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Archive-name: games/interactive-fiction/authoring/part2
Posting-Frequency: monthly URL: http://www.davidglasser.net/raiffaq/ Copyright: (c) 1999 David Glasser See reader questions & answers on this topic! - Help others by sharing your knowledge
[rec.arts.int-fiction] Interactive Fiction Authorship FAQ (2/3)
Maintained by David Glasser (glasser@iname.com)
This chunk contains part 4 of the raif FAQ.
_________________________________________________________________
Part 4: Programming IF
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
4.1: How do I become an IF author?
Write some interactive fiction. This is done with an authoring system,
such as those described below. Most systems comprise of a specialized
interactive fiction language with which you write the source code for
your game, a compiler which turns your source code into a playable
gamefile, and an interpreter which is what is used to play the
gamefile produced by the compiler.
However, quite a few people write their own system in C or BASIC or
another language, either focused solely around a single game or as an
expandable language. It is easier to use a pre-made system, and they
will offer more portability. It will also stop you from having to
remake the wheel. However, if you want to make your own system,
nobody's going to stop you (well, they shouldn't, at least). It would
probably be a good idea to look at the current systems to get a basic
idea of what to do.
With the advent of Glk, making your own systems portable is easier. If
you are writing in C, take a look at Glk. If you use it for your input
and output, it will make your game a lot more portable. It is simple
and powerful. However, it can't do everything. See [What is Glk?: 4.5]
for details.
It is generally agreed upon that much work on a game is done before
any source code is written. There are many and varied approaches to
this design and planning stage, and it is difficult to recommend any
one method (and this is hardly the right place). Several people have
written documents on this very subject. These may be found in the
IF-Archive, in the directory /if-archive/info/ . Of particular note
are Graham Nelson's (graham@gnelson.demon.co.uk) "The Craft of
Adventure" and Gerry Kevin Wilson's (whizzard@pobox.com) "Whizzard's
Guide to Text Adventure Authorship." The filenames for these are
Craft.Of.Adventure.* (where * is one of the various formats that it
has been translated into) and authorship-guide.{base, sup1, sup2}.
Also, there are many excellent articles on game theory and design in
the 'zine "XYZZYnews" [What 'zines exist?: 6.5] .
You really ought to betatest your game before releasing it to the
general public. Usually, when betatesting a game, the author sends the
game out to her betatesters, who work as hard as possible to find
bugs, writing flaws, and any other problems with the game and send the
author reports. You can find betatesters by posting on the IF
newsgroups (but see [What topics are appropriate here?: 2.2] for
details on how to post betatester requests), by asking on ifMUD (see
[Are there any IF-related chat spaces?: 6.4] ), or by using Lucian
Smith and Liza Daly's IF Betatester page. Using their (free, of
course) service, the author sends them a game which can be downloaded
and tested by any of their registered betatesters (which anybody can
sign up to be). More information on this service can be found at
<http://www.textfire.com/beta.html>.
You can also find betatesters among your friends and other people who
have not played IF before; though such a betatester can be useful, it
is *very* important that you have at least one or two betatesters from
the "IF community" (r*if, ifMUD, TextFire Beta, etc). Only somebody
who knows IF well will know where bugs are most likely to crop up.
_________________________________________________________________
4.2: Who's going to appreciate my work; who cares about IF anyway?
As it turns out, quite a lot of people. Interactive fiction regularly
achieves respectable rankings on the "Internet PC Games Charts"
<http://www.worldcharts.com/> and has been as high as #3. Indeed,
there were five interactive fiction games in the 1996 Year-end
Download Top 40, the highest romping in at #12 (beating Doom), making
these games some of the most popular non-commercial computer games in
the world.
The six winning entries from the 1995 IF competition [What sort of
events does the IF community do?: 2.6] were published by Activision on
their recent CD-ROM release, "Masterpieces of Infocom" (July 1996),
which has sold surprisingly well. Activision also uses the Inform
authoring system as a prototyping tool for some of their large
graphical games (such as "Zork: Grand Inquisitor"), and used an Inform
Zork game (by G. Kevin "Whizzard" Wilson, Marc Blank and Mike Berlyn)
as a promotion for Z:GI.
Specifically, the readership of the two rec.*.int-fiction newsgroups
make up a faithful audience. Popular games such as "Curses" have been
played by quite possibly thousands of people worldwide. In this
specific case, the game has been downloaded at least 2000 times from
two sites (more from other sites, but figures are unavailable),
published on at least 4 CDs (probably more without the author's
permission) and as a cover disc of two magazines with circulation in
the 10000s, and included in commercial packages.
Mike and Muffy Berlyn have started a company, Cascade Mountain
Publishing, that, among other things, sells IF. It is doing quite
well. More information can be found at
<http://www.cascadepublishing.com/>.
_________________________________________________________________
4.3: What about copyright; how can I protect my work?
I'm not a legal expert, so you might want to look at such websites as
the U.S. Copyright Office Home Page <http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/>
and the Public Record Office of England and Wales
<http://www.pro.gov.uk/>.
You should include in your game (perhaps in the response to the HELP
command) something saying that you own the copyright on the game, and
giving a distribution policy: for example, you may not want to to be
distributed for charge, you may not want it distributed at all, or you
may not care.
On a somewhat related topic, you should ask John Francis
(jfrancis@dungeon.engr.sgi.com) to list you in the file
/if-archive/info/author-list.txt at the IF-Archive. You can give him
your email address and the distributability status of your game or
other IF product.)
On another somewhat related topic, getting commercially sold games,
even if they are no longer available, for free is illegal unless the
copyright owner has specifically decided to allow distribution. There
is no such thing as "abandonware": just because a game or program is
no longer sold does not make it legal for you to distribute it. On the
other hand, most people are in favor of getting copyright owners to
freely distribute abandoned programs, but that choice is up to the
owner. This specifically covers most of the Infocom games, but see
[Where can I find Infocom games?: 6.7] for more information on that.
_________________________________________________________________
4.4: What authoring systems are available?
Though some people simply write their adventures in C, BASIC, and
other general languages, this tends to lead to a lot of remaking of
the wheel and problems with parsers. Most IF authors choose to use a
specialized IF authoring system. Descriptions of them are below.
Tier (i) contains the most popular systems; posts about them are
common on raif, and even the least-used one has at least a game or two
each year. It contains Hugo, Inform, TADS, and ALAN. These are all
good systems, with Inform and TADS the most popular and ported.
Tier (ii) contains systems that are either waning in popularity, or
have not started waxing yet, though they are being supported by
authors. It contains AGT, Quest, and SUDS.
Tier (iii) mostly consists of old systems that never really caught on.
_________________________________________________________________
Tier (i)
The most popular and/or powerful, these are currently used by a large
number of people; many posts to rec.arts.int-fiction concern these
systems and their use; games produced with these systems are
guaranteed a relatively large audience.
Hugo
/if-archive/programming/hugo/
Version/Release
2.5.02a lib 2.5.02.1, with a 3.0 beta.
Author
Kent Tessman (general@generalcoffee.com).
Platforms
Acorn RISC OS, Amiga, BeOS, MS-DOS, Unix (i.e., Linux, SunOS,
etc., with pre-built executables for Linux), OS/2, Win95/NT,
and any Glk-supporting platform [What is Glk?: 4.5] including
the Macintosh.
Support
The author intends to continue supporting Hugo indefinitely,
and is developing further releases of the compiler/engine
package. He will take e-mail and respond to posts. In his own
words, he will contribute "anything I can offer" to the
product. Messages specific to Hugo are posted to
rec.arts.int-fiction from time to time.
Programming Knowledge
Owes its origins to Inform, C, and BASIC. It is thus
object-oriented, has a straight-forward syntax, and an effort
has been made to keep programming as free of punctuation and
confusing formatting as much as possible. Much low-level
(assembly) programming is done within the system itself (so the
user needn't worry about it).
