Phrases That Make Sense and Should Work
Jun. 29th, 2025 01:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
randomarceusThe curse of 'text adventures that were made with only the developer's choice in mind'. The phone in front of me is ringing, so I type "pick up phone". No. OK, old game, is it a grammar thing? "pick up the phone" and nothing. Finally try "answer phone" and get through.
I get it, they mean the same thing, "answer" is more specific, maybe your program couldn't even handle two-word verbs. But did you playtest this game? Did not a single playtester try "pick up"? Do you hate me personally?
And that's not to mention vague room descriptions! I'm at a wharf, great. Do I get to know anything about the wharf? Which directions the exit is? For all I know the water could be neon yellow! But you're not telling me these things! You're just dumping me here! I'm not a damn psychic, I can't read your mind on this!
I just like it when the games I play don't feel like they hate the player. Some games are intentionally difficult, some just don't tell me as much as I wish they would, some are probably doing that just to be difficult. But in this specific game's case, being able to use arrow keys for n/e/s/w movement in a game from 1982 (!) is pretty cool.
I get it, they mean the same thing, "answer" is more specific, maybe your program couldn't even handle two-word verbs. But did you playtest this game? Did not a single playtester try "pick up"? Do you hate me personally?
And that's not to mention vague room descriptions! I'm at a wharf, great. Do I get to know anything about the wharf? Which directions the exit is? For all I know the water could be neon yellow! But you're not telling me these things! You're just dumping me here! I'm not a damn psychic, I can't read your mind on this!
I just like it when the games I play don't feel like they hate the player. Some games are intentionally difficult, some just don't tell me as much as I wish they would, some are probably doing that just to be difficult. But in this specific game's case, being able to use arrow keys for n/e/s/w movement in a game from 1982 (!) is pretty cool.
