Remaking text adventure games into graphical ones poses the same
‘challenge’ as making a book into a movie. Why does everyone always say
‘the book was better?’ Because when you’re reading, it’s YOU that’s
drawing the world, what the trees look like, how big the hills are,
what the wolf looks like… so when you see the movie, it’s not at all
like what you imagined.
I find when I watch a movie first and then read the book, I get the
opposite feeling: the movie was better. Since I already know what
everything is supposed to look like, I’m eager to skim through all the
descriptive narration.
As for the icon bar, I have a love/hate relationship with that. There
are some instances like the KQ4 example mentioned, where it would take
away from the gameplay. Though I couldn’t imagine games like Sins of
the Fathers or Dagger of AmonRa without them. Larry 7 was a nice
hybrid, although it could have been better implemented. (Like, have a
parser at the bottom all the time, perhaps?)
-Tom.