Features/Limitations
As of v2.4 Hugo supports graphics (in JPEG format) and multiple
tiled windows. It also has music in MOD, S3M, MP3, MIDI, and XM
format and sound in WAV format. The standard sound package
(which the DOS and Windows ports use) allows 32 channels. Full
multimedia support is available in the Windows/DOS, BeOS, and X
Windows ports. As of v3.0, Hugo even supports movies in MPEG or
AVI format. The compiler allows precompiled headers. Features
include global events, object-linked events, object/character
scripts, hierarchical inheritance and the ability to use
objects as classes, dynamic run-time dictionary creation,
multiple-turn undo, and (practically) unlimited game file size
due to indexed addressing. Hugo allows the programmer to fully
manipulate the interpretation of the input line prior to engine
parsing.
Documentation and Game Sources
The "Hugo Programming Manual" covers many of Hugo's features
and there is an extensively annotated tutorial game, "Vault of
Hugo." Currently available game source code include ports of
"Adventure" and "Pirate Adventure", and the author's own
full-length games, "Spur", "Guilty Bastards", and "Down", and a
shell-game to build on.
Online Documentation
N/A
Web Pages
Hugo - An Interactive Fiction Authoring System
<http://www.generalcoffee.com/>
Jerry's Hugo Site
<http://cub.kcnet.org/~jnichols/hugo/ifpage.html>
Debugging Features
The Hugo Debugger, HD, is a full-featured source(ish)-level
debugger, which allows code search, watch expressions,
breakpoints, and so on. The HugoFix library is a suite of
debugging routines allowing the user to monitor, set, and check
almost every aspect of a game at run-time.
Source
C.
License
Freeware, so long as it is distributed in an unmodified manner.
Games produced by a user are the property of that author, and
may be freely distributed. Only if the game (including any
included libraries from Hugo) or the Hugo engine is intended
for distribution in any commercial manner (shareware or
otherwise) must Kent Tessman be contacted for permission.
Quick Pros and Cons
As it is slightly newer than Inform and TADS, less people are
using it and the Glk-based port to Macintosh doesn't have all
the graphics and sounds perks (yet). On the bright side, it is
quite powerful and offers advanced sound and graphics
capabilities. Mac users are very very grateful for the Glk
port, which is quite nice in the non-multimedia areas.
_________________________________________________________________
Inform
/if-archive/infocom/compilers/inform6/
Version/Release
6.21. Library 6/10. (Also, 6.21(G0.32) for glulx is in beta.)
Author
Graham Nelson (graham@gnelson.demon.co.uk). Glulx features by
Andrew Plotkin (erkyrath@eblong.com).
Platforms
Acorn RISC OS, BeOS, Macintosh, Atari ST (latest release 5.4,
may be unsupported), Amiga, IBM PC (on pre-386, release 5.5
only), Linux, OS/2, UNIX, VMS (for DEC VAX or Alpha), and EPOC
(the Psion 5/Revo/7 handhelds). The ZMachine interpreters
needed to play Inform games compiled for the ZMachine (that is,
those that don't use glulx) are available for these platforms
and many more.
Support
The author fixes library bugs whenever they are reported, and
issues updates about every three months. The compiler is
updated approximately twice a year, and the documentation is
now in its 3rd edition (with an update May 1997). Feedback from
users is welcomed. There are a large number of relevant posts
to rec.arts.int-fiction.
Programming Knowledge
Compiles a largely object oriented language, reminiscent of C.
A quite sophisticated parser is supplied, which can be entirely
invisible to the designer but is highly programmable if need
be. The library is itself written in Inform and is relatively
easy to modify.
Features/Limitations
Produces files in the `Z-machine' format, as used by Infocom.
Thus Inform games can be played on any of the many publicly
available `Z-machine' interpreters. A standard library is
supplied; it is possible to replace library routines. The
run-time format does now permit dynamic object creation.
Low-level programming is provided for, including a full
assembler.
The parser can be supplied with a language definition file
allowing Inform games to be played in non-English languages.
Translations of Inform have been made into German, Spanish,
Italian and Renaissance English, with several others in
development. These translations are linked from Graham Nelson's
website (see below).
A system called "Blorb", for convenient attachment of sound
effects and modern-quality graphics, has now been fully
implemented by Kevin Bracey's "Zip2000" interpreter.
An alternate version can compile to the "Glulx" format, which
allows advanced I/O capalities and removes many of the
ZMachine's arbirtrary size restrictions.
Documentation and Game Sources
The main manual is the "Designer's Manual"; the "Technical
Manual" documents very dry internals; the "Specification of the
Z-Machine" defines the run-time format and the standard for
interpreters (an alternative to this last document is "The
Z-machine, and How To Emulate It"). A handful of game sources
are available. The Inform Translator's Manual documents
language definition files. The Designer's Manual should shortly
be available as a printed book, thanks to Cascade Mountain
Publishing; see <http://www.cascadepublishing.com/>.
Online Documentation
The Z-Machine Standards Document 1.0
<http://www.gnelson.demon.co.uk/zspec/index.html>
The Inform Designer's Manual (3rd edition, updated)
<http://www.gnelson.demon.co.uk/dman/index.html>
Web Pages
Inform 6: A Compiler For Interactive Fiction
<http://www.gnelson.demon.co.uk/inform.html>
The Inform Library Patch Site
<http://adamcadre.ac/inform.html>
Inform Page (somewhat old)
<http://www.duke.edu/~srg3/IFprogramming/inform.html>
Inform Programming (old, outdated)
<http://www.doggysoft.co.uk/inform/>
The Informary - a quick reference summary
<http://homepages.tesco.net/~roger.firth/informary/>
Inform for New Writers, David Cornelson
<http://www.placet.com/int-fiction/>
Inform for Beginners, Jeff Johnson
<http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Heights/8200/contents.h
tm>
Glulx: A 32-Bit Virtual Machine for IF
<http://www.eblong.com/zarf/glulx/>
Debugging Features
Can print tracing information for calls to routines and a suite
of debugging verbs is included in the library: these monitor
timers, daemons, actions, the object tree, messages between
objects, the parser's internal workings and the like, and give
the tester supernatural powers to travel and move things
around. The library can also record and play back scripts of
commands. Tools such as TXD (a disassembler) and Infodump (an
inspector of objects, dictionary and grammar) are publicly
available.
As of Inform 6.21, you can compile your games with "Infix"
debugging mode. This allows the author to use a variety of
debugging verbs to examine and change the game's state in a way
similar to the programming of Inform itself. You can trace
references to a routine or object.
Inform can also produce a file of information useful to any
debugging tool, with, for example, Z-machine PC positions
assigned to every statement of source code.
There are some help-tools to configure various text editors to
Inform, too; the Technical Manual provides an algorithm for
syntax-colouring Inform code which is used in several of these.
Source
ANSI C.
License
Freeware. The author retains copyright of the compiler in order
to prevent commercial exploitation, but (subject only to mild
restrictions) is prepared to let people sell games produced by
Inform.
Quick Pros and Cons
It is the most highly ported authoring system, and is quite
popular. It is very powerful; some of the very advanced
techniques are difficult to understand, though. Though it has a
few more ports than TADS, HTML-TADS' graphics and sound support
are both more powerful and more usable (at the current time)
than Inform's. Also, the ZMachine suffers from the fact that
extraordinarily large (and I mean really really big) games do
not fit in it. However, for a normal-sized, text-only game that
doesn't do extraordinarily complicated hacks (most games fit
this description), Inform's problems do not hurt at all, and
the glulx virtual machine fixes some of these problems.
_________________________________________________________________
TADS (Text Adventure Development System)
/if-archive/programming/tads/
Version/Release
Version 2.5.2.
Author
Michael Roberts (mjr_ at hotmail dot com).
Platforms
Acorn RISC OS (interpreter only), AmigaDOS, Atari ST/TT/Falcon,
DECStation, Linux, Macintosh, MS-DOS (also GO32 DOS extender
version for 386+), NeXT, OS/2, SGI Iris/Indigo, SunOS & Sun 3.
