A long-form reflection on game design and parser craft theory continues with a discussion of Inform Design Manual 4's version of Graham Nelson's "The Craft of the Adventure." Particular attention is paid to mimesis, challenge, and, as Drew puts it, "cool stuff." Part of a series about Infocom's Trinity.

Resources discussed in this episode:

Gold Machine: Emily Dickenson and the Wide Middle of Trinity

https://golmac.org/narrative-surface-features-of-trinity-part-2/

Top Expert: Let's Make IF Season 2, Episode 1

https://topexpert.blog/2024/07/03/lets-make-if-season-2-episode-1/

DM4 Version of "The Craft of the Adventure" (pdf)

https://inform-fiction.org/manual/Chapter8.pdf

50 Years of Text Games

https://if50.textories.com/

My own game, Repeat the Ending

https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=eueqjtej7bvnfp5a

Correction: Photopia was released in 1998.

Drew returns to discuss a foundational work of game design craft, Graham Nelson's The Craft of the Adventure (1995). This is part of a larger, multipart examination of narrative friction in Brian Moriarty's Trinity (1986).

Referenced content:

Top Expert, Drew's blog about learning Inform 7 (and other things)

Jimmy Maher's "The Neo-Classical Interactive Fiction of 1995"

Graham Nelson's The Craft of the Adventure (1995 version)

Graham Nelson's The Craft of the Adventure (2001, Designer's Manual 4)

Drew's "Zork II, Idolatry, and the Legendary Awfulness of Two Puzzles"

After nearly two years, host Drew Cook returns solo! This reboot episode lays out a framework for future discussions of Infocom's Trinity and Nacon's Vampire: The Masquerade--Swansong.

The Craft of Adventure : Graham Nelson

Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong on Steam (steampowered.com)

Jimmy Maher's Trinity posts

Gold Machine - Games as text, text as games (golmac.org)

top expert – i am my own ghost

Repeat the Ending IFDB page