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Infocom archives reveal unreleased Hitchhiker's IF sequel
FireWeasel
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Warning: This story contains Douglas Adams, Steve Meretzky, Infocom, and other IF legends.
I know, I know...IF or interactive fiction has a love-apathy relationship with these boards. The idea of typing your way through a story can seem archaic these days, but there are some true greats, including Infocom's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, co-written by the book series' author Douglas Adams. No sequel was ever made for this truly awesome, well-written bit of IF...
...but! One independent journalist has gotten ahold of the Infocom goldmine, essentially their entire archives, and has found a long, long, long journey of HG2G's unreleased sequel, The Restaurant at the End of the Galaxy.
It was never released, of course, but the personal view from the inside, with emails, design docs, the rise and fall of the idea and how Adams' vaunted Bureaucracy IF game got in the way....well, it's all REALLY fascinating if you're a giant dork like me and loved Infocom.
EX: Design doc snippet, Feb. 13 1987
"1. It seems natural to include a scene in the restaurant, Milliways. Could be a bit of fun: strange parties, unctuous compere, self-introducing food. Perhaps there's an object there that you need to get. (It could be a SPORK, a spoon with sort of forky tines on the end. Or would that be a FOON?) It could be a vehicle from the car park -- Marvin has the keys. If you manage to re-enter Milliways at another time (oops! on another occasion), you will not meet yourself, "because of the embarrassment that usually causes." What about a visit to the Big Bang Burger Bar?"
Steve Meretzky's feedback:
"Some thoughts upon re-reading your notes:
The Infinite Improbability Drive acts as a time travel device, as well as a space travel device and an identity changing device. The trips to the party (as Trillian), to Damogran (as Zaphod), and the Earth (as Ford), all involve going back in time. Therefore, the IID could be your time travel device, if you want to avoid the hassle of inventing a new one. (It also provides some continuity with Game One.)
As I think I said before, I think it will work best if you forget about the original stuff, like the Deep Thought flashback, and come up with new stuff instead. References to the original stuff can be used to provide familiarity for "old-timers" and to supplement the humor of the story line."
As if this wealth of info wasn't enough, the blog entry in which all this is presented is actually commented on by Steve Meretzky (!!!), Dave Lebling, and other Infocom greats including Zork co-author Marc Blank.
Seriously, if you're at all a fan of Infocom and HG2G, CHECK. IT. OUT.
I know, I know...IF or interactive fiction has a love-apathy relationship with these boards. The idea of typing your way through a story can seem archaic these days, but there are some true greats, including Infocom's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, co-written by the book series' author Douglas Adams. No sequel was ever made for this truly awesome, well-written bit of IF...
...but! One independent journalist has gotten ahold of the Infocom goldmine, essentially their entire archives, and has found a long, long, long journey of HG2G's unreleased sequel, The Restaurant at the End of the Galaxy.
It was never released, of course, but the personal view from the inside, with emails, design docs, the rise and fall of the idea and how Adams' vaunted Bureaucracy IF game got in the way....well, it's all REALLY fascinating if you're a giant dork like me and loved Infocom.
EX: Design doc snippet, Feb. 13 1987
"1. It seems natural to include a scene in the restaurant, Milliways. Could be a bit of fun: strange parties, unctuous compere, self-introducing food. Perhaps there's an object there that you need to get. (It could be a SPORK, a spoon with sort of forky tines on the end. Or would that be a FOON?) It could be a vehicle from the car park -- Marvin has the keys. If you manage to re-enter Milliways at another time (oops! on another occasion), you will not meet yourself, "because of the embarrassment that usually causes." What about a visit to the Big Bang Burger Bar?"
Steve Meretzky's feedback:
"Some thoughts upon re-reading your notes:
The Infinite Improbability Drive acts as a time travel device, as well as a space travel device and an identity changing device. The trips to the party (as Trillian), to Damogran (as Zaphod), and the Earth (as Ford), all involve going back in time. Therefore, the IID could be your time travel device, if you want to avoid the hassle of inventing a new one. (It also provides some continuity with Game One.)
As I think I said before, I think it will work best if you forget about the original stuff, like the Deep Thought flashback, and come up with new stuff instead. References to the original stuff can be used to provide familiarity for "old-timers" and to supplement the humor of the story line."
As if this wealth of info wasn't enough, the blog entry in which all this is presented is actually commented on by Steve Meretzky (!!!), Dave Lebling, and other Infocom greats including Zork co-author Marc Blank.
Seriously, if you're at all a fan of Infocom and HG2G, CHECK. IT. OUT.
AC:CL Wii -- 3824-2125-9336 City: Felinito Me: Nick
FireWeasel on
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Why isn't it called a Foon?
Oh, and I'll have a look through those archives, sounds interesting.
IF in general has always been an interesting niche, it's never really died out. I guess it's because the barrier to entry is so low that anyone willing to invest time in writing a story can attempt to create one.
Plus, I think it's fascinating seeing the tortured development of a big-budget IF game.
Plusplus, Douglas Adams is a key player in this, and I idolize the man. So the story is EXTRA saucy.
From time to time it saddens me that there are no longer any big-budget IF or adventure games, just shooters shooters shooters! I like action games, I'm just saying...
This thread is awesome.
PSN ID : Xander51 Steam ID : Xander51
Orikaeshigitae
Yea. I knew it began with an O.
What confuses me is that Douglas Adams, who was fond of the HG2G IF game, turned around and later made the pseudo-IF Starship Titanic (which was heavily flawed but interesting nonetheless). I'd really like to find out why he waffled on the Restaurant game (and, apparently, on his own Bureaucracy game, which the archives indicate he stopped working on and required 10 other authors to finish).
Also, re: big budget adventures: the new Sam + Max games are pretty good. That said, it saddens me a bit that they're episodic, which slims down their scope a little.
I actually like the fact that they're episodic. It gives the games a nice short and punchy experience, and allows them to lead onto and develop stuff from episode to episode.
Starship Titanic was an interesting experiment but ultimately falls down where every game of its type falls dow, which is that it can't predict everything you're going to say. Until we get something that passes the Turing test, a real game of that sort is going to still be impossible. It's not likely that the game industry will be able to push that forward on their own, we've just got to wait for the development of an actual AI. In the meantime, we do what we can with limiting player choices.