<!--
	Title: Boot Your Books
	Abstract: As text adventures grow more popular, fans are
		asking each other, "Boot up any good books lately?"
	Author: Bruce Chadwick
	Source: K-Power, v1(5)
	Date: June 1984
	Transcription by Steve Derby
-->

<img class="float-right-half" src="/public/img/articles/k-power-boot-your-books/title-splash.jpg" alt="Boot Your Books title page">

Reading a book is usually kind of a one-way affair.
You sit and read as the characters and plots
unfold around you. But what would you think of a
novel where it's you, and not Miss Marple or Tom
Swift or Ellery Queen, who has to get to the bottom
of things?

That's what interactive fiction is all about. Text
adventures are computer books — screenloads of
words linked together to form a personal fantasy —
that are part book, part game. There are few visuals
in this kind of fiction; it's up to your imagination
to supply the pictures.

<h2 style="color: red;">THE INTERACTION FACTOR</h2>

What distinguishes these adventures from books
is the interaction factor. You're thrown into the
position of a detective whose task is to get to the
bottom of a rich woman's apparent suicide. Or, you're a
young scientist trying to save an undersea research
station from some mysterious and deadly force. The
decisions are yours. It's your neck on the line. No
more sitting back and leafing through the action.

That's what makes computer books such a hit,
according to Michael Berlyn, one of the game designers
at the leading text game company, Infocom.
"You're thrust into the middle of an action novel
unfolding all around you, and you determine what
happens next. It's like jumping into the middle of a
book," Berlyn says.

"Whatever you decide to do is what happens
next," explains Marc Blank, a doctor-turned-designer
at Infocom. "In regular books, the plot is
predetermined and you just read along. Here, you make
everything go."

There are more companies making adventures
with graphics than not, but the army of book lovers
at Infocom sneer at graphics in computer games.
They churn out words, instead, on a huge, $750,000
mainframe computer.

Infocom's been putting out all-text adventures
since 1979. With more than 11 titles in their library
for all the major computer brands, they're
confirmed leaders in the field. Infocom releases —
like *Zork*, *Deadline*, *Infidel*, and *Suspended* —
regularly top the best-seller charts.

<h2 style="color: red;">COMPUTERIZED NOVELS</h2>

The latest twist in interactive fiction is text
games based on books or book characters, and using
well-known book authors as consulting designers or
writers. Stratemeyer Syndicate, for instance, is
exploring the possibility of turning Nancy Drew and
her adventures into an interactive text game. And
publisher Simon & Schuster reportedly has signed
up author Douglas Adams to work on a computerized
version of his popular book *Hitchhiker's Guide
to the Galaxy*. This text game will be distributed via
bookstores in December.

Infocom's already on this bandwagon. Slated for
release this summer is *Seastalker*, interactive
fiction for the tenderfoot. To help create *Seastalker*,
Infocom brought in Jim Lawrence, who has a lot of
experience as a storyteller. In fact, he wrote a
number of the Tom Swift Jr. and Hardy Boys books
back in the '50s and '60s.

Stu Galley, *Seastalker*'s game designer, says the
collaboration worked well. "This is an original story
Jim created for us. He gave us a sample run-through
with side trips here and there. I expanded
and went with it. He's very good at adventures.
They're just a different way of telling stories."

<h2 style="color: red;">SNEAK PREVIEW</h2>

Galley gave K-POWER a sneak preview of some of
the action in *Seastalker*. "You play the part of a
famous young inventor," Stu said. "You're in your
lab, working on your latest invention, when you get
an emergency call from an undersea research station,
the Aquadome. You have to take your submarine
and solve puzzles, traveling through the
shoals, going deep into the ocean." You have to
reach the Aquadome and discover and destroy
what's threatening the research station.

Galley, whose credits include the mystery adventure
*The Witness*, says that *Seastalker*'s puzzles are a
bit easier to solve than the other Infocom games.
Plus, along with all the typical Infocom trappings,
there'll be an Infocard that contains hidden clues to
rescuing the troubled Aquadome. Here's a glimpse
of one part of the story. (K-POWER got it in pre-production,
so the final version may be different.)
You've been alerted that the Aquadome's in danger.
You manage to power up your sub and take off into
the sea. You're about midway to your destination. ...

