I thought it was six. Hmmm. But it’s a really good game which I derived a lot of satisfaction from making a Google docs file and just building up the commands as you go. But - don’t look at the walkthrough. That ruins EVERYTHING. Look at the original invisiclues, since those are better. And plus, I actually found the game easier in ADVANCED mode. Otherwise, it’s worth the days you spend on it.
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Anyway, my projects? Well, right now I’m working on a very odd game that relies too much on timed text (you can press enter, and just treat it as PRESS ANY KEY, but there’s a lot of it …) and I think will be very hard for players to get into it, seeing how far you’re pushed out of it. Also, there are so many more levels to the game mechanics than normal in so many different ways (already two of the most complex non-conformative (as in, not directly interactive) NPCs you’ll ever see, and I’m not even stretching the truth), so yeah, not for this year’s IFComp, unless i speedrun it in ways unimaginable. So, next year, or the year after.
The plot, you ask? Well, in simple terms: you are not the player. You are not playing this game.
Already, the game’s very core mechanic (which is just one tiny baby mechanic in comparison) has been done, which involves literally rewriting all of the parser code to have two parsers working simultaneously.
So, in short, the game is going to be horrendously hard to program. It will not be a good game. I’m sort of fine with that, actually…
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Sometimes the game is ancillary to the mechanism. You just have this itchy bug of an idea that won’t go away until you do it, even if it’s not going to be very good. That’s the nice thing about this being an unpaid gig.
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You are right:
- Iris - The only robot with visual sensors, Iris can provide visual descriptions of locations and objects. As the game begins, however, Iris has suffered a burnt-out microchip and cannot see. Iris is confined to the area surrounding the Central Chamber.
- Whiz - The most technical robot, Whiz is used mainly for interfacing with a central library computer for historical and technical information.
- Waldo - The most capable physical manipulator, with several limbs for grasping and holding objects, Waldo perceives the world using sonar. (The term “Waldo” was originally coined by Robert A. Heinlein to describe teleoperated robots.)
- Auda - Auda is equipped with sensitive audio receptors and can provide information on sounds and vibrations.
- Poet - A diagnostic robot, Poet can sense the flow of electricity; he tends to communicate in somewhat cryptic language.
- Sensa - Sensa is specialized for the detection of magnetic and photon emissions.
I misremembered that the robots were the five senses, they’re more specific than that! But that’s the pitch - the robots interact and sense the world around you.
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Yep, Whiz is basically the hint system, and Sensa is…well, it’s not entirely clear what Sensa is supposed to do, seeing as “photon emissions” doesn’t mean light and color! There’s a “flowswitch”(???) in the game that only Sensa can operate, but beyond that…nothing really special.
The two of them are sort of the “default” robots that can handle any task that doesn’t need one of the others. Which also means, they’re the ones you sacrifice to the acid room, so that you don’t lose any special abilities.
…and back on the topic of this thread, long ago I had a Suspended-esque WIP where you have to maneuver robots around to solve problems. But it never went anywhere. I should see if it had any especially cool puzzles in it.
Right now all my IF attention is going to finishing Loose Ends for Spring Thing, but I’m finding myself loving Ink. I may end up porting some of my other ideas to it for IFComp…
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Writing the first sequel to the ChoiceScript game I published in 2017. First chapter is playable for free here:
The game as a whole is getting pretty close to the halfway mark, I think. 
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My latest project is called Elian’s Quest. It’s a retro adventure, with a choose-your-own-adventure style, designed for ZX Spectrum computers. Currently, I’m experimenting with Jari Komppa’s MuCho engine to include graphics in this type of adventure. I’ll share some screenshots with you.
I’m sharing development details on X/Twitter: @DaReInt. Feel free to check it out!
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That looks awesome. I love the pictures!
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The pictures and font are great!
I also like this sentence:
“A sailor shares stories with the owner as he drinks, while another, absorbed, meditates in front of his drink at a secluded table.”
Good moodsetting.
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I failed at EctoComp by actually starting about four hours before the end, trying to force a Petit Mort, but what I’d thought was a simple spooky maze was of course much more complex than I’d predicted, so we’ll see ghost pipes (sic) sometime this year in some other event.
My Spring Thing project is undergoing some revamping to make it a whole lot shorter; it has a Groundhog Day kind of theme where you’re reliving the same week over and over, but you can change what happens in the week by eating your co-workers and trying not to talk with your mouth full. They’re like potato chips, though, once you start you can’t eat just one!
For the next IFComp, please look forward to my attempt to translate the gameplay of Sonic the Hedgehog into Twine. (Keeping in mind I don’t actually like Sonic the Hedgehog very much.) It’s a high speed race against time in a huge maze-like world, where your highly marketable mascot character can traverse great distances, but every wrong turn costs you time. It’s Squidaddle, starring Quark the Squatter (squid otter)!
This actually reminds me of a longer-term project I need to get back to that’s outside of the Twine format. I have a more traditional visual novel in mind that I’m trying to wrestle into a shape Ren’py can handle.
This one is inspired by Phoenix Wright; you’re a detective with a secret staff of information-gathering assistants. At any time, you can walk around inside your own head and speak to your own personified internal organs; Brain, Heart, Mouth, and Guts. By trading data between emotional Heart, logical Brain, and gossipy Mouth, you can turn clues from outside the body into evidence, that Guts will give the final approval on bringing to light.
I’m still not quite sure what form this will take; it could be Twine if I make certain sacrifices, Ren’py if I actually learn to use it correctly, or maybe even RPGMaker MV if I wanted to include combat and stuff. Either way, hopefully I’ll be ready to show you more of Go With Your Gut someday soon!
