For a Change

Dan Schmidt 1999

Language:: English
Authors:: Dan Schmidt
Platforms:: Z-Machine
Genres:: Based on literature , IF Comp 1999 , Surreal
Entered by:: Garry, Mr Creosote
Added:: 11-12-2010
Edited:: 28-05-2017

Synopsis

Plot

You live in a world that is dominated by a huge wall to the east. This wall is so high, that it blocks out the sun. You decide to return the sun. You have only a small stone and a guidebook to help you. You will need the guidebook to translate the strange terms used. Even then, it may not help much.

Notes

This was an entry in the 5th Annual Interactive Fiction Competition, where it placed 2nd out of 37 entries.

When you successfully complete the game, type NOTES to get the author's background to the game. Only then will it all make sense. The two literary inspirations were The Age of Wire and String, by Ben Marcus (for the "ostensibly precise language...that was very difficult to make sense of, and a glossary that just added to the confusion") and The Book of the New Sun, by Gene Wolfe (for the goal of "bringing the sun" and the "strange (though English) vocabulary that the reader has to pick up on the fly").