The Lighthouse

The Lighthouse, submitted for the 2008 IF Competition, is probably the easiest IF game ever created.

The goal as stated in the introduction is to turn on the light in the lighthouse. Beyond the introduction there is very little description. All the places have names, but there is only the most cursory description of each room. Every object, when examined, returns the stock response, "There is nothing special about X."

Technically there were no flaws in the game. There was however, no challenge either. The old Infocom sampler offered more in the way of interaction.

Perhaps, as a previous reviewer surmised this was an exercise on the part of the authors who were trying to learn Inform. I hope this is the case. If the authors read this review, I would encourage them to continue creating IF after this first rather timid step.

You see nothing special about The Lighthouse.

What is this? A short exercise by people who are learning the inform language? If not, this is a hoax. A short, empty, hollow, meaningless adventure lasting no more than 20 actions, which steals away 5 minutes of your time in front of very brief descriptions and very few choices.
The setting? A two-rooms ligthouse. The goal? Turning on a lamp. The way to achieve it? (Spoiler - click to show)Open two doors, and push a button. How exciting.

Nothing more.
I couldn't imagine something less interesting. I don't know the score this game will get in IfComp08, but it doesn't matter. There is nothing here worth the worries. I don't dislike short and simple games, but this one doesn't even deserve the name of it.