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My only WIP at the moment is a futuristic cab game, sort of a text version of the 1994 PC game Quarantine. I created a Harlowe passage loop as a mockup of the main mechanic in 2017, and I’ve always wanted to finish it.
Last year I ported it to SugarCube and started putting more stuff into it. I have some subsystems in place (economy, combat system, storylines and quests, a couple of really fun subgames), but I’m a bit stuck with the narrative part.
The scale is larger than I’m used to and I’m having trouble gathering the stamina to work on it. I put it on hold to work on last EctoComp and I thought I’d get back to it with more energy, but it hasn’t happened (yet).
Working title is Dark Patterns.
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I did the same thing several years ago - I didn’t start late but I meant to do a petit-mort and got stuck and ran out of time. A year later I opened the file, immediately knew what was wrong, and submitted it for the following year as Grand Guignol (the work time being approximately a year (including a giant hiatus) instead of 3 hours!)
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“working on” is such a strong term…
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This does not as much directly answer the question as it does answer what needs to be done before I can get to the part about the question. I think.
For the last couple of years, on and off, I’m been working on a compiler and interpreter for my hybrid brand of IF that functions more or less like a parser game, but uses the mouse or other non-keyboard interfaces for most activity.
For those with hyperthymestic memories, I submitted an entry in the 2021 IFComp named Beneath Fenwick that utilized an early version of this. I built it off Twine/SugarCube, but have since created my own version of the final language from the ground up. I’m still working on that.
My goal is to recreate Beneath Fenwick using the new system, and then its subsequent parts (I have three planned). It will include the ability to display images as well as audio.
This is a long-term pet project of mine. Emphasis on “long”. But I’ve been able to consistently move forward on it.
Some would say this is a form of procrastination. It probably is, but it’s my thing, man!
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That looks amazing on a Speccy. Well done!
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I’m designing a parser-based story that started in December 2022, on and off.
It’s still untitled. It’s a tale about a software agent who breaks out of their programming. It’s a kind of love letter to everybody who are pushing through their daily grind, overcoming their own doubts and (to some degree) the depression that comes with it all.
This is a recurring theme for me since around 2010, before the advent of AI in popular culture. So I’m hesitant to use that term. I’m thinking more “Synthespian”, but still undecided. Sorry I digress.
There is no clever verb use, and no unique mechanic to employ. What it does have, are six different endings. Half the progression is conversation based, the other half is classic IF puzzling.
No lock-ins, as little cruelty as possible, and (hopefully) fun and funny in some parts, with a hint of sadness, just to cover a good range of emotions.
I plan to enter it for IF Comp, and (checks ifcomp.org again), a bit sad to see the deadlines have moved up one month! I’ll just have to work harder, if I want enough time for beta testing 
gulp
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Okay I’ll stop laughing now since this has taken off…
I have several stories I have started/stopped over the years. The two main ones are a paranormal mystery where characters have magic abilities including teleporting through “connected” mirrors. Another is a spiritual story where an “angel” is “called” to “repair” several lives where an unseen opponent tries to destroy those same lives. Another is a standard Infocom-ish fantasy story about a hedge-witch living in a world similar to Janny Wurts’ Athera from her Wars of Light and Shadow epic series.
However, I’ve sort of moved past using the current tools and want to build my own. Given the power of development tools and ChatGPT, it’s actually significantly less challenging to build a custom IF platform on top of a 3rd generation programming language like C#, Java, or similar. Having maintained FyreVM for years and messing with Glulx, I have a reasonable idea how parser IF is constructed. The one big thing that you can remove from the process is the requirement of a virtual machine. There’s just no need for it anymore, especially with tools like C#/.NET Core which is cross-platform, WASM which is still maturing but also multi-browser capable, and traditional web server approaches.
I’m going to be reporting on the development if my C#-based system on my personal page on IFWiki if anyone wants to follow along or even pitch in. It will be entirely open source.
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I have several ideas, but the one that feels like it has the best potential to keep me motivated and perform well in competition is an optimization puzzle inspired by Sugar Lawn in which the player is competing in a Road Rally to collect treasures from across a geographical region, to bring back to the State Museum (or perhaps to deliver to one of a number of private collectors instead). I’ve begun writing but haven’t yet chosen between TADS or Inform for coding.
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I have a couple things in the works:
- A horror game I don’t want to say too much about because I’m planning to enter it into Spring Thing
- A historical tragedy that was meant to be for this year’s SeedComp!, but that will likely have to wait til next year’s
- A huge murder mystery (my white whale)
- A Twine slice of life queer coming of age thing, which I’m hoping to have ready for IFComp
- A psychological horror puzzle thing, which maaaay be ready for EctoComp
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Lòsť aĺl of my WÌP añd yèars òf wŕitiñg with my làpťòp dùe tò thè cŕaśh. Plèase sťop whátèvèř yoù aře dòiñg righť nòw, and baçk ùp ýoùr ďata. Plèase jùst gò dò it. Lìke, sèrìoušlý, nòw, bèfoŕe yòu foŕgeț. Iț iś ñòť woŕth thè hèartachè latèr.
Whàt wìĺl I bè woŕkinģ on oñce Im abĺe agàin? Nò idèa, becaùse whàtevèr it ìs… it’ĺl bè eñtìrèly fŕom scŕaťch. Althòugh thè cŕash itśèlf anď thè 3 wèek hòspìtal sťày afťèrwàrdś dìd gìvè mè somè idèas.
Bàcķ up ýouŕ dațà! Gò dò iț!!
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