Support
Posts to rec.arts.int-fiction dealing with all manner of TADS
queries are not uncommon, and there are many third-party
programming examples and utilities, including WorldClass and
Pianosa, complete replacement libraries.
Programming Knowledge
Uses a high-level, largely object-oriented language very
reminiscent of Pascal or C.
Features/Limitations
Provides virtual memory support, permitting games much larger
than your computer's physical memory. Full multiple inheritance
is supported, and incremental changes can be made to library
files so one can include the standard library and override bits
of it piece by piece. Objects may be created at run-time
(dynamic object creation). TADS also provides multiple UNDO,
routines for general-purpose file I/O, and "user exits" that
let one link in code compiled with other languages (such as C).
TADS allows you to write your game using HTML TADS, which
allows you to add styled text, still graphics, sound, and MIDI
music to your TADS games. Rather than relying on some
proprietary markup language, HTML TADS uses standard HTML, the
language used to mark up Web pages, for which documentation is
readily available. (However, HTML TADS doesn't need a web
browser or the Internet: it uses HTML but isn't a Web-based
system.) HTML TADS also supports ISO Latin-1 character sets, so
accented letters are easily added.
At the time of writing, HTML TADS interpreters are only
available for Windows 95/98/NT and Macintosh. However, a game
written in HTML TADS is still fully playable (minus graphics
and sound, of course) with character-based TADS runtimes that
have been updated to at least version 2.2.6.
The Windows port of TADS 2.5 and up comes with "Visual
Workbench", an integrated development environment including the
compiler, debugger, runtime, and an editor. It can even create
self-enclosed executable installater programs for Windows for
your TADS games.
Documentation and Game Sources
TADS' comprehensive manual is available in TeX, PDF and HTML
formats, although the HTML version is the most current. At the
moment, TADS documentation is a little scattered between the
TADS manual (<http://www.tela.bc.ca/tela/tads-manual/>), the
TADS Parser Manual in
/if-archive/programming/tads/manuals/tads_pm.zip , and the HTML
TADS Revision Notes, available with HTML TADS. Neil K. Guy is
working on updating the main TADS manual to include the
information from the Parser Manual. Lastly, you might want to
look at the slightly outdated but still useful TADS Tip Sheet
at
<http://www.tela.bc.ca/tela/tads-manual/tads-tip-sheet.html>.
In addition to the manual the full source for a medium-sized
game, Ditch Day Drifter, is available from the usual sources.
The source code for many other games, from small and simple to
huge and complex, is also readily available.
Mark Engelberg has written a tutorial for TADS. It can be found
on the IF-Archive as
/if-archive/programming/tads/manuals/TADSTutorial.zip .
Online Documentation
TADS Author's Manual
<http://www.tela.bc.ca/tela/tads-manual/>
TADS Manuals directory on the IF-Archive
/if-archive/programming/tads/manuals/
Web Pages
The TADS Page
<http://www.tela.bc.ca/tela/tads/>
The TADS Programming Page
<http://www.df.lth.se/~mol/progtads.html>
WorldClass Programming Page
<http://www.df.lth.se/~mol/progtadsworldclass.html>
Debugging Features
TDB is a full-featured source-level debugger. It allows
single-stepping through your source, the setting of breakpoints
at specific lines, and the examination and alteration of
variables in your program.
Source
C.
License
Freeware.
Quick Pros and Cons
It is very popular and powerful powerful. It has better
graphics support than Inform/ZMachine, and HTML TADS is
available on the Mac (which is not the case for graphical
Hugo). Its library is very object-oriented, which may be a good
or bad thing, depending on who you are. It has slightly less
ports than Inform/ZMachine, especially to ancient computers
like the C64 and small computers like the PalmPilot. On the
other hand, the reason is can't run on the PalmPilot is that it
allows games of any size whatsoever, which is good if your game
needs to be huge.
_________________________________________________________________
ALAN (Adventure LANguage system)
/if-archive/programming/alan/
Version/Release
2.8, with various correction levels for different platforms.
Authors
Thomas Nilsson (thomas.nilsson@progindus.se) and Göran Forslund
(gorfo@ida.liu.se).
Platforms
Amiga, Macintosh, MS-DOS (currently only 386+), sun4 (Solaris1,
SunOS 4.1), sun4 (Solaris2, SunOS 5.x). A HP-UX version of 2.8
is upcoming, though a 2.7 version exists. There is also a Glk
[What is Glk?: 4.5] version, but because ALAN's source is not
freely available, it is a little harder to compile your own Glk
versions than you would with the other IF systems.
Support
As a non-profit project author support may vary, although the
authors will endeavor to act on bug reports sent by e-mail.
Most ALAN questions on raif will be answered by other ALAN
users.
Programming Knowledge
Uses a very high-level language. With an easy-to-learn syntax
and semantics, ALAN takes a descriptive view of the concepts of
adventure authoring. There are no variables, subroutines or
other traditional programming constructs. A general statement
which describes the ALAN philosophy is that a game's author
should not need to program, only describe, what the player will
see.
Features/Limitations
Actors may be scripted and rules are evaluated between each
actors turn which can trigger actions. Events can be triggered
by objects, actors or locations. Expansion of the parser syntax
is simple. ALAN lacks actor interaction and inheritance
(although a prototype of v3.0 supports this). General verbs can
be overridden both for locations and objects on which they are
invoked. There is support for multinational character input.
Documentation and Game Sources
The manual, available separately in PostScript, HTML, and ASCII
formats, contains a lot of detail on all aspects of IF
authorship from a beginner's level upwards. A few examples of
ALAN source are available, including the source to the games
"Saviour" and "Skipping Breakfast".
Online Documentation
ALAN Adventure Language Manual
<http://welcome.to/alan-if/>
Web Page
The Alan Home Pages
<http://welcome.to/alan-if/>
Debugging Features
The debugger currently supports viewing (but not altering) of
most data, tracing of significant parts of the execution and
single-stepping though compiled code.
Source
The source is only available to porters, through the authors.
License
Freeware. The interpreter may be freely distributed with
compiled games for commercial purposes (i.e., no fee or
royalties are required if you start to sell games).
Quick Pros and Cons
It isn't as powerful as the other Tier (i) systems. However, it
is apparently easier to learn. Its ports to some systems, such
as MacOS, are not wonderful or completely up-to-date, but work
is being done on them.
_________________________________________________________________
Tier (ii)
Intermediate popularity and new systems, these do not appeal to quite
as large an audience as those in tier (i) or are less powerful; there
are infrequent posts to rec.arts.int-fiction dealing with these
systems and their use; occasionally games are produced using these
systems.
_________________________________________________________________
AGT (Adventure Game Toolkit)
/if-archive/programming/agt/
Version/Release
Version 1.7 (may vary between platforms). But if you want to
use AGT, use MAGX and AGiliTy instead of the original. Please.
Authors
David Malmberg (73435.1277@compuserve.com) and Mark Welch
(markwelch@ca-probate.com).
Platforms
Amiga, Atari ST, Macintosh, MS-DOS, Windows. There seem to be
many different versions for different platforms.
Support
No technical support from the authors (i.e., no new versions).
Posts to rec.arts.int-fiction are not uncommon.
Programming Knowledge
Uses a meta-language similar to English. Standard Level games
can be created with no prior programming knowledge.
Features/Limitations
Creates Standard Level games ("require no programming
experience (honestly!), only a fertile imagination") or
Professional Level games. There are limitations on the number
of locations (200) and animate/inanimate objects (100 each) in
a game. As AGT is no longer supported by the authors there will
be no future upgrades/bug-fixes. It is not nearly as powerful
as the Tier (i) systems, and many games are unportable from
DOS.
There is also now two programs, MAGX and AGiliTy, which are
more portable and less buggy than the original AGT programs.
However, they do not improve the language itself much.
Documentation and Game Sources
The documentation available on the Internet is out-of-date in
regard to author support (which no longer applies) and
licensing details (AGT is now freeware). Included is the source
for a small game, Crusade. Other source for some two dozen
games is publicly available. Mark Welch has 50-100 copies of
the final "Master's Edition" printed manual and would invite
suggestions from AGT users on how he might disseminate them at
no charge. He *does not* have the "Master's Edition" source
code though.
