1 ==========================
2 \*\*\* You have won \*\*\*
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7 | *I might just as well have saved the labor and sweat I had put into*
8 | *trying to make my reports harmless. They didn't fool the Old Man.*
9 | *He gave me merry hell.*
11 -- The Continental Op in Dashiell Hammett's *Red Harvest*.
15 .. image:: /images/picJ.png
22 ust a few final words to round things off. All that remains are the
23 appendices, with terse but comprehensive summaries of the Inform
24 language and its IF library, plus the source code and run-time
25 transcripts of the games we have developed here. Our "labor and sweat"
26 have been oriented towards making your introduction to Inform as
27 harmless as possible, but this probably won't fool you for long.
28 Although we believe we have covered the system's basic functionality and
29 given you enough grounding to feel comfortably sure-footed as you roam
30 the designing wilderness, there are still many techniques to be mastered
31 and additional aspects to be learnt, including medium and advanced
32 features at which we have not even hinted.
34 Before you give us merry hell, however, be reassured that the remaining
35 lore, which may at times feel obscure and enigmatic, is fundamentally
36 constructed around the principles that you have already seen. You should
37 now be ready to browse through other documentation and resources without
38 them seeming full of inscrutable hieroglyphs; on the contrary, you'll be
39 able to focus on those bits you don’t know about (which now, we hope,
40 will be rather less abundant). Inform, like other powerful and flexible
41 IF design tools, is prepared to cope with the needs of demanding
42 authors: "I don't like the way it handles the TAKE ALL command; I wanna
43 change it." And so you can. "I'd prefer the listings of objects
44 organised in a prettier way." Go right ahead. "I want to have a better
45 social life thanks to Inform." No problem, but you'll have to be one
46 damn charming designer. Oh, well.
48 Inform has been designed to let you do simple things intuitively and
49 quickly. Left to its own devices, it offers a wide range of default
50 functionality, and we’ve seen that it’s also easy to alter some of its
51 standard behaviour. The desirable goal is for you to reach a state of such
52 familiarity with the system that you can concentrate on designing your
53 games. By "such familiarity" we are not implying that you should know the
54 innards of the library inside out; such people exist, but they're few and
55 far between. However, once you become reasonably proficient at typing in
56 code, with a knowledge level similar to the one provided by this guide, a
57 careful look at the appropriate section of the |DM4| should help you
58 through most difficulties. Admittedly, there are problems and *problems*,
59 from the slap-on-the-head trifle to the teeth-gnashing nightmare. We advise
60 you to put the nightmares on hold for the time being. It may be that one
61 day you discover that their fangs were not as sharp as they seemed.
63 There are many interesting topics that you could pursue next. Here are a
66 * **Score:** we have seen two ways of scoring a game, but you may decide
67 that scores have no meaning in your game. And there is yet a third
68 built-in system for defining "tasks" worthy of reward, from "wearing
69 the ridiculous bonnet at the Ambassador's party" to "convincing the
70 unfriendly monkey to play the upright piano". This technique requires
71 a bit of knowledge about...
73 * **Arrays:** these are enumerated lists of variables. Instead of having
74 just one variable to play with, you can have a collection of them,
77 * **Lists and inventories:** there are many functions to let you arrange
78 the way objects are grouped and presented to the player at run-time.
80 * **Vehicles:** cars, elevators, hot-air balloons, magic carpets,
81 spaceships -- or any other device in which the player may travel
84 * **Create verbs and vocabulary:** although we have already nibbled at
85 this concept, you can fine-tune the parser to allow for all sorts of
86 amazing commands (from magical utterances that trigger unfathomable
87 spells, to special actions that affect many objects at once).
89 * **Changing the player:** who says that the player character must be a
90 boring human being? Metamorphose the unsuspecting mortal into a
91 virtual-reality proxy, a fantastic animal, an untouchable ghost, a
92 powerful telepath or a telekinetic vampire. Undecided about which one?
93 Make your game with multiple starring characters and switch between
96 * **Passing of time, timed machines and events:** set a timer that ticks
97 away, unbeknown to the player and attach it to a bomb; a door which
98 opens only once every ten turns; a dragon with short fuse and little
99 patience; a marching patrol of soldiers; a clock that ominously chimes
100 the arrival of sunset and doom. Change the "turns" count on the status
101 line into minutes, or days.
103 * **Mutable directions:** north is north? Not necessarily. Change the
104 direction objects of the game to "forward", "back", and so on. You are
105 on a ship? "fore" and "aft", "port" and "starboard" may be the thing
106 for you. Enter a mirror and have the map and all the directions reflected.
108 * **Complex NPCs:** how unpredictable can the behaviour of that
109 impertinent butler be? Can he talk, move, steal your possessions,
110 poison your tea? Does he react coherently to the player's actions?
111 Does he have a hidden agenda of his own? Although NPC creation is
112 indeed a knotty craft, it’s one worth mastering. "Living" NPCs
113 increase immensely the reality of your games.
115 * **Techie features:** change the status line, or the command prompt.
116 Clear the screen, or alter its colour; centre text upon it, and colour
117 the text as well. Wait for the player to press a key and then trigger
118 some action. Display a message one letter at a time. Add a tiny
119 compass showing available exits at all times.
121 Interactive fiction mixes creativity and narrative skills with coding
122 expertise. Usually, those games which make the biggest impact have a
123 fair amount of both. If you feel yourself lacking one of these qualities
124 at present, contemplate a little teamwork: there are IF collaboration
125 lists on the Internet, where people offer to lend a hand with ideas or
126 programming (and some very good games have come from the mixed efforts
127 of a well-tuned collaboration). Above all, don't forget the importance
128 of beta-testing, which may produce the feedback inspiring you to turn
129 your decent attempt into a killing machine. There's little as obnoxious
130 to players as a game which is obviously under-tested. Getting those bugs
131 out is your responsibility; be sure to clean it as best you can, but
132 never *ever* release a game until it has been kicked around by others.
133 And remember that beta-testers are (almost certainly) experienced
134 players, so their advice beyond the call of bug-hunting is as priceless
135 counsel as you are likely to get. Encourage them to comment on your
136 achievements in both programming *and* design.
138 Now: where to go, what to do? Allow us to insist one last time on the
139 importance of reading the |DM4|, an excellent book in all respects. While
140 you are at it, write small games, training exercises; we don't advise you
141 to try an epic saga for your first scenario, but if nothing else will work
142 for you -- the Think Big approach -- don't let us deter you. It's a good
143 idea to play other people's games, because you'll know the average level
144 that players may expect; check the newsgroups for comments on good
145 titles. Be sure around September to keep an eye open for the Interactive
146 Fiction Competition (http://www.ifcomp.org/), an annual showcase for
149 And, who knows? It might be that next year we’ll all be smashed by
152 |FILL| *Sonja and Roger*