Category: Others

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Neil deMause GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2000, Neil deMause Sequel to the underrated Frenetic Five vs. Sturm Und Drang, Frenetic Five vs. Mr. Redundancy Man is a competent sequel that is unfortunately not as funny as the first. Perhaps it’s because the game assumes that…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Neil deMause GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1999, Neil deMause Written for the 1997 Annual IF Competition, The Frenetic Five vs. Sturm Und Drang is one of the best superhero games ever made, bar none. The game has it all: men in tights, wacky nemesis, and…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Carol Hovick GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1994, Carol Hovick One of the best, but also most frustratingly difficult, IF I’ve ever played. C.E. Forman’s review for XYZZYNews says it all about this quirky classic: “A winner in the 1994 AGT programming contest, the three-part epic…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Jason Dyer GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1998, Jason Dyer One of the most compelling, “experimental” entries in the 1998 Annual IF Competition, Persistence of Memory is an evocative game that takes place in only one room for the whole game. You play a soldier, separated…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:David Baggett GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1996, David Baggett The Legend Lives! is an epic sci-fi masterpiece by David Baggett, author of the popular Unnkulian Unventure shareware series. Legend takes the Unnkulian Universe far into the future, where, despite mankind’s technological advances, the threat of…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Dennis Cunningham GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1992, Dennis Cunningham One of the most underrated IF titles ever made, t-zero is a great pun-filled game of epic proportions. Long before the advent of Inform and TADS, two popular modern-day IF authoring languages, t-zero features a powerful…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Jason Dyer GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1996, Jason Dyer Paul OBrian, IF reviewer extraordinaire, says it all about Phlegm one of the most underrated entries in the 2nd Annual IF Competition: A thoroughly whacked-out romp through realms of surrealism only barely touched on by Nord…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Leon Lin GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1995, Leon Lin Leon Lins first IF release is among the most enjoyable story-focused IF titles I have played. Magnus Olssons review for SPAG says it all: “Among the joys of fishing, perhaps the greatest is telling about it…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Leon Lin GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1996, Leon Lin One of the most underrated games in the 2nd Annual IF Competition, Leon Lins Kissing The Buddhas Feet is an excellent game about college life. Although the genre of seems already clinched, KTBF manages to strikes…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Dan Schmidt GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1998, Dan Schmidt Second-place winner in the 5th Annual IF Competition, and deservedly so. Mark Musantes eloquent review says it all about what makes this modern-day post-modern drama so compelling: “This game has a lot to recommend. Its odd…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Lenny Pitts GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1999, Lenny Pitts Another fun, feel-good game from the 1999 IF Competition that many overlooked On The Farm casts you as a small child who has just been sent to spend a few hours on grandparents farm. As usual,…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Todd Levi GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1999, Todd Levi A Day for Soft Food is a nice little IF Competition entry that casts you as one of the more unusual characters: a cat. Although this makes the game similar to Ralph, from the 1996 comp,…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:John Kean GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1998, John Kean Downtown Tokyo, Present Day is a very short game even by the 2-hour limit of the IF Competition, but is very funny, entertaining, and even innovative. As usual, Paul OBrians got the best scoop on this…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:John Kean GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2000, John Kean One of the most underrated entries in the 6th Annual IF Competition, YAGWAD by John Kean is a wonderful tongue-in-cheek sendup of the clich?s in medieval fantasy games. Among other things, it features excellent ASCII art…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Roger Firth GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2000, Roger Firth Letters from Home is a fun puzzle-intensive IF based on the English lexicon. Similar to other puzzle-heavy IF such as The Magic Toyshop, the plot is virtually nonexistent. But also similar to the best of the…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Rob Menke GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2000, Rob Menke The Best Man is one of the best games from the 6th Annual IF Competition definitely the best IF competition ever, judging from how many entries I like (close to half of the 53 total). Instead…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Ravi Rajkumar GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1999, Ravi Rajkumar One of the best games of the 1999 IF competition, Halothane is an excellent blend of modernism, mystery, and a lot of quirky sense of humor. I actually enjoyed it a lot more than