n00b Writer

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What's the best piece of ( free ) software for a n00b looking to write
his own text adventure?

 

[Max]

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"hop-o'-my-thumb" <hop-o'-my-thumb@hop-o'-my-thumb> wrote in message
news:Xns956C8B664F900hopomythumbhopomythu@129.250.170.85...
> What's the best piece of ( free ) software for a n00b looking to write
> his own text adventure?

Sorry about the length of this reply; I want to give you good advice.

Let me get in early, and make my recommendations, before the others put
silly thoughts in your head ;-).

Go for TADS or Inform. It means you have to learn to program, but it isn't
actually very difficult. If you go for ADRIFT (a graphical, supposedly easy,
design system) it'll be easier in the very beginning, but after a few weeks
(days?) in Inform or Tads, they'll be about the same, and eventually ADRIFT
will frustrate you (it is very limited when you try to do unusual things).
Don't go for ALAN or HUGO because their advantage over Inform is small, but
their disadvantage (mainly lack of a population to back them) is big.

Between Inform and TADS, it's more difficult. I like TADS, and the new Tads3
system is very powerful, without added complexity (unless you want to do
really advanced stuff). Inform's big plusses are twofold: it is the most
used language; and Graham Nelson's Inform Designer's Manual is a masterpiece
(I consult it at least once a month, even though I don't use Inform).

I went for TADS because the first IF (text adventure) I played was Ian
Finley's _Babel_, which was written in TADS. I really like it, and like I
said, Tads3 has some great features.

I would say you should go for Tads, too, but I wouldn't discourage Inform.

For more information:
inform: www.inform-fiction.org
tads: www.tads.org

--Max

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.arts.int-fiction,rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

On Wed, 22 Sep 2004 20:24:30 +0200, Max <remove_this_rabkin@mweb.co.za>
wrote:

> Don't go for ALAN or HUGO because their advantage over Inform is small,
> but
> their disadvantage (mainly lack of a population to back them) is big.

Lies, damn lies, and statistics. ;-) Seriously, I'd be very surprised if
there was even one single case of somebody deciding to use Hugo, but then
having to give up because his questions over here went unanswered. I'll
grant you that the documentation for Inform is awesome, though. I bought a
copy of the IDM just for the "general overview" sections.

> I went for TADS because the first IF (text adventure) I played was Ian
> Finley's _Babel_, which was written in TADS. I really like it, and like I
> said, Tads3 has some great features.

I went for Hugo because it looked like the underdog, and never regretted
it once. I also chose Hugo because Kent Tessman seemed like the most
reachable and dedicated engine maintainer, an opinion I'm still upholding
today. (Sorry Mr. Roberts!)

LC

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.arts.int-fiction,rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

A cat leaping onto hop-o'-my-thumb's computer produced this output:
> What's the best piece of ( free ) software for a n00b looking to write
> his own text adventure?

Try looking at Roger Firth's Cloak of Darkness page
(http://www.firthworks.com/roger/cloak/index.html) to look at the same
adventure written in several different IF languages (including the ones
that have been recommended in this thread) to see if one of them looks
more suited to you.

Ja, mata
--
Kevin Lighton lighton@bestweb.net or shinma_kl@operamail.com
"I thought he was too arrogant to have an escape pod!" Vyse, _Skies of
Arcadia_

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.arts.int-fiction,rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

"Max" <remove_this_rabkin@mweb.co.za> wrote in message news:
<4151c37d.0@news1.mweb.co.za>...
<< Don't go for ALAN or HUGO because their advantage over
Inform is small, but their disadvantage (mainly lack of a
population to back them) is big. >>

I don't you'll have any problems getting questions about
ALAN answered ...

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/alan-if/

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.arts.int-fiction,rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

> Try looking at Roger Firth's Cloak of Darkness page
> (http://www.firthworks.com/roger/cloak/index.html) to look at the same
> adventure written in several different IF languages (including the ones
> that have been recommended in this thread) to see if one of them looks
> more suited to you.

Kevin Lighton gave you the answer i would give you, im not a writer yet, but
having read the "Inform Designer Manual" and the "Inform for beginners" pdf
files, i will eventually stick with inform although TADS is growing in
features (particulary with TADS3).

But at Roger Firth's "Cloak of Darkness" website, you will get all the
information (about the most used authoring systems) and his personnal
opinion about each one.

Hope this helps,
RootShell

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