Interactive Fiction/ text adventure fans...
As part of my masters course I'm looking at using Quest to create an IF game that uses background sound fx to help illustrate the game's locations - and maybe more than this, ie. using sound which actually contributes directly to the gameplay somehow - influences the player's decisions.
In general, what do people think about the use of sound in IF? And can anyone recommend any Interactive fiction games that have used sound in an interesting way?

I'm creating a game that currently uses quite a bit more sound than other games on this site. Not sure I'd classify it as a driving force in the game, but it does add to the "pull" of the game. Good luck!

My feelings about sound are mixed, but I think ultimately it comes down to your design and what your goals are.

In my one and only game, I described some sounds, and people told me I should have added actual sounds (e.g. water dripping, screams, etc). But I felt that no actual sound could compete with what people would imagine themselves, and it would only cheapen the experience. That was just in my case, naturally.

A concern about sounds as key to puzzles is to be aware that people might not have the sounds on, either by choice or by lack of ability. So if a puzzle requires being able to hear a sound, there will be some segment of players that just won't get it.

I haven't played a ton of games, but this game used sounds effectively, at least in the first room. (You do have to get past the highly irritating music in the beginning, though. Be warned. All you have to do is open your eyes, as long as your name isn't Victoria...)

http://play.textadventures.co.uk/Play.a ... hftiainh7a

Thanks for your comments.
My feelings are mixed regards sound too, for the same reasons. Thanks for the link, it's a interesting game - and i like the clang.
Good luck Xanmag - look forward to seeing your work.

Check out the work so far...
http://play.textadventures.co.uk/Play.a ... gbqedk013a

Feel free to let rip with your comments - I can handle it!!!

Being so short, it's hard to get a good feel for it long term. But here are some impressions.

The sounds you picked were pleasing (birds, water rushing), so I enjoyed it on that level. One problem I had, and this might be where some sort of theme music or dialogue might have helped in other games, is that I didn't know where to set my volume. I had it loud enough to hear the birds, but I began to find it a bit irritating after a while (not sure why - somewhat repetitive? and yet not as well. I couldn't tell if it was a single sound or multiple sounds overlapping). When I tried again just now, my volume was a bit lower, and the birds were more background, but then I couldn't hear the water when I changed rooms.

A different reaction: the second time I tried it, I explored a little bit more (to the extent I could), and I found the right-click menu off the birds, once I typed "look at birds". One of the options was "whistle at birds". So I had this:

> whistle to birds
A lyre bird mimics your call!

But as far as I could tell, the sounds didn't reflect that. So it was this odd thing where there were realistic sounds for the background, but I then didn't hear sounds when I did things.

Don't get me wrong - I'm a big fan of sounds in games. I just finished playing Myst V, and not only were the sounds engaging and immersive, but they also occasionally gave additional clues to the puzzles that needed to be solved. But to do have that sense of immersion, they needed to be complete and consistent.

Perhaps you're planning on extending sounds to the actions as well. I'd look forward to trying that out if you do.

Thanks for your feedback j. Did you get into the caves/maze? ('Enter waterfall') Presumably yes, although you haven't mentioned it, and it's the main part of the game.
Good point regards an introduction sound for level setting. And thanks for flagging up the imbalance in levels
Also thanks for comment about what things get represented in sound, and which don't. I wasn't intending to fill in additional sounds. I guess i've intentionally avoided portraying those sorts of foreground events eg. i wonder if portraying things like the bird's call specifically with sound is too literal. As you said in your previous reply, there's a grave danger of cheapening the experience with such techniques, at the expense of our imagination. I'm generally taking an approach of only portraying only the background ambience of the scene, and using more specific foreground sounds ('spot fx' as they're known) only if they contribute to the gameplay directly - eg. the bomb guidance headphones/tones

To be honest, I hadn't gone beyond the first two rooms. I thought the original woodland was just unimportant scenery, so I ignored it. (You can see why I don't do well with parser games. lol)

So, having done that... I managed to find the bomb and disarm it. I think the sounds were quite effective, and the map helped tremendously as well, as at one point, the bomb sound got louder but I couldn't proceed. Looking at the map I saw a way around, and that worked. And I won't spoil it for anyone by mentioning the difficulty I found at the bomb that caused me to venture back into the depths of the cave...

The only thing odd for me (and it's happening now as I'm typing this, even though I'd finished the game - yes, I do still have my headphones on) is that the birds never stopped twittering. Even once past the waterfall, even in the cave, even when the doors slammed shut on the outside world - still the bird sound. I'm not sure if that's just a bug or if you're meant to hear them throughout, but it seemed a bit strange.

The only other thing is that I found it a bit of a "hey, wait a minute" that the clock was ticking even while I was working out how the "headphones" worked. I suppose if the game is meant to be played multiple times, then it could be ok (you'd skip it the second time). Of course, I did succeed, down to the 30 second mark, so maybe you timed it just right!

But I must say, it was quite enjoyable, and I think you executed the puzzle excellently. And I did appreciate the hand holding...

I'm really pleased you enjoyed it!
I'll take those comments on board regards the game play.
Yes, the birds must be a bug. Works ok on my computer. My messy scripts are probably to blame. I'll try throwing in a 'stop sound' when you leave the forest - might solve it?
Thanks for all the useful feedback

I did look at and whistle at the birds a few times, if that helps. I'll see if I can get it to happen again.

Thanks j
The birds atmosphere isn't cued by the whistle, it's just a script associated with the forest. I'll try updating it with the stop sound script tomorrow

Ok, the 'final' version should be there now... please do post any more comments
Al

I like the sounds, but I wonder if Quest has the ability to use a fade out/in on room transitions. I found the sudden change jarring.

Overall, though, the sounds add to it considerably.