Manalive - The Game

Unbelievable, but true: G. K. Chesterton has entered the world of computer games. Now you can experience his classic novel, Manalive, from the perspective of the hero, Innocent Smith, the Man Who Will Not Die.

You play the novel in not one, but two games, and I’ve entered them both in this year’s Interactive Fiction Competition. “Interactive fiction,” for those who’ve never had the pleasure, is just what it sounds like. You walk around, get things, talk to people, and generally save the day. It’s a lot like big-budget adventure games, except (ahem) without graphics. Usually.

Lest this dissuade you, consider this: without the need for a movie production team, the game author is just that: AN author. When’s the last time you played a game that was crafted by one person instead of a committee? Worth a try, I say.

Not that you need to play (only) mine. There’s a bustling little online community of authors and gamers that are still turning up for each year’s annual competition. In fact, if you hurry, you can be a judge for this year’s entries. The games (including mine) will be available for download “or around October 1, 2006″. (Note: As the rules mention, if you beta-tested Manalive, you can’t judge it, but you can judge other games.) There’s no fee, of course, and you only need to rate 5 games to have your votes count, so…why not?

If you’ve never played IF before, you’ll need to download certain interpreters, free programs to play the game files. Here’s the Mac and the Windows files you’ll need. Linux and other users are deemed smart enough to hunt up what they need on the archive, as you have many choices, but for starters, here’s a link to xfrotz, which’ll run Inform games (like mine). These games have endings like “.z5″.

You might also enjoy this quick intro to a world of free, fascinating, unique gaming.

Once you have the interpreters, you can browse around past competitions, which might hold you until October 1. Enjoy!