Exercise: Straitjackets for comedy
Comedy is tough. So much hinges on timing and delivery. Comedians have outlined a few "rules of comedy" like the rule of three, don't do a joke on a joke, and... um, well, you know... there are rules.
Comedy feels like it should be free, but the best comedy comes from constraints and structure. This exercise we'll be looking at the parser game, The Bat by Chandler Groover. It is both hilarious and demonstrates the advantages of restricting your interactive fiction world. The primary interactive verb in The Bat is ATTEND TO, which does everything from serving drinks to repairing equipment. The interactions are simplified and limited to let the farce play out.
The Bat is our second IF Comp winner we are looking at and has the excellence of writing, good scope and surprising ideas that you might expect from an IF Comp winner.
Exercise Objectives
Play the game with a notebook beside you. Pay particular attention to the tension, freedom and expressiveness of having a limited verb set in an increasingly frantic game.
Play tasks
Take note of times where a traditional parser puzzle game might have required multiple specific verbs to solve a problem, but The Bat uses just one.
Note puzzles where the solution is about timing. Throughout there is a rising tension, but the game is actually quite forgiving.
Your other main verb is THINK which is an in-built hint system. Get a sense of how this plays with constraints and getting stuck.
A good joke subverts expectations right at the punchline. Note how The Bat does this with an unexpected verb.
Post-play tasks
In a separate session or more, explore the following related tasks.
Writing exercise
The Bat (mostly) provides an alternative interpretation of Bruce Wayne/Batman and his rogue's gallery.
For this exercise, take a popular series and retheme the main characters into a different context, whilst keeping the character themes recognizable.
Design exercise
Write a scene where the player solves a number of problems each with the same single verb. Try to avoid something boring like "USE".
Implementation exercise
Investigate what it would take to convert your preferred parser system to use only one main verb.
Links
The Rosebush interview of Chandler Groover. It talks about a lot of his other work, but discusses The Bat.