Games with non-standard directions - an IFDB Poll
by Andrew Schultz
RSS FeedI'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...  Vote for this game | |
| 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. Vote for this game | |
| Hunter, in Darkness, by Andrew Plotkin 2 votes "Forward, Back, Left, Right" [+]"Forward, Back, Left, Right" ( ) --Floating Info... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Sobol... Vote for this game | |
| 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. Vote for this game | |
| NEST, by Ryan Veeder 2 votes (No comment) [+](No comment) ( ) --Sobol... (No comment) [+](No comment) ( - Full review) --Denk... Vote for this game | |
| Ether, by MathBrush 2 votes (No comment) [+](No comment) ( ) --Sobol... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Denk... Vote for this game | |
| Dead Like Ants, by C.E.J. Pacian 2 votes "Uses WIDDERSHINS and SUNWISE" [+]"Uses WIDDERSHINS and SUNWISE" ( ) --Mr. Patient... "Cylindrical..." [+]"Cylindrical coordinates." () --Sobol... Vote for this game | |
| 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... Vote for this game | |
| 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... Vote for this game | |
| 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... Vote for this game | |
| 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. Vote for this game | |
| Midnight. Swordfight., by Chandler Groover 1 vote (No comment) [+](No comment) ( ) --Sobol... Vote for this game | |
| 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... Vote for this game | |
| 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... Vote for this game | |
| 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... Vote for this game | |
| Killing Machine Loves Slime Prince, by C.E.J. Pacian 1 vote (No comment) [+](No comment) ( ) --Sobol... Vote for this game | |
| 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... Vote for this game | |
| 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. Vote for this game | |
| 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... Vote for this game | |
| 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... Vote for this game | |