The purpose of this project is simple: to create interactive adventures based on the unfinished story ideas that H.P. Lovecraft collected in his "Commonplace Book". The first set of games were created from April to June of 2007 and have been published here, in an online exhibition. This exhibition is free for everyone to enjoy, in return for your feedback. As of October 27, 2007, these games are also appearing in an exhibit of art and stories based on the Commonplace Book at the Maison d'Ailleurs, Switzerland. Click here for more information. This project is truly international, with French, English, and Spanish entries already on exhibit. Games in this exhibit are not necessarily written by or owned by Illuminated Lantern Publishing; we are simply hosting and organizing the project.

Posted by Peter Nepstad at 03:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

Voted Best in Show among all English language games created as part of the Commonplace Book project.

The letter you received from Arkwright's nephew Carter was clear enough: when the old man dies the inheritance tax will be too great. To raise some capital, the nephew has set up buyers for Arkwright's collection of rare and old books...

Dead Cities is a text based game by Jon Ingold, which ruminates on the nature of time, of life, and of death. And how books, ideas, are part of the cycle. Ingold maintains tension between the ordinary and the mystical throughout the piece, drawing on the Dunsanian side of Lovecraft's style to pull us into contact with the numinous.

Download Dead Cities here. A 1.5 MB "gblorb" file, you'll need to download the "Glulx" interpreter to play (Mac or Windows).

Jon Ingold is an award-winning author of numerous works of Interactive Fiction, including All Roads, considered one of the top five modern text adventures by adventuregamers.com.

Posted by Peter Nepstad at 10:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

You wake, a pounding headache loud in your inner ear, the back of your head itching and tingling, your mouth full of cotton. The pain drives away your dreams, weird visions of alien landscapes...

Ecdysis is a text based game by Peter Nepstad that drives you forward on the power of your own primal urges, only half understood and increasingly non-human. Can you fight the changes that are overwhelming you? Do you even want to?

There are two downloads for Ecdysis, depending on what system you own. If you are going to play on a Windows PC, download the executable file here. If you are using a Mac, download the .gam file here, then play using Spatterlight for the Mac. Note the two files are different: the Windows executable is designed as "hypertext fiction", where you need only click on hotspot links to advance the game. The .gam file does not have that feature when played using Spatterlight.

Peter Nepstad is...hey, that's me! Browse the rest of the site to get an idea of what else I've been up to, including the commercial game 1893: A World's Fair Mystery, and a collection of games based on the writings of Lord Dunsany called Tales of Wonder.

Posted by Peter Nepstad at 04:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Didn't Father always warn you not to go down into the cellar?

The Cellar is a text-based game by David Whyld. A simple story of boyhood curiosity gone horribly wrong. The author introduces the tale, and provides commentary at the end, and one can almost visualize him leaning back and closing the book on the bedtime story just told. Then, just lying in bed, in the dark, eyes wide open, nervous about even the slightest noise...

Download The Cellar here. It is a 23.4 KB Taf file, playable in any compatible ADRIFT runner. I recommend Gargoyle for the PC and Spatterlight for the Mac.

David Whyld is the author of over fifty works of Interactive Fiction and maintains the Shadowvault for ADRIFT games.

Posted by Peter Nepstad at 12:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

It was in the summer of 1920 when I came upon the house. I was young and carefree, riding the rails, taking odd jobs. I stopped in a small town and answered an ad for a handyman, to help foreclose on a house that had a serious family tragedy a few years back...

Handyman Wanted is a point and click style graphical adventure by Roger Tober and Nige Copeland. Download Handyman Wanted from its website, here. An 8.18 MB rar file or self-extractable Windows executable.

Posted by Peter Nepstad at 12:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Beyond the Threshold is a point-and-click graphical adventure by Thomas 'Nihil' Busse. The story of the story of Friedrich Wilhelm von Junzt, author of the notorious book "Unaussprechlichen Kulten", now trapped in his apartment by a nightmarish beast.

Download Beyond the Threshold here. It is a 26.5 MB Zip file, for Windows-based systems only.

Posted by Peter Nepstad at 12:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Tu padre te abandonó cuando aún no tenías uso de razón. Te dejó en una casa en la cima de una pequeña colina, al cuidado de dos mujeres siniestras, eternamente vestidas de negro...

El Museo de las Consciencias is a text based game in Spanish. Un trabajo colectivo by Xpktro, Mel Hython, Santiago Eximeno, Grendel Khan, Urbatin, y Depresiv. Created in Inform.

Download El Museo de las Consciencias here.

The authors of El Museo de las Consciencias represent a cross section of the Spanish language adventure development community, for whose participation we are extremely grateful.

Posted by Peter Nepstad at 11:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Lieux Communs is a text based game in French only, by Le Jibe, Samuel Verschelde, Eric Forgeot, Hugo Labrande, Jean-Luc Pontico, and Stab. "Une série d'aventures hors du temps."

Download Lieux Communs here, from the French project site. Additional download information is provided there.

The authors of Lieux Communs represent a cross section of the French adventure development community, for whose participation we are extremely grateful.

Posted by Peter Nepstad at 10:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

If you would like to increase awareness of this project you may use the logo below on your website. Also, if you enter a game in the project, and host it on your own website separately from this general listing, please include the logo on the page with a link back to the full list of entrants.

Posted by Peter Nepstad at 10:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)