<p class="small-caps">
the ocean has been getting darker as you
dive toward the aquadome, turning from blue
green to dark green to a dull gray green. it's
becoming duskier and murkier with every minute.
a yellow cone of light now illumines the
water ahead. the submarine's search light was
automatically switched on by an electric eye,
now that you're too deep for the sun to light
the water. colorful sea life swims through the
beam. tim exclaims, "hey, there's a blip on the
sonarscope at 3 o'clock. aim the searchlight to
starboard."
</p>

It doesn't take big brains to figure out what to
type into the computer:

<p class="small-caps">aim light to starboard</p>

The computer responds:

<p class="small-caps">
an enormous whale can be seen lolling comfortably
in the deep. obviously, this is what's been
making those noises over the hydraphone. ...
</p>

<h2 style="color: red;">BRIDGING THE GAP</h2>

Infocom's "books," such as *Seastalker*, are so
inviting because they understand your instructions.
You can tell the computer to interrogate a witness,
cast a spell, and so on. In response to commands
such as KICK DOOR, the computer will tell you, DOOR
OPENS TO REVEAL ROOM WITH TABLE AND VASE FULL
OF DEAD FLOWERS, or, YOU STUB YOUR TOE.

Early text adventures had a communication gap
between the computer and the user. The computer
would respond only to the most basic commands,
such as GO NORTH.

Thanks to a special program within a program
called a "parser," you can type in complex sentences
like, WAVE YOUR ARMS AT THE AIRPLANE AND TRY TO
CATCH THE PACKAGE IN THE PARACHUTE. Instead of
giving you an, I DON'T UNDERSTAND, the computer
will be able to simplify your sentence to fit the
program's vocabulary. It's sort of like a translator that
bridges the communication gap between you and
your machine.

So far, most computer books have been fairly
tough going for newcomers. If you want to get a
taste for the puzzle-solving and logic they demand,
you have to start with simpler games. Those games
use lots of graphics, at the expense of vivid
descriptions or a more involved plot. Well, Infocom's
finally realized that not everyone can dive right into a
*Deadline* or an *Enchanter*. That's why they've created
*Seastalker*. They also have plans for other "junior-level"
games, which have an even more sophisticated
parser able to understand a variety of
mixed-up sentences the beginner might input, Stu
Galley says.

<h2 style="color: red;">INTERACTIVE OVERVIEW</h2>

The interactive storytellers at Infocom are not
alone. Pacific Infotech, a California company, has
unveiled a mostly text adventure called *Heroism In
The Modern Age*.

As more authors get in on the fun, and classics
like the Hardy Boys are considered for the programmer's
flowchart, who knows? Maybe someday you'll
be able to save yourself and your ship in *Moby Dick*
by typing in a command such as, TELL CAPTAIN
AHAB TO LEAVE THE WHITE WHALE ALONE.

BRUCE CHADWICK *has written about computer games
for New York's Daily News and several national
magazines.*

<div class="article-sidebar-box" style="background: lightyellow;">

<h2 class="center" style="color: red;">COMPUTER fiction DISCOGRAPHY</h2>

<div style="columns: 2;">

***Deadline*** (Infocom) — Solve a murder mystery in
volving a big industrialist, his suspect wife, the
oddball son, and those mysterious ladder prints
in the garden. $49.95

***Enchanter*** (Infocom) — Use cunning, savvy, and
spells to enter the Wizard's lair in this fantasy
adventure. $49.95

***Heroism In The Modern Age*** (Pacific Infotech) —
Rescue Orlando, Florida, from political
terrorists who threaten to blow up the city unless
their demands are met. $58.95

***Infidel*** (Infocom) — Search through the bowels of
a cursed pyramid in search of a long-dead Egyptian
Pharaoh's tomb. $49.95

***Planetfall*** (Infocom) — As a stand-up comic
ensign who has survived the explosion of your
spaceship, you wind up traipsing around a kingdom
of mutants with a difficult 'droid named
Floyd. $49.95

***Seastalker*** (Infocom) — As a young inventor you
are called upon to rescue the besieged under
ground research station and combat its enemies.
(First of Infocom's junior-level series.) $39.95

***Sorcerer*** (Infocom) — Another thriller, the sequel
to Enchanter, in which you search for the Wizard
Belboz. $49.95

***Starcross*** (Infocom) — Take off in search of the
mysteries of space in a science-fiction adventure
set centuries into the future. $39.95

***Suspended*** (Infocom) — Wake up from a deep,
scientifically induced sleep and control six
independent robots who represent the various senses
you need to survive. $49.95

***The Witness*** (Infocom) — Get to the bottom of a
fishy suicide in a mystery of jealousy involving a
slippery manservant, a wild daughter, and a curious
book of matches. $49.95

***Zork I, II, III*** (Infocom) — Take on assorted
villains, wizards, and hobgoblins inhabiting a
bizarre, underground kingdom. $39.95 each

</div>

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