Enough about puzzles...what about Interface!

[TandyLion]

So, I was thinking as I was browsing through my DosBox catalog that there are many cookie-cutter interfaces that have really become staples in the Adventure Game genre.

Things like:
Inventories
Text Parser
Verb Coin

But what about the more unique one of a kind style games. Do they enhance gameplay? Are they imposed only to be unique?

Example: LOOM
For example, would LOOM have been more as classic and notable as it was if it had an inventory? Did the musical Distaff enhance the game play? Would the forgotten sequel Forge have been handled the same way, or trounced by "Look/Talk/Push" convenience? Thoughts?

[LUniqueDan]

Dunno, but there was a moment in Loom where I whished I had olny a standard interface,

In the other hand, the actual standard left-click-look /right-click-use still let me cold. I guess the ultimate style was MII interface. Even if it end up being mis-used by designers who don't use half of the verbs. The same with Full Trottle were the 'kick' button were underused.

[blueskirt]

It depends on what kind of uniqueness we're talking about. Except in some cases where it allow the screen to be less cluttered (or completly uncluttered) and show bigger or more detailled backgrounds, unique button placement do not improve gameplay that much. That the Save and Load buttons are located on the GUI rather than being brought up only when you press ESC, or that the verbs are located at the top instead of the bottom of the screen, that's pot and kettle to me.

Unique verbs, when they open the door to new kind of puzzles to solve, most certainly improve gameplay IMO, particuliary when they change the puzzle dynamic completly (Loom where you learn and cast spells, Full Throttle that focused on a muscled approach to puzzle solving, Kyrandia 2: Hand of Fate which focus on crafting potions, The Shivah that treated conversation subjects like inventory objects...)

That said, uniqueness doesn't always equal greatness. When poorly implemented, a unique and untested formula can fall flat. Wooly Rockbottom, which featured that Tinkering verb come to my mind here, because the Tinkering verb changed the dynamic toward more complex inventory item interaction, yet, the inventory window was a tiny rectangle in the corner, with tiny icons, that showed 3 or 4 items at the time, and made the Tinkering hindering rather than fun. Had the game featured a "Tinkering mode" button that made the interface go super saiyan, displaying all your inventory items, with bigger icons, all your tools and the tools present in your environment, that game would have become a classic.

Another unique interface which improved the gameplay would be the Leisure Suit Larry 7 interface, which combined the simplicity of the point and click interface with the fun of experimenting with a text parser for extra laugh.

For example, would LOOM have been more as classic and notable as it was if it had an inventory?

It's the opposite. It's the interface and the kind of unique puzzle solving this interface allowed that made Loom a classic IMO.