Inform is a programming language for creating interactive fiction
ganelson.github.io
Inform is a programming language for creating interactive fiction
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Re: Inform is a programming language for creating interactive fiction
#2Related:
Inform: A Language for Interactive Fiction - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9279639 - March 2015 (50 comments)
Inform 7: An adventure game programming system based on natural language - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=134541 - March 2008 (1 comment)
Re: Inform is a programming language for creating interactive fiction
#3As I posted about 4 months ago on "The Futures of Inform" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32571293>:
The "Inform 7 Programmer's Manual" by Ron Newcomb explains Inform 7 from the point-of-view of someone who knows how to program in other languages. Version as of August 15, 2011: http://www.plover.net/~pscion/Inform%207%20for%20Programmers...
An older 2009 version (if PDF is a problem): http://www.plover.net/~pscion/inform7.html
Re: Inform is a programming language for creating interactive fiction
#4Related: Has anyone tried ChatGPT to generate Inform code? Could be interesting.
Re: Inform is a programming language for creating interactive fiction
#5Inform 7 is a work of art and one of the most interesting programming languages out there.
Re: Inform is a programming language for creating interactive fiction
#6Related: Has anyone tried ChatGPT to generate Inform code? Could be interesting.
Yes, it works well. The first time it misunderstood my query "write a very short story in Inform 7", but after clarifying ("I wanted a short story written as an Inform 7 program"), it wrote me the exact same story but in Inform 7.
Not sure if it's because I said "very short", but it basically locked me into a cabin without letting me go anywhere. It did describe a fair amount of objects inside the cabin though.
Re: Inform is a programming language for creating interactive fiction
#7I had the pleasure of being taught mathematics by the creator of Inform, Graham Nelson, at Oxford (and Oxford class sizes are _small_, 2-5 students). He’s a super interesting guy - created Inform, teaches pure mathematics at the highest level, but seems to most enjoy writing poetry.
Re: Inform is a programming language for creating interactive fiction
#8Related comment from yesterday's thread about the Ink language:
"Inform7 internally works like a very primitive rules engine..."
Re: Inform is a programming language for creating interactive fiction
#9What are the most popular languages for writing IF?
Why would I choose one over another?
Re: Inform is a programming language for creating interactive fiction
#10What are the most popular languages for writing IF? Why would I choose one over another?
Your primary decision is parser vs. hypertext, with Inform being the default choice for parser and (I think still) Twine for hypertext with Undum also being a popular choice.
Most companies producing commercial IF have in-house tooling focused on their "house style", e.g. ChoiceScript for CYOA with "chunky" dynamic content versus StoryNexus (or whatever its modern iteration is) for a more fine-grained RPG-like approach.
How (or whether) you simulate time passing also differentiates many engines.