Inform 6.15 TextAdventure Compiler, Library and Library
6/7, Frotz (Beta7) Interpreter, samples, sources, manuals and games. It allows the
programming and playing of Infocom-style Text Adventure Games just released. This
package was whipped together and packaged by Heiko
Nock (zifnab@rhein-neckar.netsurf.de)
and was uploaded onto Pete Norloff's BBS (INFRM615.ZIP 1509K). You can get it now
clicking here: http://www.os2bbs.com
This is a sample compilation of programs and files that have been taken from ftp.gmd.de/if-archive/programming/inform6/
(and surrounding folders).
It's all you need to write your own adventures and have a damn good time. (Oh, and
all of these programs are freeware!)
Of course ftp.gmd.de/if-archive/ contains more Inform (and other) games, several
different compilers, emulators, game solutions, etc....
"compiler and library" contains the Inform 6.15 compiler for OS/2 and
the Inform Library 6/7. (Compiling parsem.h and verblibm.h as modules can speed
up compilation time a lot, so try it after reading the manual.
Using an *.ICL file can save you a lot of time, too)
"contributions" contains little add-ons for the Inform library, for example
an implementation of the famous "What is command" from Infocom's Hitchiker's
Guide to the Galaxy game.
"frotz interpreter" contains the Frotz interpreter (Beta7) for OS/2. It
can run both your old Infocom game files and (of course) all games produced with
Inform. (Don't worry about the word Beta, the interpreter is solid, but lacks some
less important features that the Dos Interpreter supports).
"game sources and samples" contains five example games (Balances, Museum
of Inform, Toyshop, I-0 and Through the Looking Glass) and several little demonstration
blurbs which are mere examples of Inform features. (Don't forget to compile them
with Inform before you try to run them in Frotz.)
"games" contains two games made with Inform, Curses has been programmed
by Graham himself. Incidentally Curses is among the best of all Inform games. This
is just a small amount of the available games, more Inform games can be found on
ftp.gmd.de/if-archive/games/infocom/.
"manuals" contains two of Graham's four Inform manuals. Craft of Adventure
is a treatise on the design of good adventure games and the evasion of mistakes.
The Designer's Manual is a excellent source for learning Inform. It explains every
command, the design of adventure games and walks the reader through the programming
of a small sample adventure called Ruins. Both Manuals have been included as TeX
and Ascii Version (and there are more versions on ftp.gmd.de,
for example a postscript version), as some people don't have TeX. But I recommend
using the TeX version, since that one's definitely more beautiful and easier to
read. (The Programmer's Manual and The Translator's Manual have been omitted because
they are not very important for programming and playing Inform
games. The Programmer's Manual is important for people, who want to port or program
an interpreter for Inform, since it explains every detail of Inform's z-machine.
The Translator's Manual explains, how the library can be ported, so it supports
other languages (like german or russion, for example). Both can
be found in ftp.gmd.de/if-archive/programming/inform6/manuals/
or on Graham's extremely extensive and useful Web Site
(http://www.gnelson.demon.co.uk/inform.html).
competition_announcement.txt contains this year's announcement of the Fourth Annual
Text Adventure Competition and it's rules for participating.
You can win prizes and compete with authors from all over the world.
If you need help with a piece of code or if you want to talk about existing if games
then try the two most interesting newsgroups in usenet:
rec.arts.int-fiction (questions and discussions about if-programming) and rec.games.int-fiction
(questions and discussions about if-games).
There are other compilers as well, like Inform's brother, Tads, which is just as
(maybe a little less) popular as Inform. Lots of Tads games can be found in ftp.gmd.de/if-archive/games/tads/
and the Tads Compiler package (complete with interpreter) can be found in ftp.gmd.de/if-archive/programming/tads/
(tads2os2.zip).
A fairly new compiler called Hugo is also getting popular (it's quite similar to
Tads and Inform), but hasn't been ported to OS/2 yet. So if you have some time to
spare (maybe about a weekend for a good programmer) and if you're a programmer then
try to port it.
I'd be soooooo glad.
It's source code can be found in ftp.gmd.de/if-archive/programming/hugo/source/.
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