Games with non-standard directions - an IFDB Poll

by Andrew Schultz
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I'm wondering about games (primarily parser) with weird directions beyond NW/SW/SE/NE, up, down or inside/outside. I like the example in the Inform docs (Charles S. Roberts) about hexagonal directions but have no clue how to go about making a game like that, or even one with widdershins/turnwise/hubwards/rimwards as also in the Inform docs. I'd sort of like to.

Whether or not the directions are critical to the plot isn't important. I'm just wondering how people -do- something beyond the usual. It may just be UN (up-north) or something, on a cube.

Note: port/starboard on a ship don't "really" count, though they're still kind of interesting.

The only game that occurred to me off-hand was Hoist Sail for the Heliopause and Home. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

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Three-Card Trick, by Chandler Groover
2 votes
"IN and OUT are..." [+]"IN and OUT are used in a rather non-standard way." () --Sobol... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Denk...

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Castle of the Red Prince, by C.E.J. Pacian
2 votes
"Virtually every..." [+]"Virtually every of Pacian's games counts I suppose, but this is the first that comes to mind" --Sdn... (No comment) [+](No comment) ( - Full review) --Harry Coburn...

Andrew Schultz says: Thanks! I'd forgotten about Rogue of the Multiverse, too. While I was looking for something a bit more exotic than forward/left/back/right, I'm glad I didn't specifically exclude that, as it's resulted in some interesting suggestions.

I think it's still good to see how handling them gives a different feel from N/S/E/W.

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Hunter, in Darkness, by Andrew Plotkin
2 votes
"Forward, Back, Left, Right" [+]"Forward, Back, Left, Right" () --Floating Info... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Sobol...

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The Colour of Magic, by Judith Child, Fergus McNeill, and Colin Buckett
2 votes
"HUBWARD, RIMWARD,..." [+]"HUBWARD, RIMWARD, TURNWISE, WIDDERSHINS." --Sobol... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Denk...

Andrew Schultz says: Oh man. Another excuse to pull out a Spectrum emulator.

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NEST, by Ryan Veeder
2 votes
(No comment) [+](No comment) () --Sobol... (No comment) [+](No comment) ( - Full review) --Denk...

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Ether, by MathBrush
2 votes
(No comment) [+](No comment) () --Sobol... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Denk...

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Dead Like Ants, by C.E.J. Pacian
2 votes
"Uses WIDDERSHINS and SUNWISE" [+]"Uses WIDDERSHINS and SUNWISE" () --Mr. Patient... "Cylindrical..." [+]"Cylindrical coordinates." () --Sobol...

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Gun Mute, by C.E.J. Pacian
2 votes
"There are only..." [+]"There are only two directions: FORWARDS, closer to the goal, and BACKWARDS, away from it. Very appropriate to this game; gives you a sense of Mute's determination." () --Sobol... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Chris Longhurst...

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Hoist Sail for the Heliopause and Home, by Andrew Plotkin
2 votes
"Deals well with space directions" [+]"Deals well with space directions" () --Andrew Schultz... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Sobol...

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El extraño caso de Randolph Dwight, by El Clérigo Urbatain
1 vote
"A Spanish game...." [+]"A Spanish game. Prepositions are important. You need to APPROACH and MOVE AWAY FROM objects, and do so very, very carefully." () --IFforL2...

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Home Sweetie-Bot Home, by Jacques Frechet
1 vote
"Directional Facing" [+]"Directional Facing: Within locations, you can rotate left and right to see different things." () --Joey Jones...

Andrew Schultz says: Good one! I forgot about this. It's rather fun, too, and I love the fixed-width font for the retro effect.

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Midnight. Swordfight., by Chandler Groover
1 vote
(No comment) [+](No comment) () --Sobol...

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The Twelve Heads of St. John the Baptist, by Jake Wildstrom
1 vote
"Very non-standard..." [+]"Very non-standard directions are used in one room." () --Sobol...

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The Compass Rose, by Yoon Ha Lee and Peter Berman
1 vote
"Pretty much the definition of non-standard directions" [+]"Pretty much the definition of non-standard directions" () --Chris Longhurst...

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Pick Up The Phone Booth And Die, by Rob Noyes
1 vote
"Not having directions is non-standard" [+]"Not having directions is non-standard: There's nowhere to go. Just don't pick up that phone booth." --mjhayes...

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Killing Machine Loves Slime Prince, by C.E.J. Pacian
1 vote
(No comment) [+](No comment) () --Sobol...

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Today is the Same as Any Other, by Adam Wasserman
1 vote
"Use of..." [+]"Use of Inward/Outward and Left/Right. Took a while to get used to." () --Kinetic Mouse Car...

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Groove Billygoat, by Hanon Ondricek (as Efrain Finnell)
1 vote
"The dance sequence" [+]"The dance sequence: Although hopefully not initially apparent to the player, all the steps in the dance number are defined as new directions, and navigating the dance is actually a maze into the northeast corner of the club. " --Hanon Ondricek...

Andrew Schultz says: Oops! I forgot this, and I tested it too! While I was mainly looking for something with directions that moved between rooms, this works too & probably helped start me wondering about odd directions.

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ASCII and the Argonauts: Astral Plane, by Anonymous
1 vote
"The PC moves..." [+]"The PC moves through the game world the way a cursor moves through a text in a text editor." ( - Full review) --Sobol...

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A Stop For The Night, by Joe Mason
1 vote
"Not your normal compass directions..." [+]"Not your normal compass directions...: It uses directions such as left and right, going directly to a room (typing forest), and moving into doors." --BlitzWithGuns...

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Poll created on December 28, 2014