Winter Wonderland,…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Dan Shiovitz GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1995, Dan Shiovitz One of the most atmospheric and well-written IF ever released, Lethe Flow Phoenix is a great game by Dan Shiovitz that is full of mystical overtones, dream-like surrealism, and several nice plot twists. The game begins…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Gary Wilson GAME DEVELOPER:Cascade Mountain Publishing GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1998, Gary Wilson Uncontested winner of the longest time in development award for an IF title, Once and Future is a top-notch game by Gary Kevin Whizzard Wilson (GKW). First announced as Avalon in 1993, the author…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Paul O’Brian GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2000, Paul O’Brian One of the most ambitious IF titles ever made, LASH by Paul OBrian is an intriguing, highly literate game that strikes a fine balance between providing challenging puzzles and telling a compelling story. Although definitely the…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Warren Robinett & Ann McCormick GAME DEVELOPER:Learning Company, The GAME PUBLISHER:Learning Company, The Copyright 1987, Learning Company, The Rocky’s Boots is an excellent educational game that teaches kids the basics of logic circuits that computers are based on. A true predecessor of better-known Robot Odyssey, Rockys…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Leslie Grimm GAME DEVELOPER:Brderbund GAME PUBLISHER:Brderbund Copyright 1989, Leslie Grimm The Playroom is designed to encourage children’s curiosity and then reward it with new discoveries. All the scenes take place in a child’s bedroom where the child clicks on a variety of different pictures that lead…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Marshal Linder & Scott Edwards GAME DEVELOPER:IBM GAME PUBLISHER:IBM Copyright 1984, IBM Although subtitled A Text Adventure Game, Zyll is actually a revolutionary text-only RPG that introduces many concepts that have not since been seen together in one game. The basic plot: you have been transported…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:David Krohne & Stephen Beam GAME DEVELOPER:Free Spirit GAME PUBLISHER:Free Spirit Copyright 1993, Free Spirit The Barney Bear series are excellent edutainment titles aimed at teaching the basics of various subjects to toddlers aged 1 to 4 years old. Aside from being some of the finest…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:David Krohne & Stephen Beam GAME DEVELOPER:Free Spirit GAME PUBLISHER:Free Spirit Copyright 1992, Free Spirit The Barney Bear series are excellent edutainment titles aimed at teaching the basics of various subjects to toddlers aged 1 to 4 years old. Aside from being some of the finest…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:David Krohne & Stephen Beam GAME DEVELOPER:Free Spirit GAME PUBLISHER:Free Spirit Copyright 1991, Free Spirit The Barney Bear series are excellent edutainment titles aimed at teaching the basics of various subjects to toddlers aged 1 to 4 years old. Aside from being some of the finest…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Everbright GAME PUBLISHER:Everbright Copyright 1992, Everbright Bible Builder is a fun trivia game about the Bible from Everbright Software, one of the first companies to have developed games exclusively for the Christian community (as an interesting side note, many such companies have since folded,…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Ian Andrew & Paul Gregory GAME DEVELOPER:Incentive GAME PUBLISHER:Domark Copyright 1992, Incentive 3D Construction Kit 2 (3DCK2) is a great sequel to Incentive/Domarks 3D Construction Kit, released a year earlier. As with the first title, 3DCK2 isnt really a game but a powerful application that lets…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Frank Andrews GAME DEVELOPER:Lawrence Productions GAME PUBLISHER:Lawrence Productions Copyright 1992, Lawrence Productions One of the best and most unique edutainment titles ever made, The Lost Tribe is a fun survival simulation that is reminiscent of MECC’s Oregon Trail, but with much more sophisticated gameplay. The premise:…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Gary Wilson GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1997, Gary Wilson The Lesson of The Tortoise is an enjoyable introductory-level IF game based on Chinese folktale of the same name. It’s short, easy, and tells a wonderful story– an ideal starting point for anyone new to the…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Bonnie Montgomery GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1998, Bonnie Montgomery One of the most unknown gems on the great IF archive at GMD, Firebird is a unique, original, and enjoyable game based on one of the most beloved Russian myths (which is also one of the…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Athan Skelley GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1999, Athan Skelley The Water Bird is a pleasant, original IF game based on the folklore of the Miwok Indians, who used to live in what is now Yosemite National Park in California. Similar to Bonnie Montgomery’s Firebird, The…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Thomas Etter & William Chamberlain GAME DEVELOPER:Inrac Corporation GAME PUBLISHER:Mindscape Copyright 1984, Inrac Corporation Not really an interactive fiction game but rather one of the most intriguing piece of software ever created, Racter is one of the earliest commercial releases of computer intelligence– AI gibberish, so…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Rinze Laat & Jinwo Verluys GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1999, Rinze Laat & Jinwo