Online Documentation
N/A
Web Page
AGT Home Page
<http://www.markwelch.com/agt.htm>
MAGX webpage
<http://www.ltlink.com/~jgoemmer/magx.html>
AGT-authors mailing list page
<http://www.ltlink.com/~jgoemmer/agt.html>
Debugging Features
A few basic debugging commands (such as MOVEPLAYER and
LISTROOMS) to be used at run-time.
Source
Turbo Pascal 4.0/5.0/5.5/6.0. Magx and AGiliTy are written in
ANSI C.
License
Freeware. Games produced with AGT are freely distributable in
whatever manner you choose.
Quick Pros and Cons
I really wish I could put more pros here. When AGT was first
released, ages ago, it was an improvement over what little IF
creation software existed at the time. However, there really is
nothing it can do that Inform or TADS can't easily do, and
unlike the tier (i) systems, it is not expandable. That is a
key point: in Inform, Hugo, and TADS, you can basically get it
to do what you want, at least in terms of the internal world
(if not multimedia output). This is not the case for AGT. It is
poorly ported. And, though some claim it to be easy to learn,
others find AGT source incomprehensible. You can write a good
game in AGT. It's much easier if you just use a different
system.
_________________________________________________________________
Quest
/if-archive/programming/quest/
Version/Release
2.14.
Author
Alex Warren (alex@axesoftware.co.uk).
Platforms
Windows 95/98/NT4.
Support
All technical questions can be emailed to
support@axesoftware.co.uk. Bug reports can be emailed to
bugreport@axesoftware.co.uk. Other enquiries can be directed to
enquiries@axesoftware.co.uk. The author will try his best to
give an answer to any questions you may have.
Programming Knowledge
None required. Quest comes with full documentation on the "ASL"
programming language used. This is an easy-to-use language
without much in the way of confusing syntax, designed with
ease-of-use in mind.
Features/Limitations
Pretty much unlimited in any way; memory is allocated
dynamically, so in theory games of any size could be created.
Easy-to-use interface; built-in multimedia support for WAV and
various image file formats (including BMP, GIF, and JPEG);
save/load facility; text formatting; built-in support for
items, characters, objects, selections, string and numeric
variables, conditional statements, and user-defined commands;
error checking. Its built-in library isn't as advanced as some
of the Tier (i) systems in terms of IF capability, but it
allows more graphical Win32 power than them. Users can use QDK,
the Quest Development Kit, to create Quest games without any
programming.
Documentation and Game Sources
ASL programming language reference and small sample game
included in Quest download.
Online Documentation
Included in the Quest download.
Web Page
Quest
<http://www.axesoftware.co.uk/quest/>
Debugging Features
String variables can be viewed at run-time; various warning
messages outputted to a log file when errors are encountered.
Source
Not available.
Licence
"Free shareware". You can use the Quest runtime free of charge,
but you are encouraged to register for 10 UK pounds (US$20) via
cheque or credit card. For this, you get the compiler, which
allows you to make your own games without distributing the
source code to them. The free version of Quest is capable of
running games from both uncompiled ASL source code and CAS
compiled game code.
_________________________________________________________________
SUDS
<http://www.sudsystem.freeserve.co.uk/>
Version/Release
SUDS Player: 1.0.6.0. SUDS Constructor: 1.0.6.7.
Author
Andy Elliot (suds@kagi.com).
Platforms
Windows 95/98/NT.
Support
The author will continue to improve and develop SUDS for the
foreseeable future in the light of feedback and functionality
requests, both of which are welcome. SUDSystems endeavours to
respond to all queries and suggestions within a maximum of five
business days.
Programming Knowledge
Aimed at writers rather than coders, SUDS requires little or no
programming knowledge, although it does demand the ability to
think logically. SUDS enables users to build sophisticated
event-driven procedures via a simple Cut and Paste mouse-driven
interface. Syntax and construction of commands is handled
automatically by the program. Design environment is modelled on
object-oriented development packages such as Visual Basic.
Features/Limitations
Games are designed in the SUDS Constructor, which outputs the
game as a single file. Games can be installed and run in the
SUDS Player without compilation. Games are wholly text,
although a "welcome" graphic can be specified. However,
keyboard entry is replaced with a simple cursor-driven mouse
interface: there is no parser and games consist of putting
together words on the screen, like in the LucasArts graphical
adventure games. A graphical map is automatically maintained
during play, and players can add their own notes to each
location. Event-driven procedures are triggered by player
actions or between-turns housekeeping. There is a dedicated
conversation interface with a drag-and-drop tree editor. The
map editor is wholly graphical. You can have up to 32767 of
each of Objects, Scenery, People, and Rooms. The map size is
unlimited. Unfortunately, because code is not edited as textual
source, you cannot export code to share with others.
Documentation and Game Sources
In addition to the documentation packaged with the
applications, FAQs and information on upgrades are available on
the SUDS website.
Online Documentation
Included in the SUDS download.
Web Page
SUDS
<http://www.sudsystem.freeserve.co.uk/>
Debugging Features
The SUDS Player contains fully integrated debugging features
which can be enabled from the Constructor for a game. These
include the ability to report on the attributes of every game
item and all system variables, to move the player to any
location, and to take or drop any item. An in-game procedure
monitor gives the ability to view procedures, step through
code, skip over individual code lines or procedures, evaluate
conditions, and pre-decide the result of decision points.
Source
Borland Delphi (Object Pascal) using a Paradox 7 database.
Licence
The SUDS Player is freeware: there is no fee for installation
or use. However, the SUDS Constructor is shareware: if you
intend to continue using it to create a text adventure you must
register. The main benefits of registering are that you receive
notification of (free) software updates and game releases (if
you wish) and your support issues take precedence over those
who have not paid. Registration also deactivates the nagging
messages in the Constructor and enables your projects to run in
the SUDS Player without terminating in after 50 turns.
SUDS-format games must be released as freeware and cannot be
distributed for profit.
Quick Pros and Cons
If you want a Windows-only program with a good IDE and
dialog-box-based programming instead of text-based programming,
and you do not mind that SUDS does not even have the pretense
of a parser and players simply point and click, SUDS is
probably the system for you: it shows every sign of being
written with care for that purpose. However, it isn't portable
outside Windows and doesn't have a parser like most IF, and to
create games using it costs a small fee, which is more than the
major IF systems.
_________________________________________________________________
Tier (iii)
Little current popularity, these are not generally popular; they often
cater to only a small number of platforms (usually only MS-DOS) and
may be less advanced or more specialized (such as handling graphics-
or multimedia-based games) than systems in the other tiers; games are
rarely produced with these systems.
_________________________________________________________________
ADL (Adventure Definition Language)
/if-archive/programming/adl/
Advent
/if-archive/programming/advent/
Adventura
/if-archive/programming/adventura/
AdvSys (Adventure System)
/if-archive/programming/advsys/
AGIFG
/if-archive/programming/agifg/
Archetype
/if-archive/programming/archetype/ A highly object-oriented,
bare-bones system.
Aventuro
/if-archive/programming/aventuro/ A system in Esperanto.
DROOL (Dave's Reworked Object Oriented Language)
/if-archive/programming/drool/
Figment
/if-archive/programming/figment/
GAGS (Generic Adventure Game System)
/if-archive/programming/gags/ The precursor to AGT.
GameScape
/if-archive/programming/gamescape/
GINAS (Generic Interactive Narrative Authoring System)
/if-archive/programming/ginas/ An experimental, lisp-like
system.
GTAC (Graphic Text Adventure Creator)
/if-archive/programming/gtac/ Creates a complete playable
adventure game without losing the friendliness of the Acorn
Desktop.
LADS (Levi's Adventure Development System)
/if-archive/programming/lads/ Produces games with a distinct
"Scott Adams" look and feel. The state of the art of IF
authoring systems is today well beyond this, yet LADS is still
a workable, if primitive, system in its own right.
