Play a good game and help TADS 3 authors too

Here's a chance to (1) play (or replay) a good game, and thereby (2)
participate in a research project which I hope will help TADS 3
authors write better games. The game in question is Return to Ditch
Day, so this message especially goes out to anybody who's been
thinking about playing (or replaying) that game.

If you're not concerned about the programming rationale behind this,
you can skip down to where it says "CONCLUSION" now.

PROGRAMMING RATIONALE:

One thing that has sometimes frustrated me about TADS 3 is that it has
so many messages that it can be especially cumbersome to look through
all of them to decide which ones you want to replace in order to
individualize your game. Therefore, most TADS 3 authors don't do this,
and as a result, TADS 3 games have less narrative nuance than a good
many Inform 6 games.

How to fix this? Do a research project to find out the relative
frequency of the various TADS 3 messages. How to do such a project?
Alter the TADS 3 messages so that each of them contains a unique grep-
able code sequence, then compile a game using those altered library
messages. Get as many people as possible to record transcripts and
send their transcripts to me. I'll get a good collection of data to
analyze so I can find out the frequency of the messages in the TADS 3
library. The results will be imperfect, to say the least, but perhaps
this imperfection can be minimized by picking the right game, one that
uses a fairly wide range of TADS 3 features. Return to Ditch Day is
the most obvious choice, and Mike Roberts has given me permission to
release a modified version of it for a limited time.

CONCLUSION:

So, play a modified version of Return to Ditch Day, send me your
transcripts, and thus help TADS 3 authors write better games. Sound
like fun? I hope so. If you haven't heard much about the game, read
Emily Short's review here:

http://www.ministryofpeace.com/if-review/reviews/20040618.html

Be sure to play the modified version; otherwise your transcript will
not help me. Where to get the modified version? From my web site. Note
that this link may only be active for a month or two:

http://www.gregboettcher.com/games/files/rtddv2mm.t3

How long do you have to play the game and send me back your
transcript? I am hoping a month will be enough. Let's make a
"deadline" of January 15. After that I'll start analyzing whatever
transcripts people have sent me. Send your transcripts to my email
address:

greg at gregboettcher dot X, where X = com.

Have fun!

Greg

A month ago, I proposed an event where people could play Return to
Ditch Day, by Mike Roberts, and thereby participate in a modest
research project designed to test the relative frequency of the
messages in the TADS 3 library.

I gave January 15 as a deadline for this, so I thought I'd remind
people of this now. If you've been playing the game, or if you've been
meaning to, send me your transcripts by the 15th or else I may not be
able to use them.

A couple things to note. First, your playing the game will only help
me if you're playing the specially modified version temporarily
available on my web site:
http://www.gregboettcher.com/games/files/rtddv2mm.t3

Then send your transcripts to me at:
greg at gregboettcher dot X, where X = com

For further information, read the original message pasted below.
Thanks to those who have already sent me their transcripts, by the
way. And I'll try to post the results of my "research project" by the
end of January.

Greg

On Dec 14 2007, 5:59 pm, Greg Boettcher
<WRITETOgre....DeleteThis@gregboettcher.com> wrote:
> Here's a chance to (1) play (or replay) a good game, and thereby (2)
> participate in a research project which I hope will help TADS 3
> authors write better games. The game in question is Return to Ditch
> Day, so this message especially goes out to anybody who's been
> thinking about playing (or replaying) that game.
>
> If you're not concerned about the programming rationale behind this,
> you can skip down to where it says "CONCLUSION" now.
>
> PROGRAMMING RATIONALE:
>
> One thing that has sometimes frustrated me about TADS 3 is that it has
> so many messages that it can be especially cumbersome to look through
> all of them to decide which ones you want to replace in order to
> individualize your game. Therefore, most TADS 3 authors don't do this,
> and as a result, TADS 3 games have less narrative nuance than a good
> many Inform 6 games.
>
> How to fix this? Do a research project to find out the relative
> frequency of the various TADS 3 messages. How to do such a project?
> Alter the TADS 3 messages so that each of them contains a unique grep-
> able code sequence, then compile a game using those altered library
> messages. Get as many people as possible to record transcripts and
> send their transcripts to me. I'll get a good collection of data to
> analyze so I can find out the frequency of the messages in the TADS 3
> library. The results will be imperfect, to say the least, but perhaps
> this imperfection can be minimized by picking the right game, one that
> uses a fairly wide range of TADS 3 features. Return to Ditch Day is
> the most obvious choice, and Mike Roberts has given me permission to
> release a modified version of it for a limited time.
>
> CONCLUSION:
>
> So, play a modified version of Return to Ditch Day, send me your
> transcripts, and thus help TADS 3 authors write better games. Sound
> like fun? I hope so. If you haven't heard much about the game, read
> Emily Short's review here:
>
> http://www.ministryofpeace.com/if-review/reviews/20040618.html
>
> Be sure to play the modified version; otherwise your transcript will
> not help me. Where to get the modified version? From my web site. Note
> that this link may only be active for a month or two:
>
> http://www.gregboettcher.com/games/files/rtddv2mm.t3
>
> How long do you have to play the game and send me back your
> transcript? I am hoping a month will be enough. Let's make a
> "deadline" of January 15. After that I'll start analyzing whatever
> transcripts people have sent me. Send your transcripts to my email
> address:
>
> greg at gregboettcher dot X, where X = com.
>
> Have fun!
>
> Greg