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,
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.
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.
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.
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?"
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.
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
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
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,
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
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.