NMP (NM Parser)
/if-archive/programming/nmp/ A Spanish-language system.
OASYS
/if-archive/programming/oasys/
Questmaker
/if-archive/programming/questmaker/
SINTAC (Sistema Integrado de Creacion de Aventuras Conversacionales)
/if-archive/programming/sintac/ A Spanish-language system.
_________________________________________________________________
Unprocessed
These systems are either new, or are experimental or beta-release
systems and as such may not have the popular and immediate appeal of
systems in other tiers. (In reality, it means that they have been
sitting in tier with this description since before I (David) started
maintaining the FAQ, and I do not really know what to do with them.)
Adventure Builder
/if-archive/programming/advbuilder/
Version/Release
2.0.
Author
Alan Conroy (alan@accessone.com).
Platforms
PC-DOS (v2.0 or later), MS-DOS (v2.0 or later), Windows (3.1 or
later).
Support
Minimal, but it does exist. Support is entirely through e-mail
at this time. Bug reports and suggestions are solicited, and
response for issues with known work-arounds are timely. Issues
requiring updates/upgrades of the software are not.
Programming Knowledge
No programming is required to create a game. However, some
programming is necessary if the game is to be customized (which
is nearly always the case). The programming language is a
non-conforming subset of Sirius, which is similar to Pascal and
BASIC. No knowledge of advanced programming techniques is
required in any case.
Features/Limitations
Provides a source language compiler and linker for writing
routines, and a database compiler. Features include: up to 8191
nodes and 4096 items per game; memory caching of disk accesses;
on-line help; easy-to-use database definition language and
source language for writing routines; support for time, season,
weather, day, and earthquakes; ability to log game/debug
sessions; Linker and Librarian for large software projects.
Documentation and Game Sources
Documentation consists of a Programmer's Reference manual,
Database Compiler Reference Manual, Primer, and Master Index.
Source code for the default handling of basic actions is
provided. Complete source code for the demonstration game is
included.
Online Documentation
None, though electronic docs do exist that are not HTML.
Web Page
ADVENTURE BUILDER
<http://www.accessone.com/~conroy/ab.html>
Debugging Features
Debugging tool built into the run-time system provides insight
into the internal workings of the run-time system. A
full-functioned source debugger is available for user-written
(Sirius) code. The debugger allows setting breakpoints,
watchpoints (breakpoints on changed data), examination of
source code and variables, searching of source code,
single-step, on-line help, and other minor features.
Source
Source to Adventure Builder is available only under license and
in specific cases at this time.
License
Shareware. You may use it for personal enjoyment at no charge.
If you sell, for profit, any byproduct of this software, you
are REQUIRED to pay a $25.00 (US) one-time fee. Once this fee
is paid, any number of games may be produced and sold
royalty-free. Also you will be notified of any updates, you are
eligible for discounts on updates, and your support issues will
take precedence over those who have not paid. Adventure Builder
is freely distributable to anyone and everyone so long as it is
distributed in UNMODIFIED FORM and no fees, other than
reasonable for the distribution media, are charged.
_________________________________________________________________
Rexx-Adventure
/if-archive/programming/rexx-adventure/
Version/Release
1.0.
Author
Mike DeSanto (desantom@io.com).
Platform
OS/2 (2.1 or better, ReXX installed).
Support
Send e-mail to the author. At least two people other than the
author are currently working on adventures, and an AGT to
Rexx-Adventure converter is being researched by a third party.
Programming Knowledge
Minimal programming knowledge required.
Features/Limitations
Features object based adventure creation with a GUI interface.
Object variables are totally user-definable and all ambiguity
about what objects can be manipulated, and how they can be
manipulated has been removed. There is currently no indirect
object support and objects inside other objects can not be seen
(i.e., water in a bottle), although these are respectively
planned and already implemented for version 2. While movable
windows are also implemented for version 2, they are not
present currently (i.e., fixed screen layout).
Documentation and Game Sources
Documentation will soon be available in OS/2 .INF format.
Online Documentation
N/A
Web Page
Rexx-Adventure <http://www.io.com/~desantom/rad.html>
Debugging Features
Very Few.
Source
Watcom VX-REXX, available to porters from the author.
License
Freeware. Mike DeSanto retains the copyright and it may be
distributed only in its original form. Authors may charge for
their adventures on the condition that it is made very clear
that the fee is for the adventure, and not for Rexx-Adventure.
_________________________________________________________________
A NOTE ON AUTHOR SUPPORT: While most authors are happy to accept email
concerning their system please remember that reading and responding to
email does take time. While bug reports, requests/suggestions for new
features, etc. should be sent to the author directly, questions on how
to implement a particular feature or operate a particular function
should go to rec.arts.int-fiction, where time is not an issue. Bug
reports for the authoring systems should probably be both emailed to
the author, who can fix them, and posted to raif, so that other
readers can realize that the bug exists. (Bug reports for games other
than the Infocom ones should not be posted to rec.games.int-fiction,
but rather emailed to the author. A bug in an authoring system can
create bugs in other people's games; a bug in a game can't do that.)
You should also realize that, especially if you are not paying for the
system, the system authors have no "responsibility" to the community
to update their program. There was once a nasty stir on raif in which
a poster ordered Graham Nelson, who had been unable to read the
newsgroup for a while for various reasons, to update Inform. Graham
and the other authors have put a lot of hard work into their systems,
and probably will continue to do so. But if they wanted to stop, they
could. (After many messages asserting that point were posted, the
thread died down. This was shortly followed by a new version of
Inform.)
A NOTE ON LICENSING: Games written with some authoring systems,
notably Hugo, may not be distributed for money (shareware or
commercial) without the system author's express consent. You should
always read and abide by any and all licensing details relating to the
system which you choose. If you do not like the licensing
arrangements, use a different system. Of course, system authors are
(usually) good human beings, and will probably say yes.
_________________________________________________________________
4.5: What is Glk?
It is a standard for text-based I/O, designed by Andrew "zarf"
Plotkin. Complete information can be found at
<http://www.eblong.com/zarf/glk/>.
Here is a brief description of it, plagiarized from LucFrench and
Zarf's descriptions on raif:
GLK is a spec for porting Input/Output code across platforms. In order
to understand why it's necessary, one must understand a bit about I/O.
A Unix machine has a different way of printing to the screen than a
Mac, since one is primarily text based, and the other is a graphical
windowing enviroment. As such, they have two *very* different ways of
outputting data, particularly for some of the special effects that
many high level IF systems need (e.g., a status line, picture, color,
etc.).
So, porting the I/O can be difficult. What Glk attempts to do is
specify a set of calls to the Glk system that allows for easy porting
across multiple platforms.
The Glk calls are intended to be not only portable, but to be *easily*
portable: abstracted in such a way that they give the interpreter
maximum flexibility. This allows interpreters on different platforms
to take advantage of particular UI features.
A port of Dungeon, a scripting language, interpreters for the major IF
languages, and a few demos have been ported to Glk. If you are writing
an IF interpreter or similar program, consider using Glk. It'll make
everyone happy.
_________________________________________________________________
4.6: What are VILE 0 ERRORS FROM HELL, and how should I avoid them in Inform?
It is illegal on the ZMachine that Inform compiles to to do any of the
following when x == 0 (nothing):
child(x), parent(x), sibling(x), etc
if (x has attribute)
if (x.property == ...)
give x attribute
x.property = ...
move x to y
move y to x
remove x
... or pretty much anything else which assumes x is a legitimate
object.
Some interpreters will ignore this, and either end up not messing up,
or crash. In the former case, this means that you will falsely believe
there is nothing wrong with your game. In the latter case, it, well,
crashes.
MaxZip, and some other Zip interpreters, will check and warn at these
illegal statements.
There is a bug in the Inform library (version 6/7) that will cause
this in the HasLightSource function. You should patch this immediately
if for some reason your are still using library 6/7.
