Well, it’s been a long time since I posted on this blog – inkle has been keeping me pretty busy. But there’s a couple of releases to report, both on active content for Kindle (so US-only!), and both appearing on the same day, as luck would have it.
First up is the game I co-wrote with Ian Finley for Textfyre, The Shadow in the Cathedral. It was nominated for 5 XYZZY awards when first released in 2009, and follows the adventures of 2nd Assistant Clock Polisher Wren in the Abbey of Time, who has one day to stop a deadly conspiracy. Set in a world of clockwork churches, it’s full of action-set-pieces and puzzles.
Secondly, Black Belt Games have created an engine for the Z-machine, allowing them to put out Z-code games for Kindle. (If that meant nothing to you, read: “next up!”) Their first release is Insight, a science-fiction detective story. A genetic designer from Mars is accused of committing the planet’s first murder. But you can prove it?
So how is the experience playing on a Kindle? When I first saw the device I thought this was the <i>perfect</i> home for playing IF, and I still think it’s a better fit than using iOS devices, for which typing is just a bit too horrendous. The Kindle-with-keyboard is a lot nicer to play with, and while it never quite becomes quite as invisible as playing with a real keyboard, there’s a certain magic to playing in the palm of your hand.
There are more games pending, too, so watch this space…
Fiction is a Three-Edged Sword 
June 29, 2012 at 4:46 am
I just bought Insight. Note that the Insight “Get it here!” link did not work for me. Also, neither game shows up when searching for “Jon Ingold” though other non-interactive works do. Is there any way to get old Infocom Z-code games on Kindle?
June 29, 2012 at 7:07 am
I know that Black Belt have plans to release several other games but I doubt they have the licence to re-release Infocom stuff – would be great if they did, however! (And thanks for the link fix.)
February 25, 2013 at 5:18 pm
It’s a damn shame that the four reviews up there for Insight have missed the point entirely … I tried to add a “spoiler” review but Amazon was being unhelpful — after typing about 75 words it told me “your review must contain at least 20 words”.