Incanus

in other wikis/dbs:

• WikiCAAD (archive)

Juan Sebastián Armas is better known as Incanus.

History: Me and IF

It all began, back to the very begining, on an old school's friends project; it was conceived among friends, never really developed, then abandoned for university pursuits, and finally brought back on my own first professional years (computing and such, not quite original, I know). And so it was that, still way back (July 1998), I coded my first adventure game.

Well... such as it was. I didn't had many resources, back then: no Internet access, hardly a PC to work on... so (knowing zilch about parser languages) I dusted off an old 80's game programming theory book (..!..) and made up a little program on QBasic 1.1 (God, was it all precarious) with the bones of an IF: parser, places, objects, vocabulary and a few NPCs (actually, objects + vocabulary).

The resulting mongrel of a game was played and criticiced by a few close friends and relations... but I never persued it any further.

Cut to 6 years later, on or about mid 2004, my interest on IF revives... so I resurrected said adventure, using InformATE (spanish library for Inform 6.30).

As for what happened since then, read on...

Author Credits

So far, I've created the following Adventure Games:

• 2005
  • La Mansión (06-Jan-2005; Z-code; Spanish). Webpage.
    My first adventure game. It's a mystery and sci-fi (I hope) game that takes place on an old manor, with many rooms, many corners... and many a strange thing (suspense...). You can see the tech specs here.
  • El Protector (20-Jul-2005; Z-code; Spanish). Webpage.
    A small ecological survival tale, sci-fi style, takes place on a strange world with vast savannas... and merciless Hunters prowling. It's sequel is Memoria. You can see the tech specs here.
• 2006
  • Goteras (23-Jun-2006; Z-code; Spanish). Premios Hispanos 2006 winner: awarded Best Story (Mejor Argumento), Best Writing (Calidad Literaria) and Best Puzzle. Webpage.
    A "hard" sci-fi short tale; the "disaster in space" classic... with some humorous twists. It's sequel is Macetas. You can see the tech specs here.
• 2007
  • Macetas (30-Aug-2007; Z-code; Spanish). FICOMP winner: awarded Best Game and Best Story. Webpage.
    A "hard" sci-fi long tale; you finally arrive at the mining asteroid... and a taxing company's assignment awaits you. Sequel to Goteras. You can see the tech specs here.
  • Afuera (21-Dec-2007; Z-code; Spanish). III Mini Comp entry. Webpage.
    A sci-fi short tale; you're a prisoner, a convicted criminal, doing time in the higher levels of the Pyramid, and now you're getting ready to go... Outside. You can see the tech specs here.
• 2008
  • Ofrenda a la Pincoya (01-Oct-2008; Z-code; Spanish). La Comp Más Monstruosa winner: awarded Best Game (Best Overall Score) and Best Documentation. Premios Hispanos 2008 winner: awarded Best Story (Mejor Argumento). Webpage.
    A Chiloé's mithology tale; you're a young Chiloe's fisherman, trying to get your creek's favor back from la Pincoya. You can see the tech specs here.
• 2009
  • Pan de ajo (06-Oct-2009; Z-code; Spanish). Premios Hispanos 2009 winner: awarded Playability (Jugabilidad). Webpage.
    A domestic humor tale; you wake up from a nap at home. It's late and your parents aren't back from work yet. As always, you must do your room... and some other chores mom and dad left for you to do. It's sequel is Reflejos blancos. You can see the tech specs here.
• 2010
  • Modus Vivendi (01-Oct-2010; Z-code; Spanish). Premios Hispanos 2010 winner: awarded Best Writing (Calidad Literaria), Playability (Jugabilidad), Interactivity (Interactividad) and Best Puzzle. Webpage.
    Rome, circa 58 A.C. You're a handy man, doing chores for your neighbors and customers on the Aventine Hill. You can see the tech specs here.
• 2011
  • Reflejos blancos (16-Aug-2011; Z-code; Spanish). FICOMP 2011 winner: awarded Best Game and Best Story. Webpage.
    A short night interlude; you are waiting for your girlfriend at the park. You will meet at the gazebo and then have a bit of a stroll while you are chatting. Sequel to Pan de ajo. You can see the tech specs here.
  • Forrajeo (30-Dec-2011; Z-code; Spanish). V Mini Comp winner: awarded Best Game. Premios Hispanos 2011 winner: awarded Interactivity (Interactividad). Webpage.
    You've been sent to the drugstore to "get" some drugs. You thought that the dark would be a good cover, but somethings get bad before they get worse...You can see the tech specs here.
• 2021
  • Encierro (27-Aug-2021; Z-code; Spanish). Webpage.
    A slice of life, fantasy and sci-fi tale; you're living a pandemic's confiment in your apartment, trying to find a way to break free. You can see the tech specs here.

