Your favorite homebrew parser - an IFDB Poll
by MathBrush
RSS FeedHomebrew games don't get a lot of love here, but some of them are pretty good. What is your favorite homebrew game?
| The Xylophoniad, by Robin Johnson 3 votes (No comment) [+](No comment) ( ) --Denk... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Edo... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Kinetic Mouse Car...  Vote for this game | |
| Main Hall & Beginners Cave, by Donald Brown 2 votes "I'm cautious when..." [+]"I'm cautious when using the term 'homebrew parser', since it has a particular cultural meaning now - IE if you write your own new parser for a game today - but if you go back to the time of Infocom, then exclude Infocom, tons of commercial adventure games had their own parsers that weren't used more than once. They're all homebrew (by the modern meaning) in spirit, but does commerciality rule them out? Does being written by professional programmers or not being written at home rule them out? My favourite non-commercial homebrew parser is Eamon. It was used to make at least 250 games, evolved over a decade or so, combined 2-word parser control with RPG combat and overall modularity (you could reuse your character) and hackability (you could write your own adventures or edit others'). It starts out with the Main Hall (make a character) and Beginners Cave (fight a handful of simple monsters). Lots of version of the Main Hall came out over the years, including one with Ultima-like graphics, eventually." ( ) --Wade Clarke... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Denk... Vote for this game | |
| The Libonotus Cup, by Nils Fagerburg 2 votes "Fantastic piratey adventure" [+]"Fantastic piratey adventure: Smooth parser AND seamless transition to choice-based. Two great tastes." --Amanda Walker... "This author has quite a few of quality homebrew parser games." [+]"This author has quite a few of quality homebrew parser games." ( ) --Kinetic Mouse Car... Vote for this game | |
| Aunts and Butlers, by Robin Johnson 2 votes "Very Good, Jeeves" [+]"Very Good, Jeeves: The IF community is generally wary of home-brew parsers in the age of I7, but this Wodehousian comedy nevertheless managed to attain 16th place in the 2006 IF Comp and gain favourable reviews for its zany humour." --J. J. Guest... "Great humour" [+]"Great humour: Also simple with some nice artwork too" --Space Cowboy... Vote for this game | |
| The Curse of the Scarab, by Nils Fagerburg 2 votes "Best homebrew parser ever! " [+]"Best homebrew parser ever! : You can even undo as many times as you like right after having restored a saved position. Excellent game! " ( - Full review) --Denk... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Kinetic Mouse Car... Vote for this game | |
| Draculaland, by Robin Johnson 2 votes "point-and-click interface for verb-noun input" [+]"point-and-click interface for verb-noun input" ( - Full review) --jakomo... (No comment) [+](No comment) --CMG... Vote for this game | |
| Bradford Mansion, by Lenard Gunda 1 vote (No comment) [+](No comment) ( - Full review) --Denk... Vote for this game | |
| Second Story, by Fred Snyder 1 vote "I like the..." [+]"I like the appearance of the game because it has a trendy and unique look. It is not perfect but is still polished and easy to use. The setting is its strongest point, and it has an interesting story which makes it worth playing to the end." ( ) --Kinetic Mouse Car... Vote for this game | |
| Portcullis, by Robin Johnson 1 vote "works well" [+]"works well" ( ) --Denk... Vote for this game | |
| STARFLIGHT: A Cosmic Adventure, by Chris Lampton 1 vote (No comment) [+](No comment) ( ) --Denk... Vote for this game | |
| Survival, by E. H. Wilson 1 vote "I spent a large..." [+]"I spent a large part of my adolescence typing in and debugging text adventures from computer mags. This one was by far the best designed one. There was not a single bug in it, except those I typed myself. The story is linear and the parser is simple, but I nominate it for the category Cleanest Code Ever." ( ) --Fredrik... Vote for this game | |
| Happyland, by Rob Fitzel 1 vote "Murder mystery in a hotel/theme park." [+]"Murder mystery in a hotel/theme park." --Kinetic Mouse Car... Vote for this game | |
| I Think The Waves Are Watching Me, by Bob McCabe 1 vote (No comment) [+](No comment) ( ) --liz73... Vote for this game | |
| Lazy Wizard's Guide, by Lenard Gunda 1 vote "Accessible parser" [+]"Accessible parser: Conversations with characters are easy and let you click options. Important terms are highlighted and can be clicked." ( - Full review) --Lance Cirone... Vote for this game | |
| Tethered, by Linus Åkesson 1 vote "A proof of concept for Dialog" [+]"A proof of concept for Dialog" ( ) --Greg Frost... Vote for this game | |
| El Asesinato del Sr. García, by José Manuel Rosado 1 vote "Very reduced Spanish parser by Mesagames " [+]"Very reduced Spanish parser by Mesagames " ( ) --IFforL2... Vote for this game | |
| The Resident, by Mike DeSanto 1 vote "A menu system replaces the traditional parser" [+]"A menu system replaces the traditional parser: The game itself takes place in cyberspace in a future time, so having a non-traditional parser only makes it seem more real. It also eliminates the "guess the verb" woes common to standard parsers." ( - Full review) --mjhayes... Vote for this game | |
| Lunatix - The Insanity Circle, by Mike Snyder 1 vote "Great graphics/text effects" [+]"Great graphics/text effects: Nominated for an XYZZY best game." ( - Full review) --MathBrush... Vote for this game | |
| Humbug, by Graham Cluley 1 vote "The original crazy mansion" [+]"The original crazy mansion: I'm still in awe of this, now ancient, game by computer security expert Graham Cluley. It's perhaps the definitive version of the crazy mansion genre; enormous, unrelentingly odd, whimsical and very funny." --J. J. Guest... Vote for this game | |