Santoonie Corporation’s

Delvyn

A Tilli LTD Production Storyline based on works by Tilli, Baron, Lipe, Chico, PattyJudy, Mooch, Satan( no relation), Echoman, & More.  Delvyn represents Santoonie Corporation’s 3rd installment of interactive fiction and 1st submission to rec.art.int.fiction competition.  Appreciation: Braxton Bragg, Lunsford Lomax, Peter Lansford, A.P. Hill, FitzLee, Judson Kilpatrick.  Production of Delvyn, created at Santoonie Corporation HQ, with multimedia elements combined at Arrow Studios, Atlanta Ga.  Delvyn conceived shortly after completion of Isis, the TADS Adventure on May 12,2003.  Completion and release party September 1, 2003. 

 

From the Authors

Scenes from Amissville

Scenes from Isis

Scenes from Delvyn

Interview with Tilli

 

 

From the Authors

 

Tilli: We present to you Delvyn, a TADS adventure based on a series of adventures from Delvyn, the Grey Elf.  Enjoy this solo exploration with in-depth plots and adventure.

Baron: I was not responsible for spell checking on this game, please do not contact me with ridicule and insults.  Thank you.

Lipe: Go Dogs.

Chico: No comment.

Patty Judy: This game is a great compliment to Amissville and offers some challenging menus.  I really enjoy the scenery of this work and the small

dramas that play out  near the end.

Mooch: No comment.

Satan: No comment

Echoman: Comedy is alive and well, another awesome crafty work from the crazy.

More:

FitzLee: I thoroughly enjoyed this game and some bits and pieces are awesome.  Where do they think this stuff up, I have no idea.  Drugs?

A.P. Hill: Rock on.

 

Scenes from Amissville:

 

You emerge from the manhole cover and find yourself in a nail salon inside

                                                Southpark Mall.  The manhole cover which was covered with carpet has now been

                                                lifted and pushed aside as numerous old ladies look on.  Instantly, one of the

                                                ladies screams!  You are too stunned and dismayed to act quickly, and the dark

                                                tunnels have blurred your vision.  Within milliseconds you are swarmed by numerous

                                                Rent-a-Cops, that grab you.   Unfortunetly, Mall Rent-a-Cops are not adequately

                                                trained in high stress situations, and one of them beats you into a coma resulting

                                                in an untimely death.

 

                                                As you continue on your travels, what lies before you cannot be described in

                                                simple terms.  The wind has started to pick up around you, swirling as you press on.

                                                A homes rooftop jettisons out toward the gloomy sky, its archway ripping sharp angles

                                                into perpindicular points that create the house of one Pudy Judy.  A fence in the

                                                frontyard fortifies whatever is within.  There are numerous cars parked around the

                                                property.  From this distance you see someone on the front porch. There is a sense of

                                                despair as you approach closer.  There is a road continueing east and south from this

                                                point, and the porch lies to the north.

 

Scenes from Isis

 

A small cottage is nestled against an old tree here.  The house planks corroded

                                                and need of repair.  Next to the front door are glassless windows, covered

                                                with linens that blow in the wind.

                                                A typical post with a box for mail decorates the entrance to this establishment

                                                to the north.

 

                                                Done. "Ah, A nice lookin' <<sdesc>>, a fair trade.", says

                                                the barkeep. "Okay, Here we go."  The bartender shuffles a new

                                                deck of cards and dishes out two to you and two to him, alternating.

                                                "You want a card, you just say 'deal', ..you like what you got,

                                                then stay, sound good?..okay..", the barkeep seems to be glistening

                                                at his cards, "So, what?  You wanta' hit?"

 

Scenes from Delvyn

 

You kneel down and test out the root.  It seems sturdy enough, so you

                                                descend rather quickly.  Some ten feet down the root starts to extend further

                                                from the earth and you use your feet now to help stir your descent.  Your

                                                feet walk the sides of the chasm as you descend gracefully.

 

"Good name.  Say..You seen a baseball around here?" asks Levon.

                                                You pause for moment, "No, no baseballs," you respond.  "Hopin' you

                                                would make my life a bit easier.", he shrugs.  You try to hide a perplexed look.

                                                "Oh, there's a ballpark through these woods here, and my job is to

                                                retrieve foul balls."  He takes a long drag on his pipe and with a

                                                smile continues, "Anyway, it's always an epic quest, and as you can

                                                see, I am at rest for the moment.

 

Interview with Tilli

 

Santoonie: Where did you get the idea behind Delvyn?

Tilli: Delvyn is named after a fond player character of mine back in my Advanced Dungeons & Dragons days.  He was a Grey Elf Ranger.  He started to become an elite adventurer shortly after the release of TSR’s Unearthed Arcana, when he was able to specialize in his chosen weaponry, the bow.  He gained notoriety during a campaign known as The Temple of Elemental Evil.  Years later, fond friends would recall the name Delvyn and was often brought up in good light over beer and wings.  He would mark a place in history once again when the internet started to take off.  My first AOL experience in a chat room was under the name Delvyn.  While most people were talking about romance, sports, etc.  Delvyn explained that he was a grey elf, a bowyer.  I fondly remember watching the room empty during my novice chatroom visits.