In the library file parserm, find the function HasLightSource. Near
the top, there are the lines:
if (i has enterable || IsSeeThrough(i)==1)
{ objectloop (i in i)
if (HasLightSource(i)==1) rtrue;
}
This should be
if (i has enterable || IsSeeThrough(i)==1)
{ objectloop (j in i)
if (HasLightSource(j)==1) rtrue;
}
In other words, change two i's to j's.
Library 6/8 and later fixes this and a few other uncommon V0EsFH.
Much more information on the subject of VILE 0 ERRORS FROM HELL can be
found at <http://www.eblong.com/zarf/vileerror.html>, thanks to Andrew
Plotkin, who made everyone aware of this problem and helped with this
article.
As of Inform 6.20, VILE 0 ERRORS FROM HELL and other common Inform
problems are caught at run-time by compiled-in checking routines.
There is much rejoicing! Unfortunately, if this "strict" mode is
turned off, Inform 6.20 (though not the newer 6.21 which should be
used instead of 6.20) creates buggy code; and Library 6/8 in strict
mode is too large to fit in a module, meaning that you can't create
strict library modules. Inform 6.20 should *not* be used due to its
bugs in non-strict mode: either stick with a lower version or upgrade
to 6.21.
Inform 6.20 and up also classifies objectloop errors as V0EsFH and
catches them. These are another common cause of problems in Inform. As
most Inform programmers know, objectloop (x) { ... } will run ... once
for each object in the game, setting 'x' to that object. Here's the
problem:
objectloop (foo in someobject)
{
move foo to somewhereelse;
}
You'd think this moves every object in someobject to somewhereelse.
But it doesn't. This is becase objectloop(a in b) {...} is optimized.
Instead of being equivalent to
objectloop(a)
{
if (a in b)
{
...
}
}
it is the same as
for (a = child(b); a ~= 0; a = sibling(a))
{
...
}
In other words, it simply strolls along the object tree. If a is moved
out of b, it will make the next a be equal to the sibling of the
current a, which will not be what you want.
The solution is, for the simple case of "move all children of foo to
bar":
while (children(foo) ~= 0) move child(foo) to bar;
For anything more complicated than that, use:
objectloop(a)
{
if (a in b)
{
...
}
}
The same problem can occur in the little-used 'x from object' and 'x
near object' versions, though not in any other ones (such as 'x
ofclass c'). Inform 6.20 and up will catch these at run-time.
_________________________________________________________________
4.7: How do I find bug fixes for Inform?
Recent versions of Inform's library and compiler have introduced some
annoying bugs and weird ways of parsing. Though Graham Nelson fixes
these in new versions of the Inform library, between releases you can
look at the official Inform Patch Site at
<http://adamcadre.ac/inform.html>, maintained by Adam Cadre.
_________________________________________________________________
4.8: What editors can I use to write IF?
There are many text editors that are useful for writing IF. The
following list describes some of them. If you have any corrections or
suggestions, feel free to email them to me. Most of the following
descriptions were written by others; I'd like to thank everyone who
helped me. However, I edited them, so any incorrect statements are
probably my fault.
* DOS/Windows (Win32-only (Windows 95, 98, and NT) unless specified)
* Inform
* Informer
* Author: William J. Schlaer
* /if-archive/programming/editors/InEdit10.zip
* Informer is a text editor that can generate Inform code for
objects, locations, routine, etc. It includes Inform syntax
highlighting; it can run the Inform compiler from within the
editor and captures error messages for viewing; can view code as
graphical object tree or location map.
Inform IDE
* Author: Andrew Bault
* <http://www.tiac.net/users/ajb/software.html>
* Availability: free
* With Inform IDE, instead of creating your program in a text editor
as usual, you write code in a "browser" which shows the
relationship of pieces of code to one another. You can import and
export code with the normal text version of Inform source code.
You can browse and modify objects and functions within
hierarchical or alphabetical trees.
IMForm
* Author: Tim Middleton
* /if-archive/programming/editors/imfb01.zip
* IMForm is an ambitious and pretty IDE for Inform. However, it is
unfinished. It is not recommended for use in writing Inform games,
but is interesting to look at for anyone thinking about writing an
IF IDE. It has been uploaded with source code for anybody who
wants to to complete the project.
TADS
* TADS File Editor
* Author: Satan's Mutt
* /if-archive/programming/editors/tfe.zip
* TFE is a conventional text editor with TADS syntax highlighting.
It can run the TADS compiler and capture the compiler output to an
editor window.
General
* Ultraedit
* Author: Ian David Mead
* <http://www.ultraedit.com/>
* Platforms: Win32 and Windows 3.1
* Availability: $30 shareware
* Ultraedit is a programmer's text editor with configurable syntax
highlighting that can be set up for any IF language. You can run a
compiler from within editor and capture its output to a window for
viewing. It has macros. You can create your own syntax
highlighting config files. Giovanni Riccardi has created an Inform
config file, available at
/if-archive/programming/editors/ueditinf12.txt . Gunther Schmidl
has created a Hugo config file, available at
<http://x39.deja.com/getdoc.xp?AN=503974273&fmt=text>. Theodore
Hwa's TADS config file is available at
/if-archive/programming/editors/ueditTADSwordfile.txt .
Programmer's File Editor (PFE)
* Author: A. Phillips
* /if-archive/programming/editors/pfe101i.zip (Win32)
* /if-archive/programming/editors/pfe101.zip (Windows 3.1)
* Availability: freeware
* PFE is a programmer's text editor. It can run a compiler and
capture output from it. It has macros. It is highly configurable.
It matches paired characters. It remembers your cursor position in
previous documents. It has no syntax highlighting, however. It
interacts well with other programs, and can execute them, passing
them the current file.
* Note: the author of PFE decided to stop developing PFE in October
1999; copies of PFE for both 32-bit and 16-bit Windows can now be
found at the IF-Archive.
TextPad
* Author: ?
* <http://www.textpad.com/>
* Availability: $27 shareware
* Platforms: Win32 and Windows 3.1
* TextPad is a highly configurable text editor focused on
programming. Some of its features include automatic indentation; a
changeable tab size (4 or 8? The tab size Holy War continues...);
word-wrap; macros (very handy sometimes); a "clip library" for
saving related macros (many user-created clip libraries are
available for download from the TextPad website); the ability to
compare two files (like Unix diff); a user-extensible Tools menu
where you can enter custom commands, such as calling a compiler or
syntax-checker; the ability to sort lines in a file according to
various user-definable criteria; line-break reformatting (a
feature that is immensely useful when using cross-platform text
files); and block highlighting and copying.
FED
* Author: Shawn Hargreaves
* <http://www.talula.demon.co.uk/fed/>
* Availability: Free (open source)
* Platforms: MS-DOS, Linux
* FED is an open-source folding text editor. It has an intuitive
user interface, syntax highlighting, the ability to fold blocks of
text out of sight, multi-level undo and redo, flexible wordwrap,
binary and hex editing modes, macro recordings, and more. Plus, it
has a built-in tetris game and screensaver: what more do you want?
* Configuration files for TADS and ALAN by Stephen Griffiths are on
the IF-Archive at /if-archive/programming/editors/alan.fed and
/if-archive/programming/editors/tads.fed .
Multi-Edit
* Author: American Cybernetics
* <http://www.amcyber.com/>
* Availability: $199 commercial
* Multi-Edit is a powerful text editor designed for use in multiple
languages. It is able to determine which of its customized tools
to use based on the language of your file. It integrates well with
other programming tools including version control. It has a
powerful extension language with the ability to call any DLL
function including the Win32 API. It also contains many more
powerful text-editing features. The $199 price includes a printed
manual; you can also just download the executables from $129.
Douglas Harter's Hugo template can be found on the IF-Archive at
/if-archive/programming/editors/hugo.tpt .
UED
* Author: ?
