The postings by Stu and Bill seem to convey that Mr. Sherman and/or his company is somewhat controversial.
I don't know as I didn't really follow the IF scene for the last two or three years but I had a look at his website and it's loaded with silly slogans ("At Malinche, Customer Service Isn't a Feature - it's a Royal Proclamation!" or "Ranked As The Hottest in Horror by Apple Computer!") and painful photograph captions ("The Grand Implementor with a majestic view of the temple in the background.").
Apart from that his page seems amateurishly designed and I don't like the cover art of the games but this is a matter of taste.
The questions in this interview are good and could lead to good answers but instead he fills them with marketing targetted at the first-time or casual gamer by telling them that
a) he doesn't make games (games = graphics, which he doesn't have)
b) he is the only one publishing games that are not games
c) he makes books you can, well, play *ahem* "interact" with
He also puts stuff in his gameboxes like Infocom did. Well, no microscopic invisible starfleets but the occasional pirate eye patch or a candy bar aren't that bad.
"Some people call us Infocom 2.0 or Infocom: The Next Generation which are very complimentary as well as descriptive."
So calling his company "Infocom 2.0" must be true, though this is (cleverly) only used via citation. The Grand Implementor is humble, too.
We could argue that publishing means "commercial exploitation" (in which case I can name you at least one other text adventure that is still being sold today) or we could define it as "making publicly available" - the latter being done by a large number of people, sometimes with several masterpieces under their belt.
Either way he simply isn't the only publisher in this field.
I can't say if his products are really "bestseller material" as I haven't played them but if he says so...
@Matt:
"At any rate, though, I don't know anyone who projects more confidence in the future of IF than Howard."
Naturally - as he makes a living from it! I would do the exact same thing if I were in the shoes of the "Grand Implementor"...
Thanks for the funny interview but I like reading your book much better (plug! plug!) ;-)
The postings by Stu and Bill seem to convey that Mr. Sherman and/or his company is somewhat controversial.
I don't know as I didn't really follow the IF scene for the last two or three years but I had a look at his website and it's loaded with silly slogans ("At Malinche, Customer Service Isn't a Feature - it's a Royal Proclamation!" or "Ranked As The Hottest in Horror by Apple Computer!") and painful photograph captions ("The Grand Implementor with a majestic view of the temple in the background.").
Apart from that his page seems amateurishly designed and I don't like the cover art of the games but this is a matter of taste.
The questions in this interview are good and could lead to good answers but instead he fills them with marketing targetted at the first-time or casual gamer by telling them that
a) he doesn't make games (games = graphics, which he doesn't have)
b) he is the only one publishing games that are not games
c) he makes books you can, well, play *ahem* "interact" with
He also puts stuff in his gameboxes like Infocom did. Well, no microscopic invisible starfleets but the occasional pirate eye patch or a candy bar aren't that bad.
"Some people call us Infocom 2.0 or Infocom: The Next Generation which are very complimentary as well as descriptive."
So calling his company "Infocom 2.0" must be true, though this is (cleverly) only used via citation. The Grand Implementor is humble, too.
We could argue that publishing means "commercial exploitation" (in which case I can name you at least one other text adventure that is still being sold today) or we could define it as "making publicly available" - the latter being done by a large number of people, sometimes with several masterpieces under their belt.
Either way he simply isn't the only publisher in this field.
I can't say if his products are really "bestseller material" as I haven't played them but if he says so...
@Matt:
"At any rate, though, I don't know anyone who projects more confidence in the future of IF than Howard."
Naturally - as he makes a living from it! I would do the exact same thing if I were in the shoes of the "Grand Implementor"...
Thanks for the funny interview but I like reading your book much better (plug! plug!) ;-)
take care,
Calibrator
take care,
Calibrator