 

Santoonie: Delvyn takes place on a farm.  Why such a unusual place like South Carolina versus perhaps a fantasy backdrop?

Tilli:  I actually molded the environment in a novel I completed years ago, that is unreleased.  The book is a very serious work for me, and holds a special place in my heart.  The very farm that Delvyn explores is the same that I explored as a kid, which is actually in Newberry, S.C.  Though Delvyn has his own unique quest, mine was similar.  I would hunt a fox with a long broken car axle.  I almost got him, but he got away.  I also remember killing thousands of caterpillars while singing Journey’s “Your tearing me apart…every, every day. “  I can’t remember how the rest of the song went.  I also lost my Chewbacca on that farm, damnation.

 

Santoonie: What does the name Delvyn mean?

Tilli:  Well, somewhere along the line in a chatroom, someone said it was another name for the devil in Scandonivia or something like that.  I don’t know too much about that, I got the premise of the name from Elric the albino elf.  Everyone knows, there must be about a million D&D characters named after the legend, so I sort of made a dim of the name.  Since he’s elven, I opted to add a consonant at the beginning, so I started with A, B, C, then D worked out great.  I added a ‘y’ for the look, then realized it was a legitimate name.  I imagine if I had made an orc, his name would have been Dorkish.  I’ve never been one to suffer with name creating like the vast majority.  I still don’t understand what talent I have in name creation.  I guess the dumbest name I ever came up with was back in the 80’s, I reversed Wang Chung, and made an oriental fighter named Chung Wang.  He died, but Chung Wang II became a lord of his own realm somewhere in Greyhawk, Wild Coast I believe.

 

Santoonie: Do you expect Delvyn to ride the same success as Amissville?

Tilli: (Laughs) Well, nothing will ever be like Amissville again, I don’t imagine.  We never anticipated the overwhelming effect Amissville would have on several communities.  We must have brought a hundred lurkers to R.A.I.F over the past year due to Amissville.  A lot of it’s fan base are individuals who relish our other Santoonie Products.  As you know, it was based on a true story, and some of the participants of Amissville were debating a return trip.  But I don’t believe that will ever happen, we all have jobs now.  Delvyn is so different from Amissville that I think it will stand on it’s own feet.

 

Santoonie: You mention R.A.I.F, one of the communities that despises or so it seems, products related to Santoonie, do you read the negative comments?

Tilli: I think it’s all about the bottom line, Do we care what others think?  Of course we do.  Do we intend to try and improve our image not just locally, but on a global market?  Certainly.  I have read a few comments or have seen our name used in ridicule, but who hasn’t.  What we set out to do was put a spark in the atmosphere, ignite interest, and release games of entertaining quality.  You have to realize that we now have a firm foundation on which to continuously give to the community.  The success of Amissville has quadrupled our subscriber base, not just in Interactive Fiction, but other Santoonie products as well, our literature, cartoons, movies, and concepts. 

 

Santoonie:  Who is Santoonie Corporation?  Who is A.P. Hill?

Tilli:  I’d rather stay on track with discussion of Delvyn, if you don’t mind.  A.P. Hill is a contracted programmer from AOV Services, who worked with us on Amissville and now Delvyn.  I can only say, he brings a unique twist to our plots, and we hope that everyone’s contribution, not just his will be enjoyed by all.

 

Santoonie: How do you anticipate Delvyn will do in the competition?

Tilli:  That’s a good question.  When we first came on board, we spent a great deal of time investigating proper techniques in constructing a successful piece of interactive fiction.  A lot of what we found was against our premise at Santoonie and in earlier meetings, we all agreed to refrain from competition entries.  But the following year, we actually supported it’s endeavor, contributing to the prize list and we found ourselves admiring the competition’s success.  After Isis was completed, our next game, a western, seemed to fit the role of a competition entry.  But later on, we needed something smaller, so Delvyn was introduced.  We had mixed emotions on entering.  Some were avid fans of our principals and felt the competition was nothing more than a group of circle jerks, and they glorified our mission of just releasing games as they come.  But we don’t feel that is the case.  We think Delvyn will do quite well, but if not, we at least introduce a highly entertaining game for the TADS genre.  The competition was good for us this year, it kept our momentum going and we really enjoyed putting Delvyn together.

 

Santoonie: What’s next from Santoonie Corporation?

Tilli:  Well, we have moved a lot of our resources into developing short films, which are due out next summer.  We’ve hosted several RPG’s, catered a few camping extravangazas, and started on our 43rd installment of Tilli Toons.   We probably won’t begin work on another piece of IF until next spring, but you never know.

 

Santoonie: Thank you Mr. Tilli.

Tilli: No, thank you.