[DISCUSS] Shadowpeak

Post by **Lumin** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 5:55 am

This game was just uploaded so I guess not many have had a chance to play it. It's from an author I don't recognize from the forums (kevin bailey?) and apparently he originally began writing it on the c64.

I only had time to mess around with it for about ten minutes so I'm a long way from winning, but I just wanted to post my initial impressions and see what everybody else's are.

1.) This appears to be one of those hugely ambitious newbie projects that have become kind of a joke here, except this one was actually finished, weighing in at a whopping 90k. (though I guess 'finished' and 'beatable' aren't necessarily the same thing...the Generator's locked and there's no walkthrough so whether it's horribly broken or not is anybody's guess.) But either way, the kind of perseverance it must have taken to get something this size to even a semi-playable state is laudable.

2.) oh God the spelling and punctuation is atrocious and the intro reads like something written by an excitable yet talented 12 year old. Also for some reason the text is HUGE.

3.) This game is the definition of old school. I've already died a handful of times, had an item stolen by some jerk monster, and got trapped in a tomb (presumably because I either didn't have an item I needed, an important object was not described, the verb needed was simply too obscure, or all of the above). I don't know if the author has played a text game since the early 90s. I strongly suspect he's never heard of the Player's Bill of Rights. I haven't run into a maze yet but I'd be willing to bet money there's one in it somewhere.

4.) I love it already...I've never pegged myself as a masochist but there you go.

Or I guess to be more accurate, I love what it wants to be. No one writes sprawling completely un-ironic fantasy adventures about knights defeating evil wizards anymore and that is a crying shame. Right now Shadowpeak might be very very very rough around the edges but I'm positive that if it were polished up it would be a diamond.

Am I insane?

I think I'm going to wait till I get to play a bit more and then send the author an email with a few suggestions. Hopefully he's open to constructive criticism because after all the work he's put into this game I'd like to see it in a state where more people would be willing to give it a fair chance...flaws aside if this really is a first effort it's jaw-droppingly good, and as far as I'm concerned anyone who can write a game this ambitious without giving up in tears before they get halfway through is a keeper.

If nothing else I might be able to convince him to let me help with the spelling and punctuation problems. I actually love editing people's work.

Huh, maybe I am a masochist....

Post by **Dan Blazquez** » Wed Oct 08, 2008 12:10 am

Ouch. You must be a masochist - I'm having a hard time getting past the tearible speling and gramer, but it is HUGE. I tried just exploring the map (not "playing" the game mind you, just poking around the map), got about 20 or 30 rooms in before some random thing came out from a random place and randomly killed me. Very old skool in a lot of ways, mostly the painful ones.

The name and setting are cool though... you're right that there haven't been too many serious sword and sorcery epics in a while. I only wish the armor (or is it armour for you people across the atlantic? ha!) was less chinked.

Granted, polishing 90k of noobness would probably take a few eternities, so I'm almost glad it wasn't shined up as it probably would have sat gathering dust on a hard drive and never seen the light of day.

I wish I could make a 90k beast, so in a way I am a bit jealous. Just a bit.

Oh and the "dec font" command is a godsend for this adventure, unless your screen resolution numbers in the millions, or unless you happen to have a movie theater (theatre? Here we go again...) for a monitor.

Post by **Seciden Mencarde** » Wed Oct 08, 2008 12:48 am

I agree with Dan. The effort is laudable, but in the end there are too many flaws. It actually quite reminds me of a certain Hyperion game, on a 10x scale both size- and creativity-wise...

Duncan_B · Post by **Duncan_B** » Fri Oct 10, 2008 5:19 pm

Perhaps I'm just being too serious, but the words "flabbergastingly abyssmal" come to mind. This game is practically unplayable. I was excited at the prospect of playing a new game (especially after the success of the OddComp), but I hadn't even finished reading the intro and I was convinced the Adventures Page had been prank'd.

This is a game in *serious* need of some proofreading. An audience can only go so far into any sloppy text-- regardless of format-- before putting it down. Why should I wait to see if something really pops off page 200 when I've already gouged by eyes out at page 1 (presumably, someone would have to read the rest to me...)? I'm still waiting for this "Kevin Bailey" (if that is his real name) to show his face and let us know how this thing came about.

In all seriousness, submitting work *this* bogged down in errors is just disrespectful of a writer to their work, audience, format, community, etc. I'd be all for a polished version of the game, but this is just ridiculous... not to mention, with the default filter being "by date (most recent)", *this* is now the game a newcomer will see first when they come onto the Adventures Page... and may be the first they download...

*shudder*

Post by **Lumin** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 6:15 am

Duncan_B wrote:Perhaps I'm just being too serious, but the words "flabbergastingly abyssmal" come to mind. This game is practically unplayable. I was excited at the prospect of playing a new game (especially after the success of the OddComp), but I hadn't even finished reading the intro and I was convinced the Adventures Page had been prank'd.

This is a game in *serious* need of some proofreading. An audience can only go so far into any sloppy text-- regardless of format-- before putting it down. Why should I wait to see if something really pops off page 200 when I've already gouged by eyes out at page 1 (presumably, someone would have to read the rest to me...)? I'm still waiting for this "Kevin Bailey" (if that is his real name) to show his face and let us know how this thing came about.

In all seriousness, submitting work *this* bogged down in errors is just disrespectful of a writer to their work, audience, format, community, etc. I'd be all for a polished version of the game, but this is just ridiculous... not to mention, with the default filter being "by date (most recent)", *this* is now the game a newcomer will see first when they come onto the Adventures Page... and may be the first they download...

