Lifestream (Storycentric Worlds) is not parser-based, and I haven't had a chance yet to play it either. So if you're interested in supporting parser IF, or curious about what goes on in that space, or want something really substantial to play over your holiday, that might be worth a look. But the reviews from the people who did finish the game are enthusiastic.
I am ashamed to admit I still haven't finished the whole game because I wound up restarting the intro several times and there's also quite a lot of introductory tutorial material to read through before you can really get rolling. Worldsmith is a big, ambitious game: it starts out with a non-trivial simulation portion that is essentially a god-game in text, and that's just the scene-setting introduction. In spite of all that, 2016's output was non-zero: Interactive Fables came out with Worldsmith, an Inform game with a custom interface layer that adds new graphical features. Also, many of the toolsets for creating IF aren't especially designed to make custom UIs easy. It's out there.Ĭommercial parser IF is much rarer, because it tends to involve substantially more work to produce while reaching for a significantly smaller audience. The variety of new IF on mobile platforms is even more vibrant, but of course we are not allowed to talk about that here. Normally I'd leave this point for the disclaimer, but that's a sufficiently major disclosure I feel like I should put it where it won't be missed.) (I have done some work for both of these companies. But here are a few highlights of the year past.Ĭhoice-based commercial IF has been quietly thriving for years now: Choice of Games steadily commissions new interactive novels, and Failbetter Games continues to develop new storylines for Fallen London. I'm not going to do a top-ten list - both because a lot of the games I might put on this list are things I've already covered elsewhere in previous columns, and because I think some of the most interesting things to happen in 2016 were about trends rather than single hits. We have, at last, reached the end of 2016.