An interactive fiction interpreter

Gargoyle is an interpreter program for interactive text adventure games, like ‘Lost Pig’, reviewed here recently. There are numerous text adventures available to download online, and if you are the sort of person who’d enjoy that type of thing, you’ll need an Interpreter like Gargoyle.

There is really little to say about it. On opening, Gargoyle asks which text adventure file you want to open, which you double click to start the game. From there you’re on your own, off on your adventures.

Saving games is a little complex, and not at all obvious to the new user. To save a game you type SAVE into the game, and then choose a file name and folder to keep saved games. To use this save, you have to load Gargoyle, open the game and type RESTORE, then choose the save game file.

Generally, games will have some instructions of varying quality online, and if you get stuck you can type HELP, and will be given some hints. However, it’s all a long way from the ease of use that is normal these days. The text in Gargoyle is really comfortable to read, much more so than on most websites, so you won’t get tired eyes.

As a tool for playing interactive fiction, Gargoyle does the job. But for newcomers, the application’s far from clear and simple.