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edifice.z5
Requires a Z-Code interpreter. Visit IFWiki for download links.
edifice.z5
original competition entry
Requires a Z-Code interpreter. Visit IFWiki for download links.
edifice.rec
Walkthrough (with lots of extraneous commands)

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The Edifice

by Lucian P. Smith profile

Historical, Science Fiction
1997

About the Story

"Something new in your everyday hunter-gatherer routine: where did this strange edifice come from? Dare you enter and explore the secrets of this... thing, or do you try to face your enemies? Like you have a choice."
[--blurb from The Z-Files Catalogue]


Game Details

Off-Site Reviews

SPAG
Lucian Smith's "The Edifice" is one of the simplest games in the competition -- head games involving puzzling out what's going on are few -- but it also tells one of the most effective stories. (Well, okay, some of the entries don't have much of a story at all to tell, but that's different.) Edifice is an example of IF where desultory puzzles don't matter: it's the story, and the concept driving it, that counts, and this is one of the best game ideas this year's competition produced.
-- Duncan Stevens
See the full review

SynTax
While essentially a sort of low budget Quantum Leap affair Edifice is well written, intriguing and easy to get caught up in. It's hardly surprising then that it was placed first in the 1997 IF competition.
-- Nick Edmunds
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>INVENTORY - Paul O'Brian writes about interactive fiction

One section of the game in particular I found really remarkable. [PLOT SPOILERS AHEAD] On the second level of the edifice, you find yourself as a very early human, living in a family unit in the woods. Your son has a fever, and to cure him you must find the Feverleaf, which can be made into a healing tea. However, no Feverleaf seems to be available anywhere, until you stumble across a Stranger. Unsurprisingly, however, the Stranger does not speak your language, and so you are faced with a problem of communication. The game does an incredible job with simulating this situation. I was astonished at the level of realism which this character was able to achieve, and at the care that must clearly have gone into fashioning this interaction. I've rarely seen such a thorough and effective establishment of the illusion of interactivity. The Stranger did not of course respond to English words in understandable ways. However, you could point to objects, or speak words in the Stranger's language, and gradually the two of you could arrive at an understanding. It was an amazing feeling to be experiencing this kind of exchange in IF... I really felt like I was learning the Stranger's language. It will always remain one of the most memorable moments of this 1997 competition for me.
See the full review

Page Update History

  v.10: 07-Feb-2024 23:01 - JTN (Current Version) - Edit Page - Normal View
Changed author
v.9: 06-May-2022 00:25 - Paul O'Brian
Changed external review links
v.8: 22-Mar-2013 14:30 - Edward Lacey
Changed external review links
v.7: 16-Sep-2009 00:48 - Divide
Changed forgiveness
v.6: 29-Apr-2009 20:48 - Dave Chapeskie
Changed download links
v.5: 13-May-2008 15:54 - Paul O'Brian
Changed external review links
v.4: 25-Mar-2008 19:22 - Lucian Smith
Changed cover art
v.3: 24-Mar-2008 18:39 - Lucian Smith
Changed cover art
v.2: 01-Mar-2008 21:00 - David Welbourn
Changed description
v.1: 16-Oct-2007 01:47 - IFDB
Created page