''Lost Pig'' is a comedic work of
interactive fiction
''
Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, is software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives, either in the ...
about an
orc retrieving an escaped pig. It was created by
Admiral Jota and released as
freeware
Freeware is software, most often proprietary, that is distributed at no monetary cost to the end user. There is no agreed-upon set of rights, license, or EULA that defines ''freeware'' unambiguously; every publisher defines its own rules for the ...
.
[
] It took first place in the 2007
Interactive Fiction Competition
The Interactive Fiction Competition (also known as IFComp) is one of several annual competitions for works of interactive fiction. It has been held since 1995. It is intended for fairly short games, as judges are only allowed to spend two hours pla ...
with an average score of 8.27.
''Lost Pig'' won best game, best writing, best individual non-player character, and best individual player character in the 2007
XYZZY Awards.
''Lost Pig'' finished with 18.7% of the votes for the Audience Award in the interactive fiction category in the 2008
Jay Is Games Best of Casual Gameplay awards, placing it second after ''
Violet''.
[
]
The game has been described as "hilarious" by reviewers for ''
The Onion
''The Onion'' is an American digital media company and newspaper organization that publishes satire, satirical articles on international, national, and local news. The company is based in Chicago but originated as a weekly print publication on ...
'' ''
A.V. Club''
and
Jay Is Games.
Emily Short
Emily Short is an interactive fiction (IF) writer.
She is perhaps best known for her debut game ''Galatea'' and her use of psychologically complex non-player characters (NPCs).
Short has been called "a visionary in the world of text-based game ...
described it as "superbly crafted," "insanely responsive," and recommended it to new players of interactive fiction, noting, "The polish is so thorough that it avoids the sorts of parser frustrations that usually catch novice players off-guard...."
[
]
A GameSetWatch review noted that "After only a few minutes of play, however, it becomes pleasingly obvious how much effort has gone into creating Grunk’s world."
The reviewer for Jay Is Games called ''Lost Pig'' "...stuffed to the rafters with personality."
The game's protagonist is Grunk, an orc who works at a farm.
A pig under his care has escaped, and the game begins with Grunk looking for the pig.
Chasing the pig, Grunk soon falls into an underground complex. To win the game, the player must get Grunk to capture the pig and find a way out of the complex.
As interactive fiction, the player types English commands into the game and the game responds in English. However, the protagonist, Grunk, speaks broken English.
This means that the game's responses are frequently in broken English. A reviewer for ''The Onion A.V. Club'' notes that the broken English is "clever but never too cute" and that "
runk'sobservations make a certain sense—and his matter-of-fact reporting has an awesome clarity...."
References
{{reflist
External links
Official site*
Lost Pig' at the Interactive Fiction Database
* Play
Lost Pig' online at The People's Republic of Interactive Fiction
Admiral Jotaat IFWiki
2007 video games
Fantasy video games
2000s interactive fiction
Video games about pigs
Orcs in popular culture
Single-player video games