I Must Love To Refactor

"Refactoring" is fancy programmer jargon for "toss out what you don't like and start over". Technically, refactoring is supposed to be modular and precise. Think retooling or refining ... but with various object being replaced in the process.

I'm playing with interactive fiction some more. My original intent was to take an interactive slant on Tell Tale Heart and make it, well, a true murder simulator. I've drawn away from that and started an original story. Also, I introduced a card system for combat. In doing so, I've started to examine some of the ways I accomplished things in Randolph Carter and in the process ... I'm considering ripping out the framework and replacing anew. I've started playing with some of the new methods of prototyping objects in JavaScript to boot, so we're really talking about a brand new bag.

Which feels like a good thing? But am I abandoning something too soon? I might not even leave it behind, but the changes I'm considering are fairly drastic - removing the "noun-verb" interaction list and replacing it with an implicit decision tree based on choices represented by cards. Even removing the second person narrrative for a third person narrative and placing the reader more in charge of organizing specific plot points, not objects or the like.




tagged: interactive fiction, gaming