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interactivefiction posts

Filed under: Fun, Games, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Open Source

Play Zork over the phone with Zasterisk

ZasteriskWhat do you get when you combine the Z-Machine text adventure engine with open source phone exchange system Asterisk? Zasterisk, a novel combination of voice recognition and text-to-speech that allows you to play Zork and other Infocom text adventures over the phone. Is this something anybody really needs? Well, duh, no. Is it pretty cool? Yes. However, I take no responsibility for the looks you're going to receive if you shout "attack baby hungus!" into your cell phone on a crowded train.

[Via Waxy.org]

Filed under: Games, Text, Utilities, Windows, Macintosh, Freeware

Create your own text adventures for the iPod

istoryI guess since Wired has the story it must be all the rage.  But the iPod has had hyperlink capabilities for a while, and there is no shortage of crazy uses out there for it. So besides tour guides and CSS references, what else can you do with the hypertext features on the iPod? Make your own games of course.

While there has yet to be a game with the wit of the old text RPG "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" or even "Leather Goddesses of Phobos," it's technically feasible thanks to apps like iStory Creator. Last time I checked it out is was only for OS X, but now it's cross-platform. Think you can hang with the 21st century Kafka wannabes? Download it and get to typing, because that great American interactive novel isn't going to write itself.

Basically all you do is make little web pages, with just text and a link to go this way or that. I've tried more than a few interactive "stories" and haven't been that impressed. Lots of fan fic, goofy high school antics, and so on. Where is Stephen King when you need him? Anyway, iStory Creator is a GUI so you don't have to know how to make the links or the pages for the story. Just make the pages, connect the dots, and you're done. Now somebody please port Marathon to the iPod.

Featured Time Waster

The World's Hardest Game 2.0 - Time Waster

So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do. Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game. The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...

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