One summer I hitchhiked through Britain trying to find a harp-maker.

January 20, 2018 3:18 PM

A Conversation with Judith Pintar, writer of the 1991 interactive fiction game Cosmoserve. Pintar and Jimmy Maher talk about the history of interactive fiction, game settings, identity and empathy and how she is using interactive fiction in teaching now.
posted by paduasoy (10 comments total)

A little more info on Cosmoserve here, with download links here, in case anyone is interested in following up.
posted by Samizdata at 5:07 PM on January 20, 2018 [1 favorite]

How would I get it? I can't get it to open or play the .zip.
posted by karmachameleon at 7:20 PM on January 20, 2018

It's a DOS game. Time to install one of the most important programs in the world, DOSBox.

A port that's playable in your browser can be played here, although it may still be in beta.
posted by BiggerJ at 7:40 PM on January 20, 2018 [2 favorites]

And on the note of links squirreled away deep within the article, you can play the projects created by students here, including the insane semester-by-semester collaborative game, The Quad Game, whose latest incarnation you can play here. It's added to, and its existing portion improved, every semester the course is held.
posted by BiggerJ at 7:45 PM on January 20, 2018 [1 favorite]

Whoaaaa thanks.
posted by karmachameleon at 7:45 PM on January 20, 2018

> BiggerJ:
"It's a DOS game. Time to install one of the most important programs in the world, DOSBox.

A port that's playable in your browser can be played here, although it may still be in beta."

Or, you could try the Windows port of AGT here.
posted by Samizdata at 8:22 PM on January 20, 2018

Thanks, Samizdata and BiggerJ - I didn't do a great job on the links here. Cosmoserve is a great game if you want to experience the days of CompuServe, and holds up as a game too. I haven't played the 1997 version and would be interested to know what people think of that.
posted by paduasoy at 3:08 AM on January 21, 2018

So the quote below is from the second or third page of the "story" (game?). I have fond memories of Adventure (Colossal Cave) but a harry dog of a puzzle is not fiction. I don't know, there is something appealing to an open ended world where you can go where you want to go but the few I've looked at I run out of patience with the effort to get into the head of the author puzzle master just to read a story. I'm sure knowing the conventions help but the form just seems to need something.

>read scrap

You take a closer look at the scrap stuck to the plate's underside and can make out a few letters:

billions
~ Carl

ization-diaph
cation an
posted by sammyo at 7:48 AM on January 21, 2018

Really enjoyed this, thanks!
posted by curious nu at 9:11 AM on January 21, 2018

Without even having played the game (I'm not even sure which game you're talking about), I'm guessing the first part is

something something billions something something
~ Carl Sagan
posted by BiggerJ at 3:22 AM on January 22, 2018