On the Farm -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Author(s): Lenny Pitts Genre: Slice of life Language: en First Publication Date: 1999 License: Freeware Rating: 3.5 (based on 16 ratings) ABOUT THE STORY "Visiting Grandma and Grandpa on the farm for the weekend is not your idea of a good time. Mom has told you countless stories about the great adventures she had growing up there. Days spent feeding the chickens and pigs, and riding the horses, but that was before Grandpa got too old to work the land. Now the farm consists of barren fields, rusting equipment and empty pens." [--blurb from Competition '99] EXTERNAL LINKS otf.gam Requires a TADS interpreter[1] readme.txt author's blurb walkthru.txt Walkthrough trcolor.dat color file for DOS tr runtime Requires an AdvSys interpreter[2] Walkthrough and map by David Welbourn EDITORIAL REVIEWS SPAG > The farm is supposed to be abandoned, nonworking, and there are plenty of > nicely done stray details that convey decay and neglect, such as a barn door > hanging by a hinge, a rusted-out tractor with a dead battery, a > groundhog-eaten garden, and a mildewed haystack. In that respect, it's a > vivid setting--it's a specific rather than a generic farm. There are also > lots of unexplained details, however (notably a huge ball of twine and a > metal hook whose presence and function remain mysterious), and the writing > is uneven at best--punctuation errors and unfortunate phrasings. -- Duncan > Stevens >INVENTORY - Paul O'Brian writes about interactive fiction > When so many IF games take place in science-fictional or fantastic settings, > it's quite refreshing to play a game that is firmly grounded in the real > world. Even better than that, the setting is fully realized, to an > impressive level of detail. Most all of what I call the first-level nouns > (that is, nouns that are mentioned in room descriptions) are implemented > with descriptions. The writing is crisp, conveying an excellent sense of > place. Lots of details are present, not because they somehow serve the > game's plot, but simply because they bring the farm and its environs to life > more vividly. Yes, there are some problems in the writing as well. There's > the occasional comma splice or punctuation stumble, and from time to time > the sentences seem to lose their rhythm, foundering like a lame horse. In > addition, the prose sometimes descends into a sort of juvenile, scatological > humor that works against the sincere tone of the rest of the game. Despite > these few flaws, in general the game's prose achieves a satisfying clarity. > I grew up in suburbia, and my ancestry is decidedly urban, so I've never > experienced firsthand most of the game's referents. Nonetheless, after > playing On The Farm I really have a sense that I've been there. REFERENCES [1] [2]