The Grumpy Cricket (And Other Enormous Creatures) is a lighthearted interactive fiction game by John Goerzen.
As interactive fiction, it’s like an e-book, but the reader is also the player, guiding the exploration of the world.
The Grumpy Cricket is designed to be friendly for a first-time player of interactive fiction. There is no way to lose the game or to die. There is an in-game hint system providing context-sensitive hints anytime the reader types HINT. There are splashes of humor throughout that got all three of my kids laughing.
I wrote it in 2023 for my kids, which then ranged in age from 6 to 17.
The Grumpy Cricket is Free Software.
You can play it live in a web browser at https://www.complete.org/the-grumpy-cricket/live/play.html
For the best experience, download and play on your device:
- The latest version can be downloaded from its page at the Internet Archive. Generally, you’ll want the .z8 file.
- To run the .z8 file, you’ll need a Z-code interpreter for your system. On Debian, run
apt-get install frotzand thenfrotz the-grumpy-cricket.z8to play. - The source code is available on Salsa.
This came is also listed on the Interactive Fiction Database.
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