Verluys Residence 44 Quest is a fun fanmade adventure game created with AGI Studios, a program that allows you to create text-parser-with-graphics game in the same style as Sierra’s oldie adventures…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Electronic Arts GAME PUBLISHER:Electronic Arts Copyright 1995, EA*Kids One of the best releases in Electronic Arts short-lived EA*Kids line, Peter Pan is a fun interactive storybook designed for kids aged 4-8. The excellent review at Quandary says it all: “Peter Pan is an animated…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Brderbund GAME PUBLISHER:Learning Company, The Copyright 2000, Warner Brothers Despite its placement in the genre here, Totally MAD is not an educational title (unless you count Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions educational). It is not even a game. It is however a very good…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Monster D Vonster GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2001, Monster D Vonster I admit I was a tad skeptical when first I heard of this game. Amateur sequels to professional games are rarely of the same quality, and an amateur addition to the legendary Space Quest…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Hi-Tech Expressions GAME PUBLISHER:Hi-Tech Expressions Copyright 1991, Hi-Tech Expressions One of the few education titles from Hi-Tech Expressions, and therefore one of its rarest releases, Daffy Duck is a so-so spelling game starring popular Looney Tunes characters Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, and more. The…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Andrew Pontious GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2000, Andrew Pontious Amazing, simply amazing. When Sam Barlow released Aisle, a highly original “experimental” IF in 1999, many people, including me, thought that the idea, while interesting, would be impossible to adapt to a puzzle-intensive IF game. After…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Sam Barlow GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1999, Sam Barlow Well-deserved XYZZY Award winner in the Best Use of Medium category, Aisle is highly original piece of IF that invents a whole new category of games. Its also one of the most successful experimental IF games…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:7th Level GAME PUBLISHER:IBM Copyright 1995, 7th Level Peter and The Wolf is one of the best children’s titles ever made, and a great rendition of Prokofiev’s classical music masterpiece. Non-classical music fans may not know that Peter and The Wolf has long been…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Emily Short GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2000, Emily Short Galatea is, in short, one of the most amazing games I?ve ever played, in any genre. If you think adventure games in general cannot be non-linear, Galatea will change your views forever. The game is based…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Andy Phillips GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2000, Andy Phillips One of the best IF games ever, Heroines Mantle is a wonderful puzzle-intensive IF that proves how it is possible to design solid puzzles without sacrificing the plot. It is also one of the most challenging…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Stephen Granade GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1998, Stephen Granade Losing Your Grip is an ambitious, outstanding work of ?serious? IF which casts you as Terry Hastings, a troubled man who is trying to come to terms with his life. The game is presented in five…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Stephen Granade GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2000, Stephen Granade Common Ground is a captivating and original work of IF that breaks new ground by introducing an intriguing concept previously unseen in the genre (and not seen again until J. Robinson Wheeler?s Being Andrew Plotkin). Similar…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Irene Callaci GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1998, Irene Callaci Mother Loose is a charming, witty game about fairy tale characters that will appeal to anyone who loves Sierra’s Mixed-Up Mother Goose or Mixed-Up Fairy Tales. What makes Mother Loose extraordinary is the fact that it…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Kathleen Fischer GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2000, Kathleen Fischer Masquerade is an excellent story-based IF set in Civil-War era romance genre– something not commonly seen since Amy Brigg/Infocom’s mildly successful Plundered Hearts. The game gets high marks for its very detailed gameworld, strong writing, and…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Michael Gentry GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1998, Michael Gentry Little Blue Men is an excellent absurdist sci-fi game that gets my vote for the best underdog of the 4th Annual IF Competition. The game?s seventh-place finish belies the author?s unique, experimental, and some would say…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Nate Cull GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1997, Nate Cull Glowgrass is a worthy third-place winner in the 3rd Annual IF Competition (in 1997– a year when the competition was dominated by sci-fi stories: both The Edifice and Babel, first- and second-place winners, are science fiction).…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Christopher Huang GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1998, Christopher Huang Second-place winner of the 1998 Annual IF Competition, Muse: An Autumn Romance is a beautifully written, touching game about the nature of human relationship. Set in a Victorian era, the game will definitely not appeal to…