* <http://www.onlinebible.simplenet.com/> (see below)
* Platforms: MS-DOS
* Availability: freeware, probably
* UED (not to be confused with UltraEdit) is a simple yet powerful
text editor for DOS. It is distributed with Online Bible (which is
freeware and available from the above URL). Since OB is freely
redistributable, the author of this article assumes that UED is
also; anyone who wants a copy can get it by emailing
jonadab@bright.net, the author of this article, if they do not
wish to download Online Bible. It is small: under 35K when
compressed by ZIP. It has no IF-specific features, but its nice
features include the ability to word-wrap; configure the margin;
its speed (loads in no time flat even on an 8088); fairly smart
paragraph reformatting (treats the first line of paragraph
differently) that can be invoked on the current paragraph; the
ability to cut/copy/paste groups of lines, standard ranges, or
even rectangular blocks (very useful); loads up to nine files at
once and can switch between them easily; can put two files on
screen at once if desired. Its main limitation is that it can only
handle about sixty-thousand lines of text at any one time. It does
not come with any documentation, but (in the opinion of the author
of this article), it does not need any, as it has a two minute
learning curve and has no complicated commands.
Microsoft Visual C++
* Author: Microsoft
* <http://msdn.microsoft.com/visualc/>
* Availability: expensive
* Microsoft Visual C++ is an expensive Integrated Development
Environment (IDE) for C++. It contains, among many other things,
an excellent programmer's text editor. However, I would never
recommend purchasing it solely for the text editor, as it is far
too expensive; if you already own a copy, however, you should give
it a try as an IF editor.
CodeWright
* Author: Microsoft
* <http://www.premia.com/products/codewright/>
* Availability: $299 commercial
* CodeWright is a commercial Windows text editor with many features.
Though designed for editing text, it includes many powerful
automation features such as autocompletion and template languages.
Its features are mostly customizable.
ScopeEdit
* Author: Loginov Software
* <http://www.loginov.com/>
* Availability: $79 commercial
* ScopeEdit is a unique text editor: it lets you structure your code
into descriptive folding trees. In addition, it has syntax
highlighting and a powerful macro language.
Windows Notepad and DOS Edit
* Author: Microsoft
* Availability: comes with DOS/Windows
* Windows Notepad and DOS Edit should be preinstalled on your
DOS/Windows computer. They're usable, but a true programmer's
editor is much better.
Macintosh
* ALAN
* Starter for ALAN
* Author: Tony Houlbrooke
* /if-archive/programming/alan/Starter.hqx
* Starter for ALAN is a Hypercard application that can help lay out
your location map and objects and then generate Alan source code
from it. It is not a real editor, though, and you need to edit the
code with an editor after creating a skeleton with this.
TADS
* TADS Template
* Author: Jared L. Reisinger
* /if-archive/programming/tads/utils/tads-template-0.9.sit.hqx
* TADS Template is a Hypercard application that can help lay out
your location map and objects and then generate TADS source code
from it. It is not a real editor, though, and you need to edit the
code with an editor after creating a skeleton with this.
General
* MPW (Macintosh Programmer's Workshop)
* Author: Apple Computer
* <http://developer.apple.com/tools/mpw-tools/>
* MPW has syntax-coloring support for Inform. It's a rather nice
editor in its own right, and because it's also a Unix-like shell
environment, it's (almost) totally customizable.
Alpha
* Author: Pete Keleher
* <http://alpha.olm.net/>
* Availability: $30 shareware
* The Alpha editor is a very powerful Mac editor that uses the Tcl
language for customization. It has an emacs-like feel, but it is
not an emacs port and uses Tcl instead of LISP. An Inform "mode"
can be found at
<http://www.fastlane.net./~russellm/informmode.html>.
BBEdit and BBEdit Lite
* Author: Bare Bones Software
* <http://www.barebones.com/>
* Availability: $117 commercial (with some other deals); Lite
version free
* BBEdit is a powerful, easy to use Mac text editor. It has many
features that make it easy to edit text, especially for
programming and writing HTML. The full version is commercial; a
fully functional "Lite" version is available for free and is an
excellent text editor in its own right (this article is being
written in BBEdit Lite). BBEdit Lite does not have as many
advanced features as the full BBEdit, though. (Do not confuse
BBEdit Lite, which can be found on Bare Bones' "Free Stuff" page,
with the BBEdit Demo, which is a crippled version of the full
BBEdit and should only be used to try out the full BBEdit's
features for free.)
Unix
* General (see also FED under Windows)
* emacs (GNU emacs and XEmacs)
* <http://www.emacs.org/>
* Platforms: Unix, Windows; others (such as Mac) in old versions
* Availability: GPL
* emacs shares with vi the dubious distinction of being the most
(in)famous UNIX text editor around. This reviewer doesn't know the
differences between GNU Emacs (the "official" Emacs, if such a
title can be claimed) and XEmacs off-hand, but XEmacs has most of
the features of GNU Emacs with possibly a few more. Some of the
features that make the various emacsen useful for writing IF are
color syntax highlighting; the fact that it is completely
user-configureable using the programming language Lisp; the
available emacs editing "modes" for TADS and Inform, which can be
found in the programming/editors directory of the IF Archive; and
many more features related to general text editing and programming
such as the ability to open multiple files and auto-indent, but
listing all of emacs' features would make this review far too
long. Suffice it to say that if you want it, emacs can probably do
it. And if you have a need that hasn't already been thought of,
you can take care of it yourself by writing some Lisp code. Though
Lisp's detractors (this reviewer among them) claim that Lisp
stands for "Lots of Irritating Superfluous Parentheses" and find
it hard to read at best, some people (who must have masochistic
tendencies) like Lisp. If you happen to be one of them, great, and
please don't flame your humble reviewer too hard... :-) Seriously,
though, you don't have to know a thing about Lisp to *use* emacs,
just to expand its capabilities. You will probably find that emacs
has all the features you need. emacs works fine in text mode (aka
console mode); you can also use XEmacs in X Windows. emacs comes
with complete documentation. Rupert Lane's emacs mode for Inform
can be found at /if-archive/programming/editors/inform-mode.el ;
Stephen Granade's emacs mode for TADS is at
/if-archive/programming/editors/tads-mode.el .
vi and offspring
* <http://www.vim.org/> for vim
* <http://www.fh-wedel.de/elvis/> for elvis
* Platforms: many
* Availability: varies
* vi is the original visual editor for Unix. There are many clones
and extensions of it, such as elvis and vim. It will do Inform
syntax hilighting. Amir Karger's syntax file for TADS is available
from <http://www.hec.utah.edu/~karger/vim/syntax/tads.vim>.
Acorn RiscOS
* General
* !Zap
* Availability: Open Source
* <http://www.zap.uk.eu.org/>
* !Zap is the text editor of choice of Graham Nelson, the author of
Inform. It is highly configurable and editable. Graham has written
a syntax coloring file for Inform for it.
Amiga
* General
* GoldED
* Author: Dietmar Eilert
* <http://members.tripod.com/golded/golded.htm>
* The GoldED Studio editor core offers all the functions you can
expect from a modern editor. You get unlimited configurable undo
and redo, configurable syntax highlighting, templates, folding,
automatic backup creation, macro recording and support for a
script language (Rexx). Block functions include support for
columnar blocks. Advanced layout fuctions provide constant
reformatting and word wrap while you are typing. Drag and Drop is
supported, so text can be moved with the mouse. Scrolling is
exceptionally fast even on slow Amigas. Optional input aids
include IntelliSense (context-sensitive completion of words) and
AutoCase (automatic case correction). At the end of a day, you can
use the session management functions to save the current state of
your work.
_________________________________________________________________
4.9: What tools and utilities are available?
Scott2Zip
/if-archive/scott-adams/
Description
Bjorn Gustavsson (ermbgus@at.ericsson.se) has written this Perl
script which converts the old Scott Adams games to Inform
source (you compile this with the Inform compiler and then play
the resulting gamefile on any `Z-machine' interpreter).
_________________________________________________________________
UnQuill
/if-archive/solutions/tools/
Description
John Elliott's (jce@seasip.demon.co.uk) utility will
"disassemble" Spectrum snapshots (.SNA) of games written with
The Quill. Available as C source and executables for DOS and
CP/M.
