At what point would an adventure game be relegated to "interactive fiction"?

[Kyriakos]

Afaik the category of "interactive fiction" usually refers to games/media which allow the player a few choices, but ultimately they are a series of cutscenes with little to no ability given for the player to move around in the world and find things on their own.
In the adventure game realm, in particular, the juxtaposition is to making game-progression dependent on thinking through puzzles, often tied to previous puzzles in the game, and furthermore to require actual familiarity with the world locations instead of just choosing out of a few options where to move to or what to answer or what item to use where.

This is an issue for myself, cause naturally i am more inclined to have a game i am making be guided by a set story. That said, if there is one thing i always loved in adventure games it's the sense that you can just move around as if you are indeed there and trying to discover the next clue. Yet this can often require the game to have upwards of 10 different rooms, which for an indie game or demo is not always that easy

-At which point would you say that something is closer to interactive fiction than a point n click adventure game? Would having an inventory and a reasonable number of combinations of verbs/actions be enough? A text parser? (you need to type some words occasionally, i plan to have one). Multiple endings? (also plan to do that). Or is it more about the game dynamic, as in having some "peaceful" locations outside the ones where the action takes place (a trope very usual in such games).

 

[Chukchi Husky]

I think Telltale Games passed that point with The Walking Dead. There are a few puzzles but it's mostly dialogue choices. Their games since then have less or no puzzles and more about choices that branch out into different possible plot lines.

 

[sophie]

But most point-and-click adventures are the same. You get placed in a hub with an obstacle you have to overcome. You solve some puzzles that usually have no real bearing on the story, and then you are rewarded for that with a bit more of the story. That's just interactive fiction. "Go clean your room and I'll read you another chapter." At least in Telltale Games you're developing or altering (however superficially) the character relationships and future interactions during the hub puzzle bits. At least in that genre of games the hub puzzle bits have an actual, tangible impact on the overall story.

 

[Kyriakos]

I think the most important thing in such a game would be its atmosphere. I am not particularly fond of the player being fully able to just be themselves/do what they like (and i doubt this can ultimately happen apart from a set degree in such games). For example, in various classic adventures (eg Sierra ones), you are prompted against doing something if it is set as uncharacteristic/out of character, cause you aren't really the in-game character. I find this to be positive, although it can be overdone and become negative...

Particularly in a horror game, though, i think it is very important to allow an elegant degree of freedom of movement, and if possible blend the relative negation of other choices with the game plot in a way which won't be picked up by the player as being way too limiting.

 

[civvver]

Why does the distinction matter? Many games these days tell storys, stories which you can or can't alter and all have some varying degree of interaction. Telltale games are a big one and then there's other ones like To The Moon which has a little more game-like puzzles/sequences but is actually even less of a game since you cannot alter the story in anyway. And then the newest one is Beginner's Guide which is literally a huge monologue while you walk around.

 

[Chukchi Husky]

But most point-and-click adventures are the same. You get placed in a hub with an obstacle you have to overcome. You solve some puzzles that usually have no real bearing on the story, and then you are rewarded for that with a bit more of the story. That's just interactive fiction. "Go clean your room and I'll read you another chapter." At least in Telltale Games you're developing or altering (however superficially) the character relationships and future interactions during the hub puzzle bits. At least in that genre of games the hub puzzle bits have an actual, tangible impact on the overall story.

I think it was Graham Linehan who mentioned something like that. He said something like how games work it would be like if at the end of a chapter in a book you had to take a test before you can continue and read the next chapter of the book.