*shudder*

Oh come on, I already pointed out the spelling was awful specifically so everyone else wouldn't also feel the need to also point out that the spelling was awful.

But just to clarify: the spelling is awful. I know. Everyone knows.

No need to get your panties in a twist about it though, it's just not fair unless you're willing to take on every other 'my frst gaem' that someone for some reason thought was a good idea to upload with equal fervor. :p

Anyway, if this had just been another one of those games I wouldn't have bothered bringing it up in the first place. This one is different and that's what interests me. After I played for about two minutes in it was clear that this wasn't just another case of a clueless newbie bashing on a keyboard for five minutes, uploading the results and calling it a game; in this situation the author clearly put a lot of work into the game as a whole, but for some reason simply didn't realize/didn't care about horrible spelling, punctuation, etc. and probably has no idea it's such a deal-breaker for most of the community.

I know this may come as shock to you guys, and I don't like it either, but there are plenty of other people* (some who post on this very forum) that don't care about that stuff either, so I highly doubt Shadowpeak is some kind of elaborate prank or deliberate attack on the integrity of interactive fiction or whatever.

I used to read a lot of bad fanfic so I guess it's possible that my brain might have developed more more advanced filters for this sort of thing than most of you have in order to defend itself, but I still say that there's an interesting and unique game in there somewhere. It's the style of it that attracts me more than anything else; as I said, no one writes like this anymore. It's like the author is oblivious to anything written in the last 15 years or so, and after wading through certain IFComp entries and a thread on RAIF I have to say it's refreshing to see something that's not trying to be anything other than a text adventure in the purest sense...to me, whether or not the sloppy presentation proves to be insurmountable hindrance to enjoyment is almost besides the point.

*For reference, see: 50% of the games on the Adventure page.
Also: the internet.

Post by **alsnpk** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 10:09 pm

I had a brief look at it, and it seems very ambitious, and cool, although I agree that it's hard to get past the grammar side of things.

I emailed the author to see if he's interested in having me proofread it.

Post by **alsnpk** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 10:27 pm

Lumin wrote:If nothing else I might be able to convince him to let me help with the spelling and punctuation problems. I actually love editing people's work.

So now he has two of us bugging him to see if he'll let us polish up the grammar.

Lumin, you and I should join forces as a proofreading team for editing this and other games. I don't know what that would mean exactly, but doesn't it sound awesome? Soon no games would be left unpolished in the wake of our incredible editing-ness...

Edited By alsnpk on 1223760591

ringzano · Post by **ringzano** » Thu Oct 16, 2008 10:23 pm

Hello there this is my first post on the forum and thank you for your comments on the game, everything you have all said about it is right.
It is my 1st attempt and I am very sorry about the spelling and grammar but there are 2 reasons for this, 1 im not very good at spelling and grammar and never was. Im more at home laying bricks for a living than wrighting text adventures and 2 I really didnt think many people would be interested, I just posted it on an off chance that someone else would play it.
I originally written it for my friends to play when I was younger and only just updated it for adrift.
The adventure itself can be completed if you can be bothered with it.
As for it being the first thing a newcomer will see when they come onto the Adventures Page...
Im sorry for any trouble ive caused.
Im up for any help that you guys can offer and have already replied to somebody about the proof reading.
I just really enjoyed creating it even if it is raggy around the edges.
Cheers
kev
Ps no doubt theres a few spelling mistakes here too

ringzano · Post by **ringzano** » Thu Oct 16, 2008 10:36 pm

Ps ps As for the large font I made it big because my lady friend has bad eye sight and thought it would be easier for her to read

not that she ever did lol

Post by **Dan Blazquez** » Sat Nov 08, 2008 12:25 am

Don't worry ringzano... a laudable first effort, especially in terms of scope. Many of us are unable to make a game of that size, let alone make a perfect one! Keep at it!

ringzano · Post by **ringzano** » Tue Nov 18, 2008 10:53 pm

Cheers dan.
Im at it already

ringzano · Post by **ringzano** » Fri Jul 17, 2009 10:19 pm

Hi there. I have recently had shadowpeak proof read and fixed by the fantastic abbi.
However for some reason the website will not let me upload it.
Any suggestions.
It sent me to an error page saying this.

System Error
Upload not processed because of the following error:

Cannot create file: /var/www/htdocs/ftp/games/taf - error may be temporary

on submission: Shadowpeak_!fixed version_!.taf

Back

Post by **Lumin** » Fri Jul 17, 2009 11:12 pm

The only thing I can think of off the top of my head is maybe it doesn't like the exclamation points in the file name? Or maybe it is just a temporary problem with the site...sorry, wish I could be of more help, but you're probably going to have to wait for either Campbell or KF to read this.

Mainly I just wanted to say that I'm glad to hear you're rereleasing this! Congrats to both you and abby.

I know going over a game that size with a fine toothed comb is no easy task, and actually going back and making major edits to one you've already finished takes dedication too...I still haven't even gotten around to fixing the bugs in my little SummerComp game I wrote ages ago.

Anyway, I've got a little IF time set aside this weekend (though openly stating that probably means something will come up to take it away grumble grumble...) and I look forward to giving the new version a try once you get the upload problem figured out!

Edited By Lumin on 1247868845

ringzano · Post by **ringzano** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 9:57 pm

Cheers Lumin altho i still avent managed to upload it.
removed exlcamation marks etc and still its a no go.
the same error time and again booooo!

Duncan_B · Post by **Duncan_B** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:13 pm

Maybe you should ask Campbell about it.