IFComp has started, and my game, Phobos: A Galaxy Jones Story is part of it! Check out all the games at IFComp.org!

Spotted in Harrisonburg, VA: two unmarked black pickups pulling someone over. Couldn't get a good look at the driver of any of the three vehicles. A minute or so later, a black helicopter flew overhead. What's going on here?

I found the most obscure bug in the world. The version of Leather Goddesses of Phobos packaged in the Infocom Sampler refers to Tiffany as "him". I'll be mailing them a bug report as soon as I find an envelope and a stamp.

If you see this, quote this post with a title screen that’s iconic to you.

This is a few days late, but I've posted my entry for ifcomp.org: Phobos: A Galaxy Jones Story. Can't wait for September 1!

Finished The Lurking Horror with just one tiny tiny hint. Best Infocom maze ever. Just a good game all-around.

Sooo close I can feel it. Definitely an endgame feel now. I don't usually finish Infocom games without hints (read: never), so I'm excited I'm this close now.

And then I ran smack into those dreaded words (why, Infocom, why?):

Postponing Bureaucracy in favor of The Lurking Horror for now. A good way into it, and it’s pretty fun, if somewhat easy. ifdb.org/viewgame?id=...

On to Bureaucracy. Just a little ways into it, and frankly it's kind of boring. There's only one joke, and it's kind of tired. But I *will get through it*. ifdb.org/viewgame?id=...

I got bored and went to the Invisiclues. Two of the puzzles were reasonable, one was IMHO not. The ending is kind of silly. All in all, it was *fine*, but there's something distinctly unsatisfying about a treasure hunt where the treasures aren't useful for anything.

In distressing news, I'm at 7/10 treasures in Hollywood Hijinx with no idea what to do next. Time is running out! Doesn't everyone love a good timer?

Played through as much Moonmist as I could stand. The game is really poorly structured, and it's unclear even what the objective is. Which is too bad, because the setting and background are so promising. ifdb.org/viewgame?id=...

Just completed Leather Goddesses of Phobos. I gotta say, I’m not as enamored of the absurdist games like LGOP and HHGG as some people are. Still a good game. ifdb.org/viewgame?id=...

Wishing I had a game in Spring Thing. #interactivefiction #springthing #textadventures

Working with the Inform codebase can be frustrating, as it sometimes seems to purposely flout existing convention. Or maybe Graham Nelson doesn’t know/care? #inform7 #interactivefiction

Yay! Also I made the source code for Bureau of Strange Happenings public on GitHub: github.com/rileypb/BOSH

I've put a pause on the Infocom for the moment, as I polish up my entry to the NarraScope Showcase (narrascope.org), and also work on my *secret project*.

It occurs to me that all three of my published games feature a screwdriver. I pledge to you: no more screwdrivers!

Finished Trinity. So good in so many ways, but it suffers from what so many Infocom games suffer from -- the need to perform certain actions in a certain order that can't readily be inferred beforehand.

I am currently playing an IF in which I cannot find a screwdriver. Karma. #interactivefiction #IF

Yes, Sauron needs only this Ring to cover all the lands of a second darkness. He is seeking it, seeking it—all his thought is bent on it We could fight Sauron, keep the Ring from him, destroy it Or—hear me out—we give the Ring to Sauron and watch his approval rating tank. Much easier. Less walking

Amy Schumer would do a better job as Senator from NY.

Everybody has a plan until a cat falls asleep in their lap

I have so many questions about atmospheric pressure and infinite bags of holding.

If Canada became the 51st state (more than likely multiple states), the Democrats would never lose another Presidential election.

Sort of playing both Ballyhoo and Trinity right now. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity... But both of those have taken a backseat to writing “Galaxy Jones Reborn”. It’s going to be so much better than the original.

Did you know? By replacing your coffee with green tea, you can lose up to 92% of what little joy you still have left in your life.

As a text adventure aficionado and author, I am excited to try this out, whenever I actually get some time!

Finally getting a bit of work done on my WIP -- a reworking of Galaxy Jones (ifdb.org/viewgame?id=...). Once I hoped to have it done for Spring Thing, but that ship has long since sailed. Since it won't be eligible for ParserComp or IFComp, I guess I'll just launch it alone when it's done. 😭

My son just asked who “Rundy MC” is 😩

This guy’s in aerospace?

Let's see what our media friends are saying today.

Let's see what our media friends are saying today.

Let's see what our media friends are saying today.

Let's see what our media friends are saying today.

Let's see what our media friends are saying today.

Let's see what our media friends are saying today.

Let's see what our media friends are saying today.

Let's see what our media friends are saying today.

Let's see what our media friends are saying today.

A periodic comparison of headlines from CNN, MSNBC, New York Times, and Fox News.

A periodic comparison of headlines from CNN, MSNBC, New York Times, and Fox News.

Working on an app that compares different news sources' headlines. Here's what I've got so far:

1000000000000066600000000000001 is a prime number…it is also a palindrome. It’s called ‘Belphegor's prime.’ ‘Belphegor’ refers to one of the Seven Princes of Hell (due to the ‘666’ in the middle & the 13 zeroes on either side). So that’s cute.

RFK Jr. thinks that a clinical trial should be done for the entire childhood vaccine schedule. Here’s why that will never happen. 1. You can’t do a randomized trial of something that we already know is safe and effective. There would have to be a placebo group that didn’t get vaxxed. Unethical.

Done with Spellbreaker. I’m not as enamored with it as many people are. There are many unintuitive leaps of logic, which made me reach for the hints often. OTOH the puzzles are very clever, far beyond the typical find key open lock pattern.

So?

If you think AI gets it wrong, try talking to a person.

I think enough time has passed that we can safely say that the A-Team should never have gotten rid of Amy Allen.