_________________________________________________________________
Ztools
/if-archive/infocom/tools/ztools/
Description
This package, maintained by Matthew T. Russotto
(russotto@wanda.vf.pond.com), comprises several tools,
including a disassembler, for manipulating games in the
`Z-machine' format as used by Infocom and produced by Inform.
They are quite useful. There are ports to many platforms.
_________________________________________________________________
Disinformation
<http://www2.prestel.co.uk/lwtcdi/uninform/instruct.htm>
Description
Jeremy A. Smith's program takes output data from TXD and
INFODUMP (two components of Ztools; see above), mangles it up,
and outputs it in an Inform-like way. It makes disassembly of
Z-machine code a *lot* more readable. It doesn't (yet) create
completely compilable code, and is by no means the same as what
was written, but is higher level than ZMachine assembly.
_________________________________________________________________
4.10: Wouldn't a visual system be great for writing IF in?
This has been discussed a lot.
The general consensus seemed to be that they would be helpful, but
only if they allowed the writer to get at the bare Inform or TADS code
underneath and not use only high-level editing.
Also, it was realized that such tools currently don't exist because
the people with the skills to write them generally don't need them.
There is an Inform IDE (Integrated Development Environment) or three
in the works, and TADS comes with Visual Workbench, but IDEs are not
what is usually meant by "visual".
However, if you want to write a visual IF editing tool, great. Show us
the results. Just don't wander in and ask somebody else to write one
for you.
The Quest system [System:Quest] includes QDK, a visual development
tool. However, Quest isn't quite as advanced as Inform or TADS,
requiring you to code just about everything from scratch. SUDS
[System:SUDS] is quite visual; however, the games it creates do not
have a parser and are more like a point-and-click game.
_________________________________________________________________
4.11: What support does Inform offer for graphics and sounds?
The ZMachine's V6 format supports graphics, and Inform can compile to
it quite well. Jason Penney has written a library called V6Lib,
available at the IF-Archive, that allows you to use a high-level
window system (instead of having to do the ZMachine opcodes by hand).
However (and this is a big however), almost all current V6 ZMachine
interpreters (and not all ZMachine interpreters will do V6) only
supports display of horrible graphics format used by Infocom in some
of their later games. It is horrible because it is proprietary (no
tools exist to write to it) and has many technical problems, such as
the fact that you can only use a *very* limited amount of colors (14,
I think).
The Blorb format is a new way of getting images (in PNG or JPEG
format) and other 'resources' to interface with ZMachine interpreters.
Now, when I say "new", I mean it was proposed a few years ago. Barely
any interpreters support it yet. Because of this, no games have been
written that use Blorb. Because of this, barely any interpreters
support Blorb. Because of this...
And so on goes the vicious circle. A similar situation exists for
sounds: there are ZMachine opcodes for sound playing, but Blorb is
required to make it work well.
Inform Glk [What is Glk?: 4.5] support would be useful; there exists
at least two ZMachine interpreters that uses Glk (Evin Robertson's
Nitfol and GlkZip), but there is no way to access the Glk functions
from Inform: the Glk support of these interpreters allows the
*interpreters* to be easily ported, but not access to Glk from within
the game.
glulx solves all these problems and more. glulx is a virtual machine
designed by Andrew "Zarf" Plotkin that is like the ZMachine, but
without its limits. An alternate version of Inform can compile to it.
Once Glulx Inform (currently at version 6.21(G0.30)) is fully tested,
it will become part of the main Inform distribution. Glulx uses Glk as
its native interface, so all of Glk's IO abilities will be usable from
it. For now, look at <http://www.eblong.com/zarf/glulx/>.
_________________________________________________________________
4.12: What support does TADS offer for graphics and sounds?
Early in 1998, a new version of TADS called HTML-TADS was released by
Mike Roberts, the author of TADS. It is the same as TADS, except that
it allows formatted output. The format can control text and background
color, images, sounds, and other cool things. The format is controlled
by use of a limited form of HTML (the language used on the web).
HTML-TADS has nothing to do with the Internet or the Web or Java; it
simply uses tags like <IMG> and <B> and <A HREF>.
The only platforms that (as of April 1999) the HTML-TADS runtime has
been ported to are Windows 95/98/NT and Macintosh. The compiler,
though, is the same as a normal TADS compiler.
Neil K. Guy's TADS site has more information about HTML-TADS:
<http://www.tela.bc.ca/tela/tads/>.
Several games have been created that take advantage of HTML-TADS,
including Neil K. Guy's "The Golden Skull" and "The Landing"; Stephen
Granade's "The Arrival"; and Mike Roberts' "The Plant". As of late
1999, HTML-TADS is probably the best way to do a relatively portable
graphical game.
_________________________________________________________________
4.13: What support does Hugo offer for graphics and sounds?
Hugo provides support for a bunch of different graphics and sound
formats. Graphics and sounds only are on the Windows 95/98/NT, DOS,
BeOS, and X Windows ports, though, but that includes most computers
except Macs. The picture placement commands do not allow too much
precision, unless you mess around with tricky window creation
commands. Simple stuff works well, but more complicated stuff is
harder, though possible.
More information on this subject can be found at
<http://interactfiction.about.com/library/weekly/aa061598.htm>. This
article by Stephen Granade also contains links to articles about
graphics and sound in Inform and TADS.
_________________________________________________________________
4.14: Which IF system should I use?
This is probably the most frequently asked question on
rec.arts.int-fiction. Every answer has been different.
The truth of the matter is that there isn't much that TADS can do but
Inform can't or vice versa, and Hugo is just about as good as the top
two; it is just that some things require a bit more work than others
on some systems. ALAN is also not a bad choice; it is not as powerful
as the other three but some have found it easier to use.
It has been commented that the most difficult thing to learn in any IF
language is not the syntax of the language but its world model.
Knowing the peculiarities of the language is easy compared to
understanding the interactions between the objects of your game world.
If you can write IF at all, then you can certainly master any of the
major languages. Many have.
If you are still concerned about the syntax of the various languages,
you can check out Roger Firth's "Cloak of Darkness" at
<http://homepages.tesco.net/~roger.firth/cloak/>. This project has the
source code for a simple game in many of the main IF languages,
complete with comments on how it works. You can look at it to see a
sample of how each language works.
_________________________________________________________________
4.15: How do I create a standalone executable program out of an IF game?
Often, authors want to create an executable version of their game for
a particular platform so that players do not need to download a
separate interpreter program. While this is not a bad idea, one does
need to remember that the whole reason that most IF systems need
interpreters is so that the game files can be played on just about
every type of computer without the author needing to compile a Windows
version, a Mac version, a Unix version, an Amiga version, etc of every
single game. Also, because interpreters are not bundled with every
single TADS, ZMachine, or whatever game on the IF-Archive, the game
files are much smaller. A Windows executable (for example) is
completely useless to a Mac user, and doubly so when at heart the
executable contains a file that could be run on the Mac if available
separately. So an author really should make sure that the
platform-independent game file is available even if she makes a
standalone version.
That said, there are several ways to make standalone executables. On
Windows, ZMachine (that is, Inform) games can be made executable with
jzexe, a tool packaged with jzip, and the TADS Workbench comes with a
tool that not only puts TADS games into executable files but even
gives them customizable installers. You can also use maketrx, which is
included with TADS, on DOS for games that don't require Windows, but
the full TADS workbench is probably preferable for recent computers.
On Macs, MaxZip (for Inform ZMachine), MaxTADS, and MacGlk Hugo all
allow easy creation of standalone games. Andrew Plotkin, author of the
Max interpreters, has offered to create a Mac executable of any TADS,
Inform, or Hugo game for authors who don't have access to a Mac; he
will even upload it to a popular Mac ftp site and make it a pretty
icon. (The default TADS runtime also can be binded to a game, but it's
better to use MaxTADS.)
On some versions of Unix, jzexe has been reported to work. However, if
you're on Unix, you're probably smart enough to read a README and
download the proper interpreter.
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