4 ms·

Another great tool for interactive fiction is the Inform7 language[0]. It's very close to natural language, there are many good examples[1] online and I found t

Another great tool for interactive fiction is the Inform7 language[0]. It's very close to natural language, there are many good examples[1] online and I found the documentation[2] easy to read. [0] http://inform7.com/ http://inform7.com/ [1] https://i7-examples.github.io/Bronze/source.html https://i7-examples.github.io/Bronze/source.html [2] http://inform7.com/doc/ http://inform7.com/doc/

anthk 5y ago
Inform6 is better if you want something closer to OOP/old-kind programming. Also, if you want to create a non-English game i7 gets messy fast.
- Agentlien 5y ago
  Personally if I would want to write something I'd probably just write it in C++. But a friend of mine who's an English teacher had to create an interactive story with Inform7 during his education. I was really impressed how simple it seemed for someone with no programming experience.
  - anthk 5y ago
    C++ would suck for that (and any other language) as Inform6 gives you an object table and a parser for free with lots of object types such as rooms, containers, verbs, cardinal directions... already defined in the standard English library. And the Z machine games can be run everywhere. Declaring some room with i6 it's literally four lines of code: The object name and the internal one, the description upon entering it, a light attribute, and a semicolon.
    - pyotr55 5y ago
      If you really want OOP, take a look at TADS 3 if you haven't already. Made the switch from Inform 6, and couldn't be happier. http://www.tads.org/ http://www.tads.org/
    - Agentlien 5y ago
      I absolutely agree that the Inform languages are great for creating interactive fiction, hence why I originally linked it. But I have created text based adventures (usually with some RPG-style combat) in C++ a few times for fun and it can be done in a fairly clean and simple way.
    - stevekemp 5y ago
      I recently wrote a text-based adventure game in C, which I then ported to Z80 assembly language. My goal was to write a simple game that could run on a CP/M system. Using C wasn't too painful, but I agree that using something else would have been more straightforward. I've ended up in a situation where the user can type "USE TORCH", but really they want to type "LIGHT TORCH". So I added that as a synonym, but once you do that in a few different places you end up accidentally supporting commands such as: LIGHT THE BOOK READ THE TORCH They work, but they're utterly bogus from a logical point of view. That said I'm pleased I managed to get it working at all, and my next step will be writing a third version using an infocom compiler & interpreter.
      - anthk 5y ago
        Try Puny Inform, it may be a Frotz port for CP/M 2.2. https://vetusware.com/download/Infocom%20CPM%20Interpreters%20Various/?id=10878 https://vetusware.com/download/Infocom%20CPM%20Interpreters%... You can use infocpm. Just hexedit the COM file to match the DAT file (rename game.z3 to game.DAT). For example, if the OG interpreter works with zork1.dat, hexedit the file and replace zork1 with "game" so it matches "game.dat".
      - anthk 5y ago
        From dm4.pdf, the advanced manual on inform6: Object -> "flashlight" with name 'flashlight' 'torch', description "It's a battery-powered flashlight, of the sort that switches on and off.", after [; SwitchOn: give self light; SwitchOff: give self ~light; ], has switchable ~on ~light;
    - WalterGR 5y ago
      > And the Z machine games can be run everywhere. Even on mobile devices! Which IF programs support Z machine output?
      - mwcampbell 5y ago
        As far as I'm aware, the only modern compiler that supports Z-machine output is Inform 6. Maybe Inform 7 does as well, but that segment of the IF community has basically moved on to the Glulx virtual machine, which Andrew Plotkin created as a 32-bit spiritual successor to the Z-machine.
  - pyotr55 5y ago
    Although the core library is not updated anymore, I find TADS 3 to be the superior language for offline interactive fiction. It's the most technical language by far, but that's why it's also the most feature rich (and for someone with a programming background, probably also the most intuitive). I'm still regularly amazed at what's baked into the standard library, that would be an absolute pain, or even outright impossible to do with other authoring systems. http://www.tads.org/ http://www.tads.org/

anthk 5y ago

Inform6 is better if you want something closer to OOP/old-kind programming. Also, if you want to create a non-English game i7 gets messy fast.

Agentlien 5y ago
Personally if I would want to write something I'd probably just write it in C++. But a friend of mine who's an English teacher had to create an interactive story with Inform7 during his education. I was really impressed how simple it seemed for someone with no programming experience.
- anthk 5y ago
  C++ would suck for that (and any other language) as Inform6 gives you an object table and a parser for free with lots of object types such as rooms, containers, verbs, cardinal directions... already defined in the standard English library. And the Z machine games can be run everywhere. Declaring some room with i6 it's literally four lines of code: The object name and the internal one, the description upon entering it, a light attribute, and a semicolon.
  - pyotr55 5y ago
    If you really want OOP, take a look at TADS 3 if you haven't already. Made the switch from Inform 6, and couldn't be happier. http://www.tads.org/ http://www.tads.org/
  - Agentlien 5y ago
    I absolutely agree that the Inform languages are great for creating interactive fiction, hence why I originally linked it. But I have created text based adventures (usually with some RPG-style combat) in C++ a few times for fun and it can be done in a fairly clean and simple way.
  - stevekemp 5y ago
    I recently wrote a text-based adventure game in C, which I then ported to Z80 assembly language. My goal was to write a simple game that could run on a CP/M system. Using C wasn't too painful, but I agree that using something else would have been more straightforward. I've ended up in a situation where the user can type "USE TORCH", but really they want to type "LIGHT TORCH". So I added that as a synonym, but once you do that in a few different places you end up accidentally supporting commands such as: LIGHT THE BOOK READ THE TORCH They work, but they're utterly bogus from a logical point of view. That said I'm pleased I managed to get it working at all, and my next step will be writing a third version using an infocom compiler & interpreter.
    - anthk 5y ago
      Try Puny Inform, it may be a Frotz port for CP/M 2.2. https://vetusware.com/download/Infocom%20CPM%20Interpreters%20Various/?id=10878 https://vetusware.com/download/Infocom%20CPM%20Interpreters%... You can use infocpm. Just hexedit the COM file to match the DAT file (rename game.z3 to game.DAT). For example, if the OG interpreter works with zork1.dat, hexedit the file and replace zork1 with "game" so it matches "game.dat".
    - anthk 5y ago
      From dm4.pdf, the advanced manual on inform6: Object -> "flashlight" with name 'flashlight' 'torch', description "It's a battery-powered flashlight, of the sort that switches on and off.", after [; SwitchOn: give self light; SwitchOff: give self ~light; ], has switchable ~on ~light;
  - WalterGR 5y ago
    > And the Z machine games can be run everywhere. Even on mobile devices! Which IF programs support Z machine output?
    - mwcampbell 5y ago
      As far as I'm aware, the only modern compiler that supports Z-machine output is Inform 6. Maybe Inform 7 does as well, but that segment of the IF community has basically moved on to the Glulx virtual machine, which Andrew Plotkin created as a 32-bit spiritual successor to the Z-machine.
- pyotr55 5y ago
  Although the core library is not updated anymore, I find TADS 3 to be the superior language for offline interactive fiction. It's the most technical language by far, but that's why it's also the most feature rich (and for someone with a programming background, probably also the most intuitive). I'm still regularly amazed at what's baked into the standard library, that would be an absolute pain, or even outright impossible to do with other authoring systems. http://www.tads.org/ http://www.tads.org/