likes
My opinion:
Choice option: hyperlinks.
Parser options: Introducing text (there are some few exceptions)
Let me know if you don’t like my opinion, I have some others… 
2 Likes
I don’t think I will have an entry for ParserComp, and if I don’t, I’d very much like to review it. I signed up just in case an idea hits me, but I doubt it. I appreciated seeing all the reviews and votes last year, and I hope I can contribute that way this time around, whether or not I entered.
Either way, it was not only fun to play and judge all the other entries, but it also led to an unexpected IFComp entry I’m very pleased with.
I’m glad @Adam_S started it last year, and it seems in very good hands this year. I’m really heartened to see so much dialogue in the announcement thread.
So I’m looking forward to whatever happens. And thanks for having the rules laid out so clearly so early!
8 Likes
64 individuals have now joined ParserComp! Amazing!
Isn’t that some kind of significant number in the computing world?
9 Likes
You’re in good company.
12 Likes
It is a lot of stuff.
Thanks for the info.
1 Like
Yes, but it’s no longer significant, as the Text Adventure Literacy Jam now has 65 joined and ParserComp now has 66 joined, and ParserComp hasn’t even started yet.
Who said text adventures (or parser-based interactive fiction) is dead?
7 Likes
Wow! I see 77 entries for ParserComp at this moment. That’s incredible.
6 Likes
Congratulations, that seems to be a lot of stuff here.
3 Likes