Loreline – Tools for writing interactive fiction • Hacker News Board

Inform 7 will forever be the best language, not because it's a good language, but because of the way programmers react when you present them a page of Inform 7 code.

https://github.com/I7-Examples/Bronze/blob/main/Bronze.infor...

Re: Loreline – Tools for writing interactive fiction

#14

Post by antran22 » Thu, Jun 18, 2026, 3:49 AM UTC

queeshonda wrote: post #4

[dead]

You are confusing it with Lore [0], which is currently also on the HN frontpage [1]

[0]: https://lore.org [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48571081

Re: Loreline – Tools for writing interactive fiction

#15

Post by photios » Thu, Jun 18, 2026, 5:05 AM UTC

inigyou wrote: post #13

Inform 7 will forever be the best language, not because it's a good language, but because of the way programmers react when you present them a page of Inform 7 code. https://github.com/I7-Examples/Bronze/blob/main/Bronze.infor...

I wonder if someone's tried IF tools like Inform 7 as the specification language you give an LLM agent. Looks like a good way to describe UI screens.

Re: Loreline – Tools for writing interactive fiction

#16

Post by ElFitz » Thu, Jun 18, 2026, 5:27 AM UTC

inigyou wrote: post #13

Inform 7 will forever be the best language, not because it's a good language, but because of the way programmers react when you present them a page of Inform 7 code. https://github.com/I7-Examples/Bronze/blob/main/Bronze.infor...

I am glad to have checked that one out. I don’t know whether to be amazed or horrified.

Re: Loreline – Tools for writing interactive fiction

#17

Post by ElFitz » Thu, Jun 18, 2026, 5:30 AM UTC

photios wrote: post #15

inigyou wrote: post #13

Inform 7 will forever be the best language, not because it's a good language, but because of the way programmers react when you present them a page of Inform 7 code. https://github.com/I7-Examples/Bronze/blob/main/Bronze.infor...

I wonder if someone's tried IF tools like Inform 7 as the specification language you give an LLM agent. Looks like a good way to describe UI screens.

Would also work very well for "open prompts" interpreted and mapped to one of the available options by a LLM. As some sort of constraints.

Re: Loreline – Tools for writing interactive fiction

#18

Post by yjftsjthsd-h » Thu, Jun 18, 2026, 6:36 AM UTC

inigyou wrote: post #13

Inform 7 will forever be the best language, not because it's a good language, but because of the way programmers react when you present them a page of Inform 7 code. https://github.com/I7-Examples/Bronze/blob/main/Bronze.infor...

What do you mean, that's just a text file full of prose-

Oh.

Oh no.

(Seriously, that's either very clever and perfectly reasonable, or... Not. Haven't decided which. Guess someone had to follow COBOL's footsteps.)

Edit: Thought about it more, and I've decided that for the intended users that's excellent. In the same way I wish formal proof languages would just use alphanumeric reserved words like a normal programming language, meeting writers closer to home is probably a helpful step that need not have any real downsides assuming you document it well.