Metatextual Conceits

Recommendations by Michael Martin (Mountain View, California)

Most works of IF present themselves as works of IF, to be interacted with by you, the user, much as a reader would read a novel. These games play with or reject this, by presenting themselves as some other kind of artifact, or by otherwise behaving as if they are from some alternate timeline.

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1. The Gostak
by Carl Muckenhoupt
(2001)
Average member rating: (92 ratings)

Michael Martin says:

Clearly not of this Earth, but the evolution of IF libraries was uncannily similar.

2. Deadline Enchanter
by Alan DeNiro
(2007)
Average member rating: (57 ratings)

Michael Martin says:

The "you" the purported author addresses in the ABOUT text is decidedly not the player.

3. A New Day, by Jonathan Fry (1997)
Average member rating: (6 ratings)
Michael Martin says:

The game pretends to be incomplete - discovering the circumstances as to why drives the plot.

4. Cheater, by Wesley Osam (1996)
Average member rating: (9 ratings)
Michael Martin says:

Explaining in detail would spoil its only puzzle.

5. IF Quake, by Jason Bergman (2004)
Average member rating: (3 ratings)
Michael Martin says:

Very faithfully pretends to be reading information from an actual Quake install.

6. Treasures of a Slaver's Kingdom
by S. John Ross
(2007)
Average member rating: (48 ratings)

Michael Martin says:

Much like the tabletop RPG system it purports to be an adaptation of, it presents itself as a faithful reconstruction of a work from a nonexistent past.

7. Ugly Chapter
by Sam Kabo Ashwell
(2003)
Average member rating: (12 ratings)

Michael Martin says:

A Speed-IF written on the prompt "An Interactive Suicide Note" - the intended recipient is in-fiction, and, in fact, a fairly prominent NPC.

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