From Page to Screen - WRAP: Warwick Research Archive Portal ...

After an initial description of the scene the computer will prompt readers for input
? enter building [player's input in italics]
You are inside a building, a well house for a large spring.
There are some keys on the ground here.
There is a shiny brass lamp nearby.
There is food here.
There is a bottle of water here.
? take keys
Ok.
? leave
You are standing at the end of a road before a small brick building. Around you is a
forest. A small stream flows out of the building and down a gully.
? downstream
You are in a valley in the forest beside a stream tumbling along a rocky bed.
? downstream
At your feet all the water of the stream splashes into a 2-inch slit in the
rock. Downstream the streambed is bare rock.
? downstream
You are in a 20-foot depression floored with bare dirt. Set into the dirt is a strong
steel grate mounted in concrete. A dry streambed leads into the
depression.
The grate is locked.
? keys
What do you want me to do with the keys?
? open grate
The grate is now unlocked.
Failing to explore the building and to pick up the keys results in the following variant of
the game.
[...I
You are standing at the end of a road before a small brick building. Around
you is a forest. A small stream flows out of the building and down a gully.
? downstream
You are in a valley in the forest beside a stream tumbling along a rocky bed.
? downstream
At your feet all the water of the stream splashes into a 2-inch slit in the
rock. Downstream the streambed is bare rock.
? downstream
You are in a 20-foot depression floored with bare dirt. Set into the dirt is
a strong steel grate mounted in concrete. A dry streambed leads into the
depression.
The grate is locked.
? open grate
You have no keys!
Despite the term 'interactive novel' or 'interactive fiction', this genre ofcomputer writing
lays relatively little claim to being a literary experiment, stressing the element of
immersion and participation rather more than the element of distance and reflection
generally associated with innovative forms ofwriting.
Chapter 3 -page 105