Newsgroups: rec.arts.int-fiction
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From: msphil@aardvark.cc.wm.edu (Michael S. Phillips)
Subject: Re: Current development
Message-ID: <1995Sep28.131523.11872@lamont.ldgo.columbia.edu>
Sender: msphil@gateway.lawlib.wm.edu (Michael S. Phillips)
Organization: Marshall-Wythe Law Library
References: <427d7s$puv@agate.berkeley.edu> <42teik$2us@bud.peinet.pe.ca> <baf.811207562@laraby.tiac.net> <DF46GL.41M@ansoft.com> <445qvk$60v@nic.lth.se> <1995Sep25.154729.2137@lamont.ldgo.columbia.edu> <44chac$b4g@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu>
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 1995 13:15:23 GMT
Lines: 46

In article <44chac$b4g@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu>, ptd2@po.CWRU.Edu (Palmer T. Davis) writes:
|> 
|> In a previous article, msphil@aardvark.cc.wm.edu (Michael S. Phillips) says:
|> >
|> >The important part of participating in the contest, however, was that 
|> >it reminded me of what fun IF is, and it has caused me to embark on a 
|> >much longer, and probably better long-term project.  I don't want to 
|> >contribute to the vapor, so I won't say much about it.
|> 
|> I don't know about anyone else, but part of the fun of r.a.i-f for
|> me is hearing about what everyone is working on; even speculative
|> vapor projects that never see the light of day can be interesting
|> sources of ideas.  If you don't mind my asking, what are you up
|> to?

Well, since you're curious and asked politely (but you left out the MAGIC 
WORD, um ,XYZ...., no, please, yeah, that's it, but I'll ignore it for 
now :-) ), here's a small tidbit of information.

The game is *tentatively* titled "DJINN!", and it takes place in an Arabian
Nights-ish setting.  The grandfather of the main character had imprisoned a
Djinni a long time ago, and it was released in the night (amid a great
fanfare and lots of fireworks).  The task, then, is to fulfill the familial
obligation (as the last of the line) and re-capture the Djinni, armed only
with enough food and water to get to the nearest city, the broken Seal which
had imprisoned the Djinni, and the journal of Grand-dad, a magickal journal
to which there is no real index).  The closest thing to a 'gimmick' I have
come up with for it is an attempt to capture the flavor of the Arabian Nights
(including slightly archaic language), and some fun side trips into legendary
places such as the City of Brass.

No release date as of yet (I'm going to take a leaf from id Software's page
and say "When it's ready"), although the introduction is shaping up quite
nicely so far.  Most of the beginning is coded, it's just missing some pretty
descriptions and nice touches, but the rest of it is still only on paper.

A second project is a re-release of Library, which will include several
enhancements (about half of which were suggested to me).  I anticipate
finishing up what I want to change around the end of October.....

There are some other really tiny rough sketches running around in my head,
but I'm not doing anything with them for a while yet  :-)

Toodles,

    Mike Phillips, msphil@aardvark.cc.wm.edu
