Aunt Nancy's House

Home IF Comp 1997 33rd of 34

Aunt Nancy's House
Author(s)	Nate Schwartzman
Publisher(s)	n/a
Release date(s)	1997
Authoring system	Inform 6
Platform(s)	Z-code 5
Language(s)	English
License(s)	Freeware
Multimedia
Color effects	none
Graphics	none
Sound/Music	none
Ratings
Cruelty scale	Merciful

How It Begins

You might be anyone, carrying nothing. During your summer vacation in 1997, you decided to visit your aunt and uncle's house. But they're not home. You begin your tour of the house from the attic where you see a desk, a computer, disks, CDs, boxes, pens, a bookshelf, a drawer, a cabinet, a bed, a shelf under the window, a light switch, a swivel chair, and some useless crap.

Notable Features

• Puzzleless. The player is expected to just wander about the house, examine and fiddle with stuff, and "have fun". The environment, however, is very generic and plain.
• No sense of mimesis. For example, examining the crap in the attic tells the player that it's just a "throwaway scenery object." A note in a bathroom explains how the fixtures are numbered with either a "1" or "2", so the player can unambiguously refer to one's choice of faucet or water handle.

Trivia and Comments

• Written as a coding exercise to learn Inform. Based on the author's aunt's actual house at the time.

Versions

Release 1 (Competition version)

• Aunt Nancy's House (Nate Schwartzman; 1997; Z-code 5).
  • Release 1 / Serial number 970906 / Inform v6.13 Library 6/6
  • IFID: ZCODE-1-970906-E223
    IFID links: IFDB
  • IF Comp 1997: 33rd place of 34 entries.
  • Download house.z5 from the IF Archive
  • Play it online at ifiction.org.

Links

General info

• Aunt Nancy's House (archived) - at Baf's Guide.
• Aunt Nancy's House - at IFDB.
• Aunt Nancy's House - at ifwizz interactive fiction (in German).

Reviews

• Aunt Nancy's House - at IF Ratings.
• Review - by Paul O'Brian.
• Review - by Duncan Stevens.

Spoilers

• Walkthrough and map by David Welbourn.