control it. On one level, this would appear to remove a degree of player interaction with
the game. But, in the final analysis, the branching conversation tree systems always
contain a finite number of branches, and hence most such systems devolve into players
simply clicking on each of the options, one by one. (The Secret of Monkey Islandis one of
the few examples of a game that actually adds depth to the gameplay with branching
conversations.) ForLoom, Moriarty went with the cut-scene conversations since they
were the most effective system for conveying his story. Again, Moriarty was focused on
his storytelling goal, and he let no adventure game conventions stand in his way.
User Interface................................
The interface inLoomis the epitome of simplicity, requiring players only to use their
mouse and a single button. This, of course, makes the game very easy to learn and play
for anyone at all familiar with a point-and-click system. This is in sharp contrast to
many other adventure games, particularly the text-only adventures that had their hey-
day in the 1980s, including those that Moriarty had worked on. Nearly all of these
games include a text parser which, ideally, allows players to enter whatever they want
their character to do using natural language. “Get book,” “Northwest,” “Open door
with red key,” and “Look at painting” are all examples of common commands from such
text adventures. The limitation, unfortunately, was that many text parsers did not fea-
ture a complete set of the words in the English language, nor could they properly parse
complex sentences. In fact, Infocom, the company that published Moriarty’s
Wishbringer,Trinity, andBeyond Zork, had the best text parser available by far. Yet the
parser could still be challenging to use. Especially frustrating was when players knew
exactly what they needed to do in the game, but they could not find the correct words to
say it. Not to mention the fact that, for the system to work, players are required to spell
everything correctly, a task at which few people excel. At the very best, one could
become familiar with the idiosyncrasies of a text parser over time, but to a beginner the
dominant feeling was one of frustration.
230 Chapter 12: Game Analysis:Loom
Loomkeeps its interface
as simple as possible by
having the player interact
with the game-world by
using only the mouse.