The Fool and his Money...
Taramoor
StorytellerRegistered User regular
StorytellerRegistered User regular
...or, "How Cliff Johnson stole a bunch of money"
Some of you may know of a game called The Fool's Errand which was released in the way-back-when of 1987.
It was the first of its kind. In addition to incorporating countless puzzles throughout the game itself, each puzzle was part of the much larger Meta-Puzzle that defined the entirety of the game, serving almost as a final boss of sorts.
The Fool's Errand is the story of a fool, who's on an errand, and winds up having to solve a bunch of puzzles for random people that he encounters (all of whom are tarot card characters) in order to become rich and famous and awesome. The puzzles are devious, the story is silly but interesting, and completing the sun's map and some of the other things you have to deal with could best be described as a psychotic undertaking provided you don't just look the answers up on the interweb.
Cliff Johnson, the creator of The Fool's Errand, came out with some other games as well, including the stellar title "3 in Three"
This meta-puzzle game takes place entirely inside a computer after a power surge knocks a 3 loose. That particular 3 then proceeds to run amuck throughout the system, again fixing all the problems that the other alphanumerics have encountered.
But this thread is about the supposedly forthcoming sequel to The Fool's Errand, cleverly titled The Fool and his Money.
Wikipedia Entry
Here's the story:
Originally, Cliff Johnson, after stating his intent to craft and release the game entirely by himself, announced a release date of Halloween 2003 for the game. This came and went with the standard litany of excuses and "it'll be out when it's done"s. Since then, and clear through to now, and into the foreseeable future, Cliff Johnson has taken pre-orders for the game to the tune of a little under $50 per pre-order. Those who pre-order are guaranteed a slot in the "Compendium of True Believers" in the game once it's released.
I don't know why I started this thread, but I think it's because I'm curious if anyone else has played the Cliff Johnson games. I know there are hundreds of people who've commented on his webpage (and sent him their monies) but I doubt that any of them came from here.
Also he made his games available for free download at his website so that's kind of awesome.
Some of you may know of a game called The Fool's Errand which was released in the way-back-when of 1987.
It was the first of its kind. In addition to incorporating countless puzzles throughout the game itself, each puzzle was part of the much larger Meta-Puzzle that defined the entirety of the game, serving almost as a final boss of sorts.
The Fool's Errand is the story of a fool, who's on an errand, and winds up having to solve a bunch of puzzles for random people that he encounters (all of whom are tarot card characters) in order to become rich and famous and awesome. The puzzles are devious, the story is silly but interesting, and completing the sun's map and some of the other things you have to deal with could best be described as a psychotic undertaking provided you don't just look the answers up on the interweb.
Cliff Johnson, the creator of The Fool's Errand, came out with some other games as well, including the stellar title "3 in Three"
This meta-puzzle game takes place entirely inside a computer after a power surge knocks a 3 loose. That particular 3 then proceeds to run amuck throughout the system, again fixing all the problems that the other alphanumerics have encountered.
But this thread is about the supposedly forthcoming sequel to The Fool's Errand, cleverly titled The Fool and his Money.
Wikipedia Entry
Here's the story:
Originally, Cliff Johnson, after stating his intent to craft and release the game entirely by himself, announced a release date of Halloween 2003 for the game. This came and went with the standard litany of excuses and "it'll be out when it's done"s. Since then, and clear through to now, and into the foreseeable future, Cliff Johnson has taken pre-orders for the game to the tune of a little under $50 per pre-order. Those who pre-order are guaranteed a slot in the "Compendium of True Believers" in the game once it's released.
I don't know why I started this thread, but I think it's because I'm curious if anyone else has played the Cliff Johnson games. I know there are hundreds of people who've commented on his webpage (and sent him their monies) but I doubt that any of them came from here.
Also he made his games available for free download at his website so that's kind of awesome.
Taramoor on
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"A fool and his money are soon partying".
Still, this is is about as good.
or the Phantom?
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Seriously, though, all of you should download The Fool's Errand for _free_ and play through it. I can think of no game analogue that exists out there, except perhaps for the newly-released Professor Layton game on the DS (and even that is not quite the same). It really is a work of puzzle and gaming genius.
Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.
Surely I'm not the only one wondering if the whole thing is a fraud with a brazenly appropriate title? I'd certainly classify anyone who put in a preorder now after five years of delay as a fool.
Ask Slash000 how his DNF preorder receipt from 1999 is holding up.
I had never tried Fool's Errand but I did take a few thwacks at 3 in Three in years past, and the concept always seemed so alluring to me: Tons of puzzles that work together into one ultra-mega-puzzle. I'll see if they run on my machine here at work.
And the mere concept of a puzzle-game creator fleecing money out of his audience in plain sight is almost too good to be true.
Indeed. It's like a deeper metaphysical puzzle. How do you stop your money being stolen by the developer?
In essence, the game is already out. You just have to figure out how to play it. Brilliant!
The only winning move is ... not to play.
I admire the ingenuity of a puzzle game maker financing his modern life by playing on people's stupidity and loyalty, don't get me wrong..
At the same time, I do want the game to come out just because Fool's Errand and 3 in Three were so incredibly good.
But the guy ain't getting my money until I see evidence that he's actually working on it and not just giving himself pony rides.
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