192: Counterfeit Monkey

Counterfeit Monkey is a 2012 interactive fiction adventure puzzle game by Emily Short. What’s special about this game is its brilliant central puzzle mechanic, in which you’ll be removing letters from the names of objects in the world, and consequently changing what those things actually are. Have an apple, but prefer an alcoholic beverage? Remove the Ps and you’ve got a nice glass of ale. It’s a simple mechanic that opens up seemingly endless possibilities. Emily Short not only fully explores this mechanic through her game design, but also fully explores the world that such a possibility implies. Counterfeit Monkey is absolutely crammed with great writing, with better character and plot than you’ll find in most interactive fiction. Counterfeit Monkey is free to download and play in your favorite interactive fiction interpreter. (We suggest Lectrote and Frotz.) Expect it to take around six hours to complete. Links for this episode: Participate in the 2019 Interactive Fiction Top 50! Results of the 2019 Interactive Fiction Top 50 Lectrote (Interpreter for Mac/Windows/Linux) Frotz (Interpreter for iOS) Counterfeit Monkey on the IFDB Counterfeit Monkey announcement at Emily Short’s blog Making of Counterfeit Monkey: Puzzles and Toys Making of Counterfeit Monkey: Story The Short Game is supported directly by our listeners on Patreon! Supporters at any level get access to our Discord, where we discuss games, plan episodes, and talk about what we are playing in real time. You can also support us by writing a review on Apple Podcasts! You can follow our show on Twitter at @_shortgame Your hosts this week were: Raygan Kelly – @raygank Laura Nash – @laurajnash (02:59) - A Very Brief Introduction To IF (06:11) - It Won All Of The Awards (06:42) - Interpreters - Playing The Game (09:36) - Puzzle Mechanic And World (14:35) - A Balance Of Thoughtful And Silly (17:20) - Beginning The Game (22:19) - “Back Of The Box” (31:14) - Making A Fair Puzzle (35:25) - Getting Hints (36:58) - ~Light~ Spoiler Break (37:47) - Good Jokes! (47:20) - Great Writing! (50:46) - A Great Place To Start With IF (55:05) - What’s Making Us Happy This Week? (55:12) - Raygan - My Neo Geo Works! Playing Captain Tomaday (57:17) - Laura - Telestrations (59:44) - Outro