Hadean Lands
Interactive fiction writer seeks Kickstarter project backing for iPhone text adventure.
Nov 1, 2010 - Boston, MA - Andrew Plotkin unveils mad plan to become full-time interactive fiction designer
You're a half-trained alchemist, and your starship has just crashed. The ship's Dragons are offline; your air is leaking away into the void. Something's wrong with space, and maybe Time, and you don't know any alchemical rituals to fix *those*. You can barely light a phlogistical lantern. But you're going to have to make do.
...That's the plot of the game. But it's not the story. The *story* is that Andrew Plotkin, multi-award-winning interactive fiction (IF) designer, plans to quit his day job and write text adventures for a living.
The text adventure market was dead by 1990; everybody knows that. If you know a little more, you know that the amateur IF community has been blazing along full speed since then -- creating unique, experimental, literary, and powerful works far beyond Infocom's old backlist. This new IF movement has circulated for free on the Net, using freeware tools.
And that will continue. But we (by which I mean "I", because Andrew Plotkin writes press releases in the third person) are taking the next step: selling new, original, world-class IF for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch.
It's a gamble. That's why he (I mean, "we") is asking for support: a Kickstarter project to get commercial IF off the ground -- again. We (that is, "I") think the time is right. Text games are mobile-friendly; you can ruminate, realize, and pull out your phone to solve a puzzle. Mobile devices are text-friendly; everybody is reading on them. Why not read a game?
If funded, _Hadean Lands_ (an interactive alchemical interplanetary thriller!) will appear in late 2011. But I (to wit, Andrew Plotkin) will offer more than that. My iPhone IF engine will be open-source; why should I have all the fun? Plus, I'll finally have time to upgrade my open-source IF toolkits for *all* platforms (Mac, Windows, Linux even web browsers). I'm taking a chance on commercial text adventures, but *all* IF authors and fans will benefit.
For details, video, and IF game teaser, visit my Kickstarter page: http://eblong.com/kick
Or contact: Andrew Plotkin ( erkyrath@eblong.com)