Joshua Grams
@joshgrams.bsky.social
Organic farmer, programmer, hobby gamedev, etc.
Oh yeah, not you particularly, sorry. Just... things go in that direction so easily. And "It's costing us time and money we can't afford and nobody noticed that they were unplayable for 2 months" is at least understandable, if unfortunate.
December 30, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Oh yeah, not you particularly, sorry. Just... things go in that direction so easily. And "It's costing us time and money we can't afford and nobody noticed that they were unplayable for 2 months" is at least understandable, if unfortunate.
IIRC from twitter Ursula Vernon was working with a programmer to put Cryptic Stitching back together at one point?
Or a converter to Autumn Chen's DendryNexus should be possible? She might be up for that if you get hold of the data (she did the Bee restoration with Emily Short) or I could.
Or a converter to Autumn Chen's DendryNexus should be possible? She might be up for that if you get hold of the data (she did the Bee restoration with Emily Short) or I could.
December 30, 2025 at 1:54 PM
IIRC from twitter Ursula Vernon was working with a programmer to put Cryptic Stitching back together at one point?
Or a converter to Autumn Chen's DendryNexus should be possible? She might be up for that if you get hold of the data (she did the Bee restoration with Emily Short) or I could.
Or a converter to Autumn Chen's DendryNexus should be possible? She might be up for that if you get hold of the data (she did the Bee restoration with Emily Short) or I could.
Apparently there was (is?) an export option but I don't think authors knew about it? Zarf asked on the forum: community.failbettergames.com/t/storynexus... And their blog post makes it clear that it's a maintenance burden and nobody's playing (browsers don't like the non-secure connection) but...
December 30, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Apparently there was (is?) an export option but I don't think authors knew about it? Zarf asked on the forum: community.failbettergames.com/t/storynexus... And their blog post makes it clear that it's a maintenance burden and nobody's playing (browsers don't like the non-secure connection) but...
I do wish we could get the JSON dumps of a bunch of these because it wouldn't be *too* hard to make a tool to play them, but I gather authors had the opportunity to export but didn't...
community.failbettergames.com/t/storynexus...
community.failbettergames.com/t/storynexus...
December 30, 2025 at 1:02 PM
I do wish we could get the JSON dumps of a bunch of these because it wouldn't be *too* hard to make a tool to play them, but I gather authors had the opportunity to export but didn't...
community.failbettergames.com/t/storynexus...
community.failbettergames.com/t/storynexus...
Let's not dunk on Failbetter, though: their blog post makes it clear that it's a maintenance burden keeping the separate-from-Fallen-London-but-still-linked-codebase up and running, and that in general nobody is playing them...
www.failbettergames.com/news/storyne...
www.failbettergames.com/news/storyne...
StoryNexus worlds will shut down on 27th January 2026
After 12 years in maintenance mode, it's time to say goodbye to StoryNexus.
www.failbettergames.com
December 30, 2025 at 12:59 PM
Let's not dunk on Failbetter, though: their blog post makes it clear that it's a maintenance burden keeping the separate-from-Fallen-London-but-still-linked-codebase up and running, and that in general nobody is playing them...
www.failbettergames.com/news/storyne...
www.failbettergames.com/news/storyne...
I've cobbled together some JS to make it significantly easier to save a "transcript" than straight copy/paste (though it's still pretty manual) - get in touch if you'd like that code. I might try to save some quick runthroughs of Below and The Silver Tree and Annwn Simulation before the end, but...
December 29, 2025 at 4:49 PM
I've cobbled together some JS to make it significantly easier to save a "transcript" than straight copy/paste (though it's still pretty manual) - get in touch if you'd like that code. I might try to save some quick runthroughs of Below and The Silver Tree and Annwn Simulation before the end, but...
For a little preservation effort, EJ is doing a commented playthrough of Yoon Ha Lee's Winterstrike, and I've started one for @meghna.bsky.social's Samsara:
intfiction.org/t/lets-play-...
intfiction.org/t/lets-play-...
#InteractiveFiction
intfiction.org/t/lets-play-...
intfiction.org/t/lets-play-...
#InteractiveFiction
December 29, 2025 at 4:47 PM
For a little preservation effort, EJ is doing a commented playthrough of Yoon Ha Lee's Winterstrike, and I've started one for @meghna.bsky.social's Samsara:
intfiction.org/t/lets-play-...
intfiction.org/t/lets-play-...
#InteractiveFiction
intfiction.org/t/lets-play-...
intfiction.org/t/lets-play-...
