Reading a non-fiction book and knowing things about the author that haven’t happened yet is an interesting experience. The Making of Karateka is a collection of hand-written journals captured by Jordan Mechner that span from 1982-1985. The first few entries set the scene of Mechner’s life. In the beginning of the journal, Mechner is a […]
We’re counting down the 50 greatest games of the decade, 2010-2019. Previous entries: Honorable Mentions: Part One Entries #50 – 40 Entries #39 – 30 Below are #29 through #21. #29 – POKEMON GO by Nintendo, 2016 Available on your phone in the app store. This was a phenomenon. I attribute all the thinking a […]
We’re counting down the 50 best games of the decade, as tallied by the readers and posters of the Caltrops forum over the last ten years. Honorable Mentions: Part One Entries #50 – 40 #39 – THAUMISTRY: IN CHARM’S WAY by Bob Bates (2017) Steam Link Bob Bates made two games under the Infocom label […]
Everyone knows the story about the boy who wants to be a wizard. At first, he leads a lackluster existence, living with uncaring caretakers and sleeping in barely-habitable quarters. His circumstances vastly improve when he makes his way to a school for blossoming spellcasters, where all the teachers have funny names and the students […]
Hey there, I’m famous. To put it in terms more palatable to the audience of this site, I’m as famous as Erik Wolpaw was when he wrote that he was as famous as John Stamos. And, to clarify, I’m as famous as Erik was then, not now, after he made two of the greatest things […]
I don’t find myself regularly in a lot of exotic cities, so my list of what they smell like is going to be meager and unimpressive. That’s fine, because we were all going to think less of me when this article is over anyway. Denver smells like dust. Rochester smells like a fish fry. Vegas […]
Children’s interactive fiction is not precisely a neglected genre — Adventure was first written for Will Crowther’s children — but most modern IF is by adults, for their peers. There are plenty of games that are suitable for children, but quality games written for them can readily be counted without taking one’s shoes off. There’s […]
A little background: back in 1997 Mark Ryan released a short game called The Incredible Erotic Adventures of Stiffy Makane. It was possibly meant as wankfodder plus juvenile humour, along the lines of early adult interactive fiction like Softporn Adventure or its descendant Leisure Suit Larry, but was pretty cack-handed even by those standards: >touch […]
The Caltrops Forum