A Change in the Weather

A Change in the Weather
Developer(s)Andrew Plotkin
Platform(s)Z-machine[1]
Release1995[1]
Genre(s)Interactive fiction

A Change in the Weather is a 1995 interactive fiction (IF) video game.

Developed by Andrew Plotkin, the game[2] is written in version five of the Inform programming language,[3] and compiled for the Z-machine,[1] a virtual machine that allows interactive fiction to be played on a variety of platforms.[4] On June 24, 2014, Plotkin shared A Change in the Weather's source code for "personal, educational use only."[3]

The game tied for first place in the Inform category of the 1995 Interactive Fiction Competition.[5]

As one of six IF games recommended by CU Amiga in 1998, Jason Compton called A Change in the Weather "Very, very hard, it challenges IF conventions and makes you think (and save your game) quite a lot."[2] Interactive fiction scholar Nick Montfort called it "remarkable ... for its attempts to integrate the typical sorts of adventure-game puzzles with the description of landscape, the simulation of an animal character, and the emotional situation of the 'adventurer' player character".[6]

A Change in the Weather is included in the game collection that comes with the popular IF interpreter Frotz for the iPhone.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c Montfort, Nick (2005). Twisty Little Passages: An Approach to Interactive Fiction (1st MIT Press paperback ed.). Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press. p. 237. ISBN 0-262-63318-3.
  2. ^ a b Compton, Jason (May 1998). Horgan, Tony; Korn, Andrew (eds.). "Interactive Fiction". CU Amiga. EMAP. pp. 33–35. ISSN 0963-0090. Take sword. Go north. Kill dragon. Ho-hum, eh?
  3. ^ a b Plotkin, Andrew (2014-06-24). "Old Zarf code". The Gameshelf. Archived from the original on 2017-10-26. Retrieved 2020-10-29.
  4. ^ Montfort, Nick (2005). Twisty Little Passages: An Approach to Interactive Fiction (1st MIT Press paperback ed.). Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press. p. 126. ISBN 0-262-63318-3.
  5. ^ "Winners of the 1995 IFComp". IFComp. Interactive Fiction Technology Foundation. Retrieved 2 July 2022.
  6. ^ Montfort, Nick (2005). Twisty Little Passages: An Approach to Interactive Fiction (1st MIT Press paperback ed.). Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press. p. 208. ISBN 0-262-63318-3.
  7. ^ "Frotz in the iPhone App store". Emily Short. 13 August 2008. Retrieved 2022-08-15.


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