Interactive Fiction

DREAMHOLD

Today you are going to play the Dreamhold, a type of computer game that is called Interactive Fiction.

Playing Interactive Fiction is like reading a story where you have to type commands for the story to go forward.

The Dreamhold is designed for people who've never played an interactive fiction game before.

In the Dreamhold, your purpose is to explore a wizard's castle and solve some puzzles you find in there.

The most important thing to remember is to type "help hint" whenever you are stuck.

Here are the basic things you need to know.

Here's a handy reference card:

Here are some maps for the game:

When you finish with The Dreamhold, move on to Hunter, In Darkness. This is a harder game, more reminiscent of Zork, which is the classic dungeon interactive game.

Hunter, In Darkness

An interactive cave crawl.

This game is a tribute to certain early computer games. But if I said which ones, it would be a spoiler. So I won’t.

Play Hunter, in Darkness if you’re in the mood for a tense and harrowing chase in a claustrophobic cavern setting. You will be hurt; you may be killed. “Undo” and keep trying. The struggle is survivable.

(One helpful note: This game does not use the usual “north”, “south”, “east”, “west” compass directions. Try “ahead”, “back”, “left”, “right”, “up”, or “down”. You can also “enter” a particular passage.)

(Despite this disorientation, no serious mapping is necessary, or even useful, in playing this game. If you think you need to start drawing a map, you have misunderstood.)

INFOCOM

In order to play these games you will first need to download a program called Zoom, which you need to use to open the game.

Here are the hints for all games.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

• Game

• Map

• Hints (to find something specific, press ⌘-F and then type in a word related to your question)

Hollywood Hijinx

• Game

• Map

• Hints

• Manual