Interesting! I'll pass that along to Roberta to see what she thinks. I confess that's news to me!

You can take the nugget down the stairs but cannot go back up.

Originally posted by jas500:

You can take the nugget down the stairs but cannot go back up.

Right, but I think the Duke is saying that in the original game, you couldn't (you'd fall in a pit). The suggestion being that this detail was overlooked when recreating a faithful reimagining. I've emailed Roberta, but haven't heard back, yet ...

Originally posted by Duke of Zork:

... in the original game, if you go down the stairs carrying the nugget, you fall in a pit and die (with no explanation of why you did). That doesn't work here, you can go down the stairs with the nugget with no problem.

Just got a response back on this one. The short version is, she was aware of this detail and sought to implement it, but the developers ganged up on her. They claim the game is overly old-school challenging as it is, for modern gamers. This is the type of thing that will offend them and turn them away from the game.

Generally, the game is 99% accurate to the original, but there were a few areas where some of the rougher edges were lightly sanded down in an effort to streamline the experience for today's gamer. The developers essentially said that if the goal is to maintain the name of this game and continue to propel it into the future, it needs to be at least somewhat massaged into a softer, modern experience. Rather than "Save Early, Save Often", auto-save was added. Rather than players graphing their own maps, magical maps were added. Some of the mazes and dwarf interactions were softened, etc. Ultimately, the goal is a more pleasant gaming experience.

Roberta fought hard and won most of the battles, but this is one in which she relented.

She also said that the original was text, and this one is an immersive 3D experience, with a real sense of physical space. It's not as 1 to 1 as it may seem. Where does the player fall? Can they drop the nugget and let it roll down the stairs? Several of these subjects were also discussed as some fun alternatives. Ultimately, though, this was one of the elements from the original that was softened. Roberta continues to disagree with it, but it's in there.

While likely not the answer you were looking for ... it is the answer. I hope it helps color in some of the backstory!

Originally posted by DJ Williams:

Just got a response back on this one. The short version is, she was aware of this detail and sought to implement it, but the developers ganged up on her. They claim the game is overly old-school challenging as it is, for modern gamers. This is the type of thing that will offend them and turn them away from the game.

Well, it's not a critical issue. I didn't even know about it for years, until I started deliberately doing things differently than I usually did, looking for new things that might be made to happen. I feel better knowing that it was deliberately rejected, rather than that it wasn't known at all.

As for modern gamers, yes, ever since "The Secret Of Monkey island", people are used to thinking that it's impossible to get an adventure game into an unwinnable state. Of course, that's not the way it used to be. It's actually possible to get the Infocom game "Enchanter" into an unwinnable state on Turn 1. But you probably wouldn't know you had for hours, or even days.

The worst experience I ever had along those lines was in Infocom's "Sorcerer". Once you leave Enchanter's Guild HQ, you can never return. And before you leave, you have to order and receive a certain mail order potion. The first time I played I didn't do that, and you don't find out you need the potion until the end of the game. So, there was nothing else for it, but to start the whole thing over.

That wouldn't fly today. In those days, there were few computer games, and they were relatively expensive. People who bought one would stick with it to the end, to get their money's worth. These days there's lots of competition for people's electronic attention. You have to keep them hooked.

Pity, I found the old way more challenging. Knowing that you can never make the game unwinnable sometimes makes it too easy. But I get that not enough people would put up with that any more.

I definitely don't miss drawing maps with graph paper, though.

Oh, don't get me wrong. You can still get the game into an unwinnable state. It's been softened a bit, but much of the original "charm" is very much alive!