| Violet | |
|---|---|
 Violet being played in a modern interpreter. | |
| Developer(s) | Jeremy Freese |
| Publisher(s) | Jeremy Freese |
| Designer(s) | Jeremy Freese |
| Engine | Z-machine |
| Release | 2008 |
| Genre(s) | Interactive Fiction, Adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
Violet is a work of interactive fiction by American author Jeremy Freese. [1] It is a one-room puzzle game. [1]
The protagonist of Violet is a graduate student trying to write 1,000 words for his dissertation. [2] The protagonist's girlfriend, Violet, threatens to leave otherwise. [2] [3] The protagonist faces a stream of distractions, [2] including a window with a view of the campus, and a computer with access to blogs and webcomics. [3] In the course of the game, the protagonist must "reconsider—and risk wrecking—" his career and relationship. [2]
A reviewer for The A.V. Club described the puzzles as "smart but logical" and "fit[ting] thematically into the story." [2] The reviewer also called out the ability to disable "'heteronormativity,' so you can play as Violet’s girlfriend" as something that makes the game "Worth playing for". [2] A second review also observes this option, noting that at least one puzzle changes based on the choice. [3]
A writer for Jay Is Games called out Violet for "succeed[ing] in the difficult task of capturing the intricacies of a dynamic relationship." [1] The writer also praised the game for succeeding at engaging the player at "the core emotional level", again noting how difficult this is. [1] Emily Short, in a review on Jay Is Games, noted the strength of the implementation, pointing to the breadth of "interesting responses even to silly or unexpected actions." [3] Short felt that the characters were "seemingly-real" and "their problem is plausible and serious." [3]
It took first place in the 2008 Interactive Fiction Competition with an average score of 8.53. [4] That score is the highest of any Interactive Fiction Competition entry from 1999 through 2012. [5]
Violet was selected as the best interactive fiction game for 2008 by both the Jay Is Games staff and audience. [1]
Violet took 35.1% of the vote in the Jay Is Games audience award, compared to 18.7% for the second-place winner, Lost Pig . [1]
Violet won four awards in the 2008 XYZZY Awards: Best game, writing, individual puzzle ("Disconnecting the Internet in Violet/Getting rid of the key in Violet"), and individual NPC (Violet, the eponymous character). [6]
Interactive fiction (IF) is software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives, either in the form of Interactive narratives or Interactive narrations. These works can also be understood as a form of video game, either in the form of an adventure game or role-playing game. In common usage, the term refers to text adventures, a type of adventure game where the entire interface can be "text-only", however, graphical text adventure games, where the text is accompanied by graphics still fall under the text adventure category if the main way to interact with the game is by typing text. Some users of the term distinguish between interactive fiction, known as "Puzzle-free", that focuses on narrative, and "text adventures" that focus on puzzles.
The Interactive Fiction Competition is one of several annual competitions for works of interactive fiction. It has been held since 1995. It is intended for fairly short games, as judges are only allowed to spend two hours playing a game before deciding how many points to award it, but longer games are allowed entry. The competition has been described as the "Super Bowl" of interactive fiction.
Adam Cadre is an American writer active in a number of forms—novels, screenplays, webcomics, essays—but best known for his work in interactive fiction.
Photopia is a piece of literature by Adam Cadre rendered in the form of interactive fiction, and written in Inform. It has received both praise and criticism for its heavy focus on fiction rather than on interactivity. It won first place in the 1998 Interactive Fiction Competition. Photopia has few puzzles and a linear structure, allowing the player no way to alter the eventual conclusion but maintaining the illusion of non-linearity.
Galatea is an interactive fiction video game by Emily Short featuring a modern rendition of the Greek myth of Galatea, the sculpture of a woman that gained life. It took "Best of Show" in the 2000 IF Art Show and won a XYZZY Award for Best Non-Player Character. The game displays an unusually rich approach to non-player character dialogue and diverts from the typical puzzle-solving in interactive fiction: gameplay consists entirely of interacting with a single character in a single room.
The XYZZY Awards are the annual awards given to works of interactive fiction, serving a similar role to the Academy Awards for film. The awards were inaugurated in 1997 by Eileen Mullin, the editor of XYZZYnews. Any game released during the year prior to the award ceremony is eligible for nomination to receive an award. The decision process takes place in two stages: members of the interactive fiction community nominate works within specific categories and sufficiently supported nominations become finalists within those categories. Community members then vote among the finalists, and the game receiving a plurality of votes is given the award in an online ceremony.