#InteractiveFiction
Oh, right, I had the RSVP-but-bail conversation with some Bay area folks earlier this year. SUCH a different set of social values: "I don't want to hurt their feelings by saying no" or "What if I want to go but then don't have the spoons?" vs. "why wouldn't you just trust them with the truth?"
December 28, 2025 at 10:19 PM
Oh, right, I had the RSVP-but-bail conversation with some Bay area folks earlier this year. SUCH a different set of social values: "I don't want to hurt their feelings by saying no" or "What if I want to go but then don't have the spoons?" vs. "why wouldn't you just trust them with the truth?"
I always feel guilty about being a hermit b/c buried in farm stuff: when we moved to ME it was a full 6 weeks before we had a single day with nobody stopping by to say hi, welcome to the area, give us something, invite us to an event, gossip about the previous owners, etc. etc.
December 28, 2025 at 2:06 PM
I always feel guilty about being a hermit b/c buried in farm stuff: when we moved to ME it was a full 6 weeks before we had a single day with nobody stopping by to say hi, welcome to the area, give us something, invite us to an event, gossip about the previous owners, etc. etc.
So do people on the west coast mostly just... not interact with people they don't know (except at designated social events, I assume?) That's so wild to me.
December 28, 2025 at 2:03 PM
So do people on the west coast mostly just... not interact with people they don't know (except at designated social events, I assume?) That's so wild to me.
I was listening to the part of John Zhu's (Chinese Lore Podcast) retelling of Journey to the West where this old monk covets a fancy garment the pilgrims had, so the whole monastery joins in on trying to burn the building to the ground with them inside to avoid having to give it back so... yeah.
December 6, 2025 at 12:07 AM
I was listening to the part of John Zhu's (Chinese Lore Podcast) retelling of Journey to the West where this old monk covets a fancy garment the pilgrims had, so the whole monastery joins in on trying to burn the building to the ground with them inside to avoid having to give it back so... yeah.
Oh yeah, I tried for 5 or 6 hours; I just suck at it.
October 28, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Oh yeah, I tried for 5 or 6 hours; I just suck at it.
Heck yeah! I never got good enough to get anywhere with the original 10S but I still do a playthrough of Water's Fine every so often...
October 27, 2025 at 9:07 PM
Heck yeah! I never got good enough to get anywhere with the original 10S but I still do a playthrough of Water's Fine every so often...
And hey, check out Drew Cook's post on the subject: golmac.org/your-opinion...
Your Opinion Matters to Us - Gold Machine
I know we're all tired of talking about this, but. But!
golmac.org
October 19, 2025 at 7:50 PM
And hey, check out Drew Cook's post on the subject: golmac.org/your-opinion...
I don't have anything too groundbreaking I want to do but there are *so* many little usability things that I'd like to put together in one tool because I think they'd add up to something really special.
October 5, 2025 at 12:42 PM
I don't have anything too groundbreaking I want to do but there are *so* many little usability things that I'd like to put together in one tool because I think they'd add up to something really special.
A few more notes and a full-size (spoilery!) version at joshgrams.com/2025/09/28/
Type Help Twine Gardening
joshgrams.com
September 28, 2025 at 2:39 PM
A few more notes and a full-size (spoilery!) version at joshgrams.com/2025/09/28/
Whereas in Boston you can be wandering around at 6:30 in the morning and end up in a half-hour conversation with the giant philosophy nerd who happens to be sweeping the sidewalks...
September 25, 2025 at 11:19 AM
Whereas in Boston you can be wandering around at 6:30 in the morning and end up in a half-hour conversation with the giant philosophy nerd who happens to be sweeping the sidewalks...
Yeah, lots of people debating whether to scale back or sit it out next year... or this year...
AFAICT they did not e-mail out the survey last year. Just on their blog and social media: blog.ifcomp.org and mastodon.gamedev.place/@IFComp and now on here, so follow those?
AFAICT they did not e-mail out the survey last year. Just on their blog and social media: blog.ifcomp.org and mastodon.gamedev.place/@IFComp and now on here, so follow those?
September 17, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Yeah, lots of people debating whether to scale back or sit it out next year... or this year...
AFAICT they did not e-mail out the survey last year. Just on their blog and social media: blog.ifcomp.org and mastodon.gamedev.place/@IFComp and now on here, so follow those?
AFAICT they did not e-mail out the survey last year. Just on their blog and social media: blog.ifcomp.org and mastodon.gamedev.place/@IFComp and now on here, so follow those?