Re: Limitations of Inform and TADS?


10 Nov 1995 11:23:23 -0800

dleary@trout.ab.umd.edu (David Leary) writes:

>Name me one who was willing to paint his pictures in a closet and NEVER
>SHOW THEM TO ANYONE. Hmm...well, such souls may exist, but WE'VE SURE
>NEVER HEARD OF THEM!

Emily Dickinson.

(Yes, I know it's really got nothing to do with the topic at hand, but I
had to get _some_ use out of my degree in English)

Anyway, it seems to me that, in the heat of responding and
cross-responding, the argument has gotten alittle bit thick. As far as I
can tell, there are two different questions being argued about: What
hardware should IF games require? And why?

I'd like to take a little survey, because I'm curious to know how many IF
players take which positions. So, I'd be grateful if anybody who wants to
participate would e-mail me, telling me which of the following statements
you agree with. Note that you can agree with several of them at
once--they're far from mutually exclusive. If you chooose none of the
above, I'd be curious to know why.

--What level of computing power, if any, is appropriate for an IF game?

-- When can IF games require hardware more sophisticated than X, where X
is your answer to the previous question?
1) IF games should never, ever require hardware more sophisticated than X.
2) I've never seen an IF game that requires hardware more sophisticated
than X, and I doubt if I'll ever see one.
3) I've never seen an IF game that requires hardware more sophisticated
than X, but it could happen.
4) I can't generalize about the hardware requirements of IF--it just
depends on the game.
5) None of the above.

--If you believe that there are any reasons not to write an IF game that
requires hardware more sophisticated than X, please
complete this sentence: "You shouldn't write such an IF game because:
A) I only have X, and I want to play your game."
B) Most people don't have something more sophisticated than X, and you
probably want your game to reach as many people as possible."
C) Most people don't have something more sophisticated than X, and it's
not fair or nice to write a game that they can't play."
D) IF games right now just aren't complicated enough to justify it."
E) IF games will never be complicated enough to justify it."
F) It's just morally wrong, dammit."
G) None of the above.

-Jacob