I've also created some CYOA:

• 2016
  • Rastros (04-Jul-2016; Squiffy; Spanish). Webpage.
    My first hypertext CYOA.
    You are in charge of an experimental botanical station so you must do some pest control... but, betimes, cleaning the garden's pests can be quite a dangeorus chore. Sequel to Macetas. You can see the tech specs here.
• 2020
  • Memoria (24-Jul-2020; Squiffy; Spanish). Webpage.
    You are shipwrecked on a strange planet of vast plains... and with ruthless Hunters on the prowl. Can you learn from The People that it is not enough to just survive?. Sequel to El Protector. You can see the tech specs here

Keep in mind: these games are in Spanish, and I won't be translating them to English any time soon.

Review and Article Credits

• SPAC #41 - A Testing Methodology. Generic methodology to perform an IF game testing. Article in Spanish. Available on PDF.
• SPAC #49 - An Adventure Craft Methodology. Generic methodology to create an IF game. Article in Spanish. Available on PDF.
• Adventure Genres, published on SPAC 2.0. Article in Spanish. Available on PDF.
• Adventure's creation and team work, published on Literactiva. Article in Spanish. Available on PDF.
• Publishing adventure games on facebook tutorial, published on SPAC 2.0 PDF issue #10. Article in Spanish.
• Publishing Z-Machine adventure games with web browser and Parchment, published on SPAC 2.0. Article in Spanish. Available on PDF.
• A series of articles on mi blog about creating adventure games. Articles in Spanish. Available on ePub.

Organizational Credits

• Mantains WikiCAAD - The Spanish IFWiki.
• Betatested CellarDoor, a Z-machine and Glulx interpreter for PalmOS.
• Mantained InformATE!, Inform's spanish translation library InformATE webpage, from August' 2005 to February' 2010.
• Maintained Almacén de la Aventura, a spanish website with Windows installers for individual adventures, from January' 2008 to February' 2010. Some of the installers are also of his making.
• Maintained Kit del Programador de InformATE, an InformATE programmer's Windows installer toolkit, and AventurATE, a spanish gamer's Windows installer toolkit, from January' 2008 to February' 2010

Links

• Author's page (Spanish)
• Author's listing on itch.io
• Author's listing on IFDB
• Author's blog (Spanish)
• Sebastián Armas (archived) - at Baf's Guide

Interviews

• SPAC #44 - Interview with Incanus by Antonia Visiedo about himself, his works and collaboration with the spanish IF Community. (Spanish)
• SPAC #51 - Interview with Incanus by Depresiv about himself, his works and collaboration with the spanish IF Community. (Spanish)
• SPAG #49 - Incanus is interviewed, along with several members of the Spanish IF community. (English)
• SPAC 2.0 - Incanus is interviewed on SPAC 2.0 by Mel Hython for La Comp Más Monstruosa, regarding Ofrenda a la Pincoya. (Spanish)
• Fase Bonus - Incanus is interviewed along with Baltasar regarding the current interactive fiction scene (Spanish)