infocom/articles/NZT-gamedev.txt

INSIDE LOOK AT GAME DEVELOPMENT
(New Zork Times; Winter 1984; page 4)
Copyright 1984 (c) Infocom
Transcribed by Graeme Cree

     Here at Infocom, we try to get as many people as possible involved in
the game development process in order to create a smorgasbord of ideas.  Our
theory is that "too few cooks create a noisesome stew."  In fact, we
frequently even invite characters from the games to our development sessions.
Here's a transcript made from a recording of one such session:

MARC BLANK:  We need to start working on a new game.

DIMWIT FLATHEAD:  It must have two hundred thousand rooms, four million
takeable objects, and understand a vocabulary of every single word ever
spoken in every language ever invented.

WIZARD OF FROBOZZ:  Fantastic.

MONICA:  Not on your life, flatbrain.  Not with the crew of two-bit
programmers we've got around this dump!

BLANK:  I think we ought to analyze the situation.

SGT. DUFFY:  With all due respect, sir, I don't think I can take the
situation to the lab.

FROBOZZ:  Fiddlesticks.

FLOYD:  Enough talking!  Let's play hider-and-seeker!

FLATHEAD:  And it must be 600 thousand million billion megabytes and take up
37 truckloads of floppy disks...

BLANK:  Maybe if we could start by settling on a genre.

GURTHARK-TUN-BESNAP:  I don't know the word "genre."

BLANK:  That is, fantasy, sci-fi, mystery...

MONICA:  The only mystery around here is how you ever got to be VP, gnurd.

FLATHEAD:  ...and the packages will be made of solid gold and platinum...

KRILL:  I can't use multiple direct objects with the verb "made."

BLANK:  Maybe we should schedule another meeting...

FROBOZZ:  Friday.