IF Cliches

There are some recurring themes and elements in IF that have been so overused they make seasoned players groan. Usually you want to think again before you make a story using one of these. Unless you're very, very good and can put a creative twist on it.

My College Dorm Room: The game starts in your college dorm room, because hey, you're in college, you've just discovered IF, and you think being able to simulate an environment that's familiar to you in a computer is just the most fun thing ever. And adding simulations of your college roommates with snarky injokes makes it even better! Sure it is. But it's really boring to other people. This will get you 75% of the way to an instant >QUIT from your game without even trying.

My Messy Bedroom: Same as the College Dorm Room only it's your room at home. In your parents basement. There's clothing scattered all over the floor and there's probably a puzzle involving either underpants or an electric guitar before you can leave the room. See above.

My Hilariously Dysfunctional Workplace: Same as above, only it's a diligent facsimile of the office job where you work, complete with 53 identical desks/cubicles, an underappreciative boss, and a puzzle involving coffee.

Dungoneers Anonymous: You are Grabthar, Champion of the Nine Realms of Cloudvassal, half-dwarven half-elf cleric with pointy ears and infravision, wielding the +3 blessed greatsword of Munchkin Slaying, sworn to avenge... zzz... in a firelit tavern where you meet your new companions... zzz... Your D&D campaign plays great around a tabletop, but in IF it's just a little too generic. You need an edge to make it stand out.

Space Cadets Anonymous: You are Lieutenant Gr'abThar, Away Team Leader of the Confederation Space Cruiser Cloudvassal, half-Vulcan half-Klingon technician with pointy ears and infravision goggles, wielding the +3 tachyon-multiplied phase-blaster of Redshirt Slaying... zzz... Captain has lost communications with the colony outpost... zzz... Same problem. Your space setting needs some kind of twist to distinguish itself.

Amnesia: You wake up with a head wound and no memory of who you are or where. Just like the player who's suddenly assumed your identity. Isn't that a wonderful coincidence? Yes, yes it is. And very useful if you want to get right to the point and avoid having to info-dump lots of backstory, but you might want to find a more original way of doing it.

Abandonitis: The mystery plague that killed 99% of all the usual inhabitants of the world in which your story is set. Since NPCs are so hard to implement properly, the usual IF shortcut is to somehow make the world mostly deserted. Sometimes it's a literal plague. (Hello Planetfall). Abandonitis is hard to avoid completely, but try to make your world seem just a little lived in, even if there's nobody home *right now*.

Stumbler, In Darkness: There is a dark room, or section of rooms, and you need to acquire a light to enter them. Darkness as a movement-blocking puzzle is so ancient (hello Colossal Cave) it has pretty much expired its use-by date and wrapped around. Try doing something different with the dark, if you want to keep it - like give the player a sense of touch and hearing, maybe.

Silver Key, Bronze Key, Iron Key: There are multiple locked doors and you need to collect matching keys. Another really, really old cliche. In a science fiction game they're colour-coded passcards. (Hello Doom). Try to think of a more interesting way to meter out progress than just collecting keys.

The Wumpus' Revenge: Mazes - Just Say No. As in, unclued, unmotivated, each-exit-links-randomly blocks of linked (often identically-named) rooms that must be tediously mapped. Mazes are probably the single easiest 'puzzle' to implement for the amount of grief they inflict on the player and, because of that, the most boring and dreaded kind of puzzle to play. Many classic IF games were full of these, because they were cheap on memory space and made a game feel 'bigger'. Avoid at any costs. There can be fun angles on mazes-that-aren't-really-mazes if you want to get creative, but you run the risk of losing your audience unless you cue them in very promptly as to what the 'trick' is.

Reality Confusion: The game has multiple levels of reality in it, usually dreams, but they could be virtual reality or psychic flashforwards/flashbacks. Often it is not obvious while you are playing which segment is dream and which is reality. Sometimes you can >WAKE UP, sometimes you can't. This can be fun, just don't overuse it. '*** It was all a dream ***' is not usually a satisfying ending.

Fingers McFlashback: Your character's life story, or the story of the world in which you're exploring, is slowly revealed by the use of flashbacks - often when you physically touch objects or enter rooms. A magical or science-fictional McGuffin may be involved, or it might just be your memory. This is often combined with Amnesia and Abandonitis as a way of describing characters who can't be easily implemented.