Popotan is a Japanese adult visual novel developed by Petit Ferret with character designs by Akio Watanabe under the alias Poyoyon Rock. It was originally released as a PC game for CD-ROM on December 13, 2002, and subsequently re-released on DVD-ROM and for the PlayStation 2 with certain scenes removed. The title Popotan is a nonsensical word meant to reflect the prominence of dandelions, spelled tanpopo (たんぽぽ) in Japanese; Petit Ferret also produced a fan disc shortly before the DVD-ROM re-release. Popotan has been adapted to other media, including a novel series by Sassami Yachiruda; a manga series by Yūjiro Izumi; a twelve episode anime television series directed by Shinichiro Kimura, animated by Shaft, and licensed in North America by Geneon USA and later, Sentai Filmworks; a radio drama (Poporaji); and several art and reference books.
Slouching Towards Bedlam is an interactive fiction game that won the first place in the 2003 Interactive Fiction Competition. It is a collaboration between American authors Daniel Ravipinto and Star Foster. Slouching Towards Bedlam was finalist for eight 2003 XYZZY Awards, winning four: Best Game, Setting, Story, and Individual NPC. The game takes place in a steampunk Victorian era setting. Its title is inspired by a line from "The Second Coming", a poem by W. B. Yeats.
Curses is an interactive fiction computer game created by Graham Nelson in 1993. Appearing in the beginning of the non-commercial era of interactive fiction, it is considered one of the milestones of the genre.
James Clavell's Shōgun is an interactive fiction game written by Dave Lebling and published by Infocom in 1989. It was released for the Amiga, Apple II, MS-DOS, and Mac. The game is based on the 1975 novel Shōgun by James Clavell. It was Infocom's thirty-third game.
Emily Short is an interactive fiction (IF) writer. From 2020 to 2023, she was creative director of Failbetter Games, the studio behind Fallen London and its spinoffs.
Silent Hill 4: The Room is a 2004 survival horror game developed by Team Silent, a group in Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo, and published by Konami. The fourth installment in the Silent Hill series, the game was released in Japan in June and in North America and Europe in September. Silent Hill 4 was released for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Windows. Its soundtrack was released at the same time. In 2012, it was released on the Japanese PlayStation Network. On October 2, 2020, it was re-released on GOG.com with patches to make it playable on Windows 10.
Jon Ingold is a British author of interactive fiction and co-founder of inkle, where he co-directed and co-wrote 80 Days, and wrote Heaven's Vault and Overboard!. His interactive fiction has frequently been nominated for XYZZY Awards and has won on multiple occasions, including Best Game, Best Story and Best Setting awards for All Roads in 2001. Ingold's works are notable for their attention to the levels of knowledge that the player and player character have of the in-game situation, with the effect often depending on a player who understands more than the character or vice versa. Ingold has also written a number of plays, short stories and novels.
Anchorhead is a Lovecraftian horror interactive fiction game, originally written and published by Michael S. Gentry in 1998. The game is heavily inspired by the works and writing style of H.P. Lovecraft, particularly the Cthulhu mythos.
Jigsaw is an interactive fiction (IF) game, written by Graham Nelson in 1995.
Shade is a psychological horror interactive fiction game written and published by Andrew Plotkin in 2000.
Floatpoint is a 2006 work of interactive fiction written by Emily Short about a diplomat sent to an endangered colony to discuss evacuation options and terms of cohabitation. It is written in Inform 7 and won the 2006 annual Interactive Fiction Competition. Floatpoint also won 2006 XYZZY Awards for Best Settings and Best NPCs. The game was generally praised for its use of multiple endings.
Lost Pig is a comedic work of interactive fiction about an orc retrieving an escaped pig. It was created by Admiral Jota and released as freeware. It took first place in the 2007 Interactive Fiction Competition with an average score of 8.27. Lost Pig won best game, best writing, best individual non-player character, and best individual player character in the 2007 XYZZY Awards. Lost Pig finished with 18.7% of the votes for the Audience Award in the interactive fiction category in the 2008 Jay Is Games Best of Casual Gameplay awards, placing it second after Violet.
Unauthorized Termination is a 2006 work of interactive fiction written by Richard Otter about a senior investigator given a murder enquiry that is not everything it appears to be. It is written in ADRIFT 4 and came 10th in the 2006 annual Interactive Fiction Competition. Unauthorized Termination was also a Nominee in the 2006 XYZZY Awards for Best Settings.
The Interactive Fiction Database (IFDB) is a database of metadata and reviews of interactive fiction.