This is a neat little engine i found for creating a text-based game. The program is called Text World (http://www.classicgaming.com/ascii/download_files/textworld/textworld.html) and it really is quite fascinating.
The reason i've posted this here is because, well, text-based games and adventure games are the only two forgotten genres that people want back.
It is incredibly simple, and the interface barely requires a readme.
Check it out, it's nostaligic beauty.
Cheers,
-Fluke.
Is that where you type in verbs and it responds with "I don't understand"?
I prefer multiple choice. Much simpler. Like this program:
http://www.madladdesigns.co.uk/MuCeS/index.htm
It lets you have one background picture for the game and one song to be looped. If anyone knows of a program like this that can have more songs and pictures let me know please!
If you've tried any good modern interactive fiction game, you'd know that they have come a long way since the days of trying random verbs. I've played a couple of them these last few days and I've NEVER gotten stuck on a puzzle because I couldn't figure out if I was supposed to KNOCK BOTTLE OVER, PUSH BOTTLE or THROW BOTTLE TO WALL. And only rarely have I even performed an action that seemed believable only to get a "that is a verb I don't understand" response..
On the other hand, I have know idea how good the program linked to in this topic is, so..
I gave it a try, and it's really very basic in every way. Way too basic, to be exact.
The available commands are N,S,E,W, take item, use item. That's it.
IMO, the reference for IF-languages has always been and will always be Inform (http://www.inform-fiction.org).
It's very versatile, but at the same time quite easy to learn, too. It's very possible to write your own Zork, and there are interpreters for every system that has a keyboard and a screen.
The only "advantage" of Text World over Inform is its Editor, which allows to create a "game" using a DOS-GUI, whereas Inform is just a compiler and the designer has to write the source in a text editor.
But considering the fact that the systems are as comparable as a Bobby car and a BMW, I'd really suggest to use Inform or something similar (TADS, Hugo), if you seriously think about writing IF.
EDIT: Wow. Inform 7 is in beta-testing phase. Versions 1 to 6 have used C-like code, but version 7...
QuoteIn place of traditional computer programming, the design is built by writing natural English-language sentences
There's a public beta of Inform 7 at the moment, which has a natural language system for writing games, and a GUI, but I'd recommend learning the language so far, this only seems suitable for the extremely coding phobic.
Wow, the I7 IDE is beautiful! And natural language? How did I miss that announcement? Thanks scotch!
I find Text World extremely easy to make a game with.... I'll try Inform 7, but for right now, I want to see how stupid I can make this game I'm working on...
EDIT: That was extremely stupid of me... Inform 7 is brilliant...
Inform 7... So shiny. I'm currently restarting the text adventure I've been slaving away at in Basic using Inform 7. It's very neat...