Only After Dark -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Author(s): Gunther Schmidl Genre: Horror Language: en First Publication Date: 1999 License: Freeware Rating: 2.5 (based on 6 ratings) ABOUT THE STORY ""HERE BE DRAGONS" is what the rutter said, but the small island turned out to be free of those animals after all. Instead, you landed near a tiny village full of friendly natives. Aaah, shore leave! You can't remember when the last time was you could relax, take a night off and stroll through town to pick up a girl or two." [--blurb from Competition '99] EXTERNAL LINKS oad.z5 Requires a Z-Code interpreter[1] oad.z5 original competition entry Requires a Z-Code interpreter[1] oad.walkthrough.txt solution Clubfloyd transcript NightFloyd transcript ClubFloyd transcript Walkthrough and map by David Welbourn EDITORIAL REVIEWS >INVENTORY - Paul O'Brian writes about interactive fiction > [T]he advancement of the plot is enforced by meeting any deviation with > either an abrupt ending to the game (usually via the death of the PC) or > with some variant of "You can't do that." For example, there is one scene > where the PC is in jail. The plot calls for him to go to sleep. Therefore, > there is absolutely nothing you can do but go to sleep. Every other attempt > at action is blocked, and the game gives intermittent hints along the lines > of "There's nothing else to do but go to sleep." Mess around long enough, > and the game puts the PC to sleep by force. Now, my question is this: if all > I was going to be allowed to do is sleep, why even give me a prompt at all? > Why not just say "You're hustled into a jail cell, and although you attempt > to escape, your attempts are thwarted. Deciding there's nothing to do but > sleep, you settle down into the uncomfortable bed, awakening the next day to > a very strange scene..." Sometimes there's a perfectly reasonable answer to > this question, something along the lines of wanting the player to identify > with the PC's sense of imprisonment. But when every scene plays like this, > and the game forces the player into really stupid decisions because it has > made no provision for alternatives, the whole story starts to feel like a > prison. REFERENCES [1]